Chapter 8

The Watchtower…

The next day finds Clark, Oliver and Tess at the headquarters for their 'club'. For her help in stopping Isis Clark had talked Oliver into giving her a chance to further prove herself.

"So, we both want to give you something," Clark tells the redhead.

"That's right, other than our two super-powered brunettes teaming up to zap the amulet, we couldn't have done it without you," Ollie admits.

"Yeah, who is our little 'Super…Girl'? Where did she come from?" Tess wonders, having obvious questions about the powerful woman.

"Ooh, Supergirl. That might work as a codename if she sticks around," Ollie says, looking at Clark.

"Hnn," Clark says, unable to say. He turns back to their female companion. "I'm sorry, Tess. That secret is one that I'm keeping for the moment."

Tess looks to Ollie. "Sorry. In this case only Boyscout gets to make that decision," he tells her, siding with Clark's reluctance to be that honest with Mercy. In all honesty he completely agrees with it.

"Look, you took care of Cat and you figured out how to put Isis back in the amulet. Pretty impressive with just a 'low-tech laptop'," Clark praises her skills.

"Now let's see what you can do with something a little more powerful. Like Watchtower. Welcome to the team," Ollie informs her of the decision he and Clark made after they talked after Isis' defeat. To make her Chloe's replacement and take charge of their hub.

"Thank you," Tess says, tearing up, moved by the trust they are showing in her as she leaves, not wishing them to see her cry.

"You really think we can trust her?" Ollie asks Clark in all seriousness, since this was more the Boyscout's idea than his.

"We'll find out," Clark replies because what this is, is, in fact, not dissimilar to what he is doing with Mia. They're going to let this play out and see just what side Tess Mercer is really on.

The Daily Planet…

Clark is starting to get the feeling that Lois and Cat are going to send him to an early grave. The blond reporter, convinced, somehow, that Lois is the Blur actually stabbed the brunette with a pen. Clark literally had to step in between them to stop a punch-up. Not to mention he had to destroy the photographic evidence Cat had of Lois when she was possessed by Isis.

Clark pulls Lois away before she can really get in some retribution on the blond woman.

"I know the pen is mightier than the sword, but Cat was off her rocker. I mean Lois Lane is amazing but you and I both know I'm not the world's greatest superhero," Lois is saying as she rubs her poor hand.

"Lois, I'm sorry you had to get a ball-point in the hand for the truth to come out," he says, not wishing that to have happened.

Lois chuckles. "The truth? Right, about the Blur? Who he is…" what she was about to further say, which was basically tell Clark that she knows, is cut off when he yanks her into a supply closet. "Ah, ok. Been awhile since I was pulled into one of these," she quips.

"By whom?" Clark asks, frowning because it was most assuredly not him.

"That's a conversation for another time," she tries and avoids it. "So, what gives, Smallville? Or are you just that anxious to spend some alone time with me?" she asks, flirting.

Clark steps away. "We need to finish that conversation we were going to have up on the roof yesterday."

Lois stares at him. Oh my God. This is it. He's going to confess. Her heart races in her chest. Stay calm, Lois. Let him say his piece.

"First off, I'm sorry that I've not been around as much as you would like," he apologises.

"I get it. You're busy."

"Thanks but you have a right to know why I'm busy."

Lois nods, excitement making butterflies appear in her stomach.

"I swear these things are easier in your head," Clark says, nervous. He thinks his palms are actually sweating.

"Or in front of a mirror," Lois tags on, which is what she was doing yesterday morning. Rehearsing her own confession to Clark about knowing he is the Blur.

"A few weeks ago I discovered something and I don't how you will take it but you deserve to know the truth."

Lois' brow furrows slightly. His wording is odd but she's sure he'll get there.

"I discovered…" he swallows the lump in his throat. "I discovered that I'm a father. That I have a daughter."

There. He said it.

Lois' jaw drops to the floor. "W-what?" she asks, her voice barely a whisper. Was that cracking sound her heart just breaking?

"It was a few years ago. Just after dad died. You know what a mess I was. Well, there was this woman. She had just lost her mother. We were both grieving and hurt and for a moment we found comfort in each other and she ended up pregnant. I didn't know it at the time. Like I said I only found out a few weeks ago that we have a daughter," he gives a summary of the story.

Silence. Utter, deafening silence as Lois just stares at him as if she is looking at a complete stranger.

"Lois? Say something? Please?" Clark begs of her, getting worried. Lois being quiet is never a good sign.

"You…have a daughter?" she asks, unable to grasp this.

Clark nods. "Her name is Mia. She's four."

"You…weren't you dating Lana?!" it suddenly strikes her.

"Um…yeah," Clark admits in a tiny, guilt-ridden voice, rubbing the back of his neck. He does feel bad about that, despite the fact he and Lana were close to the end at that point but technically speaking he did cheat on his girlfriend. Maybe that's why he's been so reluctant to tell his mother.

"So let me get this straight. You, of all people, cheated on their girlfriend and knocked some floozy up?!"

Clark's face goes stern. "I'm going to let that go because I'm guessing you're upset but please don't call Andrea a floozy. The fault is mine. I take full responsibility for what happened."

"Well good for you," Lois says with angry sarcasm.

"I know this is a shock…"

"Noooo! Really?!"

"But we can talk about this," he argues.

"Who are you?"

"What?" he asks, puzzled by the question.

"Seriously. Who are you?" she asks, suddenly not recognising the man in front of her.

"You know who I am. I'm who I've always been."

"No," she says in denial, shaking her head. "The Clark Kent I know is a decent, morally upstanding man. He's not one that goes around cheating on his girlfriend and getting another woman pregnant."

"My dad died, Lois. I was in a bad place."

"And if you were someone else, someone not you, I might just accept that. But you…you're supposed to be better. An example!" she struggles to contain her rage. God, she feels like she is choking. She needs to get out of here and turns to do so.

"Lois, wait," Clark grabs her arm. "We can talk about this. Please," he begs her, his voice trembling with worry and upset.

"Let go of me," she says in an eerily calm voice that is belying her internal rage.

Clark does so, albeit reluctantly. "Lois…I…" he can't think of what to say.

Lois opens the door.

"I'm sorry. I never meant to upset you," he says quietly, tears forming in his eyes.

Lois leaves without another word, tears beginning to roll down her face.

Smallville…

It didn't take superpowers of any kind for Mia to realise that her father was deeply upset over something. In fact, she would go as far as to say he was devastated and had been since he returned early from work. He had been up in the loft of the barn ever since and frankly she was starting to get worried about him.

She didn't know what had happened. He wouldn't tell her and she figured from his demeanour it might be best to leave him alone but she can't help but feel utter frustration. She wants to help.

She listens in from the house when she hears him speaking.

"Lois, it's Clark. We need to talk. Will you please phone me back?"

Him leaving a message. By her count that's at least a dozen she's heard him leave so she can make an educated guess his upset has something to do with his relationship with Lois Lane which only adds to her dislike of the woman.

Mia walks out the door onto the porch and looks towards the barn. She may not have her father's visual abilities but her eyes are still quite sharp. Sharp enough to spot something being thrown out the loft window with some force.

And, of course, 'some force' by Kryptonian standards could send the object miles. In a few moments Mia is flying after it and manages to catch it long before it arcs back down towards the ground and possibly hit someone. She looks at her hands and sees it's her father's phone.

Mia slowly flies back to the farm and enters the barn through the window to find her father slumped down on the couch, distraught emotions written all over his face, his eyes red and puffy. On the couch with him is Shelby, the dog's head resting on her father's lap. Clearly the Golden Retriever is as worried as she is about him. She wordlessly places his phone down on the table. "Do…do you want any dinner?" she asks, trying to start a conversation with a safe topic.

At first there is no response but eventually there is a very quiet and hoarse sounding, "No."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"No."

Mia nods, feeling upset and torn about what to do. What can she do? "Well, if you need me I'll be around," she says as she heads for the stairs.

"Mia," his voice stops her.

"Yes?"

"Thank you," he says. "But I'd rather just be alone tonight."

"Ok but you know I have superhearing so if you do need me just yell," she offers and with that she leaves him sitting in the darkness.

Luthorcorp Plaza…

A few days later Oliver arrives at his office to find a surprise visitor sitting in his chair. "Oh, you are still alive," he grimly jokes.

"That's not even remotely funny, Oliver," Lois tells him, her face and whole demeanour of someone extremely unhappy. Also, her face is of someone who looks like they haven't been getting much sleep.

"Whose joking?" he asks back. "You've been unreachable for days. Clark's been worried and frankly so have I."

"You spoke to Clark?" she asks, looking at the blond billionaire intrigued.

"Spoke to. Listened to him cry. Watched his heart break. What the hell are you doing to him, Lois?"

"What am I doing to him? What about he did to me?! Did you know?" she asks back, her temper threatening to break through.

"Know?"

"That he has a kid!"

"Is that what this is about?! Jesus Christ, Lois," he swears in disbelief at her.

"So, you knew?"

"Yes. He told me a few weeks ago…in confidence before you try and bite my head off. You wouldn't appreciate me telling him what you say to me in confidence would you. Now why don't you tell me why you pulled off this disappearing act these last few days?"

"I needed time to think."

"And?"

"And…I just don't know who he is anymore," she says, lowering her head into her hands and trying to steady her emotions.

Oliver looks at her puzzled. "He's Clark."

"Is he?" she asks, looking up, pain clear in her eyes. "The Clark I know wouldn't have cheated on his girlfriend and lied about having a kid."

"Lois. He didn't know until a few weeks ago. It wasn't like some huge conspiracy that he was trying to keep from you," Ollie stands up for his friend.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this," she sniffles.

Oliver looks at her more puzzled. What is she talking about?

"I had it all worked out in my head, you know. He was going to be the hero this world needed and I was going to be there, supporting him. Loving him. And you know, one day, maybe having a family with him. He was supposed to be this symbol, this…example for people to look up to…" she laughs bitterly. "Now how can he? He's this deceptive…fraud. There's this other woman he's got a kid with."

Oliver stares at her as he tries to untangle the two mixed-up threads of her stories and comes to a startling conclusion. "You know."

"Know?"

"About Clark's night-time activities."

Lois doesn't answer right away which basically only confirms it for Ollie.

"How long?" he asks.

Lois shrugs. "A while," she gives a vague answer.

"Does he know?"

"That I know?"

Ollie nods.

"No. I wanted to…I tried to…but a part of me wanted him to tell me. To choose to open up to me. To be the one he would confide in."

"To be made to feel special."

"You're twisting it!"

"Am I?" he asks bluntly, not sure he is. "Lois, you're hardly the first to know if that is what you were thinking."

"Yeah, I figured you might know."

"Again, not my secret to tell before you even start but you know what, Lois, none of these reveals explain why you're here, instead of with Clark. Why you haven't been into work for 3 days. Why you're not answering your phone."

"I didn't want to speak to him. I was afraid I would say something I'd regret."

"So, you just chose to ignore him and break his heart instead. Good job," Ollie says with a flair of sarcasm, masking his anger of the way she has been treating his friend.

"What about my heart, Ollie?!" she asks, her voice shrill.

"What about it?"

"You don't think it's hurting? That I'm hurting?"

Oliver is trying very hard here to hear her out and get both sides of the story. "Look, I get it. It was a shock for me too when Clark told me he had a child but what I don't get, Lois, is this reaction. You seem to want to come across as the wounded party. It wasn't you he cheated on…unless that's it. Is that what you feel like, Lois? That Clark cheated on you, somehow?"

"He did cheat."

"On Lana, yes. On one side, you're right, Lois. Clark did a crappy thing. But on the other, his dad had just died. He was in terrible pain and for one moment he was weak and tried to make the pain go away. It was a mistake but guess what, that's what people do when they're hurting. Trust me, I've been there and done it. In the end it's human nature," Ollie says, with all the irony that that statement when applied to Clark.

"It might be human nature but it isn't Clark. Or it's not supposed to be."

"You want to know what I think?"

"No."

Ollie gives her his opinion anyway. "Despite how long you've actually known him you've put Clark on a pedestal. You've constructed an ideal instead of seeing the real person even though you should know the real person better than most. Now, though, you've had that fantasy shattered and you can't handle it."

"That's certainly an opinion. A stupid one to be sure."

"Then what is going on with you, Lois? Why are you even here?"

"To let you know that I'm going to ask Tess to send me back to Africa."

Ollie just stares at her in disbelief. "You're running away."

"No," she weakly protests that. "I'm taking some time away to think. I can't do that here when I know Clark and you won't leave me alone."

"I've got to say I really misjudged you, Lois. I was just telling Clark the other day that he should go ahead and tell you about not only his daughter but that he was the Blur as well. That he shouldn't be afraid to tell you because you loved him and would understand."

"I do understand. That's why I need to get away."

"Never took you for a coward, Lois."

"Ok. We're done here," she says, that accusation being the final straw of this conversation. She gets up and heads for the door.

"Lois," Ollie stops her. "I really don't understand what's going through your head but before you go out that door consider this. Clark is a forgiving guy but despite how indestructible he seems his heart is as fragile as yours or mine. You break it and even Clark may not be able to forgive you enough to let you back in…ever again. Leave now and you might just be throwing away the greatest thing you could ever have."

Ollie then watches as she pauses, chewing over his words. He hopes she listens. His hopes are dashed almost immediately as she vanishes out the door and his heart grows sad for her because he thinks she is making the biggest mistake of her life. One she may not be able to make up for.

And like he was saying to Clark the other day, a life without love isn't really living. It's simply going through the motions of life and he would hate, absolutely hate it, if that sort of half-life is what his friends are condemned to face because of stupid, short-sighted decisions.

There's only one response to this. He needs a drink. A large, stiff one.

Author's Note: I needed a point where the story would diverge from the canon season 10 as far as Clark and Lois is concerned and I decided that it would be Lois not coping well with discovering that Clark's a dad. Thanks to everyone who has written reviews.