Chapter 4: Smallville Season 11 Metropolis Part 2
I'm so sorry for the delay but never fear i have every intention of continuing this story... Hope your all still with me... BIG HUG AND THANK YOU TO MY AWESOME BETA @SVLILAH love ya hun!! ** to refresh this story is predominately Clois but there is loads of Tollie and some Lexana to satisfy all my favorite ships... that said I think the Tollie and the Lexana fans will definitely enjoy this chapter... ok enough with me yapping on with the good stuff....
Oliver walked back into Tess’ room. It seemed like he always found his way back to her. Maybe he always would. He thought back to when Zod confirmed his suspicions about the darkness and how he didn’t tell anyone what was going on with him. But, he’d suspected Tess knew something was off.
He smiled as he stroked her hair, talking to her about his day as he took a seat next to her bed.
“I’m just going to sit here for a bit, Tess. I know I’m avoiding her. I don’t know why.” He spoke out loud as he rubbed his hands over his face.
“I grabbed a change of clothes at the office. I didn’t even go home. I’m not… I don’t know… maybe some things aren’t supposed to end with a bang. They’re just supposed to move on quietly.”
He leaned back against the chair closing his eyes.
“Mademoiselle Leger!!” Someone called out to her interrupting the intense moment she was having Lex. They had drifted into an awkward silence neither willing to reveal their hand.
He knew she suspected something wasn’t right with him. But, Lex wasn’t sure just how much he could trust this ex-wife of his that once faked her own death and lived under an assumed name all to get away from him. He was also startled by the unexpected interruption.
“Excusez-moi… cette juste venu pour vous …“ Lana took the offered note. “Merci.” she nodded. It was from Chloe the only person besides Clark who knew where she was.
HS is dying… asking for you… at MU Hospital… thought you’d want to know… CS
“Look, clearly whatever it is you want from me isn’t going to get solved right at this moment.” Lana said as she took the note burning it with the candle on the table.
Lex raised an eyebrow and leaned back. ”Whatever that was clearly ruffled your feathers…”
“Please stop… I’m tired and you’re clearly not you. Well not the you I’m used to anyway and to be honest I’m both curious and in need of a lift. You brought the jet, I presume.” She stated flatly as she rose from her seat.
Lex quickly rose throwing down some money on the table as he followed her out. “Yes, of course…”
She turned around quickly. The woman was going to give him whiplash with her mercurial temperament, but damn he liked it. He smirked at her as she interrupted him yet again.
“Don’t... I know you’re confused. It’s in your eyes Lex. I may not want to admit it to anyone outside of the two of us but I know you. I understand you and…” she sighed. “I’ll help you. Just take us back to Metropolis.”
“Thank you.” he said as he signaled his car over to them and opened the door for her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She walked in quietly to Tess’ room. She didn’t want to wake him up knowing he’d been out patrolling, trying to keep himself busy. She walked over to the other side of Tess’ bed.
“It’s funny… all this time I’ve been here and everyone touches you… they grip your hand or stroke your hair and I can’t bring myself to do the same.” Chloe whispered to Tess. “It’s like I feel something different. I mean… I want you to wake up. I do… if for no other reason than because he wants it so badly… and selfishly I want my husband’s focus back on me…” Chloe sadly whispered to herself.
Chloe got up to leave Tess’ room. It’d been nearly a week since she’d been stabbed. She didn’t know what else they could do for the redhead. She finally touched her hand as went out to leave and go meet Lois in a nearby café.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I’ve been feeling odd lately.” Chloe confessed to Lois.
“Well, Chlo… a lot’s been going on. That’s hardly surprising.” Lois said with a comforting smile as she sat down to join her at the small café outside of the hospital.
“True. But this is more like before… you know before Brainiac took me over and did something to my powers…” Chloe whispered to her cousin.
“What do you mean? Like they’re back? Or something?” Lois asked her voice full of concern.
Chloe gripped her hand. Something was wrong.
“Chloe?” Lois watched as her grip loosened and she collapsed onto the floor in front of her. “Chloe!”
Lois quickly dropped to the ground by her side and touched her neck feeling for a heartbeat. She felt her eyes water when she didn’t feel one. Lois turned her head around. “Someone help!” she turned back to her unconscious cousin. “Come on Chlo…. Don’t do this…. Not today….”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He’d fallen asleep by her bedside again. He hadn’t meant to. After his patrol he’d meant to go back to the penthouse with Chloe. He felt her grip on his hand and his eyes opened slowly. He took in his surroundings and looked down at the woman on the bed when he felt her stirring.
“Come on Mercy... You can do it… open those baby blues for me, Tess... I need you to…”
Oliver leaned towards her willing her back to awareness.
Her eyes blinked slowly before they opened wide.
“Emil!!!”
“Emil!!!”
Two different voices raced down the corridor colliding in their haste to reach their friend.
Emil swung open the door. “Oliver. Lois. You two do realize you’re inside a hospital…? A bit of decorum if you please.”
“Tess! Woke up!”
“Chloe! Collapsed!”
They both shouted at him out of breath.
“What!?!?” Lois and Oliver swung towards each other. “Did you say?”
“Okay. One at a time, what do you mean she collapsed, and she woke up?” Emil asked glancing first at Lois then at Oliver.
“Yes!” they both said in unison.
Oliver grabbed Lois by both arms. “Wait! She collapsed? How? Where is she?”
“I freaked out a bit but she was mentioning Brainiac and then I remembered about her gift…” Lois air quoted as Oliver let go of her.
“And I thought the ER probably was not the best place to take her… with her being all pulse-less and all…”
“What!?!?” both Oliver and Emil said this time.
“No… I mean she’s got a pulse now. She’s still not responding but her pulse is a good sign, right? I mean Clark once said she was dead for eighteen hours. So I figure this is a good sign, right?”
“Lois.” Oliver started slowly. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Chloe never told you?” Emil asked looking at Oliver.
“Her meteor power!” Lois answered.
“Chloe doesn’t have a meteor power.” Oliver said eyes moving back and forth between the two.
“Well. Not now she doesn’t!” Lois explained.
“Well, I guess she thought she did… I mean if Tess is awake at the same time as Chloe collapses that can’t be a coincidence.” Emil said as he closed the door behind them.
“What?” Oliver asked in confusion.
“Where are they?” Emil ignored Oliver.
“Tess is with her other doctor. They are looking her over and I told her I’d be right back. After I went and found you.” Oliver responded.
“After my initial meltdown, I put Chloe on a gurney and in one of the empty rooms and rushed over to get you. I didn’t know what to do and I don’t trust her with another doctor.” Lois said as she looked at Emil pleadingly. She was really worried about her cousin. Chloe and Clark had told her about the time Chloe had healed her and she’d never really understood the severity of it until just now. How had Clark handled this all on his own?
“Well, has Chloe ever attempted to use her powers since Brianiac was removed from her body?”
“I don’t think….”
“I honestly can’t say.” Lois finally settled on. “Maybe Clark knows better.
“Smallville I need you.” She said out loud.
Both men in the room stumbled back as a whoosh of wind suddenly burst in.
“What? What happened? You ok?” Clark asked as he looked Lois over running his hands over her hair and face. Lois hugged him tightly. “Ok… what’s going on?” Clark asked finally acknowledging the other two men in the room.
“Do you want the good news or the bad news?” Emil asked as he took off his glasses to rub the imaginary dust off them.
“Is it really bad news? I mean won’t she just wake up?” Oliver asked looking between Emil and Clark.
“Good, Bad I don’t care I just need a clue. Lois?” He gently pulled her back to look at her face.
“I’m sorry... Clark, its just she was dead. I mean no pulse and then not. And how did you deal with that all by yourself.” Lois looked at him sadly.
“Wait… Chloe? Is she ok?” Clark asked with anxiety in his voice. “I’m going to go check on her. What room is she in, Lois?”
Emil walked toward the door with the three of them following him out.
“Room 2443B. Its two rooms down from Tess’
“So wait if Chloe is…” Clark couldn’t finish the thought. “And Tess is…”
“It seems that way.” Lois said holding his hand in her own as they walked down the corridor following Emil and Oliver.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well, Emil what is your diagnosis" Oliver asked as they all stood by Chloe's beside, each of them watching Emil with matching expressions.
"Honestly, I don't know. According to what Clark said she should just heal herself and wake up."
"But, why does she even have her powers back? I mean if she'd had them all along she’d have saved Jimmy, she's never going to forgive herself…" Clark ended with sorrow in his voice for his lost friend.
Lois reached to take his hand and Oliver's as well. She could see the grief in their eyes still at the mention of their lost friend. She missed him too.
"No… No… That's not what I meant. See from what you've told me, when Brainiac struck he rendered Lana catatonic, an empty shell. The same wasn't true for Chloe. Her body protected itself the best way it knew how expelling her power all around herself and forcing herself into a coma. A coma that I believe she'd have eventually healed herself of even without Brianiac's destruction." They all nodded in understanding interested in anything that could possibly explain what was happening.
"See the thing is…" Emil continued. “If we continue with that train of thought then all this time her body’s been healing itself and unbeknownst to her part of that healing process is the reactivation of her ability to heal."
"So, you’re saying Chloe has nothing to feel guilty about, her power simply wasn't able to be harnessed when…" Lois stopped not wanting to finish that train of thought.
"Exactly!" Emil said understanding her hesitancy.
"Ok, that's good then." Oliver said. "But what about Tess? I mean she's up but her legs? I mean shouldn't she have the full use of them back."
"Well yes, but remember for lack of a better way of saying it Chloe's powers are a bit rusty. So well who knows…?"
They all just stared at him blankly as he shrugged.
"Okay…” Oliver dragged out each syllable. “I’ll be right back. I’ll just go check on her. She doesn't know what's going on and...”
"Go… we'll be fine. I won't leave her." Lois said as he nodded and headed out of the room. Emil followed behind Oliver with a quick nod.
"And you... If you need to whoosh…” she made a little take off motion with her hands as she made the noise. "Go ahead we'll be fine here."
She put on a brave smile for her fiancé.
"Lois there's no where I need to be at the moment other then with you and Chloe. You guys are my family." She went to interrupt him but he shushed her with a finger to her lips.
“But if someone needs me I can hear them from here just as well as anywhere else. And I can," he smiled copying her previous hand movement, "whoosh there and back in no time." He finished as he rested his back against the chair maneuvering Lois into his arms at the same time.
--------//------------------------
Oliver quietly opened the door to Tess' room not wanting to disturb her if she was resting.
"Oh, come in already." the redhead said.
He couldn't remember ever hearing anything more beautiful than the sound of her voice even if she was annoyed with him. He smiled to himself.
"Well... Care to tell me just what the hell happened. I was ready to die and well clearly I didn't."
"Well that was stupid of you." Oliver said as he sat down on her bed taking her hand and proceeded to tell her everything that had been going on, down playing his participation at the same time.
-------//------------------------
She was anxious he could tell he simply wasn't sure how he knew. If anyone were to look at her all they'd see is an exceedingly beautiful woman, cool and graceful. But he knew, he might not actively remember her but it seemed there was some things the mind or perhaps the heart never forgot. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it softly as the limo drove them from the airport to the hospital. Her father was asking for her, dying it seemed. She'd confided in him. He was awed she'd actually told him the truth.
Lana looked down to where Lex squeezed her hand in comfort. In comfort she smiled softly to herself remembering the man she once loved and married oddly comforted by the fact that she really hadn't made him up, there had been a decent soul buried underneath it all.
---------------//------------------
Clark was passing by the kitchen not wanting to wake Lois up. They'd just returned from the hospital. Although Chloe's vitals were strong she still hadn't woken up. Lois didn't want to leave her or Oliver. When Tess rolled in on her wheelchair somehow getting herself out of bed and asked to speak her Lois nodded her head squeezing his hand. Clark knew he could've just listened in but it was a private moment between the women and he didn't want to interfere. He didn't realize he'd been holding the counter so tightly until it broke in half making a loud crash.
"So much for not waking Lois up…" he muttered.
A soft laugh sounded in the background. "No kidding... of course I woke up when I felt you get up. Just can't seem to sleep as well when your not there…"
She smiled at him.
He smiled back taking the hand she reached out to him as he sat on the stool. Lois moved to stand in between his legs.
“I'm sorry about the counter. I'll fix it tomorrow I promise."
"Clark, it's just a counter it'll keep…" she said as he lifted his chin up to her.
"I'm so sorry Lois... About Chloe… When will those meteors stop wrecking everyone's life? I wish they never landed on earth!" He said in an anguished voice turning his head from her about to move away.
When he felt her hands holding him down she really couldn't keep him in his spot they both knew but breaking away from Lois’ touch never occurred to him.
"Now you listen to me Clark Kent… yes the meteors came and they wrecked a whole lot of havoc but so what!" Clark raised an eyebrow at her. “Yeah I said it! So What! They also brought you…" she ended on a whisper. “They brought the Kent’s the child they’d been praying for, they brought the world a savior, hope for a better life, and they brought me a gift I didn't even know I'd been wishing for…" she said looking at him as tears glistened in eyes. "So don't you ever say you wish it had never happened!"
"I'm sorry, Lois." he said stroking her hair off her face.
"And stop saying sorry, Smallville." she said as she rested her forehead against his.
"Sorry…" he said with a grimace as the both burst out laughing. And suddenly she was in his arms and he was guiding her down onto their bed, his hands ran along her long legs, kissing the back of her knees and Lois last coherent thought was about how he does that to drive all other coherent thoughts from her head.
--------------//-----------------
Back at the hospital Tess and Oliver sat silently as he turned to her. "Care to share what you could've said to legs to get her to leave her cousins side?"
He quirked an eyebrow in Tess’ direction.
"I was wondering how long it'd take you to ask…" she smiled wearily at him.
"Well..." he said impatiently smiling at her with a charming smile.
"Lane and I understand each other and..." Tess sighed. “She understands why I need to be here for you both."
"Tess..." Oliver said on a breath reaching out to take her hands. "Chloe would never want you to feel responsible for this. Honestly, I don't think she did it on purpose." he ended on laugh and she laughed softly with him, as they both looked upon the blonde silently praying she'd wake up soon.
“Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you I had no control over.”
Oliver walked back into Tess’ room. It seemed like he always found his way back to her. Maybe he always would. He thought back to when Zod confirmed his suspicions about the darkness and how he didn’t tell anyone what was going on with him. But, he’d suspected Tess knew something was off.
He smiled as he stroked her hair, talking to her about his day as he took a seat next to her bed.
“I’m just going to sit here for a bit, Tess. I know I’m avoiding her. I don’t know why.” He spoke out loud as he rubbed his hands over his face.
“I grabbed a change of clothes at the office. I didn’t even go home. I’m not… I don’t know… maybe some things aren’t supposed to end with a bang. They’re just supposed to move on quietly.”
He leaned back against the chair closing his eyes.
“Mademoiselle Leger!!” Someone called out to her interrupting the intense moment she was having Lex. They had drifted into an awkward silence neither willing to reveal their hand.
He knew she suspected something wasn’t right with him. But, Lex wasn’t sure just how much he could trust this ex-wife of his that once faked her own death and lived under an assumed name all to get away from him. He was also startled by the unexpected interruption.
“Excusez-moi… cette juste venu pour vous …“ Lana took the offered note. “Merci.” she nodded. It was from Chloe the only person besides Clark who knew where she was.
HS is dying… asking for you… at MU Hospital… thought you’d want to know… CS
“Look, clearly whatever it is you want from me isn’t going to get solved right at this moment.” Lana said as she took the note burning it with the candle on the table.
Lex raised an eyebrow and leaned back. ”Whatever that was clearly ruffled your feathers…”
“Please stop… I’m tired and you’re clearly not you. Well not the you I’m used to anyway and to be honest I’m both curious and in need of a lift. You brought the jet, I presume.” She stated flatly as she rose from her seat.
Lex quickly rose throwing down some money on the table as he followed her out. “Yes, of course…”
She turned around quickly. The woman was going to give him whiplash with her mercurial temperament, but damn he liked it. He smirked at her as she interrupted him yet again.
“Don’t... I know you’re confused. It’s in your eyes Lex. I may not want to admit it to anyone outside of the two of us but I know you. I understand you and…” she sighed. “I’ll help you. Just take us back to Metropolis.”
“Thank you.” he said as he signaled his car over to them and opened the door for her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She walked in quietly to Tess’ room. She didn’t want to wake him up knowing he’d been out patrolling, trying to keep himself busy. She walked over to the other side of Tess’ bed.
“It’s funny… all this time I’ve been here and everyone touches you… they grip your hand or stroke your hair and I can’t bring myself to do the same.” Chloe whispered to Tess. “It’s like I feel something different. I mean… I want you to wake up. I do… if for no other reason than because he wants it so badly… and selfishly I want my husband’s focus back on me…” Chloe sadly whispered to herself.
Chloe got up to leave Tess’ room. It’d been nearly a week since she’d been stabbed. She didn’t know what else they could do for the redhead. She finally touched her hand as went out to leave and go meet Lois in a nearby café.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I’ve been feeling odd lately.” Chloe confessed to Lois.
“Well, Chlo… a lot’s been going on. That’s hardly surprising.” Lois said with a comforting smile as she sat down to join her at the small café outside of the hospital.
“True. But this is more like before… you know before Brainiac took me over and did something to my powers…” Chloe whispered to her cousin.
“What do you mean? Like they’re back? Or something?” Lois asked her voice full of concern.
Chloe gripped her hand. Something was wrong.
“Chloe?” Lois watched as her grip loosened and she collapsed onto the floor in front of her. “Chloe!”
Lois quickly dropped to the ground by her side and touched her neck feeling for a heartbeat. She felt her eyes water when she didn’t feel one. Lois turned her head around. “Someone help!” she turned back to her unconscious cousin. “Come on Chlo…. Don’t do this…. Not today….”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He’d fallen asleep by her bedside again. He hadn’t meant to. After his patrol he’d meant to go back to the penthouse with Chloe. He felt her grip on his hand and his eyes opened slowly. He took in his surroundings and looked down at the woman on the bed when he felt her stirring.
“Come on Mercy... You can do it… open those baby blues for me, Tess... I need you to…”
Oliver leaned towards her willing her back to awareness.
Her eyes blinked slowly before they opened wide.
“Emil!!!”
“Emil!!!”
Two different voices raced down the corridor colliding in their haste to reach their friend.
Emil swung open the door. “Oliver. Lois. You two do realize you’re inside a hospital…? A bit of decorum if you please.”
“Tess! Woke up!”
“Chloe! Collapsed!”
They both shouted at him out of breath.
“What!?!?” Lois and Oliver swung towards each other. “Did you say?”
“Okay. One at a time, what do you mean she collapsed, and she woke up?” Emil asked glancing first at Lois then at Oliver.
“Yes!” they both said in unison.
Oliver grabbed Lois by both arms. “Wait! She collapsed? How? Where is she?”
“I freaked out a bit but she was mentioning Brainiac and then I remembered about her gift…” Lois air quoted as Oliver let go of her.
“And I thought the ER probably was not the best place to take her… with her being all pulse-less and all…”
“What!?!?” both Oliver and Emil said this time.
“No… I mean she’s got a pulse now. She’s still not responding but her pulse is a good sign, right? I mean Clark once said she was dead for eighteen hours. So I figure this is a good sign, right?”
“Lois.” Oliver started slowly. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Chloe never told you?” Emil asked looking at Oliver.
“Her meteor power!” Lois answered.
“Chloe doesn’t have a meteor power.” Oliver said eyes moving back and forth between the two.
“Well. Not now she doesn’t!” Lois explained.
“Well, I guess she thought she did… I mean if Tess is awake at the same time as Chloe collapses that can’t be a coincidence.” Emil said as he closed the door behind them.
“What?” Oliver asked in confusion.
“Where are they?” Emil ignored Oliver.
“Tess is with her other doctor. They are looking her over and I told her I’d be right back. After I went and found you.” Oliver responded.
“After my initial meltdown, I put Chloe on a gurney and in one of the empty rooms and rushed over to get you. I didn’t know what to do and I don’t trust her with another doctor.” Lois said as she looked at Emil pleadingly. She was really worried about her cousin. Chloe and Clark had told her about the time Chloe had healed her and she’d never really understood the severity of it until just now. How had Clark handled this all on his own?
“Well, has Chloe ever attempted to use her powers since Brianiac was removed from her body?”
“I don’t think….”
“I honestly can’t say.” Lois finally settled on. “Maybe Clark knows better.
“Smallville I need you.” She said out loud.
Both men in the room stumbled back as a whoosh of wind suddenly burst in.
“What? What happened? You ok?” Clark asked as he looked Lois over running his hands over her hair and face. Lois hugged him tightly. “Ok… what’s going on?” Clark asked finally acknowledging the other two men in the room.
“Do you want the good news or the bad news?” Emil asked as he took off his glasses to rub the imaginary dust off them.
“Is it really bad news? I mean won’t she just wake up?” Oliver asked looking between Emil and Clark.
“Good, Bad I don’t care I just need a clue. Lois?” He gently pulled her back to look at her face.
“I’m sorry... Clark, its just she was dead. I mean no pulse and then not. And how did you deal with that all by yourself.” Lois looked at him sadly.
“Wait… Chloe? Is she ok?” Clark asked with anxiety in his voice. “I’m going to go check on her. What room is she in, Lois?”
Emil walked toward the door with the three of them following him out.
“Room 2443B. Its two rooms down from Tess’
“So wait if Chloe is…” Clark couldn’t finish the thought. “And Tess is…”
“It seems that way.” Lois said holding his hand in her own as they walked down the corridor following Emil and Oliver.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well, Emil what is your diagnosis" Oliver asked as they all stood by Chloe's beside, each of them watching Emil with matching expressions.
"Honestly, I don't know. According to what Clark said she should just heal herself and wake up."
"But, why does she even have her powers back? I mean if she'd had them all along she’d have saved Jimmy, she's never going to forgive herself…" Clark ended with sorrow in his voice for his lost friend.
Lois reached to take his hand and Oliver's as well. She could see the grief in their eyes still at the mention of their lost friend. She missed him too.
"No… No… That's not what I meant. See from what you've told me, when Brainiac struck he rendered Lana catatonic, an empty shell. The same wasn't true for Chloe. Her body protected itself the best way it knew how expelling her power all around herself and forcing herself into a coma. A coma that I believe she'd have eventually healed herself of even without Brianiac's destruction." They all nodded in understanding interested in anything that could possibly explain what was happening.
"See the thing is…" Emil continued. “If we continue with that train of thought then all this time her body’s been healing itself and unbeknownst to her part of that healing process is the reactivation of her ability to heal."
"So, you’re saying Chloe has nothing to feel guilty about, her power simply wasn't able to be harnessed when…" Lois stopped not wanting to finish that train of thought.
"Exactly!" Emil said understanding her hesitancy.
"Ok, that's good then." Oliver said. "But what about Tess? I mean she's up but her legs? I mean shouldn't she have the full use of them back."
"Well yes, but remember for lack of a better way of saying it Chloe's powers are a bit rusty. So well who knows…?"
They all just stared at him blankly as he shrugged.
"Okay…” Oliver dragged out each syllable. “I’ll be right back. I’ll just go check on her. She doesn't know what's going on and...”
"Go… we'll be fine. I won't leave her." Lois said as he nodded and headed out of the room. Emil followed behind Oliver with a quick nod.
"And you... If you need to whoosh…” she made a little take off motion with her hands as she made the noise. "Go ahead we'll be fine here."
She put on a brave smile for her fiancé.
"Lois there's no where I need to be at the moment other then with you and Chloe. You guys are my family." She went to interrupt him but he shushed her with a finger to her lips.
“But if someone needs me I can hear them from here just as well as anywhere else. And I can," he smiled copying her previous hand movement, "whoosh there and back in no time." He finished as he rested his back against the chair maneuvering Lois into his arms at the same time.
--------//------------------------
Oliver quietly opened the door to Tess' room not wanting to disturb her if she was resting.
"Oh, come in already." the redhead said.
He couldn't remember ever hearing anything more beautiful than the sound of her voice even if she was annoyed with him. He smiled to himself.
"Well... Care to tell me just what the hell happened. I was ready to die and well clearly I didn't."
"Well that was stupid of you." Oliver said as he sat down on her bed taking her hand and proceeded to tell her everything that had been going on, down playing his participation at the same time.
-------//------------------------
She was anxious he could tell he simply wasn't sure how he knew. If anyone were to look at her all they'd see is an exceedingly beautiful woman, cool and graceful. But he knew, he might not actively remember her but it seemed there was some things the mind or perhaps the heart never forgot. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it softly as the limo drove them from the airport to the hospital. Her father was asking for her, dying it seemed. She'd confided in him. He was awed she'd actually told him the truth.
Lana looked down to where Lex squeezed her hand in comfort. In comfort she smiled softly to herself remembering the man she once loved and married oddly comforted by the fact that she really hadn't made him up, there had been a decent soul buried underneath it all.
---------------//------------------
Clark was passing by the kitchen not wanting to wake Lois up. They'd just returned from the hospital. Although Chloe's vitals were strong she still hadn't woken up. Lois didn't want to leave her or Oliver. When Tess rolled in on her wheelchair somehow getting herself out of bed and asked to speak her Lois nodded her head squeezing his hand. Clark knew he could've just listened in but it was a private moment between the women and he didn't want to interfere. He didn't realize he'd been holding the counter so tightly until it broke in half making a loud crash.
"So much for not waking Lois up…" he muttered.
A soft laugh sounded in the background. "No kidding... of course I woke up when I felt you get up. Just can't seem to sleep as well when your not there…"
She smiled at him.
He smiled back taking the hand she reached out to him as he sat on the stool. Lois moved to stand in between his legs.
“I'm sorry about the counter. I'll fix it tomorrow I promise."
"Clark, it's just a counter it'll keep…" she said as he lifted his chin up to her.
"I'm so sorry Lois... About Chloe… When will those meteors stop wrecking everyone's life? I wish they never landed on earth!" He said in an anguished voice turning his head from her about to move away.
When he felt her hands holding him down she really couldn't keep him in his spot they both knew but breaking away from Lois’ touch never occurred to him.
"Now you listen to me Clark Kent… yes the meteors came and they wrecked a whole lot of havoc but so what!" Clark raised an eyebrow at her. “Yeah I said it! So What! They also brought you…" she ended on a whisper. “They brought the Kent’s the child they’d been praying for, they brought the world a savior, hope for a better life, and they brought me a gift I didn't even know I'd been wishing for…" she said looking at him as tears glistened in eyes. "So don't you ever say you wish it had never happened!"
"I'm sorry, Lois." he said stroking her hair off her face.
"And stop saying sorry, Smallville." she said as she rested her forehead against his.
"Sorry…" he said with a grimace as the both burst out laughing. And suddenly she was in his arms and he was guiding her down onto their bed, his hands ran along her long legs, kissing the back of her knees and Lois last coherent thought was about how he does that to drive all other coherent thoughts from her head.
--------------//-----------------
Back at the hospital Tess and Oliver sat silently as he turned to her. "Care to share what you could've said to legs to get her to leave her cousins side?"
He quirked an eyebrow in Tess’ direction.
"I was wondering how long it'd take you to ask…" she smiled wearily at him.
"Well..." he said impatiently smiling at her with a charming smile.
"Lane and I understand each other and..." Tess sighed. “She understands why I need to be here for you both."
"Tess..." Oliver said on a breath reaching out to take her hands. "Chloe would never want you to feel responsible for this. Honestly, I don't think she did it on purpose." he ended on laugh and she laughed softly with him, as they both looked upon the blonde silently praying she'd wake up soon.
“Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you I had no control over.”