A/N: Hey… so sorry it took so long to update again. What with weddings I didn't know about, and having to photograph stuff, and a golf competition and just general madness… I was swamped. But the story's almost finished. Last chapter up by tomorrow at the latest. In the meantime, here's the next bit… and it has Lois calling Krypton funny things… hope it was worth the wait. Oh, and the lyrics at the beginning - Beautiful Disaster by Kelly Clarkson. Yes, I like Kelly Clarkson... so what? Oh, shut up!

~*~

…twelve…

~*~

he's soft to the touch

but frayed at the ends he breaks

he's never enough

and still he's more than i can take

boy when i don't know

i don't know what he's after

but he's so beautiful

he's such a beautiful disaster

and if i could hold on

through the tears and the laughter

would it be beautiful

or just a beautiful disaster

Lois drifted.

Caught in that place between sleep and awake where she could still remember dreaming.

She didn't want to leave that place.

Clark had told her that he loved her.

He'd touched her, so gently…

Held her… kissed her… set her world alight when he made love to her.

She didn't want to leave that place… between sleep and awake.

Where she could still remember dreaming.

But dreams end. Dreams die. And Lois' eyes fluttered open despite her internal groans of absolute protest. She grimaced, trying to blink away the annoyance of the harsh, unfamiliar light. It took long seconds for the fog to lift from her mind and, when it did, she was convinced she was dreaming again.

Because she couldn't float.

Could she?

No, no, she corrected herself, she wasn't floating – Clark was. She was just lying on top of him.

That was better.

For about 2.5 seconds.

Then she screamed.

Clark's return from the land of dreams was considerably quicker than Lois'. The sound of her scream grabbing him from sleep so fast he almost choked on the rising panic before he got his eyes open. When he did, he noticed the ceiling was only a foot away, and Lois was slipping.

Just as she tumbled off the cushion of his body, he grabbed her wrist, halting her fall. Then he froze.

Suspended thirty feet in the air, Lois and Clark just looked at each other, wide-eyed and freaking out. Lois couldn't decide who was more freaked out, herself or Clark. It was a toss-up at this point.

"Lois… don't worry…" he managed to mutter, "I've got you."

"Yeah… but who's got you?"

The sound of her repeating the exact statement he'd voiced to Pete thirteen years ago actually calmed him down and he laughed a little. Lois seemed to take his laughter as a personal affront.

"This isn't funny, Smallville!" she yelled, "You're freakin' flying! You didn't tell me you could fly!"

"I couldn't until now," he said.

"Then what the hell is going on?"

"I don't know," he admitted, "But obviously I'm healed. I got my powers back. Along with some new ones."

"Yeah, yeah, that's great," she said, "But could we please have this conversation back on terra-firma before the ice-cream I ate last night makes a comeback?"

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

Clark didn't move. Lois wasn't impressed. Truth be told, Clark didn't know how to move.

"I'm waiting!" she said.

"Uh…"

"Clark?"

"I think… I'm kinda stuck."

"You're what?"

"Well, excuse me! But I wasn't born with an instruction guide on how to fly!"

"Well, figure it out faster! My arm's starting to get lame!"

"I would if you could shut up for two seconds!"

"Hey, I'm allowed to rant when I wake up and find my boyfriend floating! If that's not an invitation to vent, then I don't…"

She trailed off when she caught Clark smirking.

"What?!"

"You called me your boyfriend."

"Oh, for God's sakes!"

Chuckling, Clark closed his eyes, and tried to will himself back to the floor. Keeping his eyes resolutely shut, he started muttering under his breath:

"Down… down… down…"

He only opened them again when he felt Lois' weight lift as her feet touched the floor. Drawing deep, easy breaths, Clark brought himself back to a standing position and gently touched down.

"Wow…" he breathed, "So that's what that feels like…"

"Any other spontaneous powers on the way that I should know about?" asked Lois, "Mindreading, maybe…? The ability to line-dance? Sprouting hair in uncomfortable places at every full moon?"

"God, I hope not."

"So… you're a full-on Power Ranger again?"

"Well, I wouldn't put it like that," said Clark, "But yeah… looks like."

"Good," said Lois, "So can we please, please, please get outta here?"

"Sure," said Clark, "I'd just… uh… I think we should put on some clothes first."

Lois' eyes immediately raked downwards, taking in every inch of Clark's exposed skin. Then she noticed that she was naked too.

"Good idea."

They both started scrambling around, rooting out stray items of clothing that, somehow, had found themselves flung to every corner of the cell. Clark considered getting dressed at super speed, but figured Lois wouldn't be too happy about that. It would look like an advantage.

"So…" said Lois, digging a shoe out from under the table that Clark had smashed into the wall, "Why do you think the blue Crouton stuff wore off?"

"Kryptonite," Clark corrected her, "And I'm not sure. I think, maybe it's because the bullet went right through me. Fragments of it got into my system, but I guess my body broke it down. Blue kryptonite isn't true kryptonite. It's engineered."

"That makes a difference?"

"I have no idea."

"Uh huh… and the flying?"

"That's even weirder," said Clark, "I've sorta floated before… when I was dreaming."

"What were you dreaming about last night?"

Clark opened his mouth to answer, then quickly changed his mind. He pretended to be busy finding a sock behind the refrigerator. Lois, of course, wasn't fooled.

"Clark.." she said, in a deceptively dangerous tone of voice, "What were you dreaming about?"

"Nothing."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Right."

"You don't believe me?"

"No."

"Too bad."

"Clark…"

Again with the dangerous tone. Clark sighed.

"Fine," he said, "I… was… dreaming… about you."

The grin on Lois' face wouldn't have looked out of place on a cat taking a swim in a vat full of cream. Clark blushed. That just made her grin even more.

"I make you fly?"

Clark scowled. He picked up the refrigerator and tossed it aside so he could get at the stray sock.

"Wass'amatter Clark?" she drawled, "Don't want to admit that I'm the best thing that's ever happened to you?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because if I admit that then I won't have the strength to… to do what I have to do today."

The grin vanished, "What do you have to do?"

"Can we just talk about this when we get out of here?"

"No, we're going to talk about it now."

"Lois, please…"

"No."

To prove her point, she planted her feet and crossed her arms over her chest, the very picture of the immovable object.

"You know I can just pick you up and carry you out of here," he said.

"Try it."

Clark considered it, but only briefly. It wouldn't be a smart move.

"Last night you asked me to put it on hold," she said, "And I did because… because I thought you needed it. But it's a new day, Clark. Now I want to know what's going on."

"It's complicated."

"I'm pretty smart. I think I can keep up."

Her stare was locked in. He'd seen that look before. Every time she got the scent of a story, or the last jelly-filled doughnut at the coffee station… it was all Mad Dog Lane and she wouldn't back down for anything.

"Last night, before I got the message from Chloe… a friend came to see me," he explained.

"A friend?"

"Yeah… he's… not exactly from… around here."

"Oh? Is he from Crayon too?"

"Krypton."

"Whatever."

"No, he's from the future."

"Like… the future-the future?"

"What does that even mean?" asked Clark.

Lois ignored him, "What did he say?"

"He told me Davis and I would… battle," said Clark, "And that Davis was going to kill me."

Clark expected many things after that statement. He expected Lois to be shocked, maybe horrified… a stray tear or two…

He didn't expect her to laugh it off like he'd just announced he was going to the supermarket.

"Well, that's not going to happen," she said.

"Actually, Lois, it is," said Clark, "He's from the future. That's how he knows."

"He doesn't know squat!" said Lois, dismissively, "You're the Blur! He can't beat you."

"Lois, he's the thing that attacked us at the wedding. He tossed me around like it was nothing."

"So, figure out his weakness and exploit it," she said.

"Just that easy?"

"Just that easy."

Clark laughed, "You're incredible, you know that?"

"You're only figuring that out now?"

Clark didn't answer. Instead, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a kiss. He tried to pour everything he was thinking, everything he was feeling, into that kiss.

How it felt like he'd loved her forever.

How even forever wasn't enough.

How grateful he was that with one sentence she could bring a sense of calm that he could carry anywhere… even to the end of the world.

Lois felt it all.

Then Clark bent his knees, scooping her up into his arms. And then they were flying. They left the cell behind, with it's ghosts and memories.

This wasn't that place between sleep and awake, where you can still remember dreaming.

This was past that place, where a monster was waiting.