Clark made the mistake of trying to sit up when he saw Lois. She put her hand on his chest and gestured for him to lie back down, then she grabbed a chair and sat next to him.
"How are you feeling?" Lois asked as she took hold of his hand to show her support.
"Better for knowing you are here." He smiled. "How long have you been here?"
"I've been with you since they brought you back from the Arctic." She squeezed his hand. "You were in pretty bad shape."
"So what do you know?"
"It doesn't matter now, all that matters is that you are alive and I am going to be with you until you are 100%. If that's what you want." Lois asked hopefully.
"I want nothing more. Let's ask Emil when I can get out of here and back to the Farm."
"I will take some time off from the Planet. I will look after you." Lois reassured him.
Emil did not take much convincing to let Clark move back to the Farm as he was going back to his job at Met Gen anyway so could keep an eye on him. Oliver arranged for Clark to be flown home. Lois went ahead with Kara to get the place arranged for Clark. Lois had asked if they could discuss things when they returned to Smallville.
Luckily by the time he arrived home, Clark could hobble around albeit in a lot of pain due to his abdominal wound and he had to get used to doing things with one hand. He didn't realise how much he relied on two hands, never mind his powers until he had to live without them.
After an hour or so, Emil stopped fussing over Clark and left.
Kara brought Lois and Clark a cup of coffee. "Guys, I am leaving Smallville for a while to help Oliver on some missions with his league. For the first time in ages I feel like I have a purpose in life and I need to do this. I will visit when I can."
"Thanks for everything, Kara." Lois hugged her.
"Don't Kal-el...I mean Clark. Don't get up. I can't bear to watch you in pain." She grimaced in sympathy.
Kara left but soon there was another knock at the door.
"Who is this?" Lois asked as she got up to see.
Clark heard Lois screaming in delight from the kitchen. "Chloe, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I fine. It was a bit of a rough ride but I am okay now. I cannot stay long because Jimmy is cooking for me. I have to give him an answer to an important question." Chloe smiled.
Lois squealed again. "He proposed. What's your answer?"
"I can't tell you that until I tell Jimmy." Chloe replied. "So where is Clark?"
Lois showed Chloe through to the lounge where Clark was lying down. "Oliver didn't tell me much, as I fell asleep on the way home. Being interrogated for days on end tends to make you tired."
Clark was concerned. "Are you ok? Did they hurt you?"
"Not physically, but I am a little mentally drained. So how are you doing?" Chloe asked uncomfortably. She was waiting for Lois to offer her a cup of coffee so she could ask him all about what happened.
Lois realised what was happening and she decided to leave it to Clark to explain. "Chloe. Do you want a coffee?"
"Would love one!"
Clark decided not to tell Chloe that Lois knew because he did not know how much she did know yet. He briefly told her what had happened before Lois reappeared with three cups of coffee.
"So do you need anything?" Chloe asked.
"No he will be fine Chloe. He has me looking after him and mopping his fevered brow." Lois smiled.
Chloe laughed. "Well, you're a glutton for punishment, Clark. What happened to Lana, she has moved all of her stuff out of the Talon and someone said she had skipped town."
"She left. Apparently I am too selfish to love her and give her what she needs." Clark stated.
"My god, you must be so cut up."
"I am sure I will survive." Clark smirked. "I can finally step off the Clark/Lana rollercoaster of life. It was getting very tedious."
Chloe was shocked by his change of heart to Lana and wondered if there was more to it than that.
"Listen guys, I think I will leave Lois to play nurses." Chloe laughed as she left.
As soon as she left., Clark looked at Lois with a serious look. "Lois, if you are the nurse, can I be the doctor."
She laughed. It was nice to see his sense of humour again. She had missed it.
"Maybe later." She winked. "Why don't you have a sleep? It has been a long trip."
"I think you are avoiding the subject." Clark suggested.
"What subject? About you being an intergalactic traveller who has had his powers taken off him by his dad." Lois realised that maybe making fun of Clark was not such a good idea after all he had gone through.
"You have such a way with words but that is basically it. Does it not change your feelings for me?"
"Clark, that is hard to answer because I think our feelings had become clouded prior to all the drama. You are going to take a while to recover so why don't we spend that time working out what our way forward is and where precisely we fit into each other's lives."
He grabbed her waist and pulled her down on the sofa next to him. "What a good plan. I agree on one condition. I get one kiss to remind me of what I am missing."
She bent over and kissed him gently but passionately on the lips. He responded before she gently pulled away. "Remember now! You get some sleep." She smiled.
Clark woke to an unfamiliar burning smell. At one point he thought it was a dream he was having but soon it was so overpowering it stirred him from his sleep.
"Lois, what's going on?" he could see the smoke coming into the lounge from the kitchen. He tried to jump up but realised that he was in too much pain and did have any powers anyway.
"Don't worry." She yelled trying not to give her alarm away. "It's under control."
"That's what they said about the Great Fire of London and look how badly that ended." Clark shouted back. "I'm coming through."
Finally the smoke started to diminish. "It's ok. The fire is out." Lois came through to the lounge, sounding relieved.
"What happened?" Clark asked.
"I was trying to cook dinner for you as a surprise but as usual the Lois Lane cooking skills could not cope." She smiled.
"Lois, what skills?" he smiled back.
"Look, just lie there and I will defrost one of your mom's pies."
"Do you want me to do it?" he asked nicely.
"No, Clark. Your mom has drilled the cooking instructions into me, plus wrote them on the freezer bag and if all else fails there is the final notice on the microwave door. I am sure I will be able to manage." She replied in a sarcastic tone.
"Ok. Can I set the table?"
"Clark, lets just eat on the sofa and watch a movie or something."
"Fine by me! I hate being this useless. All those chores need doing." He sounded upset.
"I am sure you will be up and about soon." She replied.
"Yeah but I won't have my powers."
"I heard you tell Emil that you liked not having them last time."
"That was because Lana did not know about my powers back then and it made my life easier. I could have a normal relationship without the fear of hurting her. " he realised he had revealed maybe a little too much.
"How would you hurt her?"
"You know..." he went red.
"Oh I see. So how long were you without your powers?" Lois asked curiously.
"Only a few days."
"You mean you and Lana have not..."
Clark held up his hand to stop her going any further in this discussion. "No Lois. Only in those few days almost three years ago."
"God, you two must have been very frustrated." Lois realised her tact had just flown out of the window. "I am so sorry. I am embarrassing you. It's just you lived with her for six months."
"I know and believe me Lana never let me forget it. I supposed I can't blame her. Maybe that is why she jumped into bed so quickly with that imposter."
"What imposter?"
"This is a bit hard to grasp but basically a clone wreaked havoc last year. I think he must have been the one that grabbed you at Luthor mansion last year. It wasn't me."
Lois smiled. "I thought that was way out of character for you and you looked so puzzled when I told you off for it later. So how long did Lana live with the clone for."
"About two weeks. She told me just last week how much more affectionate and loving the clone was than me." He explained.
"She obviously doesn't know you very well, does she?" Lois smiled.
"No. I suppose I have never opened up to her much. She had to trick my secret out of me. You are the first person I was going to tell, well at least until fate took over and you found out anyway."
"I am glad I know but I would have understood if you had not told me." Lois admitted.
Just then the microwave bleeped to say the pie was ready. Clark managed to move into a sitting position, although his stomach was tender, the pain was bearable. Lois put on a movie to watch.
"I am the poorly one, how come you get to choose?" Clark asked when he realised he was going to have to sit through Grease for the 27th time.
"Chill Smallville. Tonight it is a chick flick, tomorrow I might let you choose if you are good." She said in a motherly tone that made him laugh.
She was going to drive him insane...
It was a godsend that his mom always filled the freezer with pies and other goodies when she was home, and she would be home at the weekend. Martha had been so worried by what had happened that she was going to take some time off the Senate until Lois convinced her otherwise.
"I wish I could cook like your mom. I had a dream the other night that I was living on the Farm, cooking pies whilst having two small children running around the kitchen driving me crazy."
"Maybe one day you will be a supermom. Why don't you ask mom for some cooking lessons? She wouldn't mind. "
Lois looked at him. "Cooking is one thing I can master but I'll never be a mom."
"I thought you liked children." Clark was surprised by her admission.
"I do but I'm not mommy material." She explained.
He put his hand on her knee. "Don't be so hard on yourself."
"Clark, you have seen my screwed up family life."
"Lois, you lost your mom when you were six. It must have been hard without a mother figure but that does not mean that you are going to make a bad parent." Clark tried to convince her.
"No, I will never have children." Lois admitted.
"Well there is no point arguing about it now. You are only 22yrs old. There is plenty of time yet and something does tell me you will have a career for a while before you consider settling down."
"I suppose I am jumping the gun. My career at the Daily Planet means everything to me. Actually that is something I wanted to ask you. There is an intern post available, and I thought you might like to apply for it. I have the application form back at the Talon."
"Don't think I will ever make a journalist!" Clark replied.
"You enjoyed working with Chloe at the Torch didn't you?"
"Yeah, it was fun, but it wasn't exactly working for one of the biggest papers in the US."
"What else are you going to go? I cannot exactly see you working on this farm for the rest of your life, not that I am saying there is anything wrong with that if you did want to."
"Well, if I had my powers I could work the farm and keep down a full time job but now I am in the slow lane I don't have much choice."
"Just think about it. The job does not close until the end of the month. I know why you don't want it. You can't stand the thought of working next to me on a daily basis." She joked.
"Actually that is one of the redeeming features of the job. I will give it some thought. I need to find out if my powers are gone forever. I am going to try and rebuild the Fortress."
"But you are in no fit state to go to the Arctic." Lois was concerned.
"I don't need to. I have a key which takes me there via the Kawatche Caves. I thought the key was lost but I found it just before I went up to confront Lex."
"Well, as your nurse. I will not be letting you go for a few weeks yet."
"And what are you going to do to stop me?" Clark teased her.
"I will handcuff you to your bed." Lois joined in the flirting.
"As long as you are there with me, I won't mind that idea." He leaned across and touched her lips with his. He pushed them on harder so he could get access to her mouth.
Lois could not help herself. She was so attracted to him. Without thinking she climbed onto his lap, but it was too much for Clark as he winced in pain.
Lois jumped off. "I'm so sorry Clark. Is your wound ok?"
"It's fine. I am so sorry Lois."
"Don't be. You look a little tense. Why don't I see if I can help you with that?" Lois said seductively.
"Lois, not a good plan." Clark was shifting uncomfortable in his seat, but Lois was not going to take no for an answer.