Chapter 11

The next morning, Lois took the day off from work to get Chris ready for school and have some time alone. Everyone had a hectic night yesterday, she needed a day to herself. She was making Chris a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when she heard the door open. Lois stopped at her tracks, in the middle of cutting the sandwich in half. Her heart stopped for a second, her eyes wide open at her door opening. She caught her breath, and saw it was Oliver who walked in, grinning when he saw her. She relaxed and breathed out a sigh, "It's just you."

Oliver chuckled, "Who did you think it was?"

"Uncle Ollie!" Chris ran in, half dressed, holding his shirt with his hair barely brushed.

Oliver smiled and reached out for Chris when Lois yelled out, "You're not even ready yet mister! Go get changed you're gonna be late!"

Chris pouted, "I don't HAVE to go mom! It's just kindergarten!" He was having a fit with her that morning because she was making him go. Like every other day.

"Kid's got a point" Oliver joked.

Lois pointed the bread knife at him, and said with a stern voice, "Don't start with me Ollie." She turned to Chris, "Go get changed Christopher. I'm not having this discussion with you. I'm not giving you a day off of school. That's what weekends are for. Now go get ready."

"No mom!" he pleaded.

"I'm gonna count to three! One, Two- "

"FINE!" he stomped back to his room and slammed the door.

Lois shook her head and rolled her eyes at her son's stubbornness. She was slicing the bread in half as Oliver sat across from her at the same counter. "I don't understand why he's being so pushy. It's kindergarten. You just colour and play with the other kids."

Oliver chuckled, "You know it amazes me how much he reminds me of you. You're stubborn too."

Lois made eye contact with him and kept a stern look, which made Oliver antsy. She fixed his lunch bag and right when Chris walked out, she tossed him his lunch and went to get her jacket and purse. Oliver pulled out a chair next to him and picked up Chris to sit next to him, "Don't worry buddy. It's not that bad is it? What's so bad about school?"

Chris pouted and shrugged, "It's not school. Mommy's sad all the time now." He kept his head down, looking at his feet.

Oliver sighed and saw the sad look in his face. He lifted up his chin with his hand, "Hey. Let me take care of your mom. She's having a tough time. The last thing she wants is for you to be worried about her. That's her job. I'll take care of your mom."

Chris blinked and stuck out his pinkie finger at him, "Promise?"

Oliver laughed and locked his pinkie with Chris', "Pinkie promise." They both smiled at each other as Lois walked in, ready to drop him off to school. Chris ran past her to the door, Lois looked at Oliver, "I'll be waiting here." She nodded and walked out the door with Chris ahead of her.

"Come in!" Chloe yelled out at the knock on the doors of Watchtower as she was updating on the whereabouts of Lex. She looked up to see Clark, her old friend, enter the scene for the first time in over four years. The look on his face was amazement. He looked around at the changes made to Watchtower. He sighed to himself and realized just how much has changed. When he made eye contact with Chloe, she gave him a sympathetic smile, as if she knew what he was thinking. He returned the smile back. "It's gonna take some time to get used to seeing you around here again Clark." She walked up to him and hugged him tightly. She missed him so much. Being able to talk to him about anything, to turn to each other for comfort, for advice. "I missed you so much Clark."

Clark breathed in heavily, "I missed you too Chloe. More than you could imagine." He let go of her and they stared at each other. "Or maybe you do considering you can channel anyone's emotions now?"

Chloe sighed, "Not anymore thank god! I spoke to Zatanna and she reversed the spell. I'm back to being old Chloe."

Clark pursed his lips, "Why did she cast a spell on you anyways?"

Chloe hesitated, "Uhmmm... well, she walked in on me and Lois arguing..." her voice trailed off when she noticed Clark's face at Lois' name. She continued, "We were fighting about you Clark. She found out that Kara and I were looking for you, and she got angry for keeping that from her..."

Clark understood where she was getting at, "She didn't want you to find me did she." It wasn't a question, to which Chloe just nodded silently.

They stood there in an awkward silence until Chloe finally spoke, "I had no idea Clark." He stared back into her eyes, "I had no idea her emotions were that strong towards you. How much she kept in. She was in an emotional state for the first couple of months you were gone and then... she was fine, like she was herself again. Ollie and I just figured she had accepted your reasoning and moved on, that she made peace with it. That's why I never understood why she got so sensitive for even mentioning your name." She starting shaking her head, "I guess I would never truly understand how bad it hurt to be abandoned until Zatanna made me an empath. All I saw was your point of view. The sacrifice you made in order to protect her. But now I know exactly what she was feeling Clark. You hurt her so much. I'm still reeled up from her emotions from seeing you. It was... it was so much for me to handle that I thought my heart was going to explode and I would never stop crying. I don't know how she managed to keep all of that in for four years."

Clark winced at Chloe's words, he choked back, "If I had known that it was killing her every day I was gone, I would've never left-"

"That's the thing Clark. Behind all of this emotional suffering, she also had hate too... I'm not saying this to hurt you Clark but you NEED to know this. You're the only one who can fix this. Right now, at this very moment in her life, I don't think she was expecting to see you ever again and so she didn't prepare herself. She blocked you out of her mind and she just hates you for leaving your son. I don't think there's any room for forgiveness in her heart right now..."

Clark took in a deep breath, "I thought I was doing this for the right reasons. But it seems I've caused her more danger emotionally than physically. Chloe the last time she was in danger there were atomic bombs falling out of the sky at her and our son. Why? Because they found out my identity. Whether we're together or not, there's always gonna be Superman in the way."

"But see she never thought of it that way Clark. You both didn't. She knew what she was signing up for and so did you. The difference is that she didn't run away from that responsibility when things went down Clark, you did."

Clark didn't speak for a while, he walked over to the window and looked out to the view of Metropolis, he looked out to where the Daily Planet was. He sighed, "Every day I was gone Chloe, I regretted it more and more. I missed so much with my son. He doesn't even know me, but I know him, I've been there for him, but no one even knows about it. I've been making sure they were both safe... from a distance."

Chloe walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder, "They were never safe without you Clark. They need the love of a father and a husband, and all they feel is abandonment." Clark swallowed and held Chloe's hand with his own.

"I need to see her."

"Clark... don't see her if it's a goodbye. She doesn't want that. Go see her if you're planning to stay. For good."

Clark dropped his head down and slightly nodded, "I don't know yet. Maybe she'd be happier if I'm gone. She just seems so angry that I'm back."

"Well in my opinion, if you truly hate someone, it means you still love them. If I hadn't felt anything from Lois when she saw you, then I would say she's moved on and she doesn't love you anymore. But Clark, as much as she'll deny it. She will never stop loving you. You just need to fight for her because she won't anymore. She's going to try to slip away and you need to grab on to her so that she knows you won't hurt her again." Clark nodded, unsure of his decision to stay or leave again. All he knew was that he wanted to see Lois again, no matter what.