A/N: Look guys, I really wasn't lying this time! :)

I think I covered pretty much everything in that update, so without further ado, I give you the next installment!

Chapter 12

She had almost thought it. She had lived in Smallville way too long to forget the fact that even thinking those words was practically a death wish. What else could possibly go wrong? Chloe mentally chastised herself.

Theoretically, she believed in the principle of the wheel of fortune. Life was incredibly random, and a girl like Chloe could attain everything she could possibly hope for only to have everything crumble around her in a heartbeat. What she had grown skeptical of was that the wheel would spin again and eventually land on some happier circumstance.

As it was – thanks to her brain's decision that she could not simply quit her life, or even her job – Chloe was at work trying to avoid Jimmy Olsen at all costs. Thankfully, that part had actually been quite easy, as it seemed that Jimmy wasn't going to bother her. It wasn't unfathomable; they had both worked here for months without knowledge that the other worked in the same building. After she'd broken up with Clark, though, Jimmy's work had suddenly required him to be around Chloe a lot more. There was no way it had been a coincidence, but she'd never mentioned it to him, because he made her feel better.

That was why when Chloe came back to work after playing hooky for a week and basically wallowing in her room, Jimmy's absence was a bit conspicuous. She was grateful because she wasn't exactly ready to see him right now, but it still felt weird. It felt like something was missing. But then, Chloe mused, what isn't missing?

Xx

He felt like he couldn't breathe. Who had stolen all of the oxygen out of the room?

The woman was still speaking, but Jimmy had retreated into himself. There was no way this could be happening. But it was, and there wasn't anything Jimmy could do to stop it. What could he do? Yell at her? This woman was only the messenger; she didn't hold any power over the situation any more than he did.

When she finished speaking, Jimmy simply nodded and stumbled out of the office in a daze. As he pushed the button for the elevator, he had no idea what to do next.

It had seemed that for once in his life things were finally starting to come together, but apparently that was not what destiny had in store for Jimmy Olsen. God was probably sitting up in heaven right now laughing at the fact that he thought he could have that.

He wasn't about to deny that he held complete responsibility for what happened with Chloe, but he really hadn't meant to completely destroy their friendship. And he didn't even want to think it, but despite the fact that he'd misread any and every social cue, he'd have to be an idiot if he didn't consider the fact that this event was related to the night he'd left Chloe stranded, since only a week had passed.

The elevator arrived and he hit the button for the basement. He felt marginally better now that he had something that he knew he had to do. He was going to get to the bottom of this and find out what, exactly, was going on. Then, he was going to do anything and everything he could to keep his life from falling apart.

Xx

His head was spinning. That was all it ever seemed to do since Lois had come to talk to him. She really wasn't lying when she said that Clark was an idiot. He'd been so wrapped up in his own thoughts about how to handle the situation that he hadn't seen that Chloe was hurting. That was what he had been trying to put an end to. Leave it to Clark to screw up like that.

But Clark's self-hatred at the present moment was nothing when he thought of how much he hated Jimmy right now. He desperately wanted to confront the man, but he knew that if he did he might not be able to control himself. He would have to trust Lois. She wasn't exactly an unbiased third party, and Clark was pretty sure she could kick Jimmy's ass without even trying, but trusting her was a lot easier than trusting himself right now. He'd just have to remember that Jimmy probably deserved whatever Lois was going to do to him.

But did he?

Clark didn't really have the full story, and Lois wasn't exactly the most reliable source given the circumstances. Plus, she hadn't even been at the "scene of the crime", as Chloe would call it.

From the few times Clark had met him, Jimmy seemed like a pretty decent guy.

Still, whatever had happened, Chloe had gotten hurt. Lois had gone and picked up the pieces, and Clark was… nowhere to be seen. Because of his own mistakes. He didn't know how to deal with that.

A knock on the door pulled him out of his thoughts and he pulled himself up from his spot on the couch to answer it. When he opened the door, he was taken by surprise by who was standing in front of him.

"Lana…"

His former girlfriend gave him a halfhearted smile. "Is this a bad time?"

"No," Clark said. "Come in."

Lana walked past him and stood in the living room. There was an awkward tension in the air. They'd been through a lot, climaxing in Clark kidnapping Lana, and Chloe and Lex having to intervene. He didn't even know why Lana would ever want to see him again.

"I don't want you to come to the wedding."

Oh. That was why.

Clark could only stare at her, and soon her expression melted.

"That came out wrong," she said.

"It sounded pretty straightforward to me," Clark said. "And I can't say I really blame you… after everything."

"It's not about that," Lana said. She sighed. It was obvious that this was hard for her. Clark decided it was probably best to stay quiet for now. "You and I both know that you weren't completely in control the night of the engagement party. Why you decided to lie about is beyond me… everybody in Smallville falls victim to these unexplained personality changes.

"Lex knows it wasn't really all you, too, but he's having trouble letting it go."

Clark had kind of expected that after that night… Lex had said he'd get revenge.

"Clark, I know you're more capable of handling yourself than you let on, but you know Lex… what he's capable of."

He froze. What did she know?

"And yet, you're marrying him in a few days."

Lana swallowed and looked into Clark's eyed. "Lex loves me, and I love him."

"But you just said he's capable of hurting me," Clark said. "Why would you agree to spend the rest of your life with someone like that?"

"It's not that simple," she said.

"Really," he said, feeling the emotion build up. He knew he should probably try to keep it in check, but Lex was a difficult subject. "Enlighten me."

"I know how it feels, Clark," Lana said, and this point it almost sounded like she was begging. "I know how it feels to want to get close to you and have you shut yourself off. Do you want to know how that feels?"

Clark could only look at the ground. He had his reasons for not telling Lex and Lana his secrets, but a nagging voice in the back of his brain was telling him they weren't the only ones. An image of Chloe's face when he told her that they should just be friends passed through his brain, and he grimaced.

"It feels horrible," she said. He ventured a look into her eyes, but now she was looking away, looking as though she was a million miles away. Then the tears fell down her cheek and he almost cursed. He hated this, hated how many times he'd made someone cry because of his stupid secret, and he hated that there was nothing he could do about it. "So, yeah, maybe I know where he's coming from on this one."

Lana wiped the teardrops from her face and stepped towards Clark. She placed the most tender of kisses on his cheek, told him to be careful, and then started to walk away.

"Lana," he said, and she turned around to face him.

"Please, Clark," she said, searching his eyes. "If you ever cared about me, for even a second, you would let me go."

"I just don't want you to get hurt," he said.

"You know, there was a time when I would've done whatever you said," she said. "But you deciding what was best for me was what made our relationship the disaster that it was. It was what tore us apart. Now you don't have a say in it. I'm going to marry Lex, and we will be happy."

He wanted to say something, do something, anything, to get Lana to listen to reason. It was obvious, at least to him, that Lana could never actually be happy with Lex. Maybe for awhile, but he would show his true colors in the long run, and by then she would already be married to him, have his children. It would be too late. But there was nothing he could do to influence her now. He knew what it must have looked like from her perspective, but all he'd ever wanted was for her to be safe and happy. Now he couldn't help her achieve that, and he had to accept that.

"Goodbye, Clark," she said, and for some reason, it sounded final. Then, before he could even think, she reached up and kissed him again on the cheek. He stood there for what seemed like ages after Lana turned around and walked away.

Xx

Chloe didn't really know how she'd gotten roped into this. She had set out to avoid Jimmy Olsen like the plague, and she really thought it'd been working. That was, until he walked up to her desk looking like a wounded puppy. She had thought that Clark was the only guy that look worked on, but a part of her couldn't help but feel bad for Jimmy, without even knowing what was wrong.

Another part of her—the part that had been broken by both him and Clark—wanted to laugh in his face.

After a moment, Jimmy said, "I need to show you something." She didn't know if it selfless Chloe or curious Chloe speaking, but she cursed both of them, because when she want to tell him that she didn't really care what he had to show her, she simply said, "Ok."

So now Chloe and Jimmy were parked outside an apartment building where assumed he lived. And isn't it weird that I've never actually been here before? she thought.

"You wanted to show me this building?" Chloe asked. "It's a nice building… I guess."

He looked at her and shook his head no.

"Then aren't we going to get out of the car at some point?" she asked.

"This isn't easy for me," Jimmy said, almost a whisper.

She sat with him, trying to work him out, until he finally decided to get out of the car. Chloe followed Jimmy into the building and up a couple flights of stairs.

"I know it wasn't you," Jimmy said, suddenly. Chloe looked at him, confused. He was just one big puzzle today. "I know you wouldn't… no matter how badly I hurt you…"

Whatever it was, it sounded serious, and Chloe decided the fastest way to find out what Jimmy was talking about was to just keep her mouth shut, and let him explain himself. From his reaction in the car, she knew that he was not in a position to be pushed right now.

It turned out she was right, because as the walked down the third story hallway, Jimmy turned to her and said, "I got fired."

A few more steps, and Jimmy stopped in front of a door. Presumably his apartment, but he wasn't going for his keys.

"What?" she asked. "Why?"

He leaned on the wall next to the door and sighed. "They didn't exactly say why. It's not actually anything to do with my work, though."

"You said you didn't think I did anything," Chloe said. "So you think someone did?"

"I think Lois did," Jimmy said, quietly.

Chloe was not so quiet when she blurted, "What?"

"Of course she's pissed about what happened… that night. She made that absolutely clear to me the other night."

"She did?"

"She still had my number on her phone…" Jimmy sighed. "I also don't think she's gotten over some of the things that happened between me and her."

"What things?" Chloe asked. "I thought you said that you two broke up because Lois wasn't over Oliver."

"Well, I don't think anything I did helped her get over him," Jimmy said. "It turns out, I'm not the most reliable guy in the world when it comes to relationships… go figure."

Chloe looked down at the ground. "I don't get it," she said, and then raised her gaze to his eyes. "You were a wonderful friend to me… and you seemed like you cared about Lois. We all hate rejection… I should know more than anyone… but is it really that bad for you that you have to go out and treat people like shit?"

She hadn't meant to actually say that, but she was glad she did. It was out there now. Jimmy could do what he wanted with it.

"It's not that," he said. "I did really care about Lois, and I do really care about you. It's not an excuse… I… take full responsibility for leaving you there like it was nothing, and hurting you. I know it won't help to say that I'd been having a really difficult day and I'd really been looking forward to that evening, but… I'm sorry.

"This is why brought you here, actually," Jimmy did finally take his keys out of his pocket now. "It doesn't make what I did to either of you any better, but I just want you to understand…"

Chloe's mind raced. Was he different? What if he was like Clark? He couldn't have a spaceship in that apartment, could he? She hoped not, for everyone's sake.

Before Jimmy could get the key into the lock, though, the door opened from the inside.

"James, is that you?"

An older lady popped her head from behind the door, and looked from Jimmy to Chloe. "I heard voices," she said. "Why are you just standing here?"

Jimmy took a deep breath. "Chloe, I'd like you to meet my mom."