A/N Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Note to Sarah, thanks for correcting me on my inaccuracy on the whole tornado thing and for the comment on my writing style. It takes a lot of guts to say what you really think and I respect anyone who'll give me an honest review. I'll try and explain myself in this chapter. ^_^

Previously...

"October 19th 2006."

"The day Clark met Oliver..."

"I hate days like these. You know the type- you end up wanting to bang your head against a wall for hours upon end which, in my case, wouldn't be the greatest idea... Anyway, it all started at the Luthorcorp gala, where my Mom and Lionel were busy schmoozing (Lois got me word of the day toilet paper last week, I swear I don't even get her insults anymore) with a load of corporate suits. That's when a new leather-bound guy with a Robin Hood complex turns up and steals the diamond necklace my Mom had borrowed from the Luthor vault. Naturally, Lois was at the site of trouble and chased after the thief only to lose him at the elevator shaft."

'What does he mean by 'naturally'?? I'm not the only one surrounded in trouble! This is Smallville, where the chance of surving high school is about the same as winning a wrestling match with a grizzly bear.' Lois, her inward rant finished, turned back to the diary as she became more and more interested in the thoughts of her friend. Thinking about it, she wasn't acting much like a friend by prying into his private life. But, she was the one idiot in Kansas who had run into the barn during a tornado, rather than the safety of the storm cellar, but the thought of Clark or Mrs Kent stuck here in the storm... 'Damn it Lois, you're smarter than this! They live on a farm, they know what to do in a storm!' She adjusted herself so that she lay on her side, knees curled up into her chest. The truth was, she couldn't get through to either of them on their phones and she had just rushed here. But Clark would've gotten his mom out of the house at the first sign of a storm. Even after she had moved out, Clark hadn't lost that protectiveness he held over anyone he held dear.

All Lois had done is put herself in danger. And now somebody was going to have to spend time looking for her when they could be looking for some other person who was trapped by accident. Like some crippled old lady who couldn't get out fast enough. Who was she kidding? Even a crippled old lady would have the sense to run out of dangerous places during a tornado. Feeling worse and worse by the second, Lois decided to turn her attention back to her friends words.

"I have to say that my evening only got worse. After I heard the news, I sped over to Oliver Queen's apartment, where I heard that Lois was being questioned. I wasn't really expecting anything when I got to the door. I hadn't given Oliver more than a second's thought. All I'd heard about the guy was that he was 'hot, rich, famous and way more man than certain farm boys' so when I walked in and met him face to face, the shocked response I got when he found out that yes, I am Clark, was unsettling.

"I can't believe that Lois said that I was a geek! Well I can, but using that as a way of describing me to her boyfriend? That's getting harsh, even for Lois. I guess another annoying thing about Oliver was that he was about the same height as me. It's kind of pathetic, but I've always liked that I was taller than most people. It's useful when I'm looking through things and I can look intimidating enough to avoid violence if necessary. But this guy, if there was ever a need to, I'd have to use force against him. I hate that feeling.

"Well, I suppose Oliver did help. He told me that a lot of other items had been stolen, all from wealthy people and no reports had been made to the police. Not even Lionel had said anything. So I left the apartment and went to see Lionel..."

"God, you'd think that Smallville would've gotten better and constructing sentences over the years, but even when he's talking to a book, his stories are just as long and boring." Lois skimmed through a detailed account of Clark's investigation. Yes, he'd done well to work out who had stolen everything and all, but she was getting a little bored of his listing of events.

"Wait. What?" She stared, stunned at the little snippet of information that Clark had actually managed to get his hands on before her.

"When I saw Lois up there with the Green Arrow, I thought I'd help out. She was hounding him, on the brink of unmasking him. All I could do to help was to make a little distraction so that Oliver could get away."

He knew. Clark had known that Oliver was the Green Arrow! All that time, basically a year before she had found out. Her! Lois! The girl who had been in love with him! Oh, and apparently, Oliver had known that Clark had known. They had even come to some kind of truce. What was that about? Lois' only consolidation was that Clark had apparently attempted to persuade Oliver into telling her of his secret identity.

She flicked through the pages, trying to find something good in Clark's life. She read through certain paragraphs, noting how his diary entries became more and more frequent as she got deeper within its pages. Finding a rather emotional section for Clark, she read...

"I finally found out what they've been hiding from me. Chloe had been avoiding it for weeks and, knowing that there was only one thing she wouldn't talk about, it was obvious that it was about Lana.

"She's pregnant.

"I just can't believe it. I mean, how could she? How could she be pregnant? I know that I hurt her, but I figured that her and Lex were just a phase, her rebound off of me. She had to come to her senses eventually right? She couldn't honestly have chosen him over me, not after everything he's done, not after the guy he's become.

"She can't think that I'm the bad guy. Could she? She wouldn't think that Lex is a better guy than me. She couldn't think that I'm the bad guy.

"But what if she does? What if she doesn't understand that I can't be with her. I just can't. She won't be able to relate to me, nobody can. Nobody is like me. Or is that just an excuse I made to push her away?

"So is it really that out there to think that she would prefer a guy that can give her whatever she wants? That must love her, especially now she's going to have his baby? Of course not. Lana's not an idiot. She chose Lex because Lex can give her what I can't. All of him. I can't give her all of me, even if she did know the truth. There's always going to be a part of me that she won't ever understand, that she won't ever relate to, that nobody will.

"... And that's the reason that I'm going to end up alone. Whoever I end up having chemistry with, or love or want to love. And I have to come to terms with that."

Lois looked at the page, and felt her heart flop. The poor guy, put through all that for a girl that he still doesn't have. Even though she moved on and he moved on, there's still going to be those scars in him. Those scars that Lana put there. The ones that will never fade away.

Blinking a couple of times, she looked at the facing page. Another short entry dated the next day to the last. She saw her name and read.

"I can't believe it. I actually can't register the past few hours. Lois had been getting too close to Oliver's secret and stupidly, I helped.

"If only I hadn't, if only I hadn't been stupid enough to meddle! So what if Lois found out about Oliver, isn't that what I told him - to tell her before she found out? But I never would have helped him had she not given me the speech. She loves him! And if she found out that he's been lying to her all this time... I can totally relate to that. It's the exact situation that I nearly got myself into and I can't do that to Lois, I just can't.

"So this plan, it goes well. Too well. Lois ends up getting into trouble with some thugs, so what am I supposed to do? I'm in a Green Arrow costume for God's sake!"

Lois stared. She knew where this was going. This was the Green Arrow she kissed in the alley. This was the Green Arrow that had run faster than a thousandth of a second speed camera and thrown guys twice her weight clear across the alley. This was the Green Arrow look-a-like. This was Clark Kent!