Title: Transfer
Author: Areon (Kaleb)
Rating: T
Disclaimer: All characters belong to DC Comics, Warner Bros., Al Gough, Miles Millar, etc. etc.
Spoilers: Season 4
Placement: After Spirit (4.18)
Quick Summary: Clark wakes up one morning and realizes that something is different. But will even this be enough to bring him and Lois closer?
Special Thanks: All the Smallville fanfiction writers that have inspired me to write my own work, but especially Sk8erGur1 and Leto1281. Each of them have written stories that inspired ideas that play a major role in this story. I want to give special thanks to SunRei, too, for her very excellent stories. Her writing especially has shown me what is possible to do with fanfiction and challenged me to write at such a level. And last but not least, I want to thank everyone that reviews this story. You are what make writing so much fun.

Chapter One

The first rays of sunlight gleamed through the window of Clark's room, causing him to stir. He would need to get up soon. His chores called to him, especially since his parents were out of town. They were taking a weekend trip to Metropolis for there quarterly date. The two of them would have gone out more often, but they simply couldn't afford to take the trip more than once every three months. Clark was glad that his parents were allowed even that simple pleasure, and he didn't mind taking care of the farm by himself every once and a while. It wasn't like the farm work took a great deal of time to finish, at least for him. If he worked at full speed, he could get all his chores done in twenty minutes. Well, save milking the cows. That had to be done at normal speed, and it took a good twenty to thirty minutes to do. Still, he would need to get up soon, before Lois woke up, so that he could finish as much work as possible before having to slow down upon her appearance.

Lois. Thinking about her made him realize where he was. How had he ended up in his own bed? Lois wouldn't have taken the couch, even he wouldn't have let her, and she wouldn't have agreed to it either. And he knew she had stayed the night, and that she had ended up in his bed. The two of them had watched a movie the night before, and she had fallen asleep half-way through, so he had carried her up to her bed and tucked her in. Then he had gone back downstairs and laid down on the couch.

He suddenly froze. He had gone back down to the couch, hadn't he? As he took in a deep breath, he realized that Lois' scent was a lot closer than it should have been. Oh dear. She was so going to kill him. What had possessed him to get in bed with her? He shuddered. The thought even made him nauseous. Sure, she was gorgeous, but she was also Lois. This shouldn't have been in the realm of possibility. As she had once said, men would learn to fly before the two of them would end up together. Okay, so that wasn't the best possible phrase to use, seeing as how he had flown (albeit as Kal-El) earlier this year.

Clark once again ran through the events of the previous night, and after doing so, he was still confused. He distinctly remembered coming back downstairs and lying down on the couch. So how had he ended up in her bed? Had he sleepwalked up there? He'd never had a problem with that before, but it could have happened. Or perhaps he had simply lost his memory from the past few days, and she had left to visit her father or something, and that's why he was in his bed. Frankly, he wouldn't have minded at all, in this case, that that be true. Losing his memory would be so much better than waking up next to Lois. While there was a small part of him that would love to wake up next to her, all of him understood how bad it would be if she found out.

Now he really had to get out of bed before she woke up. He still hadn't opened his eyes (he knew that if he did it would make everything a reality, and he wasn't quite ready for that yet), but he knew he was on the far left side of the bed, and he knew he had enough room on that side to get out. He slid one of his legs out from under his blankets, and...completely fell off the bed, making a lot of noise when he hit the floor. Ow! he thought to himself. That...hurt? That made even less sense than waking up next to Lois. What was wrong with him today? He'd have to figure it out later. Right now he had to get out of the room.

He pulled himself up slowly and took a peak on the bed. It was empty. Maybe he had lost his memory. That would explain why he was in his own bed, why he thought he had fallen asleep on the couch, and likely why his head hurt so badly after hitting the floor. Although the explanation to that one had to be very interesting. Well, unless it was another large solar flare. Just great. He really didn't want to have to go through that again. Still, it was better than waking up next to Lois.

He stood up, and felt an odd sensation near his chest as he did. He looked down at himself. And suddenly it all clicked. He wished it hadn't. This is a nightmare, he thought. This was to much to handle, even for him. He felt his emotions starting to swell, as tears threatened to break down the gates on his eyes. He attempted to hold them back, but his defenses were simply not strong enough to handle the onslaught. He broke down, falling to his knees and burying his face in his hands. He could accept any of the ideas that he had come up with since he woke up. Anything, that is, except for this. It was too much to handle. And so he did the only thing he was capable of at the moment: he sat by the edge of the bed and cried.

She was awake. She wasn't quite sure why, as of yet. The sounds that had awoken her still hadn't quite registered in her mind yet. All she knew was that it was a Saturday morning, the Kent's were out of town, she didn't have to be at work until one, and, judging by the amount of sunlight coming in the window, it wasn't anywhere near one. In fact, it had to be just barely past dawn. This was not the Saturday morning she was looking forward to, and as soon as she figured out who was responsible for waking her up, she was going to vent her frustration on him. Yes, it had to be Clark. He was the only one there.

She suddenly realized where she was: the couch. She must have fallen asleep last night while watching the movie. Perhaps Clark had fallen asleep as well, and him getting up had awoken her. But that would mean that they...well, it wasn't the end of the world. So she slept with Clark. It wasn't that big of a deal. The two of them were friends, even if they didn't really admit it to each other, and what they had done the night before had been completely innocent. There was really nothing to worry about. At least the Kent's were out of town and hadn't caught them like that. Well, actually, that wouldn't have been so bad either. It would have been worth it to see Clark squirm. She smiled. Yes, that would have been fun.

She then realized that it wasn't exactly 'fun' that had awoken her. Someone had been crying, and still was. And from the sound of it, it was a young girl or a woman. It didn't sound familiar, but then it didn't make any sense, either. Her and Clark were the only two people at the farm. She supposed it could have been Lana, but then it didn't sound like her cry either, and she'd heard it several times before. Whoever it was, it was someone in need. And it called out to her. It was a hopeless cry, and she wasn't about to let some girl go through that alone. She pushed the blanket that was around her off, and stood up off the couch, looking around.

Something was wrong. Or rather, different. While she couldn't see the girl who was crying, what she could see surprised her. She had always been blessed with exceptional vision, but this was insane. Almost as if she was looking at the world through a pair of binoculars. Everything was so clear, so detailed. What was going on?

Figuring this out could wait until later. Right now she had to find this girl. She listened more closely, and realized that the crying was coming from behind her, from her room. This girl must have been crying louder than she had thought, if she was able to hear her from the living room. Now she knew she was needed. She hurried up the stairs and opened the door to her bedroom, pulling it completely off. She looked into the room at the sight in front of her, down to the door in her hand, down at her bare chest and boxers, then back up to the girl in her room. She cursed under her breath, then fainted, dropping the door on top of her.

When...Lois, he assumed, walked into the room, everything became all the more real. The realization hit him hard, increasing the intensity of his tears. It took him several minutes to overcome his tears, but concern for Lois eventually won out and he composed himself, wiped away his tears (smearing the little bit of makeup that he had on just a little bit), and worked his way over to her..er, him...er, whatever. He wasn't concerned about her safety (he had finally decided on which personal pronoun to use), because she wasn't going to get hurt while she was in his body. But he was still concerned about her. By her reaction, she was as shocked as he was. He managed to get the door off of her and set it aside. Then he attempted to wake her.

"Lois? Lois, wake up." Hearing Lois' voice come out of his mouth was still way to weird.

She stirred. "What...ah..." She began to come to, opened her eyes (or rather, his eyes, but let's not go there) and looked up at herself. Again, she swore, only this time it wasn't under her breath. "Okay, uh...Smallville?...why am I not in my body?"

"What, so you're blaming me for this? I'm as confused and shocked about all of this as you are."

Yep, it was definitely Smallville. Only he could look that annoyed and concerned for her at the same time. As he helped her up, she glanced down at the discarded door. "Okay, can you at least explain why I was able to rip the door off its hinges?"

"Uh..." Oh dear. He totally wasn't prepared for this. He quickly searched his mind for any plausible explanation. But nothing that she would believe came to mind. A few of his excuses would have worked on a normal person, but this was Lois. She had this uncanny ability to see right through him. And he hated lying to her anyway, perhaps more than he hated lying to anyone.

"Well?"

"You pulled to hard on the door?"

Lois laughed at his explanation. "Yes, I kind of figured that. And I know that you are strong, but pulling a door completely off its hinges is kind of in the superhuman realm. Is there something that you want to tell me?"

"Uh, no." He really did want to tell her, and he still didn't want to lie to her, but his father's training was to ingrained in him to not look for a way out of all this.

"That's fair, I guess. Is there anything else I might need to know about you while we get this figured out? I'm not going to accidentally shoot lasers out of my eyes anytime soon, right?" His face paled and his mouth dropped in surprise. Do I really look like that when I'm surprised? Lois wondered. Then it dawned on her. "Wait a minute. You mean I have to worry about that too?"

He nodded weakly. He had a feeling that this day was only going to get worse from here.

"Okay, I understand you not wanting to share. People keep secrets for a reason, and from the looks of things you have better reasons for keeping them than most people. But I don't want to hurt anyone, and I don't want to expose you on accident either. You've got to tell me what to expect. Do you have any other gifts that I might need to know about?"

She was right, of course. He hated it when she was right. There was no avoiding this. He had to tell her the truth, for his own safety as well as the safety of others. "Uh...I can run pretty fast too."

"Okay, so how fast are we talking here? Thirty miles an hour? Or a hundred?"

"I can run to Metropolis and back in twenty minutes."

Her mouth dropped. "But it's a three hour drive! It even takes me two and a half hours." She took a deep breath and attempted to compose herself. It was a lot to take in. But farmboy...er...yeah, that'll have to work. She was anything but a farmgirl, and it was easier to stick to the familiar. Farmboy here must be having a hard time with all of this as well. No wonder the boy was so insecure. With a secret like he was hiding, he couldn't help but fear a bit what people thought of him. If she had his gifts, which apparently now she did, she would be a bit apprehensive as well.

"I can also see through things and can hear a pin drop from a mile away. Oh, and I'm kind of invulnerable." He paused at this, and let her take it all in.

She slowly processed what he had told her. See through things? A thought occurred to her then, but she quickly dismissed it. Smallville was to much of a boyscout to do anything like that. "Kind of invulnerable? As in bulletproof?"

"Yes. The only thing that can hurt me is Krypt...uh, meteor rocks. I'm invulnerable to everything else."

Suddenly it all made sense. The times he had been there at just the right moment. The time he had saved her from that psycho running back. His quick exits and the totally annoying hero-complex. Everything clicked into place. And her respect for him increased astronomically. He wasn't just a simple yes-ma yes-pa farmboy anymore. He saved lives and took zero credit for it. He was something greater than a man. He was a super man, and he wasn't one because of his gifts. If she could end up with a man even half as noble as he was, she would be in heaven.

"Who else knows about this?"

"My parents, and an old friend of mine named Pete. He found out when he found my spaceship-" he abruptly stopped. Oops. That wasn't what he had meant to say. Tears began to form behind his eyes once again. Finding out about his powers was one thing. Now she was going to freak.

Lois processed his slip quickly. Okay, so he was an alien. There were worse things in the world to be. Psychopaths and rapists being very high up on that list. Being an alien wasn't anywhere near the top, at least in her mind. She looked at him and saw the tears in his eyes. She would have to teach him how to keep his hormones in check. But not now. Right now he needed assurance. She took him by the arms and looked straight into the hazel eyes he was currently using. They were downcast.

"Clark, look at me." She waited for him to do so, then continued. "You are an amazing person. I've thought this even before everything I've learned today. Sure, you can be really annoying sometimes, and really get on my nerves, but you're an amazing person none the less." She watched as he smiled at this, and she smiled in return. "What I've learned today has only increased my respect for you. Alien or not, you are a great person. You are more human than most of the people I know. If I think of you differently after today, it's not going to be because of what you are. It's going to be because of who you are, because of the man you...uh...well, you know what I mean."

Clark laughed through the tears that were falling down his face. Although this time they were not tears of fear or hopelessness. They were tears of joy. She accepted him for who he was. He couldn't believe it. This was turning out to be a better day than he ever thought it could be.