Title: My Hands
Author: GEFM
Genre: Romance
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Clark/Chloe
Disclaimer: I don't own. All characters are property of the CW network and DC comics.
Chapter 1
I won't be made useless.
I won't be idle with despair.
Walking into the Talon, Clark felt an eerie chill at his back. He turned instinctually to find the door held ajar for a moment too long. He gave the man who stood there an obligatory smile and focused his attentions elsewhere.
An unusually young waitress walked down the circling steps with a tray in hand no doubt back from a delivery upstairs.
The stairwell and the door he would soon be walking through appeared more daunting than any other time before. Behind those doors was a girl who was less than content with him for many significant reasons.
Clark suddenly rethought the choice to bring flowers along – white roses to be specific. Chloe appreciated that sort of gesture most of the time, but now he needed to get down on his knees begging for forgiveness. Even that would not be satisfactory. Appeasement would be far more difficult for his numerous transgressions this past week. He kept imagining her taking the bouquet from his hands and beating him mercilessly with it, various petals flying everywhere in the onslaught.
It was definitely wise to leave them behind.
He climbed the steps that had faced him so often in dark times. He braced himself on the railing and then took the final step upward, reaching out to knock on the door once he did so.
It opened no less than a second later and he, upon entering, found himself to be the solitary inhabitant of the living room.
She then stormed in unexpectedly from one of the back rooms to the kitchen in quite an exaggerated hurry, requisite coffee in hand.
Standing in the center of the room, he watched as she threw on a tan overcoat and messenger bag in believable ignorance to company.
She was halfway out the door when he zipped in front of her, placing both of his impressive arms on the doorframe, sufficiently obstructing any possibility of escape.
"You can't avoid me forever."
"Yeah, because it's only a matter of time before you physically force me." She rolled her eyes and adjusted her bag on her shoulder. "I'd love to stay and chat Clark…"
"…But your busy?"
"That and we have nothing to talk about. I'm not mad at you. At all." Chloe stared him dead in the face, hoping that her conviction would deter any further scrutiny that her fast-paced life could not permit. "Now if you'd be so kind, I have to hand in an article before noon." She pushed onward and he caved regretfully.
Watching from the top of the steps, he silently counted the moments before he saw her fists unclench and heard her heartbeat slow.
