Current mood:	calm
Entry tags:	archived, clark/lois, fanfiction, smallville

Archived: Call of Destiny: Awareness
Title: Call of Destiny: Awareness
Author: Amanda (likeloislane)
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Clark & Lois
Rating: R
Word Count: 1826
Spoilers: Post-Vessel. Third of five parts to Call of Destiny. If you haven't read the other two parts, you probably should before you read this. It'll make things make a little more sense.
Author's Notes: Written for 100songs over on LJ.
Summary: Sometimes even a kiss can make you aware of your destiny.

Frozen inside without your touch
Without your love, darling
Only you are the life among the dead
All of this time I can't believe I couldn't see
Kept in the dark, but you were there in front of me
I've been sleeping a thousand years, it seems


"Lois!"

Chloe was ecstatic to see her cousin on the other side of the door. So much so, in fact, that before Lois could even get a word in, Chloe had embraced the older girl and pulled her inside the apartment.

"Chloe, I'm so glad you're okay." The relief that had washed over Lois in knowing that Chloe was alive and seemingly okay was overwhelming. She knew she'd been worried, but she never imagined it would have gotten to her this much. Deep inside, she knew the worry she'd once felt for Chloe had now shifted. Clark wasn't okay - no matter how he might have appeared on the outside. For someone who initially hadn't been all that fond of him, there was just something that connected deep within Lois. Whether she liked it or not (and most of the time, she didn't), she genuinely cared for the Smallville, Kansas farm boy.

Her visit with Chloe had lasted far longer than she'd expected, and by the time she'd convinced herself that Chloe was fine - after all, she was hard at work researching those stupid caves and practically begged Lois to go with her the next afternoon - it had grown dark. As she stepped out onto the street, she realized just how different her once beloved Metropolis really was. Where favorite restaurants once stood, practically bursting with the weekend nightlife, empty buildings with variations of closed signs reminded her that nothing would ever be the same again. Metropolis could rebuild - and nearly had - completely, but the devastation that once ravaged the city would remain forever a lasting scar. Not only on the city, but on the people as well. Even a few that weren't from Metropolis, she thought.

She was waiting for Clark, growing more and more impatient by the moment. He was ridiculous. She'd been in there for hours and he was still gone? Tugging her sleeve up a bit, she admired the bracelet that she shouldn't be wearing. It really was beautiful, she admitted to herself. Certainly Clark had bought it for Lana back before whatever caused the rift in their relationship had torn them apart. But somehow, she couldn't see the former love of Clark's life wearing such a trinket. It just didn't seem to fit her style. Not that it necessarily fit Lois's, but wearing it, Lois felt as though it was made for her. Just as she'd covered the bracelet with her sleeve once more, she saw a flash out of the corner of her eye and looked up to find Clark, looking darker than she'd seen him earlier. A little more ruffled than he'd left her, but she wasn't worried about him physically. She'd seen Clark take some pretty harsh punishment and come back like it was nothing. But emotionally, whatever had happened to him before was only intensified by his 'errand,' which Lois had a sinking suspicion had to do with LuthorCorp.

Shaking off the way-too-concerned vibe she was feeling, Lois motioned for him to get into the car. "Clark, what took you so long? I didn't tell Chloe you'd come with me. She'd have been really upset that you didn't come at least say hello."

"I told you, I had something I needed to take care of," he told her, tossing a look in her direction that warned her that prying any further would result in something horrible to happen to her. Lois liked to push Clark's buttons, but she was far too tired to try. "Is she okay?"

"Fine. She's doing some story on those caves you love so much."

Clark bristled at the idea of Chloe doing extensive research on the caves. To him, it meant she'd gone back on her word. She was looking into him again. He couldn't deny that he was more than a little hurt by that, but now it wasn't just looking into an adoption. She was looking into a whole new world and that not only risked exposing his secret, but her life was now on the line as well.

"Did she say what she was researching, exactly?"
"Just the caves. Some legend is written on the walls and she's looking more closely into it." Lois shrugged. "She's coming back to Smallville in the morning and wants me to go with her out there."

Clark started to protest, but a glaring look from Lois silenced him. She was obviously tired. He was more than a little exhausted from all that he'd had to go through himself. Getting Zod out of Lex's body had been the hardest thing he'd ever done. Banishing him back to the Phantom Zone wasn't half as hard as nearly killing someone who had once been his best friend to remove an evil Kryptonian overlord that was inhabiting human form. Luckily, he'd been able to get Lex (and Lana, who'd unfortunately come in at the wrong moment and nearly ended up dead) to the hospital in time, their minds wiped of the battle and of Lex's unexpected reign as Zod. As far as he was concerned, it was truly a lucky break, but deep down, he knew that this changed everything.

"Let me drive home," he suggested, holding his hand out for the keys. To his surprise, Lois relented.

"Not a scratch, you hear me?"

"Lois, I can manage to get back to Smallville without damaging your car. And I promise, no trips through the cornfield."

They shared a smile and shifted, Lois climbing over Clark as they changed positions. Clark was very aware of Lois as she brushed against him and judging by the slight blush on her cheeks as she settled into the passenger's side, she hadn't managed the switch unaffected. However, Lois brushed it off far better than Clark had, grabbing the blanket from her back seat and settling in to sleep through the three-hour drive.

It took Lois no time to fall asleep, and he spent a good hour of the trip in silence. It would have driven Lois crazy - the silence. But for Clark, the silence was welcome. It was a time to reflect on everything. On what had happened and what was to come. He had so much that he needed to tell his mother, even though he knew that all that had happened to him and all that he feared would only terrify her. He didn't want to scare her - hated the thought, in fact - but he had no one else to turn to. After hearing of Chloe's research, he worried his trust in her was misplaced. He couldn't trust Lana at all. His only other option was -

"Clark!" Lois screamed, tossing in her seat as though she were battling an unseen opponent. Looking over, Clark realized she was still sleeping. "No! Clark!" Tears streamed down her cheeks. Whatever her nightmare and his role in it, he was shocked at the emotion in her words.

Clark pulled over onto the shoulder and reached over, gentle hands on her shoulders. As if on instinct, Lois wrapped her arms around him and practically launched herself into his chest. "Clark," she sobbed, head buried in his chest. "I thought I'd lost you."

Pulling her back a bit to look at her, trying to understand what she meant, Clark's hand brushed against something beneath the sleeve of her shirt. Tugging it up a bit, he was stunned to find the turquoise stone looking back at him. Lois was wearing the bracelet he'd been given for this 'destined' love. He thought it meant Lana when he'd first been given the bracelet. In a perfect world, it still would be. But it fit nearly perfectly on Lois's wrist and now she was having nightmares of 'losing' him? Nightmares causing her to cry over him as though she loved him? Looking at the clock on the car radio, he realized they really needed to get home. They'd discuss the bracelet in the morning. Lois had never once woken from her dream and Clark placed her back into her seat, tugging the blanket around her. "Just rest, Lois. It's okay. I haven't gone anywhere. I'm right here."

"Clark," she whispered as she pulled him closer. He'd expected her to tell him something in her sleeping state. Something in regards to the dream, or maybe something she didn't remember in her waking hours. Instead, with hands pressed to either side of his face, Lois lifted her head and kissed him. He couldn't remember ever having someone kiss him in their sleep. Asleep or awake, he couldn't remember someone kissing him with such passion. Sure, Chloe had given him quite a kiss in fear she'd never see him again, but Lois...

He felt a little guilty, comparing the kiss that Chloe had given him to the one Lois was giving him at that moment. But there really was no comparison. Lois kissed him in a way that sent a shock through him. A kiss that made him feel alive. He knew, no matter how badly he might want to in the light of day, he'd never be able to tease her about the kiss without betraying just how incredible to touch of her lips to his made him feel.

He'd pulled away a little reluctantly, but he was determined to get them home. To talk to his mother. And now he had something else to think about. Lois, though she didn't know it, had made him acutely aware of feelings he didn't think he could have for anyone. Settling back in his seat, he sat there for a long moment, trying to regain a sense of composure.

The remainder of the drive to Smallville, Clark's lips burned in the wake of that kiss, his mind replaying her cries of his name and her tears against his chest. Lois, however, remained seemingly unaffected. But that, Clark thought, was Lois. She could snap back from those moments of emotion quicker than anyone else he knew.

He'd barely gotten Lois out of the car when his mother came rushing from the house. "Clark!"

"Mom, we have a lot to talk about." And Lois Lane, though she was barely a rag doll in his arms, was one of the biggest topics weighing on his mind.