Chapter Fourteen- "Where We Stand"

The loft doors were wide open allowing Clark to sit on the edge with his legs dangling in the air as he just sat there on the wood floor staring at the setting sun, "Penny for your thoughts."

He looked back over his shoulder to see Lois standing behind him with her arm still in a sling from the incident with the Kane brothers, "The doctor said for you to rest." He says concerned.

"You need to relax Smallville. This isn't my first rodeo and certainly won't be my last that's for damn sure." She sits at his side and playfully nudges him but soon grows serious from the look on his face, "I'm fine"

He takes her uninjured hand in his, "I don't know what I would've done if-" he's cut off when she silences him with a quick kiss, "W-What was that for?"

"No reason." She replies with a smile while her hand squeezes his tightly, "You don't need to worry about stuff like that, we're together that's all that matters." She lays her head on his shoulder and watches the remaining daylight disappear.

"Are we together?" he questions immediately regretting it when she pulls away from him with a confused look on her face, "I mean since China we haven't exactly talked about where this is headed."

"I don't…" she trails off when she notices a black Mercedes-Benz W221 drives up the stretch of road leading up towards the farm and immediately recognizes it.

"Lois?" Clark's voice knocks her out of thought and causes her to turn and face him, "Are we together or not?"

She shakes her head in thought but he takes it as a sign of rejection and immediately rises to his feet and walks off without a word only to come to a halt when Bruce Wayne appears from the backseat of the luxury vehicle, "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." Bruce seems to look from Clark to over his shoulder at something.

"No." Lois's voice causes him to turn around to face her as she just stand in the barn entrance, "You weren't interrupting anything."

Clark lets out a frustrated noise and walks off towards the yellow farmhouse leaving Bruce standing there confused, "Are you sure about that Lo? He seems a little pissed about something."

"It's nothing I can't handle." She walks past him headed towards her car, "I assume you're here for Clark so I'll just leave you boys to discuss your business while I go dig into a pint."

Bruce just shakes his head and walks into the yellow farmhouse, "Another rough patch in the Lois Lane and Clark Kent department?"

"Something like that." Clark stops what he was doing but shook off the thought, "Why are you here Bruce? Need a place to hide out from those assassins?"

"Actually I'm here because someone's stolen something of mine and I need your help getting it back."

The farmboy turned around to face Bruce with a confused look on his face, "The richest man in Gotham is coming to me for help, it must be something very valuable if you're coming to me."

"It's the last stone of knowledge." Bruce immediately notices a change in Clark's body language, his back straightens and disbelief is evident in his eyes, "I'm the one that stole it from you and now someone's stolen it from me."

In that split second Bruce found himself pinned against the wall with Clark gripping the lapels of his tailored suit, "You're the reason I can't finish the crystal. Do you know what you've done?"

"I wasn't sure that I could trust you with the stone so I decided to keep it form you until I thought you were worthy of such a gift."

"Who died and put you in charge of my destiny!" Clark drops the boy billionaire harshly on the floor and steps away running his fingers through his hair, "If the stones are in the wrong hands it could mean the end of us all. You've put not only my secret but you've put this whole world in jeopardy because of your mistrust."

"I know that now Clark but we can right my wrong by figuring out who stole the stone from me."

Clark shakes his head negatively, "You've done enough Bruce." He grabs his coat and speeds away leaving Bruce alone to contemplate his actions.

When Lois opened the door to her dorm room she quickly slammed the door in Bruce's face before quickly opening it once again with one hip firmly planted on her hip, "What do you want?"

"I need your help. Clark wont listen to me and-"

"And you thought that since he turned you down that you'd come to me. Don't I feel lucky." She cuts him and moves aside allowing him to step inside with the door closing behind him, "What's so important that you needed to come all the way to Kansas?"

He began rubbing his hands nervously as he looked around the small dorm room, "You remember the stone that was stolen from Clark the day of Chloe's birthday party?"

"What about it?"

He turns around to face her, "I may or may not have had a part in stealing it."

A look of disbelief crosses her face followed by confusion, "Why would you steal one of the stones from Clark?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"My boyfriend's an alien from another planet, I'm pretty sure that I can handle anything you have to tell me." Replied Lois with her arms crossed over her chest, "Hit me with your best shot."

After explaining the whole situation in great detail, Lois's only response was a slap upside Bruce's head causing the billionaire to rub the sore spot on the back of his head, "I knew coming to you would be a bad idea. You always end up hitting me."

"Take it like a man Bruce. How could you be so stupid as to steal something that important from Clark only to have someone else steal if from right under your nose?"

"Well at the time I didn't know that the stones were meant for Clark and now that I do we have to get this stone to him before something really bad happens."

"I think something bad already happened." She replies letting out a frustrated breath while running her fingers through her hair, "Is there anyone you can think of that would want to steal from you?"

Bruce immediately looked up at her and said, "Lex Luthor. He was in Egypt the same time I was searching for the first stone and I take it Clark was the one that stole the stone he had. Damn It!" he reaches for something inside of his pocket and begins to dial a number where he then started speaking in a very angry Italian before slamming his phone closed.

"Lex has been tracking my movements this whole time and must've gotten to my thief."

"Well what's this guy's name? Maybe we can track him down and ask what he did with the stone."

A look crossed his face that she couldn't decipher, "If I tell you promise not to be mad." She nods and takes a breath, "Billy Kane"

If you think you've seen an angry Lois Lane that was nothing compared to the look she was giving Bruce which made him wish he hadn't told her, "You hired the man who kidnapped me and tried to torture me about Level 3." She slaps him this time a lot hard leaving a red mark on his cheek, "Bastard" she whispers and goes to grab her stuff.

"Lo I swear I had no idea that they would hurt you. Jason Teague hired him and I paid him to get the stone from Clark, Lex must've used his brother to his advantage…you know that I would never hurt you."

"You better have a plan on getting that stone back or so help me all of Gotham City will know about your extra circular activities as Batman." She walks out slamming the door behind her only to run straight into Clark.

He looked at the expression on her face curious as to who had pissed her off this time to which she proceeded to go off in a rant about what had happened leaving her breathless and relieved to get that off her chest.

Clark just grabbed her hand in an act of support, "We'll figure this out but right now I think it would be best if you just stayed focus on school and the Daily Planet. Leave the stones to me and Bruce."

"But what about what he did?"

"He thought he was doing something right and I can't really blame him for trying to protect something I should've been searching for at the start. With his resources and my abilities we can finish this." He moves a strand of hair out of the way cupping her face as he gives her a reassuring smile, "After that we can finish what we started" he gives her a passionate kiss that caused the butterflies in her stomach to go haywire and her feet to curl, "I'll see you around." He smirks giving her a softer kiss before walking off leaving a speechless Lois Lane behind.

TBC

Next chapter focuses more on Lex and leads to a showdown between old friends…STAY TUNED!

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