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This is a short, one-shot fic. It was originally written as an entry into the K-Site story contest. Since it wasn't selected for the voting (by the K-Site mods), I decided to post it here for you to read.
It's a bit weak because of the 2,000 word limit. Oh well.
A Night to Remember
Lana was horrified. The evidence against Lex was compelling, even overwhelming, and she could no longer deny what he had become. She grabbed her purse, stormed out of the Luthor Mansion, and raced to her car. She didn’t have a destination in mind, all she knew was, she had to get away from Lex. Just being near him made her feel unclean, and to know that he had put his hands and lips on her made her want to vomit.
As Lana drove away, she thought back to their argument, how when she first confronted Lex with what she had learned, he had tried to deny everything, to somehow excuse it away. But she had been persistent, and had pointed out the inconsistencies and outright contradictions between his story and the facts. At that point, Lex got angry. He told her that was how big business was run these days and that her Pollyannaish view of how things should be had no place in the 21st century.
Their long, drawn-out argument had run its course with Lex refusing to even admit being in the wrong, much less promising to change. Seeing the truth behind Lex’s lies for the first time, Lana had decided to leave Lex and had bravely told him so, though she feared for her safety with the mood he was in. At that point, Lex had surprised her. Instead of flying into a towering rage and trying to beat her like she had thought, Lex had begun to laugh.
When she wanted to know what was so funny, Lex’s chuckles had become howls of hysteria. Between gasps for air, he had managed to choke out, “Lana…where will…you go? You have…no one left…who will help you. You destroyed…all of your closest relationships to be with me, to support me. You have…no idea how heartwarming your constant defense of me has been.”
Lana realized Lex was right. She had ended every relationship that had meant anything to her. She had burned her bridges with Chloe and Lois over the last year, and when Clark had broken up with her, she remembered putting the kiss of death on their relationship when she had told him that she didn’t know how she could have ever loved him.
Now, of course, she did know how. Clark had wanted nothing more than to protect her, to love her, from the day they had met in the graveyard as freshmen in high school. He and Chloe and even Lois had just wanted to save her from Lex. But she had been too proud, too sure of herself, and now she was paying the price.
Echoing in her mind were the last words Lex had said as she sprinted out of the mansion, ‘You’ll be back, you have nowhere else to go. No one will have you.’
Lana was afraid he was right, at least as far as the ‘no one will have you’ part went anyway. She was not going back to Lex, not for any reason.
All this time as she was replaying what had just happened, she had been driving aimlessly around Smallville, so she was surprised when she looked up and found her car pulling onto the hard-packed driveway at the Kent farm.
What am I doing here? she wondered. Clark is the last person who would ever want to see me.
But when she saw the light streaming from the open loft window, Lana found herself parking her car and walking over to the open barn door.
Clark has always been there for me, Lana thought, even when I didn’t deserve it. Maybe he’ll help me this one last time.
Cautiously, still unsure she was doing the right thing after a year of so many blunders, Lana headed up the steps.
Clark, meanwhile, had been having a down day. His mom was in Topeka on state business and Chloe was tied down with school and her part-time job at the Daily Planet, leaving him no one he could really talk with. He had never been able to shake his feelings for Lana, no matter how hard he tried, and every once in a while, those feelings rose up and overwhelmed him.
Today was one of those days. Tomorrow was his birthday and Chloe and his mom would be coming back late tonight to be here for his birthday, but today was the fifth anniversary of the day that Lana had brought him a birthday cake in the loft, just seven minutes before midnight.
Knowing both women were gone allowed him to partake of the one thing that always made him feel better when he got the ‘Lana blues.’ Trudging up the worn steps to the loft, Clark fished a worn shoebox out of its hiding place. After putting a well-used CD into his stereo, finding the right track and pressing play, he grabbed stacks of photos out of the shoebox and slowly spread them all over the floor. One-by-one, he began to revisit the memories from each photo as he had himself a night to remember.
A Night To Remember - Joe Diffie
Been one tough week
Dead on my feet
But I've got plans for tonight
When I'm feeling blue
Know just what to do
And how to make it right
Seems like I've needed this forever
Gonna have myself a night to remember
Dim the lights, lock the door,
Spread your pictures on the floor,
Throw the dust off of our past
Let it all come floodin' back
Cause it ain't easy being strong
And when I can't forget your gone
I just surrender
And have myself a night to remember.
Sad ain't my style
But once in a while
I just have to give in
'Cause a woman like you
Is so hard to lose
You just don't want it to end
I know this can't go on forever
So tonight I'll have a night to remember
Dim the lights, lock the door,
Spread your pictures on the floor,
Throw the dust off of our past
Let it all come floodin' back
Cause it ain't easy being strong
And when I can't forget your gone
I just surrender
And have myself a night to remember.
Oh it ain't easy being strong
And when I can't forget you’re gone
I'll just surrender
And have myself a night to remember
Clark faced the partially open loft door as he crawled around on hands and knees from snapshot to snapshot as he allowed himself to feel. This was the one and only way he allowed himself to completely release his tightly-shackled feelings. What started as sniffles turned to full-blown tears and then racking sobs.
Reliving all of their memories as a couple, from sweet and funny to romantic and passionate, all Clark could think of was that he had been willing to give up everything to save Lana from Lex, only to see her turn to the one man he had tried to save her from. Tied up in the agony of his free-flowing emotions, Clark never heard Lana’s cautious steps and, facing the wrong way, he never saw her either.
Watching quietly from the top of the stairs, Lana was stunned. Not only was Clark giving the lie to his statement that he ‘didn’t love her anymore,’ but hearing him sob ‘Oh Lana, oh Lana’ over and over like it was the mantra of a religious cult made her want to run over to him and make it all better. Nothing else mattered right then. The man that she loved, that she had always loved, was in pain and she wanted to fix it. Here in the loft, it was finally okay for her to admit that she had never stopped loving Clark, no matter how angry he had made her in the past. Maybe that’s why I came back here, Lana thought, being around him is so comforting to me…when we’re getting along anyway.
Caught halfway between her desire to comfort Clark, and a sneaking suspicion she shouldn’t be watching this at all, Lana waited patiently for Clark to notice her.
Emotionally spent from his remembrance, Clark finally began to collect the pictures. As he turned to reach a picture off to one side, he caught a glimpse of skin out of the corner of his eye and thought, Oh crap! Mom or Chloe got here early. Neither one of them understands this, so I’ll just clean it up and hope they’ll pretend they didn’t see anything.
Clark super-sped, collecting all of the pictures in an instant and placing the box back in its hiding place before facing his visitor.
When he stopped, he thought he saw Lana. This is getting ridiculous, Clark thought, maybe Mom and Chloe are right. Now I’m seeing Lana wherever I look. He shook his head and when the Lana apparition didn’t disappear, he rubbed his eyes.
At that time, Lana moved forward hesitantly and said, “Of all the ways I thought I’d get to learn about your long-suspected abilities, housekeeping wasn’t on the list.”
The blood drained from Clark’s face as he realized that the Lana he was seeing was really Lana. His knees started to buckle and he would have fallen on his face, except one arm shot out and caught hold of the arm of his couch, holding himself off the floor at an impossible angle. He was willing to accept that she had seen his speed and strength, but was hoping desperately she hadn’t seen him cry over her pictures.
“Any more abilities you want to show me, Clark? It’s a few years late I’d think, but better late than never.”
“Oh,” he said weakly, “there are more, many more, but we don’t have to go into that tonight.” Trying to change the subject, Clark asked, “Lana, what brings you by? The last time I checked, I wasn’t high on the list of people you wanted to be around.”
Stepping closer, Lana forgot all about what had brought her over, instead, one question was burning to be asked, “Why did you lie to me, Clark?”
Surprised, Clark asked, “Which time?”
‘So you admit there’s been more than one time, that’s a start at least. But the one time I’m concerned about is the only time that really matters…the time you said you didn’t love me anymore.”
So much for not seeing the crying session, Clark thought wryly. “I did it with the best of intentions…”
“Yeah, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, or haven’t you heard that one?”
Clark smiled and then he said, “Remember what it felt like to watch me die in the hospital?”
“Yes. It was the most painful thing I’ve ever gone through.”
“Well, I want you to relive those feelings, from the time I died to the time you walked through my front door that afternoon. Wallow in the grief and anger and sadness and sheer helplessness.”
Lana was getting upset and asked, “Why are you doing this to me?”
“I’m answering your question. Now, back to my death. Feeling what you felt that day, wouldn’t you do anything, give up anything, to keep from having to feel that again? To keep the one you love more than anything safe? I would, so I lied to you to keep you safe.”
“From what? The truth?”
“No,” Clark said quietly. “From Lex.”
From that point on, both having hit rock bottom in their personal lives, Clark and Lana opened up to each other in a way they never had before. When Martha, and later Chloe, showed up, they found the former lovers involved in an intense, animated, and wide-ranging discussion that didn’t end until nearly sunrise.
The next morning, Chloe found them asleep on the loft couch, fully clothed, in a tangle of arms and legs, but it was their twin smiles that caught her attention. They spoke of comfort, peace, and resolution.
It's a bit weak because of the 2,000 word limit. Oh well.
A Night to Remember
Lana was horrified. The evidence against Lex was compelling, even overwhelming, and she could no longer deny what he had become. She grabbed her purse, stormed out of the Luthor Mansion, and raced to her car. She didn’t have a destination in mind, all she knew was, she had to get away from Lex. Just being near him made her feel unclean, and to know that he had put his hands and lips on her made her want to vomit.
As Lana drove away, she thought back to their argument, how when she first confronted Lex with what she had learned, he had tried to deny everything, to somehow excuse it away. But she had been persistent, and had pointed out the inconsistencies and outright contradictions between his story and the facts. At that point, Lex got angry. He told her that was how big business was run these days and that her Pollyannaish view of how things should be had no place in the 21st century.
Their long, drawn-out argument had run its course with Lex refusing to even admit being in the wrong, much less promising to change. Seeing the truth behind Lex’s lies for the first time, Lana had decided to leave Lex and had bravely told him so, though she feared for her safety with the mood he was in. At that point, Lex had surprised her. Instead of flying into a towering rage and trying to beat her like she had thought, Lex had begun to laugh.
When she wanted to know what was so funny, Lex’s chuckles had become howls of hysteria. Between gasps for air, he had managed to choke out, “Lana…where will…you go? You have…no one left…who will help you. You destroyed…all of your closest relationships to be with me, to support me. You have…no idea how heartwarming your constant defense of me has been.”
Lana realized Lex was right. She had ended every relationship that had meant anything to her. She had burned her bridges with Chloe and Lois over the last year, and when Clark had broken up with her, she remembered putting the kiss of death on their relationship when she had told him that she didn’t know how she could have ever loved him.
Now, of course, she did know how. Clark had wanted nothing more than to protect her, to love her, from the day they had met in the graveyard as freshmen in high school. He and Chloe and even Lois had just wanted to save her from Lex. But she had been too proud, too sure of herself, and now she was paying the price.
Echoing in her mind were the last words Lex had said as she sprinted out of the mansion, ‘You’ll be back, you have nowhere else to go. No one will have you.’
Lana was afraid he was right, at least as far as the ‘no one will have you’ part went anyway. She was not going back to Lex, not for any reason.
All this time as she was replaying what had just happened, she had been driving aimlessly around Smallville, so she was surprised when she looked up and found her car pulling onto the hard-packed driveway at the Kent farm.
What am I doing here? she wondered. Clark is the last person who would ever want to see me.
But when she saw the light streaming from the open loft window, Lana found herself parking her car and walking over to the open barn door.
Clark has always been there for me, Lana thought, even when I didn’t deserve it. Maybe he’ll help me this one last time.
Cautiously, still unsure she was doing the right thing after a year of so many blunders, Lana headed up the steps.
Clark, meanwhile, had been having a down day. His mom was in Topeka on state business and Chloe was tied down with school and her part-time job at the Daily Planet, leaving him no one he could really talk with. He had never been able to shake his feelings for Lana, no matter how hard he tried, and every once in a while, those feelings rose up and overwhelmed him.
Today was one of those days. Tomorrow was his birthday and Chloe and his mom would be coming back late tonight to be here for his birthday, but today was the fifth anniversary of the day that Lana had brought him a birthday cake in the loft, just seven minutes before midnight.
Knowing both women were gone allowed him to partake of the one thing that always made him feel better when he got the ‘Lana blues.’ Trudging up the worn steps to the loft, Clark fished a worn shoebox out of its hiding place. After putting a well-used CD into his stereo, finding the right track and pressing play, he grabbed stacks of photos out of the shoebox and slowly spread them all over the floor. One-by-one, he began to revisit the memories from each photo as he had himself a night to remember.
A Night To Remember - Joe Diffie
Been one tough week
Dead on my feet
But I've got plans for tonight
When I'm feeling blue
Know just what to do
And how to make it right
Seems like I've needed this forever
Gonna have myself a night to remember
Dim the lights, lock the door,
Spread your pictures on the floor,
Throw the dust off of our past
Let it all come floodin' back
Cause it ain't easy being strong
And when I can't forget your gone
I just surrender
And have myself a night to remember.
Sad ain't my style
But once in a while
I just have to give in
'Cause a woman like you
Is so hard to lose
You just don't want it to end
I know this can't go on forever
So tonight I'll have a night to remember
Dim the lights, lock the door,
Spread your pictures on the floor,
Throw the dust off of our past
Let it all come floodin' back
Cause it ain't easy being strong
And when I can't forget your gone
I just surrender
And have myself a night to remember.
Oh it ain't easy being strong
And when I can't forget you’re gone
I'll just surrender
And have myself a night to remember
Clark faced the partially open loft door as he crawled around on hands and knees from snapshot to snapshot as he allowed himself to feel. This was the one and only way he allowed himself to completely release his tightly-shackled feelings. What started as sniffles turned to full-blown tears and then racking sobs.
Reliving all of their memories as a couple, from sweet and funny to romantic and passionate, all Clark could think of was that he had been willing to give up everything to save Lana from Lex, only to see her turn to the one man he had tried to save her from. Tied up in the agony of his free-flowing emotions, Clark never heard Lana’s cautious steps and, facing the wrong way, he never saw her either.
Watching quietly from the top of the stairs, Lana was stunned. Not only was Clark giving the lie to his statement that he ‘didn’t love her anymore,’ but hearing him sob ‘Oh Lana, oh Lana’ over and over like it was the mantra of a religious cult made her want to run over to him and make it all better. Nothing else mattered right then. The man that she loved, that she had always loved, was in pain and she wanted to fix it. Here in the loft, it was finally okay for her to admit that she had never stopped loving Clark, no matter how angry he had made her in the past. Maybe that’s why I came back here, Lana thought, being around him is so comforting to me…when we’re getting along anyway.
Caught halfway between her desire to comfort Clark, and a sneaking suspicion she shouldn’t be watching this at all, Lana waited patiently for Clark to notice her.
Emotionally spent from his remembrance, Clark finally began to collect the pictures. As he turned to reach a picture off to one side, he caught a glimpse of skin out of the corner of his eye and thought, Oh crap! Mom or Chloe got here early. Neither one of them understands this, so I’ll just clean it up and hope they’ll pretend they didn’t see anything.
Clark super-sped, collecting all of the pictures in an instant and placing the box back in its hiding place before facing his visitor.
When he stopped, he thought he saw Lana. This is getting ridiculous, Clark thought, maybe Mom and Chloe are right. Now I’m seeing Lana wherever I look. He shook his head and when the Lana apparition didn’t disappear, he rubbed his eyes.
At that time, Lana moved forward hesitantly and said, “Of all the ways I thought I’d get to learn about your long-suspected abilities, housekeeping wasn’t on the list.”
The blood drained from Clark’s face as he realized that the Lana he was seeing was really Lana. His knees started to buckle and he would have fallen on his face, except one arm shot out and caught hold of the arm of his couch, holding himself off the floor at an impossible angle. He was willing to accept that she had seen his speed and strength, but was hoping desperately she hadn’t seen him cry over her pictures.
“Any more abilities you want to show me, Clark? It’s a few years late I’d think, but better late than never.”
“Oh,” he said weakly, “there are more, many more, but we don’t have to go into that tonight.” Trying to change the subject, Clark asked, “Lana, what brings you by? The last time I checked, I wasn’t high on the list of people you wanted to be around.”
Stepping closer, Lana forgot all about what had brought her over, instead, one question was burning to be asked, “Why did you lie to me, Clark?”
Surprised, Clark asked, “Which time?”
‘So you admit there’s been more than one time, that’s a start at least. But the one time I’m concerned about is the only time that really matters…the time you said you didn’t love me anymore.”
So much for not seeing the crying session, Clark thought wryly. “I did it with the best of intentions…”
“Yeah, the road to hell is paved with good intentions, or haven’t you heard that one?”
Clark smiled and then he said, “Remember what it felt like to watch me die in the hospital?”
“Yes. It was the most painful thing I’ve ever gone through.”
“Well, I want you to relive those feelings, from the time I died to the time you walked through my front door that afternoon. Wallow in the grief and anger and sadness and sheer helplessness.”
Lana was getting upset and asked, “Why are you doing this to me?”
“I’m answering your question. Now, back to my death. Feeling what you felt that day, wouldn’t you do anything, give up anything, to keep from having to feel that again? To keep the one you love more than anything safe? I would, so I lied to you to keep you safe.”
“From what? The truth?”
“No,” Clark said quietly. “From Lex.”
From that point on, both having hit rock bottom in their personal lives, Clark and Lana opened up to each other in a way they never had before. When Martha, and later Chloe, showed up, they found the former lovers involved in an intense, animated, and wide-ranging discussion that didn’t end until nearly sunrise.
The next morning, Chloe found them asleep on the loft couch, fully clothed, in a tangle of arms and legs, but it was their twin smiles that caught her attention. They spoke of comfort, peace, and resolution.
Wonderful ending scene from a potential series finale, Card. I'd sure love to see such a Clana ending.
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