Chapter 9

Two Days Later- Smallville Medical Center

"And that should be just about everything. Be sure to take it easy, and I'll see you back here in a week." Doctor Bryce said, and Natasha nodded, thanking the Doctor before walking out of the small town hospital.

"Need a lift?" Clark asked, pulling up to the curb in a black Dodge Charger.

"Don't mind if I do." She replied, opening the passenger door and getting in the car.

"Nice ride. Where did you get it?" She asked, and he smiled.

"A friend loaned it to me. I told him I had a date, and I wanted to impress her." Clark replied, and Natasha laughed.

"I think you succeeded." She told him with a grin, leaning in and kissing him softly on the lips.

"Hi." She said when they broke the kiss a minute later.

"Hi. How are you feeling?" He asked, and she smiled.

"Sore, but ready to go home."

"Your wish is my command." He replied, and a moment later they were on the road, heading towards Natasha's apartment.

"I'm sorry I couldn't stay. My mother called, and-"

"Say no more. I understand. Besides, if your parent's found out I was shot and you were there when it happened..."

"They wouldn't be too thrilled." He finished, and she snorted.

"That would be an understatement. Your dad would probably take the shotgun that's hanging on the wall and finish the job."

"I wouldn't let that happen, and how did you know about my Grandpa's shotgun?"

"I was a spy remember? I notice small details. Like the fact that the telescope in your barn is pointed right at a certain Miss Lang's house." She finished with a raised eyebrow.

"Must have been the wind or something." He replied, and she chuckled.

"Sure. That must have been it. You might want to keep your windows closed at night. Just a suggestion."Clark could tell from Natasha's tone of voice that it wasn't really a suggestion, but he nodded nonetheless.

They spent the rest of the car ride in silence, arriving at Natasha's house a few minute's later.

"Okay, what is it?" Natasha asked once they had gotten inside.

"What's what?" Clark asked.

"Something's on your mind Clark You're worried about something. The Doctor said I'll be fine. Besides, it's not it's going to be my first scar." Natasha said, pulling her shirt up and revealing a small scar just above her abdomen.

"It was Iran. I was grabbing a nuclear scientist who had chosen to defect when we were ambushed by an assassin called the Winter Soldier. He shot me with .357 hollowpoint. It was a through and through, so I survived. But it was bye bye bikinis after that." She said, and he smiled.

"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in em now." He replied, before his face became serious.

"It's not about whether or not you're okay Natasha. It's about what they shot you with. You were shot with a bullet made of meteor rock. You took a bullet that was meant for me, and every instinct I have is telling me that the only way to keep you safe is to push you away. But God help me, I can't do it. I know I should, but I can't. It's wrong, and it's selfish, but I can't do it." He finished, and she smiled.

"I thought the same thing you know? That day we woke up on my couch, I knew that I needed to let you go. I knew that the best thing for you would be to stay away from me, or at the very least I couldn't be anything but your teacher. That if I let whatever was going on between us continue you would only get hurt. All I could ever do was cause you pain. The smart thing would have been to push you away then, but I couldn't. After so long of just being an assassin and a spy, I want something else. I want someone to care for and to care for me. It's wrong, and it's selfish, but I don't care." She finished.

"We still need to figure out who shot you though." Clark said, his eyes darkening.

"We will. But in order to do that, we need to figure out who knows about your weakness to meteor rock."

"You think whoever tried to kill you had help?" He asked, and she nodded.

"It's the only thing that makes sense. It's not like the whole town knows those rocks make you sick, and I would have noticed if someone was following us or listening in on our conversations. So what we need to figure out is who knows that meteor rock makes you sick, and who would have motive to want me dead."

"Well the only people that know I'm allergic to meteor rock are my parents, Pete and Chloe. Now my parents may not be your biggest fans, but they wouldn't ever help someone try to kill you. Especially not with a bullet that could put me in the morgue." He said, and she nodded, laughing softly.

"They might change their mind once they find out we're dating. I mean, we can't keep it a secret forever. But I do think that keeping in quiet for the time being is the right thing to do."

"I agree. Pete wouldn't want you hurt, he thinks you're a total babe. I have to agree with him on that one." He said, and she smiled.

"Which leaves Chloe as the only remaining suspect." Natasha replied, but Clark shook his head.

"I can't believe that Chloe would ever do something like this."

"People will do crazy things, especially if they think they're protecting someone they love."

Clark shook his head, not wanting to believe that his oldest friend could do something so terrible. But he also remembered her words when they had last spoke.

"She told me not to come crying to her when you stabbed me in the back." He said softly.

"And she told me that she didn't want to see you hurt, that all I could bring to anyone was pain. I'm not saying that she knew what she was doing, but if someone talked to her and offered to get me out of your life..."

"You think she might have taken them up on their offer."

"I think we need to talk to her."

"And after we do that?" He asked. She just sighed before embracing him.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

The Next Day- The Torch 7:30 a.m.

"Do you have a minute Chloe?" Clark asked as he and Natasha walked into the blonde reporter's office.

"Not really I'm-"

"I suggest you make time Miss Sullivan." Natasha interrupted, shutting and locking the door behind her. Clark walked over to his friend, hating what he was going to have to do. But he and Natasha had discussed how they were going to approach the blonde, and the best way to do that was to throw her off balance.

"Look, I don't know what your deal is-"

"My deal is that I spent the last two days in a hospital bed after being shot in the stomach. If it wasn't for Clark, I would have died." Natasha said, cutting the girl off. Chloe's eyes widened, her expression telling Natasha that she had no idea about the plan to shoot her. But that didn't mean Chloe wasn't still involved.

"Natasha was shot with a bullet made of meteor rock." Clark said, and Chloe swallowed.

"That seems like overkill doesn't it? If you want to shoot someone why not use a regular bullet? Why take the time to make a bullet from meteor rock?" Clark asked, but Chloe didn't answer.

"Unless someone knew that I would be with Natasha when she was shot. Then the use of a meteor rock bullet makes sense. After all, meteor rock makes me sick so I wouldn't be able to stop Natasha from bleeding out."

"That's a little far fetched." Chloe said, and Clark nodded.

"You're right...except there was only one shot fired. If someone wanted to take me out, they could have just used regular bullets and fired two shots."

That was a lie, but Chloe didn't need to know that.

"The fact that I wasn't shot suggests that Natasha was the target. Now, at first I thought that it was one of Natasha's enemies."

"I have more than enough people who would love to see me dead. But my enemies are professional's. They don't leave witnesses." Natasha said.

"And they wouldn't know that meteor rock makes me sick. There are only four people in the world besides Natasha and I who know what that rock does to me. My parents. Pete. And you."

"Now my parents may not be Natasha's biggest fans, but they wouldn't tell someone what makes me sick. Pete thinks Natasha's a babe, so it's highly doubtful that he would have anything to do with her being hurt."

"Which leaves you. You care about Clark, maybe you even love him. And you see me as someone who puts him in danger. So someone comes to you and offers you a way to get me away from Clark. To get me out of his life for good. So because you want to protect him, you tell them about the meteor rock."

"No one was supposed to get hurt. All he wanted to know was a way to keep Clark out of the way for a little bit. He said he wanted to talk to you, convince you to go with him." Chloe said softly, her voice barely audible.

"Who was he Chloe? What was the man's name?" Clark asked.

"Gonzalez. He told me his name was Gonzalez. He said he worked for SHIELD that he wanted to bring Agent Romanoff back where she belonged."

"And who are you to decide that?" Clark asked, feeling his fury at Natasha being shot return full force.

"I just wanted to protect you Clark. Gonzalez told me that Natasha would turn you into a killer, that you wouldn't even realize what she was doing until it was too late."

"Why didn't you just TALK TO ME?!" Clark yelled.

"Because I don't even know you anymore! We've been friend's since we were eight years old, but ever since Natasha Romanoff came here you've been different. I tried to tell you to be careful around her, but you totally ignored me! You're so in love with her that you wouldn't even here me out! So I did what I felt I had to to protect you because I love you Clark."

"The fact that I believe that is the only reason I'm not ripping you apart with my bare hands. You'll always be like the sister I never had Chloe, but I need some time to think. I just...I don't know what I'm going to do." He said before walking out of the Torch, Natasha following behind.

"Natasha." Chloe called. The Russian stopped, but she didn't turn around.

"Please...take care of him. And tell him I'm sorry."

"I will." She replied without turning around. A moment later, the door shut, leaving Chloe Sullivan alone with her tears and regrets.

"What happens now?" Clark asked when Natasha caught up to him. His voice was dull and monotone, and he looked as though he had just been stabbed. As much as Natasha wanted to comfort him, she knew that now wasn't the time.

"Now, we run. It won't take Gonzalez long to learn that I'm still alive, if he doesn't know already. He probably already knows about your powers, which means he could be coming for us at any second."

"Let him come. I'll tear him apart." Clark said, but Natasha shook her head.

"No. I want payback too, but neither of us in any condition to start a fight with Gonzalez and his people. Besides, we can't be sure that he's the only one involved in this. For now, we run."

"You have everything ready?" He asked, and she nodded.

"I've got ID's, money, burn phone's the works. It should last us a few weeks. Can you keep the Charger for a while? We can't risk that they have some way to track your powers, and our car's could be bugged."

"I'm sure Lex won't mind. He's got a few." Clark replied, and Natasha nodded.

"Good. Now, go by your house and pack the essentials. Meet me back here in two minutes."

"I thought you said-"

"This is the first place they'll look. Now please just do as I say." She replied, and he nodded. Two minutes later he was getting into the Charger, Natasha gunning the engine as soon as he had shut the door.

"Where are we going?" Clark asked.

"A safe place. I've got a friend who will let us stay for a few days. After that...I don't know." She said.

"Will we ever come back?"

"Someday. You can still say you know? I could probably buy you a few months, maybe a year." She replied, but he shook his head, taking her hand.

"We're in this together."

Natasha smiled sadly, squeezing his hand. His words meant more than she would ever be able to tell him. As they passed the Welcome To Smallville sign, Natasha promised that she would bring Clark back. One day. Perhaps not one day soon, but one day. For now, she was just grateful not to be alone.

A/N: There were have it, Chapter 9! Please read and review and the next chapter will be up soon!