Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A limo pulled up in front of the Kent farm several days later. Ollie climbed out gracefully, with Lois climbing out not so gracefully behind him. She stumbled a bit and was saved from falling on her face when Ollie grabbed her.

“Take it easy there Grace.”

“Shut up Ollie, get your damn hands off me. You try getting out of this car with a cast on.”

He took a step back and held his hands up. “Whatever you say Lois.” he said with a small smile.

Lois sent him a glare, fulminating that she was in this awkward position. The only reason she agreed to do this was because Chloe begged her to come with Oliver to see Clark. “Just don’t come near me.” she said as she stalked toward the front door.
Ollie sighed. You didn’t expect gratitude from her did you Queen? he thought, You only saved her life and Chloe’s. He followed her up the steps to the kitchen door.

“Lois, can we just get along for the time being? Clark is going to be wrecked enough without us snipping at each other.”

She knew he was right, but she wasn’t going to admit it. “I’m not planning on speaking to you any more than I have to, and I’ll be civil when I do. I wouldn’t want to upset Smallville anymore than you do. He’s like a brother to me.” If she wanted to be truthful to herself, she wasn’t looking forward to this at all. Clark believed that both she and Chloe were dead. Finding out the truth and what came along with it was going to be hard for him to bear. Chloe had been adamant about Clark being told that she was alive. There was absolutely no dissuading her, and grew very agitated when they were reluctant to agree. When they realized that she was not going to calm down until they promised her that they would tell Clark what had happened and deliver the letter that Lois now had in her purse, they relented. Chloe even in her weakened state was a force to be reckoned with.

Lois looked at Ollie and saw that he felt the same hesitance that she felt. She didn’t know that he felt it for partially different reasons though. He had a feeling that Clark was going to try and pound him into China for not coming clean earlier than this.

He locked eyes onto Lois and took a breath, “Here we go.” and knocked on the door.

Lois heard steps coming down the stairs and to the doors, which meant that Clark was the one coming to the door. He’s the only one in the house that made that kind of racket coming down the steps, she thought, the big dork. She held her breath when the door swung open.

Clark looked like he hadn’t had a nights sleep in weeks. His hair was longer than normal, and looked messy even for Clark. His blue T shirt was wrinkled like it had been slept in and had several stains on it. He wore old jeans that stretched out over his thighs to the stress points, and had holes in both knees and no shoes. But it was his face that disturbed her the most. His eyes looked listless and dull, there were bags under them and his face was so pale with a few days growth of a beard. He didn’t even remotely look like the wholesome farm boy she knew.

“Clark.” Ollie said with a nod.

Clark’s eyes had fallen to Lois when he had opened the door. His mind was obviously playing tricks on him again, but he couldn’t resist looking behind “Lois” to see if he saw anyone else. Of course not, Kent. She’s dead, they both are. he thought. He dragged his eyes to Ollie.

“Ollie. What’s going on?” Clark didn’t want him to know he was seeing things that weren’t there. His mother was worried enough about him, he didn‘t need anyone else on his case.

“Can we come in?”

We? Clark thought confused. “Yeah, sure, c’mon in.” He stepped back to let Ollie inside.

“Hi Smallville. I bet you didn’t think I would be standing on your doorstep huh?” Lois said awkwardly.

“Um, Ollie? What are you doing here?” Clark ignored Lois. Great, now I’m hearing things when other people are around.

“Hello? Earth to Clark?” Lois waved her hands in front of Clarks face. “I know I’m not you’re favorite person in the world but aren’t you going to say anything to me?”

If possible, Clark’s face got even paler. His eyes wouldn’t focus on Lois at all, and he started to fidget. He heard his mother coming down the stairs from packing to leave for Washington again.

“Oliver! What a nice surprise. What….Oh my God! LOIS?” Mrs. Kent cried as she streaked across the kitchen to embrace her former houseguest. “How is this possible, we were told you were dead!” she asked as she released Lois.

“I’m glad someone is glad to see me Mrs. Kent.” Lois replied, throwing Clark a look.

Clark stood there in shock. Lois is alive, she’s really here, this isn‘t a dream. Breaking his lethargy, he stepped forward and caught Lois in a bear hug, trying to be careful to not crush her. “I didn’t think you were real. I’m glad you’re okay.” He sobbed. “But.….Chloe….”

Lois patted him on the back, “Clark, let loose a bit will you? I can’t breath.” Clark released her from the hug, but still held onto her arms. She saw the tears in his eyes and her heart broke for him.

“I’m sorry, I….” Clark looked pleadingly into her eyes. “ Lois, is Chloe…alive too?”

“Well, that’s what we came to talk to you about Clark.” Lois said.

“Lois, please, just tell me. Is she alive?”

Lois could see the anguish in his eyes. “Yes, Clark she’s alive.”

“Oh God.” Clark sank down onto a chair. He had let go of Lois’ arms and covered his face with his hands. “Oh, thank God.” he sobbed.

Martha came over to put her arms around her son. She cradled his head into her breast as he sobbed. Her son had been through hell the last few weeks over the death of Lois and Chloe. He had blamed himself for not getting there in time to save them. By the time he got to Metropolis, he could find no clue as to where the girls were. It wasn’t until a few days later, when they received a call from Gabe, that they were told that there had been an accident. Chloe’s car had blown up and no remains of the girls had been found. A memorial service was held for both girls just a week ago. Clark had not slept or eaten in over a week. She looked at Lois and Oliver standing there, obviously quite uncomfortable with Clark’s reaction. She patted her son’s back and whispered into her son’s ear before speaking again.

“I don’t know what’s going on here, but someone had better explain why we’ve been put through this.” Martha spoke quietly with steel in her voice. It was the same tone she adopted whenever she encountered a fellow senator that assumed he (or she) could push her around since she lived on a farm in Kansas. She had seen her son devastated when Jonathan died, but she had never seen her son react like this.

Ollie shuffled his feet uncomfortably under Martha’s intense gaze. He could understand now why she was a formidable foe on Capital Hill. “There is a lot to go over, and we don’t have much time, can we sit down Mrs. Kent?” He glance at Clark and saw the young man struggle to compose himself.

Martha nodded towards the chairs. “Would either of you like something to drink?”

“I would love to have some lemonade Mrs. Kent.” Lois said, “and if you happen to have any of your fabulous chocolate chip cookies around, I wouldn’t object to those either.” She added with a grin.

Martha couldn’t help but grin at Lois. “I think I can find some for you Lois.”

Clark listened to the conversation around him, but was still in a state of shock. He dimly realized that he had just cried like a girl in front of Ollie, and Lois. He groaned inwardly, she would never let him live it down. But that was okay, because she was alive. Chloe was alive, and nothing could be better than that. He was grateful that his mother was here, and knew that by offering Lois and Ollie something to drink, that she was giving him a chance to compose himself. He took a deep breath and looked at Lois.

“Are you okay?” He looked down at her arm and noticed the cast. He reached out to lay his hand on it. Being able to reach out and touch her, made the reality of the situation begin to sink in. “Do I get to sign this?”

Lois rotated her arm so that her hand could hold Clark’s. “I’m fine, and yeah you can sign it.”

Clark grinned for the first time since she has walked through the door. “Good. I have a great Whitesnake lyric to write.” He chuckled as Lois began to blush.

“You are such a dork Smallville.”

“But at least I have better taste in music.” he teased. Which earned him a swat on the arm.

Ollie cleared his throat. “I hate to bust up this fascinating conversation, but we don’t have a lot of time.”

Lois shot him a glare, but refraining from the retort on the tip of her tongue. She had meant what she had said to him earlier. She didn’t want to upset Cark any more than he already was. Besides, although she would never admit it, Ollie was right, they were on a tight time table. She smiled her thank you at Martha when a plate of cookies appeared in front of her. She glanced at Ollie and gave him a nod. With Martha here, their story would have to have some edits in it, but Lois had prepared by Ollie the whole trip here just for this scenario.

“Chloe was suspicious of being followed and didn’t want to inadvertently put me in danger. So she decided to fill me in about her ongoing investigation of 33.1. She also told me of her kidnapping because she is possibly meteor infected and that she believed Lex was behind it.” Which explained why she had been acting so weird the last few weeks, Lois thought to herself.

“She got a lead that she might have been able to find the location that she had been taken and of course wanted to go check it out. She wanted me to know what was going on in case she didn’t come home. God, she even wanted me to have her research so that I could continue with the investigation if she got caught. Since there was no way I was letting her go alone, I tagged along. She didn’t like it, but I told her that it would be better if she had a partner to watch her back.”

She glanced down at the cookie she was crumbling with her hands. Just thinking about that day made her panic. She put the cookie down on the plate and rubbed her sweaty palms on her jeans. She forced herself to take a breath and calm down. She was safe, and so was Chloe.

“We headed out to a building down by the docks. It was easy to break in, too easy we figured out later, and started to snoop around. It wasn’t too long after we had gotten there, that Chloe started getting real jumpy. She kept saying that she felt that we were being watched. We heard footsteps and ducked into a room. A couple of goons passed by obviously looking for something or someone. We decieded that it was time to make a hasty exit and try to come back another time. We made it back to Chloe’s car, when all of a sudden this black SUV came out of nowhere and started bearing down on us. I won’t bore you with the details, but there was more than one that was chasing us, and one managed to block off the car. Chloe swerved to miss it, and the car flipped. I don’t remember much after that, I was knocked out for a few minutes. When I came to, Ollie was there with a bunch of his bodyguards.”

“I thought you were in Star City Oliver, how did you know the girls were there?” Martha asked.

Showtime, Ollie thought. “I was in town to tie up some loose ends and actually was wanting to get into contact with Chloe. She had been doing some research for me that I couldn’t trust to my own people. I have had some issues with some leaks in Queen Industries that I needed to get to the bottom of. Both Clark and Lois had said that they didn’t know anyone who could track down details like Chloe, so I had asked her if she would help me out.

“I got a call from Chloe while they were being chased. She said she couldn’t call the police, that she and Lois were in trouble and if I could come help them. Before I had a chance to ask what was going on, her phone cut out. I had my assistant track down Chloe’s car and sent my security ahead to them.”

“How did you track down Chloe’s car?” Clark asked.

Ollie looked sheepish as he answered. “I had her car lojacked when she started doing research for me. She wasn’t aware of it, and I knew she wouldn’t approve, but since she was doing some rather delicate work for me, I wanted to make sure that she was safe and keep tabs on her. She’s given me hell for it, but it was a good thing it had been done. By the time I reached where they were, my team was already getting the girls out of the car. No one else was around, and it was obvious that both girls were hurt. Lois was awake and coherent which was fortunate otherwise I would have taken them both to the hospital and there is no telling what would have happened then.

“Chloe was very badly injured. With Lois quickly explaining what had happened, there was no doubt in my mind that Lex would try to finish what his men failed to do. There were sirens in the distance and I knew there wasn’t much time. If the police became involved, Chloe and Lois would not have been safe. I took the chance and we moved Chloe and Lois to my limo. I contacted a doctor friend of mine at Metropolis General, and had him waiting for us when we got there. He examined Chloe very quickly and got her into surgery to get her stabilized. I made the arrangements to transport Chloe to a secure location as quickly as possible. She wasn’t out of surgery an hour when she was moved.”

He looked at his watch. “I’m sorry, I have to hurry. We have only a small window of time before we can be tracked.

“I had a couple of my men go by the girls’ apartment to pick up Chloe’s laptop. After hearing in more detail from Lois what they had been doing and why, I thought it best to try and collect the evidence she had for collateral.”

“Where is she?” Clark asked. Chloe was alive somewhere and he wanted, no he needed to be with her.

“I can’t tell you that right now Clark. I’m sorry, but know that she is safe and being looked after by friends.” Ollie raised his hand at the beginning of Clark’s objection, “Let me finish Clark, I think then you will understand.

“Judging what I was able to find out from Chloe’s computer and some sources that I have, it was a safe assumption that Chloe was living on borrowed time. Now that Lois was involved, she was a target too. Lois and I discussed a few things and came to the conclusion that Chloe and Lois would be better off dead. So, they are. Without ‘bodies’, we couldn’t take the chance of telling anyone that the girls were alive until after the funeral. There would be great scrutiny of the reactions of the people attending the services and everything had to be authentic. Mr. Sullivan was informed yesterday and taken to see Chloe under the guise of a trip to get away from the city and memories of his daughter. Lois was able to speak to General Lane over the phone as well. I’ll be honest Clark, the only reason why we are telling you now is that Chloe refused any more treatment until she assured you would be told.”

“Why can’t I see her?” Clark demanded.

“Because right now she needs to focus on getting well and staying alive. The people she cares about are still being watched very closely and we can’t take the chance of anyone giving anything away. I’ve risked more than I care to just telling you Clark and now that Mrs. Kent knows, I’m growing increasingly nervous. I know neither one of you would intentionally give Chloe or Lois away, but these men play for keeps. They will do anything to get the information they want. So as of now, Chloe Sullivan and Lois Lane are dead.”


“Ollie, it’s time. We have to go.” Lois said. “Chloe gave me a letter to give to you Clark.” Lois pulled the letter out of her purse and handed it to Clark. “She said that you would understand better after you read it.”

“You know I can’t accept that I can’t see her right?” Clark looked directly at Ollie.

“I know. But for her sake right now, you have to. I only brought Lois because there was a small time frame where the farm was not being watched, so that you could see she was okay. Clark, trust me, I’m doing everything in my power to keep them both safe and alive.” Ollie prayed that whatever was in the letter Chloe had written would keep Clark from trying to find her. She had assured him it would. “When it’s safe, and enough time has passed, I promise that you’ll get to see her again.”

Clark took the letter that Lois had in her hand. “So, this is goodbye?”

“For now Smallville. You won’t get rid of me that easy.” Lois flung her arms around the farm boy she had grown to love as a brother. She stood on her toes so that she could whisper in his ear, “I’ll take care of her Clark. You take care of yourself.”

“You too, Lois.” Clark whispered back, hugging her tightly to him. He released her and she turned to hug Martha.

Clark looked at him again with a glint in his eye that Ollie had never seen before. “If anything happens, you had better let me know. If anything happens and she needs me…”

“I’ll call you. Right now Clark I just need time to get them set up so that they are safe. He won’t find them.”

“Thank you Ollie. You have no idea how much I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me anything Clark. I care for them both.” He lowered his voice just so that Clark could hear. “And the boys are delighted to have her around.”

Clark’s chest ached with the thought that he wouldn’t be the one to be with her while she recovered. “How bad is she?”

“She’s healing remarkably fast. She still has a way to go, but she’s alert, eating and giving everyone around her a hard time.”

Clark smiled. “Sounds like Chlo.” He sobered quickly with the thought again that he won’t be able to see her.

Ollie looked at his watch and frowned. “We need to go, now. Clark, I’ll be in touch when I can. Mrs. Kent, thank you for the lemonade and the cookies, they were delicious.” Ollie put his hand on the middle of Lois’s back and guided her towards the door.

“See ya around Smallville. ‘Bye Mrs. Kent.” Lois said and then they were gone.