"Bruce was there," she said as if it were the most logical thing in the world. "He came for me because you needed him to. You didn't fail me, Clark - you just saved me by proxy." Lois gave him a look, her eyebrow lifting. "I know you; and there is no way you would not prepare for the eventuality that you might be unable..." Her tone had been joking, but the very real consideration that she could lose him took all the mirth from her voice.
"That you might not be there for me," she finished solemnly. "I know that you must have made arrangements with someone - probably him - to... look after me... when you couldn't. Well, he did. You've always taken care of me, Smallville," her smile returned. "Whether I wanted you to, or not."
It made her angry to hear him talk like that. To know that he believed it, and that someone had manipulated him into doing something that would make him doubt himself. "Kent," she said sharply, lifting his head so that he'd meet her eyes. "How many times have you let yourself lose control with me now - in the very sort of situations where your heat vision should be going crazy?" Lois smirked. "We've repaired a few walls, but never once have you ever hurt me. You always look away if it's a problem, right?"
Lois sat back a little, exhaling, but she didn't let go of Clark's face, touching him as much as possible. There was no getting around the fact that he had used one of his abilities in a situation he couldn't control, whether he was pushed into it or not. "We all have limits," She said firmly. "You were drugged. You were weakened, you were given hallucinogens. Do that to anyone and give them a weapon of any kind, the worst will happen. What you really need to ask - and this is where you need to start listening to that friend of yours," she shifted closer again. "Because isn't it you who's always telling me how annoying it is that he's never wrong? - is why?"