Thanks again to Beth.
[Oh, and Michael, these chapters are way shorter than anything else I've ever written so 10 chapters here is like 5 or less in most other things I've written so take that into consideration too. /me forgot to put that in the FDK thread but doesn't wanna go back...]
Last time
Once out of the shelter, Clark helped her carefully close the doors to it and the van.
Lois grabbed his hand and headed into the barn. "We'll wait till he's gone then head up to the house. Rachel's here and so is your dad – at least I guess that's who that other rental car belongs to." She sat on one of the still-overturned bales of hay.
He sat next to her. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For saving me."
*~*16*~*
Lois looked up at him, puzzled. "What? You saved me."
She heard the tires crunching their way up the drive as he reached out, resting his hand on the side of her face, his thumb gently rubbing against her cheekbone. "You saved me from Trask. You're the one who attacked him."
"I killed him," she whispered.
"You had no choice."
"I know. It was him or us."
He reached towards her, pulling her to him. She rested her head on his shoulder as his arms wrapped around her.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, hearing another car pulling out of the drive as they waited.
"We should go inside," she said suddenly, pushing away from him and heading towards the house. "We need to get back over to the Irigs, too. See what Dan found and see if we can find Wayne and Maggie if he hasn’t already."
She heard Clark sigh behind her, but he stood to follow.
"There they are!" She heard her mom yelling from the porch.
Footsteps crunched on the farmyard as the five of them ran towards each other. Lois found herself enveloped in her father's embrace as her mother held on tightly to both of them.
She could hear man-hug back-clapping as Clark greeted the man she assumed was his father.
"Where have you two been?" Martha finally asked as they pulled back.
Lois pulled her hat off and ran a hand through her hair as they headed towards the house. "Hiding out at the Irigs' mostly. Then the head nutjob took us prisoner, drove us to Parsons Lake, tried to kill both of us but I managed to get him over Sherman Cliff first, Clark pulled me up when I slipped, Sergeant Bass drove us back to the Irigs to, um, pick up something and then brought us back here."
"Why on earth would you go back to the Irigs'?" Jonathan asked.
"More like why on Krypton," she muttered.
The man she guessed was Clark's dad stopped short of the first step to the porch. "What?"
Clark sighed and took him by the arm to get him moving again. "It's okay, Dad. They know. We'll explain it all. Trask had my ship. The one you and Mom found."
They all took seats around the living room while Lois and Clark related their tale. As they finished, tires crunched in the drive.
"Hello?" Sheriff Dan Scardino called as he walked in the door.
"In here, Dan."
Lois was suddenly very aware that she was sitting next to Clark on the very small loveseat and that her hand was resting in his. He'd grown a bit emotional as he'd talked about finding his ship, seeing it for the first time, and she'd almost unconsciously reached out for him. His fingers had curled around hers and she was in no hurry to move it. Let Dan think what he would.
She felt his eyes on their hands and Clark squeezed lightly before moving away.
Lois felt tears begin to well up in her eyes but she swallowed them back until she felt Clark's arm come to rest on the seat behind her, his thumb brushing against her shoulder. She glanced up at him gratefully and he smiled back, leaning over to whisper to her. "Think that'll help him move on?"
She smiled slightly and shrugged. She could see her dad's glances and her mom's narrowed eyes. And then her mom winked at her. Maybe she realized more about Dan's continuing feelings than Lois realized.
Sam, Clark's dad, was giving them a strange look, though.
She was glad when Dan started to speak.
"The Irigs are fine," he told them.
There was a collective sigh of relief and Lois found her head leaning towards Clark and his head resting on hers.
"A little worse for the wear but otherwise okay. The military guys were all gone by the time we got there, including the head guy, Trask."
"He's at Sherman Cliff," Lois told him quietly. "He tried to kill us but went over the side. He was on the rocks when we left. He may have been swept off by now."
"And you didn't try to see if he was alive?" he verified.
Lois glared at him. "You know how hard it is to get down there. No, we didn't try to make sure he was still alive."
Dan nodded. "I'll send someone out there in a boat. The Irigs did say that a white van took off a bit before everyone else did – they saw it. Any idea who that might have been?"
Lois shrugged. "How would I know?" She looked at Clark's father. "Dr. Lane, would you mind to look me over and take care of some of these cuts and stuff? They're really starting to hurt."
"Of course, Ms. Kent." He rose from his chair on the other side of the room. "Clark, why don't you let me look you over, too? We need to get some ice on that eye, too."
Clark stood and held a hand out to Lois, who grasped it gratefully. "Thanks," she said, not letting go as they walked into the kitchen.
The door swung shut behind them. "Don't worry, Dr. Lane," she said as soon as it did. "I'm not going to tell anyone and neither will my parents." She pulled a bag of peas out of the freezer and tossed it to Clark. "For your eye."
"Thanks."
"Thank you, Ms. Kent."
"For what?" Lois asked, pulling the container with the cookies off the shelf and handing it to Clark.
"Saving my son." He took one of the cookies Clark offered.
"She's going to take over the world with these," he muttered through a mouthful of cookie.
Sam took a bite. "These are good." He ate the rest in two big bites before getting his bag out. "Let's take a look at you two."
He spent the next twenty minutes cleaning out the minor scrapes and putting some butterfly bandages over some of the worst ones.
Clark's ribs weren't broken, though one or two might have been slightly cracked. His dad wrapped them with an Ace bandage and Clark said that it helped.
"Clark," Lois said suddenly. "You didn't happen to bring your globe with you did you?"
He looked up from where his dad was putting a bandage on his upper arm. "No. Why would I?"
"Did you, Dr. Lane?"
Dr. Lane shook his head. "No. I didn't think about it. Why?"
"Well, Clark said it's played messages. I was wondering if you knew how to activate them and if maybe there was some others you hadn't seen or something that might help with Clark's powers."
*****
TBC
