Lois opened her eyes, then closed them right away. Why did there have to be a window in her room at all? It felt like her brain was actually cringing away from the light. Still, she'd had worse hangovers in her limited experience, and she suspected she'd be feeling a lot worse if it hadn't been for Linda, forcing tea and aspirin down her throat.
She smiled, thinking of last night. Of Linda and all she'd said, all she'd promised to say. It was the first time she thought of her past and was... eager to know it. Throughout this week, she'd had this feeling of dread, wincing at everything she might find. Now she felt... renewed. Ready to step into the light. She tried opening her eyes again, then closed them again.
Not literally, however.
She turned over, her arm searching for Linda, wanting to shake her awake, to ask her all the...
She opened her eyes to empty covers and an empty pillow. "Linda?" she croaked, then cleared her throat. She pulled herself up and threw back the covers, shaking the sleep from her body. She stood, still feeling heavy, dragging herself to the door.
She stopped, her brow furrowed as she heard multiple voices outside. She pressed her ear to the door. None of them sounded like Linda.
"...nothing to eat... taco stand across..."
Though that one sounded a heck of a lot like Bart.
She drew back, hand frozen over the knob. More hesitant than she'd been when she'd first heard the voices. Then it had just been loud murmurs. Now she knew who was there and yet... she didn't know a person behind that door. Her memories of them, when absent, had been vague and hard to pinpoint. Once they'd all ended up at the tower, things had cleared up a little. But it was all just facts, sort of like the way she knew Chloe. Just a bunch of facts.
You looked for facts... You put together a story.. You don't even care who we are.
But she wanted to care, not just about Chloe... about herself. She wanted to know them. All this time, she'd been so bent on being left alone and now... she didn't want anything near that. But she wasn't so sure they'd be too keen on buddying up with a drunken ex-Chloe who spent her times bursting into meetings and yelling at people -- at the very people who'd been trying to help her all this time.
She cracked the door, slightly apprehensive.
"No!" Through the crack, she saw a dark hand take a coffee cup away from Bart in her kitchen. "That's not for you. You definitely don't need coffee." Victor?
"Well, it's the closest thing to food around here."
"Then go. Eat. Just keep thinking about your own damn stomach, like always."
"Well, I can't," Bart groaned, "if you make me feel guilty about it."
"I'm serious. Go. I'd rather you go eat than keep chattering about it. Anyway, we're not supposed to crowd her."
She could guess who they were talking about. A week ago, she might have felt resentful. Now she just curious. She opened the door a little further...
"I'm not gonna crowd anyone." Bart was suddenly over Victor's shoulder as he stared hard at something on her counter.
"You're crowding me."
"Hey, what's that gonna do?"
Victor slapped his hand away. "Would you stop? I'm trying to concentrate."
"Excuse me for helping."
"If you want to be helpful, then sit here quietly."
Bart was suddenly on the other end of the counter. "I'd rather sit here quietly eating," he grumbled.
"You never eat quietly." Victor sighed. "And just go eat, already. I can hardly..."
"See, but she might wake up and it'd be rude if I just left before seeing if she wanted anything."
"It's also rude to keep talking when people are trying to work."
"Well, I'm bored. I wish she'd just get up, for crying out...
She felt strange, listening in now as she'd surreptitiously done these last weeks. She was trying to trust them now and she'd better start. She opened the door. "I am up." She gave them a weak smile as they turned to her. "And I'm not really hungry. I don't want you to go to any trouble on my..."
Bart was beside her in a second. "Hey! Look who's joined us! Linda said not to wake you and... Oh! We're not guarding you. She said to make that very clear." He grinned. "Nope. Just hanging out. Keeping you company and all. But that's crazy talk, not hungry." He rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't be spouting that if you'd had the chorizo and egg burrito that I've discovered right across the street. I can get you one as fast as they can make them, which was impressive even to me, so you know that's gotta be..."
The room suddenly shook. Lois fell against the door frame. Bart fell against Lois.
Victor just looked up at the ceiling, nodding. "Guess Murray's here." He stood and moved to Lois. "How are you?"
"Well, I'm..."
Bart pulled her upright and patted her back. "You kidding? This girl's a trooper. I mean, Lois, if you knew half of the things you..."
"Could you let her answer?" Victor cut in, peering closely at her.
Both eyes turned to her and she cleared her throat. "I... I'm not sure. I'm trying to think of it like I... like I have amnesia and have to just... take it all in again slowly." She shook her head. "That probably sounds stupid."
"No. It's a good way to think of it," Victor said, squeezing her arm. "But if you start to feel overwhelmed, if things get to be a little too much, you say so. No one's gonna think you're weak. I don't want you overloading on us."
She tried to smile. "Thanks."
"I hope this isn't too sudden, but Linda said you seemed open to a monitor of some sort, just to make sure we're playing this safe. I have most of the components, but Murray needed a few things from Chicago and I asked Diana to give him a quick lift to..."
"Diana flew him?" Bart pulled Lois to the side. "We should clear a path to the bathroom." He rushed to the front door and opened it just before Murray stumbled in, a hand over his mouth, Bart pointed him to the bedroom and he gave a jerky nod, moving past them.
Diana appeared in the doorway, wearing a dark pants suit, glasses, and a severe bun pulled to her nape. "That man will never earn his wings."
Bart threw himself into a recliner. "Hey, not everyone can handle the way you fly..."
She closed the door. "Oh, can it. If people want to get to get somewhere, then they should be glad to get there fast. I'd think you, of all people, would understand."
Bart threw up his hands. "I'm not a fifty-year-old man."
She moved in, putting a black bag on the coffee table. "How you feelin there, Ace?"
Lois started when she realized Diana was talking to her. "Me? Well, I'm... uh..." It seemed everyone was wondering how she was feeling and she didn't have a good answer.
Diana winced as she grew silent. "Too soon for a nickname?" She shrugged. "I get it. I know we don't know each other too well."
"We don't?" Lois had to ask, because she could never be sure.
"Well, we only met a few weeks ago. But, from everything I've heard and... Well, from everything you might be hearing, you were something else." Diana squeezed her hand. "So I hope to get to know you better."
Lois swallowed hard. "Me, too." For both Diana and herself.
She touched Lois' hair. "And I really hope we can do it at a nice salon. Someone needs a touch up and some volumizer." She shook her head. "Linda couldn't squeeze you in, too?"
Lois lit at the sound of her cousin's name.
"She didn't want to wake her," Victor said. "Did Murray get it?"
Diana nodded to the coffee table. "In the bag."
Victor moved to the bag as Lois looked around at them. "Where is Linda?"
"She had a work-related thing," Victor grunted.
"Oh." Lois stared at her bare feel. She didn't want to come off needy, but she wondered if she should have made it clearer to Linda that crowding her was fine... for now.
Bart snorted. "If you can call lazing around at a salon work."
Diana pulled at her bun and shook her hair out. "Looking fabulous is work. Besides, Martha deserves a little pick-me-up."
Lois glanced up, distracted from fears that she might be getting as clingy as Linda. "Martha? Martha Kent?"
"Oh, she's running for town council," Diana said, pulling her glasses off and putting them in her pocket.
"Yeah?" Lois remembered she'd been thinking about it when they'd met in Smallville. "I thought she might." She smiled. Glad to have something she'd known first.
"Oh, my..." Lois glanced up as Murray leaned in her bedroom doorway, wiping his mouth with a handkerchief. "Thank you for the ride, Miss Prince."
Diana chuckled. "Tell me how you really feel."
"No. I really am getting used to it." He hiccuped slightly and stuffed the handkerchief in his pocket. His eyes fell on Lois. "Miss Lane, how nice to see you again."
Lois pursed her lips. He might be the most polite man alive, considering the last time he'd seen her, she'd been drunk and yelling at all of them. "Hi, Doctor Takomoto."
"Oh, please call me Murray."
"Then you should start calling me Lois." She blinked and shook her head. Lois. It had all seemed so normal for a moment. Just a gathering of friends... some of them super-powered, but still... Now it all seemed to come back to her. Linda was once Lois. Lois was once Chloe. Chloe was once... something else, according to Diana. Today, she might find out exactly what that meant. This would not be a normal day at all.
Murray seemed unfazed, however, moving toward her. "Well... Lois." He smiled. "I hope you don't mind us getting down to business. Victor and I have been up all night."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Please don't be sorry. We've been very excited. We're developing a little something for you that may also have some use in my own work. Though Victor has done most of the fine-tuning. I've really just..."
"Don't sell yourself short, Doctor T," Victor said, eyes narrowed on a small black box and a tiny screwdriver. "You had the idea."
"Well, I just said it would be nice to go wireless, you've actually made it..." He turned back to Lois, squeezing her shoulder. "I won't burden you with the details. But I think this might... Oh!" He drew back, suddenly. "Rest assured, we are by no means using you as a guinea pig with dangerous technology. This is something very low-key that I've only thought of because of your situation. It's just a wireless EEG that communicates directly with..."
"Dude, Doc..." Bart stood and moved to them. "The poor girl's eyes are glazing over. What she needs is some breakfast." He led Lois to the recliner.
"I... I guess..."
"You just sit tight and I'll be right back with a harmonious medley of chorizo, egg, cheddar, and slightly crunchy potatoes that will make your mouth water." He grinned and pulled the lever and Lois found herself with her feet up as he disappeared, leaving her door swinging.
Diana sighed and closed it. "That'll reduce the noise level." She crouched in front of Lois. "Listen, I've been thinking on this, too. Since Vic and Murray's device might alert you to when you're getting to the TMI limit, I can teach you some very helpful tricks to center yourself when that happens. I'm a bit of a Yoga enthusiast and ..."
"Well... that sounds..."
"Done." She craned her neck and saw Victor stand from the counter.
Murray rushed to him. "Isn't this coming together nicely?" He grasped something from Victor's hands and rushed toward Lois. "Victor attached it to a velcro wristand, so all we have to do is..." Lois found her hand lifted and her robe pushed to her elbow. "Oh, I'm sorry." He stared at the bracelet on her left hand. "Could you remove this?"
"I don't think so," she said, speaking from experience.
"Well, we'll use the right, then." he moved around the chair. "This is rather exciting. see, the band is sort of a biosignal measurement apparatus." He lifted her right hand and she watched him attach a black box on a strap. "It will keep track of your pulse, mainly, but it also receives a wireless signal from this electrode." He pushed her hair back and she felt something against her temple. "If either brain activity or heartrate skyrocker, then we know..."
"Oh, Murray," Diana moaned. "Does she really have to walk around with a big round sticker on the side of her head?"
"Well, we need to be warned of any abnormalities in the electrical activity of the brain. It's just wireless electroencephalography. Such a simple concept, but one I never thought of until..."
"It's okay," Diana whispered as Murray went on, brushing her hair to the side. "Just do a three-quarter part and no one can tell. Now about the Yoga..."
Her front door flew open. "I told you they were fast," Bart announced loudly. "Lois, you have got to try the... Hey, what's beeping?"
The room grew quiet as Lois noticed that there was, indeed, something beeping. It took her a moment to look down and realize it was coming from her own wrist.
"Oh, dear," Murray sighed. "It must be too sensitive. We've hardly even started and it's already..."
"No. It must be working," Diana cut in. She moved to the side of the chair and put her hand on Lois' stomach. "Now I want you to take a deep breath, but slowly. I'll count. One..."
"What is with you two?" Bart burst out, shaking his bag. "She's obviously starving. Now, do you want hot salsa or mild? I personally..."
"That's it!"
Lois jumped at the loud outburst and all heads turned to her right.
Victor strode forward. "Everybody out." He pulled Diana upright, then moved to Murray, pushing him to the door.
"Oh, have I been too bombarding? I really didn't mean... Well, I'm a little loopy without sleep and I might have..."
"It's fine," Victor grunted, nearly pushing him out the door. "Go to bed." He pointed at Diana. "You. take him to his hotel."
Diana huffed. "Well, we're only trying to help."
"I know that," Victor said, steadily. "But get the hell out. Please. Now."
Diana moved past him, glancing back at Lois. "Just deep breaths," she hissed over the beeping, following Murray.
Victor rounded on Bart. "You, too, Speedy. Move it."
"But I brought breakfast."
Victor grabbed the bag from his hands and pushed him to the door as well. "Thanks. Bye."
"But..."
Victor closed the door and leaned against it. He turned to Lois as the beeping slowed. "Hi."
She gave him a weak smile. "Hi."
*************************
Clark ran in the bike lane, dodging a few cyclists as he went. He was finding it to be the easiest form of travel in the city... Well, not as easy as flying, but not as hard as the sidewalk or street. He braced himself to dodge one more cyclist before ducking between a drycleaner's and a florist, adjusting his glasses as he walked out, trying to look casual. He was even tempted to whistle, see if that made it more casual.
Just a little walk before work.
Just a little walk six blocks past his place of work.
It wasn't exactly on the schedule. He's had the schedule firmly set before he went to bed. He was supposed to go straight to work and not take any detours to, say, Lois' apartment until after work... or maybe on lunch. But he had to just cruise by. He wasn't going to go in or anything. He wasn't even going to look in. He just... He couldn't just go straight to work as if this was any other day. This was a day that she knew. What she knew, he wasn't sure of. He suspected that, if she knew half the facts involving him, she wouldn't want him in a ten mile radius of her building.
He stopped just across the street, staring at said building.
I'll deal with you later, she'd said. He was counting on it... and terrified for it. If she knew... He wasn't sure how that could be as there was no documentation of a certain affair that spanned roughly four years, maybe even five, counting the first... But if she knew, then he'd do best to give her the space the rest of them surely wouldn't. Even if she didn't know, she should know.
He didn't want her to trust him before he told her all the reasons she shouldn't. She needed to know the truth about what he'd been to her, both good and bad. He knew it wasn't all bad. He'd lived it. But she, in essence, hadn't. And just getting the facts, she might not understand that there was good in what they'd been together. In what they could be. At least, he saw that. But, on paper it might seem...
"Clark?" He turned to his left. Bart was standing in line at a crowded taco stand. "Hey."
He moved toward Bart. "What are you doing here? How's..."
"Just waiting on the best burrito in town. Me and everyone else. You think they have a fast pass like on toll roads for loyal customers? I've already been here twice today and..." He stared at Clark. "Oh, you mean here, here. I was just hanging, waiting on Lois getting up. Speaking of that, I wouldn't go up there."
"Wasn't going to," he said, now firm on that. "But how..."
"Vic's kicking everyone out. And he took my burritos. I mean, one was for Lois, but the other was mine. He could've at least let me get that before he..."
"How is she?" Clark burst out, unable to keep up small talk any longer.
"She seems... okay. I mean, they got the wristband on and all."
"Wristband?"
"Vic and Murray put together this thing that measures her snuffalufogram or some sh... Yeah. You'll have to talk to Murray or Vic or someone that's not me on that. But it's supposed to be good for her."
Clark glanced across the street. "So... she's okay then?"
Bart tilted his head, then nodded. "Yeah. I think so. I mean, I think she will be.
"That's all I need to know." For now...
**********************
Victor slid a mug across the table and sat.
"Thanks."
"You should know that coffee isn't in any of the major food groups."
She smiled. "It has dairy in it."
"About a teaspoon full." He pushed the burrito toward her. "Go on. Dig in. I'll try not to look jealous."
"Did you want some? Because there's another..."
"Can't. I'm already stuffed with nutritious protein paste."
Lois grimaced. "Sounds yummy."
"Then I should have added disgusting. I have a limited diet. Can't gum up the works." He stared at her burrito. "Doesn't mean I don't miss it. I miss a lot of things about being Victor Stone."
"But you still are... Victor Stone, I mean."
"Not officially. Victor Stone, high school football star, died in a car crash. Luckily for me, it wasn't so uncommon a name that there couldn't be a Victor Stone in Star City, an engineer with a grant from Queen Industries."
"I... I hadn't thought about what you do with your days. Do you go to.."
"Oh, it's no nine to five. I just do what I do. Use Oliver's money and resources to develop new technology for us and cash giant Queen Industries checks. Not so bad a life. Not where I thought I'd be. But I doubt the Sharks would take on a quarterback that was half-robot."
"Might be a hassle in bad weather."
He gave a rare smile. "That's kid's stuff, anyway. I'd rather be in the fight."
She squinted at him. "You would, wouldn't you?" She knew that. She didn't know how, but she did. "Well... So am I?"
"Are you what?"
"Where I thought I'd be?"
He paused, then nodded. "Pretty much exactly. Different name, but that's just dressing. Of course, there's still that Pulitzer to get, but you'll get there."
"I wish I was so sure." She smiled sadly. "Can't think of many Pulitzer Prize winners with swiss cheese for brains."
"Hey, I thought you were thinking of this as amnesia."
"But, see... I can pretend it is all I want. It's not amnesia. I did this to myself for some reason. And now I seem to be changing my insanely empty mind and want to undo it." She laughed humorlessly. "Was I known for being fickle?"
"Not at all," Victor said, his face dead serious. "You were known for being steady. Known for being cool when everyone around you was freaking out. You were... the best of all of us."
She felt her eyes burning. "Don't try to sugarcoat things. I was a coward. I..."
"Don't say that. You don't know half of what you did. If you knew..."
"Whatever I did, I couldn't handle it. I chose to erase..."
"That's jumping to conclusions. We don't know..."
"No. I know. Maybe you don't, but..."
"We thought, at first, that you chose this, but...."
"Grady was trying to help me. At my request. I found an email from him and..."
"And Clark found your shirt with traces of the psycho-chemical gas. None of us know for sure what's going on. But we're going to work on it together. And, even if you did it... That doesn't make you a coward, so don't go throwing words like that around. It isn't helpful. So stop."
She closed her mouth quickly and nodded. "Okay. Wow. I always kind of thought Oliver was the one in charge."
"Yeah. He kids himself about that, too." Victor gave her a small smile and leaned in. "We're, all of us, confused. But we're working on being on the same page. And we can't go about it with half-baked ideas."
"No," she agreed, furrowing her brow. "We can't." Yet that was exactly what she'd been doing, up till now. "That stops."
No more preconceived notions about the past. She was a journalist and she'd best start acting like one again. It was hard to be objective when the person you're investigating is... you. But she was fooling herself if she thought she'd been even trying for objective while unearthing, even creating dirt on Chloe Sullivan.
Then again, her sources had been scarce... Well, not scarce, she'd just been too afraid to tap them.
That stopped, too. An investigative reporter should never be afraid of what she'd find.
Maybe she had been a coward, whatever Victor had to say about it. But she wouldn't be from now on.
"You know, I... I still don't think I can go on thinking of this as amnesia. Amnesiacs... they can get it back. Despite what vague memories I have, despite what I've found out, it's... it's not whole and it... doesn't feel like it's mine." She shook her head, thinking of Linda. I know that you're not going to sit crying because you can't get the truth the way you want it. "I'm not trying to be whiny, I just..." She leaned her head on her hand. "God, I wish it was amnesia or, even better, sitcom amnesia."
Victor leaned back. "You'll have to refresh me on that. I don't watch a lot of TV... well, except for sports. And Celebrity Rehab." He glanced at her sharply. "Don't you go blabbing that."
"I won't." She chuckled. "I don't watch a lot, either. But I tend to turn on TV Land when I can't sleep. Helps me relax. Something about old sitcoms that's... I don't know. They're funny, but predictable and, sometimes, I like predictable things. It's comforting." She shook her head. "Anyway, on seven out of ten sitcoms, there's an episode where a character bonks their head and forgets who they are. Sometimes it's heartwarming with everyone trying to help them and support them, sometimes you have a tricky character who makes the amnesiac do out of character things for personal gain... But it always ends the same. The bonked party gets bonked again and it's all back to normal. I won't have that."
"Not to load too much on you, but even if you had sitcom amnesia, you can't be Chloe Sullivan again. Chloe Sullivan died for a reason and that reason still exists."
"And that reason is..."
His gaze ran over her face, then down to the wristband with its steady, green light. "Maybe we should leave it there for now..."
"Victor, I can only deal with vague ideas for so long." She held up her right hand. "What's the point of this thing if we don't at least see if it works?"
"I know it works," he said, nearly indignant. "I made it."
"Well, so far it's only gone off when I was feeling over-excited. I could get that from a brisk jog or..."
"I know what you're trying to do."
She shrugged. "I'm just trying to take in what I can. I can't do that if everyone thinks I'll keel over at the first brush with truth. I'm a big girl, Victor. I can take it to the limit." He looked hesitant. "We'll stop at the first beep. I'll even take deep breaths and finish half this burrito."
He held her gaze. "Don't you mean the whole burrito?"
"Of course, I meant that. That is exactly what I meant." She could feel her pulse picking up at the thought that he was caving. She let out a long breath. "Just hit me with it."
He paused so long, she thought he might change his mind. "The short version," he began slowly. "Is that Chloe Sullivan... that you were uncovering some of Lex Luthor's pet projects."
"Lex Luthor's?"
"Yes. Lex. Not Lionel, though he was no saint in his heyday, he drew the line at some of Lex's little science projects. Lionel Luthor was working with you, feeding you cryptic messages over the phone, though you didn't know it was him. You might not have acted on them if you did."
"And why?
"Some of this was before I knew you. But Lionel had used you before, offering you a column at The Daily Planet in exchange for digging up information on..."
"Go on," she prodded.
"How much of this do you already know?"
"I know about the column, except... Well, rumor had it that there was something besides information exchanged." Victor looked as if he'd just sucked on a lemon. "Please go on. I'm actually relieved."
"Fine. He wanted information on a friend of yours. On... Clark."
"Clark," she said numbly.
"Maybe I should make it clear that, not at this time, but eventually... Clark Kent and Chloe Sullivan were permanently attached at the hip."
She took a deep breath. "We were that close?"
"Best friends. I know people throw those words around, but you two were."
"Uh-huh." She'd thought they'd been classmates, heard that she'd had a thing for him, he'd seemed to intimate that they were somehow involved, but that didn't seem to be common knowledge round Smallville. But permanently attached... "But... were we ever..."
"I'm going to stop you right now because some of this shouldn't come from me. And some of what I am going to tell you... Well, maybe someone else knows this better. But I'm telling you because I think you should know right now about... certain parties."
"Certain parties," she repeated. "Like Lionel. What did he want on Clark?"
"What anyone might want on Clark. He wasn't as careful when he was young. Lionel, in particular, was suspicious. He offered you the column in exchange for digging up info on Clark."
On Clark. And we were friends. "Oh." She stared blindly ahead.
Victor grasped her wrist. "How you doing, there?"
"Okay so far," she breathed. "trying to figure out if that's better or worse than sleeping with him." She gave a weak smile. "But I'm okay. As well as a big, fat Judas..."
"Hey, you didn't go through with it."
"I... didn't?"
"No. You tried to call it quits. Unfortunately, Lionel wasn't a very forgiving man and he not only took away your column, but had you blacklisted."
"Yeah. That sounds like something he would do." How many times had Perry told her about Lionel Luthor and how ruthless... It was one of the reasons she could so easily believe he'd done all Lex had said. "But he was... helping me?"
"Well, that was quite a few years down the line. Don't think Lionel was a saint. He also had your father fired and pretty much unemployable. Even worse, this is a man who killed his own parents for insurance money. How do you think Luthorcorp got started?"
"I... I know that, but..."
"Don't strain yourself," Victor cut in. "We can stop here."
"No. Don't stop. I'm fine." She held up her wrist. "See?"
He stared at her for a long moment before going on. "You were the one that brought that to light. You were the key witness in his trial, which... led to the first time Chloe Sulivan died."
"I read about that. And I thought... I thought Lex was the one that set that up. I thought he helped her."
"Helped her stay alive so he could use her testimony to out his father away and gain control of the company? Yes. It was nothing but selfish, deep down."
She nodded, corrected. She'd assumed, wrongly it seemed, that that must have been the start of whatever it was between her and Lex. Because she couldn't help feeling that there was something there... "So... why did Lionel help me?"
"Only God and Lionel know that for sure. Maybe he didn't want Lex to achieve things he hadn't. But, I think... and I don't know for sure, but I think he was... afraid."
"Afraid?"
"Simple as that. Lex was fooling with some dangerous things he didn't understand. If he'd succeeded... Hell, I don't even want to think of it."
"Ruby Ridge," she said dully. "Where I died, except... it wasn't me."
He stared at his hands. "No."
"Lucy," she said, her voice catching on the word.
He stiffened. "But it might as well have been you. Lex thought it was."
"He did it? But Lionel shot..."
"Lionel shot after she was dead. He did it so she wouldn't be recognizable as Lucy Lane, but as..."
"Chloe Sullivan."
"Changed her hair to look like you," he said sadly. "Dumb kid. She thought she was helping. I guess... I guess Lionel did, too, when he shot her."
"But why would he..."
"Same reason he went through you to take down Lex, I bet. He could have stopped him another way, found another person. I think he was sorry. Maybe he softened in his old age. I don't know. That's something he took with him."
"But Lex... he was the one that... did it?"
"Not only that, but he had a hit out on you. If Chloe Sullivan hadn't 'died' that day, one of his goons might have found another way."
"I see." She took a breath, then another. They almost hurt, they were coming so fast. Meeting with him... the formula... in the caves... at the party... kissing him... There was a loud beeping. "I can't believe I..."
"Okay," she dimly heard a voice say. "You're okay."
She fell to the side, but something stopped her. Arms.
"Come on. Deep breaths. Slow it down."
She obeyed, trying to breathe slower. It hurt less. The beeping slowed with her breath and her mind cleared. She was crouched on the floor and Victor was holding her, a hand rubbing up and down her back. "I'm sor..."
"Don't be sorry. I like catching fainting girls. Nice change of pace."
She would have smiled if she could.
"Just so you know, we're stopping now."
She did smile then, sniffling slightly. "Too far?" She lifted her head.
"We just hit the limit. You can just... take that in."
"Do I have to?" she asked, wiping her eyes.
"Too late to take it back now." Victor brushed her hair back. "You're okay. You handled a lot more than even I thought you could."
"Yeah?"
"Definitely." He gathered her to him again. "And you are finishing that burrito."
She gave a watery laugh and buried her head in his shoulder.
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Chapter Thirty-One
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