Title: Letting Them Know
Author: Mel Just let me know.
Rating: T
Disclaimer: The plot is mine, the dialogue is mine, but the characters aren't. I'm just borrowing for my own creativeness.
Spoilers: Just for my story "That Little Thing I Didn't Know" and "Crusade".
Summary: The sequel to "That Little Thing I Didn't Know". Lois is injured, and Clark stays by her side. Major Clois. Chlark friendship and Chlo-Lo. One-shot.
Oh, and this exceeds the limit by 140 words.
A/N: So, yeah...this is one of two responses to Rap's 4th challenge ("The Kiss") that I wrote. I got up yesterday (the third) after trying to sleep for an hour and wrote my second response to this in about 40 minutes. Go me. Anyway...I think I distorted Rap's intentions for the challenge again...but, yeah.
Dang it, though. Could Rapierhomme hold off a few more days so I could get Child Support and Memory done? With my conscious saying I need to respond to these challenges, I'm getting no work done on the stories that should be my top priority.
Anyway,
Enjoy! Review! All that good stuff!
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"True love comes in quietly, without banners or flashing lights. SHE is your sanity in a world full of madness. True love is not how grand you are or how simple you are, but it's who you are with you're with HER and she loves you not in spite of it, but BECAUSE of it. She is the one who STANDS with you, when the rest of the world falls down."
- Tomas Wilde Fontain
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It would be so nice if she could just go to sleep.
But she knew she couldn't. The blow to the back of her head told her that if she did, she might not wake up again.
Oh, screw it. No one would miss her anyway.
She sighed with relief was her eyes slipped shut.
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Clark stepped inside his house, the screen door slamming behind him.
"Hey, Lois! Come help me put the groceries away!"
Normally, he would have asked his mom or dad to help him, but seeing as they were in Metropolis for Jonathan's heart exam, Lois was his first and only choice.
He had been putting groceries away for about a minute before calling again. "Lois! C'mon, I don't want to do all this myself!"
He was reaching for the orange juice when he heard it -- slow, shallow, and raspy breathing.
As he followed the sound to its source, it dawned on him that it came from Lois' -- no, his -- room.
As far as he knew, there was only one person in the house -- Lois.
He ran up the stairs and flung open his door.
Clark's eyes darted rapidly around the room and landed on a woman -- Lois -- lying half on and half off of his bed.
There was a deep gash on the back of her head about an inch long and where it hadn't soaked into his bed sheets, or dripped on the floor, it had clotted in her hair.
He x-rayed the rest of her body -- his cheeks flamed at certain areas -- to make sure she had no more injuries.
He found, however, she had a compound fracture in the leg that was closest to the floor, and that at least three ribs had cracked; one of them had pressed through her lung causing it to collapse.
He placed his hand over the wound on the back of her head as he picked her up delicately.
His eyes widened at the sight of her face. Her right cheek sported a deep laceration that he suspected might have interrupted a vein's blood flow, because the coppery liquid that had gushed down her face and formed a trail on her neck had disappeared below her shirt line.
"God, Lois," Clark whispered. "What happened to you?"
He walked out of his room with her ever so slowly so that Lois wouldn't sustain further injury. His heart rate had to be 150.
He slowly stepped down the stairs and came to a halt in front of his phone. He shifted Lois every so slowly, so he could get a hold of the phone.
He delicately dialed Chloe's phone number and lowered his head to the phone, before raising it again, the phone wedged between his head and shoulder.
"Hello?"
"Chloe?" Clark said desperately.
"Clark? What's wrong?"
"It's Lois," he said, his voice choked. "She...she's...she needs medical attention."
"What! Why!"
"Uh...she...she's hurt. I just...I wanted you to know. I...I'm gonna take her to the hospital."
"Okay, but Clark..."
"Yeah?"
"Just...be careful, okay?"
"With her, Chloe, I always am."
"I know. I'll see you there."
"Yeah."
Clark pressed the 'end' button and flung the phone down on the receiver before going as fast as possible out to the truck...which wasn't there. His parents had taken it to Metropolis.
He stood there for a moment, rooted to the spot, thinking on how he could get Lois to the hospital when the blood slipping through his fingers reminded him that he could help that.
Clark shifted Lois so that he was almost cradling her backwards, her face toward the ground and the back of her head towards him.
He felt his eyes grow hot and at the right moment, he shot out short bursts of heat, closing the wound on the back of her head.
He sighed in relief that that particular problem was put on hold for a moment, although in the back of his mind, he knew he'd have to explain to a doctor how he managed to stop the bleeding.
Now, he had to figure out how to get Lois to the hospital. He could always try and will himself to fly, although the chances of that were drastically against him. He couldn't run with her -- the speeds alone might kill her. And if he called Chloe again it would take her too long to get Lois to the hospital, no matter how fast her little bug went over the speed limit.
He had one option that he could think of -- his dad's motorcycle.
Today is just my lucky day.
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He loved Lois, he really did, but if she wasn't going to wake up, he might have to strangle her.
"Clark."
He raised his head slowly off of Lois' stomach, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.
"Chloe. How are you?"
"Better than you or her, it looks like."
"Probably. How's Bruce?"
"Good. Worried about you and Lois."
"Tell him thanks for his concern."
"Clark, she will get better. She's gonna be okay. The doctors said so."
"Okay doesn't necessarily mean that she'll wake up, Chloe."
"Clark…"
"You heard the doctor! He had no clue when she'd wake up! It could be minutes, hours, days, months, hell, even years! He doesn't have any clue."
"Of course he has no clue. He doesn't know Lois. And both of us do know Lois, and that she'll wake up when she's damn good and ready. Not a minute before or after."
"But, what if this is her way of telling me that she doesn't want to be with me?"
Chloe had developed an insane look on her face. "What?"
"You know, just…waiting to wake up until my life moves on. And then she can move on away from me."
"Clark, that's the stupidest thing I've heard in my life. She loves you. She told you that while she fell asleep on you. Bruce can collaborate."
"What…what if she changed her mind?"
Chloe rolled her eyes. "You two are the most insecure people I've ever had the pleasure to meet. She means it, Clark. You should see her face light up when you enter the room. She's the happiest I've ever seen her. Don't you dare take that away from her due to your insecurities."
"Chloe …"
"Clark, shut up. You don't necessarily have to sit by her every day, you know. Just because you love her and your life revolves around her doesn't mean that you have to let your grades fall. She's only a second away."
"I know, Chloe. But I hate leaving her."
"And now you know how your mom felt between our Junior and Senior year when you dad was in a coma for three months. She still kept the house up, didn't she? That's her variation of your grades. It's your turn to be strong."
He looked dubiously at her. "Okay, but if I feel like visiting her…"
"But not the point where your grades suffer…"
"… but not to the point where my grades suffer, I will."
Chloe stuck her hand out. "Deal."
Clark put his hand in hers and repeated, "Deal."
They briefly shook hands.
"Now," Chloe said. "I believe you have some homework to do."
He smiled grimly at her and took the calculus book from her hand before leaning over Lois to place a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I love you."
He hugged Chloe before walking out the door. "Thanks, Chlo."
"No problem."
She smiled at him one last time before closing the door.
"He gone?" Lois' voice asked from the bed.
"Yeah."
"Thank God. I love him, really, I do, but if he was going to hang around another second, I was going to strangle him."
Chloe beamed.
"What?" Lois asked slowly.
"You said you loved him. I can't get over that."
"What? That I fell for a farm boy?"
"No, of course not," Chloe laughed. "Just that...you're in love, Lois. I'm glad you and Clark can feel what Bruce and I do."
Lois picked at the top sheet. "Yeah, well…"
"What?"
"Well, you heard Clark. All that stuff about me wanting to get away. What if that's his way of getting out of this?"
Chloe's eyes widened. "No, not you, too!"
Lois laughed. "Chloe, relax! I'm just kidding."
Her cousin looked hesitantly at her before rolling her eyes. "That wasn't funny, Lo."
"Yes it was! You should have seen your face!" she laughed, collapsing back onto her pillows.
Chloe 'humphed' and glared at her cousin.
Lois quieted and looked at Chloe seriously. "Okay. It wasn't funny. Now, what have you got for me?"
"Clothes. You're 'waking up' today. Clark's gonna go scoop you up in his arms when you come in the Talon because he'll recognized your heart beat. Then, he'll forget where he is and kiss you."
Lois looked at her doubtfully. "You're kidding. This will never work. You make it sound like a soap opera."
Chloe shook her head. "No, I think he'll kiss you. Besides, if he doesn't, you can. And it's not a soap opera! You guys are far from it! No soap opera has Meteor Freaks."
As Chloe got up, she threw Lois' clothes at her. "Go get changed, okay? The quicker you do that, the quicker you get to see Clark."
Lois grinned and trotted to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
The door opened about a second later. "Chloe?"
"Yeah?"
"You got anything on the guys that got me in here?" she asked.
"No, but we'll focus on that later. Go get dressed."
Lois smiled at her before closing the door again.
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Time seemed to slow down for Clark the second he heard the familiar heart beat come through the Talon front door.
His eyebrows raised hopefully, his head spun to the front of the coffee shop that was full of students.
"Lois!"
She smiled and walked up to him, placing a hand on his chest. "Hey, Smallville."
"You're okay," he murmured.
"Apparently."
Before she had even seen it, Clark's lips were on hers, startling her. Chloe had clearly expected this, but she hadn't.
There was a noise that she recognized faintly as clapping, among other things as Clark's lips broke off from hers.
Lana's voice cut above the others congratulating them. "It's about time you let everyone know!"
"Well," Clark said. "I guess we did let them know."
Lois laughed. "Yeah. I guess we did."
Her eyes connected with Chloe's and her cousin mouthed 'told ya' before being dragged off by Bruce.
Her attention switched back to Clark. "Is that a good thing?"
He just smiled at her and lowered his lips to hers again.
Yep. Definitely a good thing
End
A/N2: So, how was that? I didn't really go into the kiss much, because I can't write that type of thing. And I hope that I did sufficient justice for this type of story.
And hey! This thing is 8 pages long! Only one shorter than "That Little Thing I Didn't Know!" I have way too much time on my hands… now, off to Memory and Child Support!
Thanks to my great beta, Erin!
Now, watcha gonna do? ;) Review! (Hey, that rhymed!)