A/N Hi guys, sorry about not updating sooner. xx

Previously...

"Hey Lois. Look, I know you probably can't hear me right now. But I figured that if there's a chance that you can hear me, I might as well take advantage of the fact that you can't talk. Sorry, now's not a great time to attempt humour, but I've been awake for over 24 hours and I've not drank my coffee yet.

"I know we've been through a lot, with my jetting off everywhere running a business and with my extra curricular activities being quite committing. But... It got me thinking, that maybe it took not having you in my life to realize that I want more. That I should get something for me. And, I know what you're thinking: That it didn't work the last time. But now, I've got so many more people helping me and with the Blur and all the rest of the guys I have more time on my hands. And I want to spend that time with you.

"I want to be with you Lois. But you have to get better first, okay?"

Oliver leaned back into his chair and let go of Lois' hand that he had taken in his own subconsciously as he was talking to her. Taking one last look at her, Oliver closed his eyes - Clark could always heat up the coffee later - and went to sleep. He was oblivious that Clark had been watching him the whole time and was now resisting the urge to set him on fire.

Not that he was jealous, or anything.

The world was black. No light seemed to penetrate the thick walls of her mind leaving only a void of darkness. She could tell that she was hurt, the dull pain in her abdomen told her so. Everything else though, was nothing. Occasionally she did catch snippets of the world around her, of Chloe or Oliver. But they were just voices in the distance. Nothing more than echoes that she could not respond to or even comprehend.

Lois couldn't remember what had happened since the barn. One second she was reading Clark's diary, the next... she was here. In this abyss between life and death. The world had seemingly gone on without her. As if she was frozen in place, a sentinel among those left to continue on without her. A few times death's icy embrace had almost taken her away from those she loved, tempting her with promises of once again seeing her mother and being held in her arms after so many years.

It was those times when she had almost given in. Almost surrendered to death. But she couldn't bring herself to leave, not yet. She needed to know that everyone was okay without her - she couldn't leave them knowing that she would cause them untold pain. Ollie, she had heard him. He had said that he needed her, that he wanted her; she couldn't just leave him with those feelings unresolved. Chloe, Lois had heard her despair as her little cousin had sobbed uncontrollably as Lois had felt herself slipping away. And Clark, he was still unaware that Lois knew everything about him, that she accepted him. The passages he had written about wanting so much to tell Lois about his secret but not knowing if she would accept him made her heart ache. She had to fight this, she needed to tell him that she didn't think any less of him.

She thought more of him. But that wasn't all she thought of him, and he needed to know that.

"Lois?" A hoarse whisper echoed into her mind. "I wish you could hear me Lois." It was Clark. Lois tried to respond to let Clark know that she was getting better, that she would wake up so that Chloe, him and Oliver would be okay, but the pain still paralysed her. "It's weird, not having you talk back - this is a rare opportunity you know, a time where you won't interrupt me for once." Clark laughed though it sounded half-hearted, faked. "Chloe wanted me to tell you that she needs you here and you need to keep fighting, but I know you will because that's what you do. You're a fighter Lois and you'll come out of this, I know you will." Clark paused, Lois thought to try and keep his nerve. He sounded more like he was convincing himself than anything else. Lois felt his hand on her cheek, and heard him take short hitched breaths. Clark was crying?

"But if you don't come out of this, you've gotta know that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I couldn't save you. I'm sorry that you got hurt. I'm sorry that I kept things from you, things I should've told you years ago... I bet you didn't know that it was me who got you those flowers on Valentine's day." Lois suddenly recalled the day those flowers had appeared on her desk, how she had told Clark with excitement that she had a secret admirer. He had just smiled throughout her whole story of how she was going to find out who had sent them, she had never managed to track her admirer down. Until now.

"Lois, I could list a million reasons why I want you to stay but I can't convince you to fight, you have to do that on your own. But I can tell you something that I've been wanting to tell you since we first met." Lois readied herself for the news she had already found out for herself, the secret he had been hiding for years without her knowledge. "You are the most aggravating person I know." Okay, so not the news she'd been expecting. "You're bossy, blunt, have this annoying habit of finishing my sentences and never let me take the steering wheel in a situation." Lois felt stunned, this was what he chose to say while she was on her deathbed? "When we lived together, I used to dream of pouring iced water on you while you slept and smashing your Whitesnake collection into teeny tiny pieces, just so that I never had to listen to 'Love Aint a Stranger' ever again! You always punch my arm, for no apparent reason, and always assume that I'm useless. You tease me to no end, you love to embarrass me, you take over any space at your disposal. You leave your underwear all over the house, even now, when you don't even live there! You steal my food, my coffee, my headlines! You don't let anything go, and let's face it - you totally love those sappy love movies, even though you deny it." Lois felt more than a little peeved, she had almost died for goodness' sake! And while Oliver and Chloe cried, Clark was listing flaws at her! The nerve of him!

"But do you know what I love about you more than any of those other things? I love the fact that you care more than any other person I know, that when you throw your heart into something you put everything on the line. I love that you fret over the smallest things yet don't hesitate to act, even when there's a gun pointed at your head. I love that you talk too much and you get flustered when you're embarrassed. I love that you depend on coffee like it's oxygen and that you depend on yourself when you're uncovering the truth.

"I love that you never ask anything of me, even when you know I'm not telling you everything. You don't push into my life like other people have, you don't know how rare and amazing a quality that is. I love that your smile lights up the whole room and that you can make me feel better just by looking at me. You brighten up my day everyday. I love that you know me better than anyone and that you seem to understand without me having to explain anything to you. You seem to get me when I don't even understand myself. I love that you are loyal to people, and are there for them whether they ask you to or not and that you protect people who can't protect themselves. You always put others before yourself.

"Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I love you Lois."

Lois gasped a deep breath as she sat up in the small hospital bed.

"Lois? Lois! You're okay?!" Clark's face lit up at seeing Lois upright and conscious.

Chloe and Oliver, who had been asleep on the chairs in the corner of the room, blinked sleepily before noticing the brunette breathing heavily in bed.

"Lois? Is everything oka-" Clark stopped mid-sentence as Lois slapped him hard across the face.

The room sat in stunned silence, until Lois began to yell at Clark. "Okay first I am not bossy, a little assertive maybe but no way bossy! Second, 'Love Aint a Stranger' is an amazing song! And Whitesnake is way better than that noise you call music that you listen to! Third, I don't let you drive because when I get in a car I actually want to get somewhere in this decade! You drive like an old lady who's had one tiquilla too many. Fourth, I am an action girl, I would take 'Die Hard' over 'The Notebook' anyday! Fifth, ice water? Really? Clark Kent, when I get my hands on you so help me I'll-"

"Okay, I see that somebody's up!" A doctor walked into the room, stopping Lois' rant before her three friends had managed to comprehend the situation. "How about we check your vitals? See if everything's normal."

As Lois was checked over, Clark shifted beneath her glare. She'd heard everything he'd said only to yell at him when she'd woken up. She hadn't even mentioned the part about him loving her, it hadn't all gone to plan. She wasn't really supposed to hear him. Clark cringed at the thought of Lois hearing what he'd had to say. He gulped, she was going to kill him, in a very slow and painful way.

When the doctor had left, Chloe had suggested that she would go get some coffees and dragged a reluctant Oliver with her. Clark could only watch wide-eyed as she left, he was a dead man walking.

"So..." Clark couldn't take the silence, yet he couldn't look at Lois in case her icy gaze still lingered on him. "... I take it that you heard everything I said."

"Well apparently you decided to take advantage of that 'rare oppertunity' where I couldn't interrupt you." Lois didn't sound happy, and it was enough to make Clark want to super-speed back to the farm and hide. But since he was already in trouble, he might as well risk enraging her further so that he could ask her the question that had been nagging at the back of his mind.

"Umm... Yeah, about that. Did you hear everything I said?"

"Unfortunately for you."

"Everything?"

"For God's sake Clark, yes I did! Why the hell do you think I'm so freaking mad at you?"

"So you heard me tell you that I loved you?"

Silence.

"Lois?"

Her face went red. "Well I- I- Errr..."

Clark looked at her, flustered and avoiding his gaze. She had heard him and, instead of focusing on the part that scared her, she had feigned anger at him in the hope that the subject would be avoided. She seemed to be frantically trying to find something, anything to say that would restore her power in the conversation. But her mind kept coming up blank. Clark could see the panic in her face, her desperate need to have something to hide behind but the sarcasm that was usually there had failed her.

This was his chance, maybe his only chance to seize hold of the situation and take charge. It was a rare moment where he was in control.

Clark cupped her face in his hands and moved so close that Lois' nose brushed his own. Her eyes tentavely met his as he slowly tilted his head and bent so that his lips brushed hers. She froze momentarily in shock and Clark kissed her again more boldly. Mere milimetres apart, Lois stared at Clark's lips then his eyes. She couldn't decide what to do, her head and her heart were screaming so loud she couldn't fathom what she wanted. Clark was so close she felt his chest against hers with every breath he took.

Once again she looked up into his eyes.

She knew what she wanted to do, and so she kissed him.