As Chloe ascended the creaky old steps to Clark's loft, her gaze drifted around the room, settling briefly on each item that held some sort of meaning for her friend. Her heart hammered in her chest as her gaze finally came to rest on the tall figure silhouetted against the warm colours of the Kansas sunset streaming through the open window. His stance was different from when she'd last seen him in the same place, his spine was straight instead of stooping self-consciously, his shoulders were back and his head was up. Standing at his full height he was an impressive specimen, she swallowed, that was a distinctly Kal El stance, was Clark really back?

She cleared her throat and he tilted his head slightly before slowly turning to face her. His expression was intense, his green eyes gaining an eerie glow in the low light as he looked at her. He held out a hand to her and she went to him, taking the offered hand and allowing him to draw her to the window to gaze out with him at the beauty of the horizon.

"I remember, Chloe." His voice was low, contemplative, "I remember everything: Metropolis, Kal, Kal El, the fortress," his eyes closed briefly, "my mother..." He gazed down at her, his brows drawn together, "I'm not the monster I was convinced Jor El wanted to make me. They trained me, Chloe; my parents sent me here as a protector," his brows pinched, "They prepared me but I'm still scared; it's such a huge responsibility, what if I mess up? And... there's something else." He squirmed uncomfortably and at that point, Chloe knew he was back, "As Kal El I had such complete clarity of vision, my purpose was so clear to me."

Chloe gazed up at him, searching the new depths to his eyes, "And now?" She held her breath, praying that he wasn't going to say he was still hung up on Lana, that she was the one clouding his judgement.

He grimaced slightly, "Now, I have a whole new problem. While Kal El was at the forefront of my personality I kept having flashbacks of what happened in Metropolis... with Lois." He returned his gaze to the darkening skyline, "How do I face her knowing what I know, knowing what we did?"

"You could tell her."

"She'd never believe me, she doesn't even know me, Chloe, she knows Kal El. As Kal I lusted blindly after her, as Kal El I disliked and didn't understand the effect she had on me; she's never known me as me, how am I supposed to tell her th-that I... that..." He stammered and trailed off and Chloe's eyes widened at what he was implying.

"Oh my God, you mean-?"

He nodded sadly, "According to my mother it was inevitable, it wasn't coincidence that Lois was the one who drew me back here." He sighed heavily and stepped away from the window, Chloe watched him go as he sank down onto the sofa, "How are we going to explain all this to her? She'll think I'm schizophrenic, she'll never see me the way I see her; she already dislikes me as it is."

Chloe nibbled on her lower lip in thought for a long moment before dropping a bomb on him, "This is going to sound a little crazy, Clark, but if you trust what your birth parents have told you then maybe you should-" she trailed off as his gaze met hers again, the hopelessness and loneliness there spurring her on. She joined him on the sofa and continued softly, "maybe you should tell her everything." His eyes were thoughtful, a distinct change from what his reaction would have been before this all began, "Lois is pig-headed and stubborn as a mule but she is also the most reliable, trustworthy and surprisingly insightful person I have ever known. You won't have to worry about keeping your abilities secret from her, you'll have a fresh start with someone you won't have to lie to and I know she'd never betray you by revealing you to anyone."

Clark was thoughtful, "What if she freaks out? Being rejected by Lana was the one thing that scared me more than anything, that's one of the reasons I never told her."

Chloe's voice was soft, "She's not Lana, Clark. That's the point."

Lois was pacing again.

She cursed the nervous habit but she couldn't help it, Chloe was on her way over with the newly-restored Clark Kent which shouldn't have bothered her, except that she'd had another dream about the man she'd technically never met. The dream had been just as blindly passionate as the last, but this time there had been flashes of clarity interwoven with the heat; somehow she knew that these brief moments of something - someone - peeking through meant more than the whole.

Which one was the Clark that was heading towards her now? In her dreams he had been nameless, as though he were fragmented and one name alone did not fit; the seductive curl of his lips did not match the tenderness in his eyes just as the way he drove blindly into her did not match the soft touch of his fingers against her skin.

She squeezed her thighs together in an attempt to quell the heat that had risen in response to the memory and her breath hitched as his deep, green eyes fashed through her mind again.

A key jangled loudly in the lock to the front door, Lois jumped and threw herself down onto the sofa snagging a magazine en route, desperate to appear nonchalant when they came in. The door opened behind her and her eye twitched as distinctly male energy immediately wove its way to her, filling her senses with him; she didn't even have to turn to know he was standing mere feet away from her, and staring at her in a way he never had as Kal El.

"Hey, Chlo." she cheered inwardly as her voice emerged completely calm and unflustered as she continued to pretend to read the magazine.

"Hi, Lois," Lois' fingers tightened on the glossy paper as Chloe appeared in her peripheral vision, the tall, dark figure that followed dwarfing her, "Uh, Lois, why are you reading upside down?"

Lois blinked as she realised that her nonchalance prop had betrayed her, dammit! "Oh, the fashions make more sense this way!" She continued to leaf through the pages, refusing steadfastly to look up... at him...

"Lois, I'd like you to meet Clark, the complete Clark."

Lois' eyes snapped up and she immediately regretted it when her gaze zeroed in on his as he gazed unblinkingly at her. It took her a few seconds to get her mouth to work, "Uh, n-nice to meet you." She turned to Chloe who was sporting an amused smirk, "Complete?"

"It's a long story, one that we will tell you once we all have a cup of coffee in our hands. I'll be right back!" And with that she headed into the kitchen, leaving the two alone in silence.

Lois felt her fingernails tearing into the pages as she fought not to look at him. He moved to sit in an armchair directly facing her and she swallowed, the last time she had seen him playing vividly in her mind and wreaking havoc on her nerves.

"So!" She made herself jump with the shrillness of her tone, "You found your sign then?"

He tilted his chin down and gazed steadily at her, "Yes I did."

"Good! Great!" Chloe returned with the coffees and Lois almost kissed her.

"There's no easy way to explain all this, Lois." Chloe sipped at her coffee as she settled on the opposite end of the sofa to Lois, letting the caffeine give her the energy she knew she'd need for the oncoming emotional onslaught.

Lois' brows creased, "Explain what exactly?"

"Everything." Clark's deep voice was steady, strong and Chloe silently thanked him and his new-found confidence in himself.

"Okay..."

To his surprise Clark's gaze didn't waver from Lois' face as Chloe told her everything, about his true nature, about his abilities, about how Kal El was not a persona but an actual part of himself. His heart slammed erratically against his breast bone as he struggled to maintain the cool facade he had managed to erect, Lois' gaze was fixed on him, her eyes penetrating him and peering into his soul. He swallowed as the first nervous bead of sweat broke out on his forehead and trickled down his temple.

She hadn't said anything since Chloe began explaining in earnest, merely looked at him, not stared, not wide-eyed in panic, not reaching for the pepper spray he knew she kept in her bag, just looked. He blinked as she rose to her feet, cutting Chloe off mid-sentence, to approach him. He rose to meet her and fought back his innate shyness as she reached up to touch his face lightly. She gazed up into his face for a long moment before speaking,

"What was the sign?"

Clark swallowed, she'd taken in so much already, was she ready to hear what he was desperate to share with her?

"Lois..."

"What was it?"

"Please... not yet..."

"Clark."

His heart was threatening to burst out of his chest as it tripped all over itself, he couldn't tell her yet, she didn't even know him, she knew Kal El, "Not like this..."

Her grip on his face tightened and she clenched her teeth, "What. Is. The. Sign?"

He dropped his gaze from hers and whispered, "You."