It almost felt like a family.
When Gabe Sullivan left Kansas in search of a job (as far away from Luthor Corp. as he could get) Chloe had opted to stay behind. She was eighteen, already had her sights set on going to school in Metropolis, and just flat out didn't want to be displaced again.
Moving from suburban Metropolis to rural Smallville in the first place had been very hard for Chloe. Granted, she'd been young and still reeling from the disappearance of her mother at the time, but culture shock is culture shock at any age. The kids she was thrown in with had known each other since birth. She was the outsider, the city girl with the weird clothes and even weirder notions. Chloe was promptly ostracized by the other girls, and avoided by the decent guys. The only boys who showed any interest in her she wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.
With one exception.
The one bright spot during that period had been Clark Kent. He'd tucked her comfortably under his wing the moment he'd met her. She'd immediately fallen in love with him. Clark had filled the lonely void left behind by her mother. Chloe's affection for him had been revealed several times over now, but just how much he meant to her all around - that she kept to herself. Over the years Clark had kept her from drowning both figuratively and literally.
She'd been too busy at first to miss her father, what with starting college and all. Oh, and then there had been the whole "my best friend is an alien," thing. Now that it was all over and dealt with accordingly, Chloe did have time for missing her dad. Fortunately it was Clark who stepped in to fill the void once again, and for the first time in her life, Chloe felt like she had a family.
Not, she thought, to discredit the job her father had done raising her alone, but Gabe Sullivan worked hard and was often away from home. Chloe had her own activities and her father trusted her to keep out of trouble. In other words, he was a hands-off parent. She didn't have a conventional family, nor that atmosphere, to enjoy.
When Lois came into the picture Chloe had been thrilled. It had pleased her even more to have Lois so readily accepted by her friends . She was still puzzling out just how her crazy cousin had managed to work her way into the Kents' lives so thoroughly. Of course Chloe was still a bit shell shocked by Mr. Kent's death and the fact that Martha Kent, homemaker, was now a state Senator. And to have Lois working for said Senator was something right out of the Twilight Zone.
The results of it all, however, was the formation of a strange little group with the feel of family: Martha Kent, Clark, Lois and Chloe. The four of them often gathered at the Kents' house for dinner. Sometimes they had breakfast together on the weekends. Even when Mrs. Kent was unavailable, Clark would have Lois and Chloe over to watch a movie or play a game.
At the moment they were playing cards and Chloe was enjoying watching Clark and Lois cheat on each other. Lois hid cards, and in an astounding feat of slight-of-hand, she often double drew when it was her turn to pick a card from the deck. The humor in the situation was that no matter how bad she cheated, Lois could not beat Clark. Chloe watched as her cousin grew more and more confused and frustrated trying in vain to figure out how Clark was cheating. Clark had to be cheating because how else could he be winning unless he were out-cheating Lois' cheating?
It was simple. Clark was not only looking at Lois' hand with his X-ray vision, but he was looking at the deck to see what was coming up next in the stack. He stayed one step ahead of her at all times.
The real casualty in the game was Chloe, who was not cheating and therefore getting her ass kicked. If they'd been playing for money she would have had to sell her car, her blood, and her first born child to pay her debt.
"Read 'em and weep," Lois chimed smugly. She spread her cards out on the table for all to see.
"I'm beat," Chloe exclaimed, laying down her pitiful hand. "Again."
Lois gave Clark a haughty look and pointed one long finger at him. "There's no way you can beat that, Smallville."
"You think?"
"No. Way." Lois repeated.
"You know, Lois," Clark said innocently, still withholding his cards. "I'm beginning to wonder just how you can be so confident that you're going to win." He narrowed his eyes. "You aren't cheating are you?"
"Are you accusing me of cheating?"
"Uhm..." A production was made to illustrate deep thought. Chloe stifled a grin. "Yes. Why yes, Lois. I am accusing you of cheating."
"How dare you!" Frowning indignantly, Lois jabbed her finger into the table. "I'll have you know that I've been playing cards since I was three..."
"What did they make cards out of back then," Clark queried. "Rocks and animal hide?"
Lois shot a puzzled look at Chloe.
"He's implying that you've been around since the cave man days, Lo." Chloe explained, chuckling.
"Look, bucko. First you accuse me of cheating, and then you in...impwhat?"
"Ply," Chloe said helpfully.
"Imply," Lois continued, glaring at Clark. "That I'm old."
Clark's eyes widened. "I'm sorry, Lois. I didn't mean to say that you're old."
"That's better."
"I think ancient would be a better word choice." Grinning, Clark laid down his cards, which of course, beat Lois' hand by a good margin.
Lois spluttered.
Interesting, Chloe thought. I've always wanted to know what "spluttering" looked like.
The three of them were playing cards around the Kent's coffee table. Clark was sitting on the sofa. Lois, on a footstool, while Chloe perched comfortably on a pillow on the floor. As Lois and Clark continued their verbal sparring, Chloe got up to go refill her glass.
She poured her soda, and snacked on the last few chips left in the open bag on the counter. The cool, sweet soda tasted good following the salty chips, and she stood there savoring it as she watched her friends chatting back and forth. A feeling of contentment spread through her.
Even now it was hard to think of Clark as anything other than Clark. In fact, it was almost easier. Whereas she'd always been rather comfortable with him, there had still been a certain reticence to his personality. Everyone Chloe knew who knew Clark had commented upon it at one time or another. It seemed as if he were always holding himself back from saying what he really wanted to say, doing what he really wanted to do, and feeling what he really wanted to feel. Looking back, Chloe could easily say that being in Clark's presence sometimes felt like being in the presence of a ticking time bomb set to go off any minute. (And it struck her as somewhat frightening that she had experience enough with such a thing to be able to make the comparison!)
Chloe now knew Clark's secret and it was a load off of not only Clark's shoulders, but her own. She could now stop trying to defuse the bomb and relax. Clark felt it too. He was more Clark than ever before. Funny, witty, sensitive, loyal and smart - those had been the attributes he'd always had, that Chloe had fallen in love with. They had blossomed after he told her the truth.
His timing sucked.
It had taken a lot of effort for Chloe to convince herself that a) she could never have Clark for herself and b) it was okay NOT to love him romantically. As the warp and weft threads of their friendship grew tighter Chloe found herself doing battle with Cupid again on a daily basis. His well-meant arrows could cut those threads if she wasn't careful. Having Clark so close to her, closer than he'd ever been before, was worth sacrificing that kind of love, or so she told herself. Chloe smacked Cupid down with a fly swatter and finished him off with Raid only to have him rise like a Phoenix from the ashes the next day.
Clark's laughter caught her attention. It was rare, especially these days, to hear Clark laugh. She smiled to herself. Alien? Despite what she knew he could do, despite what she had seen him do, it was still nearly impossible to equate Clark with little green men from Mars. A recent conversation came to mind.
"I'm still waiting for the tentacles."
"Sorry, no tentacles. Pimples maybe..."
"Clark, you've never had a pimple in your life."
"Well yeah, that's true."
"You better not let that little fact become public knowledge or everyone will know you're an alien. Who ever heard of a teenager who's never had a zit?"
And yet...
Sometimes Chloe got a glimpse of the alien Clark, and it wasn't when he was doing some spectacular feat of strength. Usually it was during some quiet, contemplative time, when Chloe would find him staring out the loft window into the sunset. She always wondered what he was thinking. Sometimes she'd find him smiling. Other times she'd catch the glitter of unshed tears in his eyes. He seemed so regal, so untouchable, when he sat alone and silent. It was then that Chloe had no trouble seeing him as something more than human.
"I've learned a little bit here and there about Krypton," he once said. "Just a little bit. It's kind of sad that I'm all that's left to represent my people. They'd consider me a developmentally challenged wild child that had been raised by a pack of mangy, flea-ridden, dogs."
"Well," Chloe had replied, somewhat offended on the behalf of the mangy flea-ridden dog contingent. "Considering they blew themselves up, Clark, I'd say you're much better off in the dog-house."
She also saw hints of the alien Clark in the all too rare moments when Clark was completely self-confident in his ability to solve a problem; when he immediately stepped in to take charge. Regular old every-day Clark was not a leader of any sort. He'd always been a follower, particularly of Chloe. Chloe had come to realize that more often than not, Clark was working quietly behind the scenes just letting other people think they were in charge.
Chloe smiled. Her focus returned to the duo still chatting in the living room. Their sparring had given way to quiet conversation. Lois had moved over to sit beside Clark on the couch where they now had their heads bowed together, nearly touching, over the deck of cards. He was showing her trick.
The card disappeared.
Lois narrowed her eyes, and began looking for the card, peeking up his sleeve, looking in his shirt pocket. Clark was laughing at her. She pried his hand open, her long fingers caressing his palm as he revealed it to be empty. Their eyes met. They both laughed.
And Chloe had a flash of insight so startling she nearly dropped her glass.
They look good together.
Part II - Plus Twelve Minutes
Lois left for Metropolis. She had to meet Martha at the airport. The Senator had only a brief lay-over before she was due at a conference out of state. Lois was to go with her.
Chloe and Clark were left alone, finally. Together they settled down on the couch with hot coffee, a nice change of pace after the chips and soda. It felt more grown-up. They were all growing up. It was kind of frightening.
"You haven't asked about Lana lately," Chloe said quietly.
Clark made a wry face. "I'm not sure I want to, Chloe," he replied softly. "If I'm going to let her go, I have to let her go completely."
"Yeah," Chloe murmured. "You keep picking a scab and the wound will never heal."
"More or less," Clark laughed. "I don't have much experience with scabs."
Chloe laughed with him. "That was gross wasn't it? I'm sorry, I'm just tired. The part of my brain usually in charge of allegory isn't firing on all cylinders at the moment."
"I guess I can forgive you." Clark smiled and laughed again as Chloe playfully hit him with a pillow.
"Who turned over your giggle box tonight?" Chloe grinned. "Did Lois spike the Coke?"
It would be just like Lois to sneak a little rum into the party. She'd once expressed curiosity regarding Clark, alcohol and inhibitions gone wild. Chloe, who knew what Clark was like when his inhibitions went wild had been horrified at the very thought. She'd sported duel sets of finger-shaped bruises on her arms for a week after a confrontation with uninhibited Clark. God, what a horrible summer that had been. Lana had been really pissed at her for keeping quiet about where Clark had holed up in Metropolis. If Lana knew about the secret Chloe was currently keeping from her, she'd never speak to her again.
Likewise if Clark knew about the secret Chloe was keeping from him regarding Lana, he'd blow a gasket.
Lana and Lex. That's a disaster waiting to happen.
The whole secret thing was slowly driving Chloe crazy. She wasn't used to keeping secrets. She was usually putting secrets out in the newspaper for everyone to see.
"I just had fun tonight," Clark said lightly. He frowned. "Yeah, you're right. There's something wrong with me. I had fun. With Lois."
"So even Lois is better than sitting around in the loft brooding?"
"Point taken, Chlo." With a sigh, Clark put his coffee mug down on an end table and leaned back into the sofa cushions. "I'm just not ready yet."
"I can respect that, Clark. I know things have been rough lately with your father..." Chloe said cautiously. "And Lana, but you can't put your life in storage. Neither of them would want that."
"I dunno. Lana is pretty angry with me," Clark said morosely.
"Yeah, maybe now she is, but she's not vindictive. She doesn't want to see you go to pieces, and she sure as heck doesn't want to feel responsible for it either." Chloe shook her head. "But hey, let's change the subject, get happy Clark back."
"Clark is often happy when Chloe is around."
"I'm flattered."
"I'm serious, Chloe. You don't know what a relief it is to have someone I can talk to about - stuff. I mean I've always had my parents but there are some things you can't really say to them, you know?"
"Yeah, I know." Chloe laughed. "Believe me, I know. If my Dad knew half the stuff Lana and Lois - and you - know about me, he'd have a coronary."
"Like what?"
"Like lots of things."
"Give me an example."
Chloe squirmed, not sure she liked where this was heading. "Oh, I dunno...that I run around investigating mysteries maybe? You have to admit, Clark, we've been in some pretty tights spots this year. We've had some close calls."
"Yeah, we have, haven't we?" Almost absently, Clark rubbed his chest where only months earlier he'd been shot and nearly killed. Well, according to Lana, he had been killed.
It was an uncomfortable memory for both of them. Chloe remembered all to vividly watching him go down, blood streaming from between his fingers and staining his lips. Even more than that, she remembered the horrified look on his face. The vision of his pain and confusion etched into his features had been permanently etched into Chloe's mind. Pain was as alien to Clark as Clark was to this world. Dying was beyond his scope. Most humans believed in the afterlife. They believed they had a soul.
After his return Clark had confessed to being more frightened than he'd ever been before - save once.
"And when was that?" Chloe had asked.
He'd given a soft snort of wry laughter, with very little humor in it. "When Lex ran me over with his car and I lived. That's when I knew for sure I was different, and when Dad told me..."
Chloe had been shocked to learn that Clark hadn't known the truth about himself until only a short time ago, their freshman year of High School to be exact. No wonder he'd freaked out over the Wall of Weird. His confession had answered more than one question Chloe had knocking around in her head. It was almost funny; the two most frightening things in Clark's memory were living, and dying.
"What was it like?" Chloe asked now, wrapping her hands around her warm mug.
"What was what like?"
"Dying."
"Oh," Clark said quietly. His expression grew thoughtful, his eyes going vague as he turned his thoughts inward. "Comfortable," he said finally. "Quiet. It's like that sort of twilight time between being awake and asleep when you're so comfortable you don't want to move, and you're thinking about nothing."
"No bright lights or chorus of angels?" Chloe joked.
Shaking his head, Clark smiled. "No. Nothing like that. Just darkness, and a feeling of - being complete?" He frowned. "It's hard to describe."
"Was it scary? I mean I know being hurt was, but afterward..."
"No," he said. "It wasn't scary at all."
There was something in his voice, something wistful, that Chloe wasn't sure she liked. A note that sounded almost like longing. It was sad, she thought, but he probably did feel some relief when he'd thought it was all over. No more secrets, no more lies, and the last thing he took with him had been the memory of Lana being there at his side.
"I woke up that morning," Clark continued quietly, and his words made Chloe wonder if one of his abilities wasn't mind reading. "Happier than I'd ever been in my life. Coming back was hard, one of the hardest things I'd ever done in my life, but I had to, Chloe. I couldn't be that selfish. I should have died on Krypton with everyone else, but I didn't. That has to mean something, right?"
Chloe looked into his eyes, seeing the pleading there. "Yeah, it means something."
"What?"
"You're a messenger, Clark. You're here to save us from ourselves." Chloe replied. 'cause God knows we could blow ourselves up just as easily."
"Me, a messenger," Clark whispered, with a faint smile. "Now that's scary."
Chloe reached for her mug, which was sitting before her on the coffee table. She downed a sip of the warm brew before resuming her place on the sofa. She sat cross legged, sideways on the cushion, facing her friend. After a moment she leaned forward and took Clark's hand in her own.
He looked at her, puzzled. "What are you doing?"
"Reading your palm."
"Ace reporter and palm reader. Who knew?"
Chloe grinned. She held his hand palm up, resting upon one of her palms. His hand was big and the skin was a darker color than her own. In contrast her small, pale hands looked like those of a child, or a doll. For the bazillionth time Chloe felt in awe of him. This hand, so normal, so human, could bend steel and crush rock He could reach into a fiery forge and come out unscathed. She traced the lines upon his palm with her fingertips, her grin fading into a wistful smile.
This same alien hand - she'd seen it handle tiny newborn chicks, fragile little puffs of yellow feathers. She'd seen Clark gently untangle a calf from a coil of barbed wire, and tickle a barn cat beneath the chin. Chloe recalled seeing him him reaching out to brush an errant lock of hair from Lana's face, and remembered how he had held his mother in his arms as she wept his father's funeral. Closing her eyes, Chloe could also remember how he had once touched her, one stormy spring eve...
She opened her eyes. He was staring at her expectantly. Hastily she cleared her throat, composing herself. With a smile she pointed to his life line.
"A long life," she said. "A very long life."
"Kinda figured that," Clark murmured.
Chloe ran her hand across his palm. "Your heart line is long and curved. You have a lot of love to give, and you want to give it no matter what the costs." She cocked her head. "We sort of guessed that too, huh?"
"Yeah." He sighed. "If I only could."
There was an awkward silence. Chloe still held his hand between her own. Clark looked at her from beneath the fall of his bangs. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second before Clark lowered his and nodded toward his hand.
"What does that line - there, in the middle - what does that mean?"
"That's the fate line."
"And what does it say?"
Chloe drew in a long breath, and closed his fingers in around his palm and wrapped both hands around his fist. "It says, Clark, that you're destined for greatness and you shouldn't let anything get in your way."
"Or anyone." Clark pulled his hand away with a sigh. "I had to let her go, Chloe. I just wish..."
She implored him with a look. "Wish what?"
His voice was wavering. "I could have told her why."
"You still can." Chloe said, thinking immediately of Lex. If it got Lana away from him...
Which was the greater evil, Clark or Lex? Chloe had to say it was Lex.
"No," Clark said flatly. He rose from the sofa, going to stand beside the fireplace, leaning a hand on the mantel. "It's bad enough you know, Chloe. Knowing what I am puts a bullseye on your back. Look what it did to Pete, my father..."
"Clark, Pete just relocated. Your father died of a heart attack!"
"Would that have happened if I'd obeyed Jor-El's instructions? I was selfish, Chloe. It was my fault."
Chloe stood up, hurrying over to him and taking his arm before he could turn away from her. "Clark, stop it! You can't take the blame for everything that might happen to someone close to you! Your father chose to take you in. He chose to protect you. He would have happily sacrificed himself for your happiness. You don't make these choices, we do because we..." She hesitated, choking on the words, forcing them out as a warbling whisper. "Because we love you."
There was a long silence. Happy Clark, so fickle a creature, had gone away, leaving the familiar brooding Clark in his wake. Chloe felt frustrated and sad, and rather embarrassed at her outburst. She wasn't supposed to be liking him like that anymore. She'd told him she didn't, more than once.
Had she lied?
"Clark," she continued. "You don't have to be the only one who makes a sacrifice. You don't have to be alone. Sure you have all the freaky powers but here..." Chloe reached out a hand, placing it on his chest. "You're just like anyone else."
Clark looked at her, gazing quietly into her eyes before placing his hand over hers. "Here I can be broken." He snook his head. "Have been broken, and this time I'm not sure I can be mended."
Chloe wanted to say "if I can be mended, you can" but she couldn't and remain honest. Her broken heart was still on the mend, obviously.
He saved her from having to reply. With a shrug, Clark disengaged his hand from hers and moved back toward the sofa where he resumed his seat. Chloe remained standing for the time being.
"Let's say I do move on, Chloe, meet someone else. I couldn't be honest with her." A blush rose in his cheeks. "And then there is...you know...the question of...intimacy."
"You don't know the answer to either question until you meet that someone, Clark. Maybe you can't tell Lana your secret, but I know it..."
"And I do love you Chloe," Clark said hastily. "Chloe, I do, but..."
She plopped back down on the couch beside him. "Yeah, I know. But not in that way. It's okay, Clark. I understand."
There was yet another awkward silence. They seemed to be breeding them.
Clark toyed with the hem of his shirt. Chloe watched him carefully and realized Cupid had nailed her straight through the heart. She loved him. She always had, and she always would.
"I would die for you," Chloe said suddenly.
He looked up at her sharply. "I wouldn't let you."
"Then let me do something else. I can help answer at least one question."
Their eyes met and Chloe knew he understood what she was implying. It shocked her that she was implying it.
"I don't want to sacrifice our friendship," he murmured.
"It won't."
"Chloe, you don't know..."
"I do know, Clark. Trust me." Chloe chuckled nervously. "Another thing that my father doesn't know." She paused, hitting a familiar roadblock. How much to reveal? "I...uh...was a little disappointed."
Clark snorted softly, smiling. "Yeah. You get all geared up for it, and ultimately it's just...normal?"
"At least you..."
"At least I what?" He paused. "Oh. Because it was Lana."
"Much better than someone you only knew for a few weeks." Chloe muttered.
"I'm sorry."
"Not your fault. If I'd asked, you would have said no."
"Chloe, you have asked."
"No, I've volunteered."
Clark laughed. "Ace reporter and sex therapist."
Grinning, Chloe shot back. "You should see me multi-task." She studied his face carefully, her smile fading. "Why do I get the impression that you're not going to say no this time?"
"I'm going to say no."
"But you don't want to say no."
She'd backed him into a corner. He chewed on his lip before answering.
"I can't..."
Chloe leaned over and kissed him. She could feel him tense up beneath her hands as she reached for his shoulders. The kiss didn't last very long, but he didn't pull back. Chloe wondered if he was aware of the fact he had one hand on her side. Their faces were close, kissing close. She smiled at him.
"See. Not so bad."
"No," he said hoarsely. "Not so bad. But I'm serious, Chlo. I don't want anything to mess up what we've got. I can't let that happen. I need..."
"Need what?"
"You. But not like that," Clark added hastily. "I mean as my friend. That person I can talk to."
"Okay, since when did sex render a person speechless?" Chloe raised an eyebrow. "You're that good?"
"Oh, ha ha, very funny."
They put their foreheads together, both of them grinning. Clark's smile was slow to come, but when it appeared it was honest and sweet. Chloe put a finger to his lips and traced the curve of them. They parted slightly beneath her touch. His breath was warm against her hand. His body was warmer still wherever it touched hers. Yeah, maybe this was a bad idea.
Chloe started to say so, started to come to her senses, but she never made it. Clark slowly pushed her hand away from his face and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her like he had never done before. His hand strayed down her side, gingerly questing until he found the hem of her shirt. The touch of his hand against her bare skin made her blush. When he gently cupped the curve of her breast she warmed in other places. Suddenly she couldn't catch her breath.
"Um..." she melted, sagging into the sofa with him leaning over her, officially making out with him.
Being felt up by him. By Clark. Clark!
She had to remind herself that she had started this. If it was a dream she didn't want it to fly away. Her fingers caught on his belt, and like scuttling spiders, worked the buckle open.
It was awkward, but not nearly as awkward as the nose bumping Laurel and Hardy event she'd staged with Jimmy in his Mom's basement. She'd been hurting and angry that summer. Her complete and utter ability to interact properly with Clark led to a moment of loosened inhibitions with Jimmy, whom she had just met. Jimmy had been safe. He'd been kind and cautious if more than a little clumsy, and in the end her lack of passion hurt him. He never spoke to her again after that, never called, never wrote, and Chloe couldn't blame him. He'd been a poor substitute for what she'd really wanted and he knew it.
She felt Clark falter. "No," she breathed. She lay back against the pillows. "Don't. Don't think, okay? Just go with what you feel." Pressing her cheek against his, she whispered in his ear. "What do you feel, Clark?"
Abruptly he backed away from her to stand above the couch looking down at her. Jeans unbuckled, shirt thrown open, it was obvious what he felt, what he wanted.
"Clark?"
Without a word he bent, scooped her up in his arms, and carried her away upstairs.
Part III - Plus Twelve Hours
"This is weird," Chloe whispered.
Clark opened his eyes. "What's weird?" he asked sleepily. He lay face down upon his pillow, looking at Chloe with half lidded eyes. The sun was streaming in through the bedroom window, striking him in the face. Beneath the fall of his dark lashes his eyes were a startling shade of blue-green. The light loved his eyes, and his skin. His complexion was flawless; pale gold, flushed pink at each cheek.
It was a sultry, sexy look, but Chloe knew starting something would be pointless. They'd proved what they'd needed to prove the night before. It was done. It was over.
"This," she said.
"Why?"
Chloe frowned. "I think because I should be Lana." She reached out a hand, pushed his bangs from his eyes. He was tired, or faking it, she couldn't tell. "Shouldn't I?"
Clark's eyes darted across her face. His soft, sleepy expression didn't change. "No," he whispered. "Not right now. Right now I want it to be you."
She couldn't help the silly smile. "Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Why's that?"
"Because," he murmured. "Nothing's hidden. Nothing at all."
"What about later, Clark?"
Raising his head, he propped himself up on one elbow to edge himself closer to her. She fell back, let him hover over her with kisses.
"This is now." He touched her just...so. "Later can be after one more time."
"Still not convinced you won't kill me?" Chloe laughed. "I think you proved that last night."
"That was just practice," Clark murmured.
He guided her legs apart with the touch of his hand along one thigh and he edged his body between them. She pulled her lip between her teeth when he bent his head to kiss her breasts.
Chloe couldn't believe her luck. Here he was, making love to her again, willingly.
She caught her breath when he slid his hand up her thigh even further, moaned when his questing fingers found her ready for him. Her hips rose from the bed, encouraging him to keep going, to take the next step.
As it turned out, she was right in thinking it was too good to be true.
The bedroom door banged open.
"Hey Smallville, do you...?"
Lois froze in the doorway. Chloe and Clark froze in the bed, both of them staring at her in horror. It was Chloe who recovered first.
"Lois?"
"I...uh...I..." Lois stammered. She looked dumbfounded, obviously shocked. As she slowly backed into the hallway her face flushed red. "I'll just be...going... now..."
Chloe looked over Clark's shoulder and down across his broad back. The bedding had gone askew, leaving them uncovered. He lay stretched between her thighs, her legs raised around his hips, her hands upon his shoulders. She lay there naked and exposed beneath him. It was very obvious what they'd been doing, or were about to do. Chloe grabbed at the sheets, trying to pull them back into place. "Lois..."
Clark's paralysis broke. He was away from Chloe and off the bed in an instant, pulling a blanket up around himself. A hot blush spread across his cheeks as he tried to mask his embarrassment with anger. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "I thought you were...oh, God." His eyes widened and his voice went up an octave. "My Mom isn't here is she?"
Lois' voice was soft, somewhat rough. "No. I just ...uh...missed my flight." A strange expression crossed over her face, something lost and vulnerable – not a common look for her. "I just thought maybe Small...Clark could maybe rustle up some breakfast but..." her voice squeaked. "I can see you're busy. Never mind." Abruptly she turned on her heel and jogged down the stairs. Chloe heard the screen door slam.
"Awkward," Clark muttered. He reached around, the floor, grabbing up his clothes.
Chloe took that to mean it was over. There would be no seconds. "Weird. See. Weird."
"Embarrassing," he moaned, and then snorted. "Why is she so upset? She's always making little snide comments about me needing to get laid."
"She's family, Clark." Chloe sat up and winced. "My family, and in a way, yours too. I think in her view we've committed incest."
He shot her a startled look. "What?"
She thought of the night before, all the nights before that, and the sense of family she'd felt as she grew closer to her cousin and the Kents. Maybe she and Clark could remain friends...but they could not remain family. Chloe silently cursed herself for making the biggest mistake of her life, and for Lois' inability to get anywhere on time.
"Never mind." She collapsed back onto the pillows, pulled the quilts up tight beneath her chin, and closed her eyes. The sun had warmed the bedding. She felt as if she were in a fairy story, tucked away in just the right bed where she could sleep all day if she wanted. Unfortunately she knew that wouldn't be possible.
Clark went downstairs, leaving her to doze quietly in his bed. She heard the screen door, and Lois' voice. Clark spoke low, softly. Chloe couldn't tell what he was saying, but she heard Lois' well enough.
"You're going to hurt her again, Clark. How many times can you twist that poor girl's heart before you break it completely? What were you thinking?"
Chloe sighed.
"Just friends? Yeah, well isn't that typical of a guy. This time you went too far, Kent. Too far. I'm going to warn you once, and just once. You leave Chloe alone!"
There was something there besides the protective elder cousin. Chloe propped herself up on her elbow and listened to Lois stomp down the porch steps. It was a small something, and barely there, but Chloe had seen it in Lois' eyes and heard it in her voice.
Lois was jealous.
Clark came back upstairs. He had a weird look of both annoyance and embarrassment on his face. "She's not happy."
"No, but she doesn't have the whole story either." Chloe sat up and swung over the side of the bed. Friends again. She covered herself modestly with one of his shirts. "I'm going to borrow your shower. You make pancakes. The way to Lois' good side is through her stomach."
"Who said I cared about Lois' good side?" Clark grumbled.
Chloe looked back over her shoulder, and her stomach did a slow, queasy roll as she caught just the barest flicker of an emotion it took her a while to define.
He does care – a lot. When did this happen? Just when and where did they connect like this?
"Blueberry," Chloe said roughly. "Her favorite. Blueberry."
She brushed past him, heading quickly toward the bathroom. Suddenly she felt dirty and wrong, as if she really had committed some unspeakable sin. She had to wash him away from her like some caustic substance that would burn, and itch, and ache if she didn't. Turning the shower on full blast she stood under the water and tried to get clean again.
Her tears ran down the drain, and the scent of shampoo and soap obscured that of the blueberry pancakes wafting up from the kitchen. It was okay. Lois could hook up with Clark. That was okay. After all, Clark and Chloe were just friends.
Just friends.
Just friends.
Just friends.
Part IV - Plus Twelve Years
Chloe found her cousin out on the balcony.
Lois sat on the parapet smoking a cigarette and looking out over the bright lights of the city beyond and below her. She'd escaped from the throng of well wishers to grab a moment to herself. The cigarette smoke swirling around her head and the cigarette pinched between her fingers were incongruous to the lace veil trailing down her back. Likewise, the bright yellow sneakers were out of place beneath the thick taffeta skirts of her white gown.
Closing the French doors behind her, Chloe blotted out the music coming from the reception hall. Lois looked up at her and Chloe smiled. "Aren't you supposed to be in there?" she asked quietly.
Her cousin rolled her eyes and blew out a plume of smoke. "Probably, but God, Chlo. I needed to breathe!"
"Oh, the irony coming from someone suffocating themselves with tar and nicotine."
"He'll kill me." Lois screwed up her face in dismay as she snubbed the cigarette out on the bottom of one sneakered foot. "Don't tell."
Laughing softly, Chloe shook her head. "For one, he won't kill you. For two, you know you can't keep secrets from a man who can see through walls and hear someone whisper on the other side of the planet."
Lois plucked at her dress. "Yeah, what the Hell was I thinking?"
Chloe moved over to lean upon the wall beside her. "Love can kind of blur rational thinking."
They looked at each other. It had been a long time since Smallville. They'd grown apart, grown different, developing a rivalry that eventually overshadowed a friendship. Only the ties of blood remained. Chloe had been shocked when Lois asked her to be maid of honor. Lois confessed she thought Chloe would decline.
"I knew before either of you did," Chloe added softly. "I let it cloud my judgment, Lo, and I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted, and given." Lois replied. "You hid it pretty well."
"Hid what?" Chloe frowned. She thought Lois referred to Clark's secret, his alienness, his alter ego.
"The broken heart. I figured you and I were just knocking heads over the career thing all this time. Guess I was wrong." She inhaled deeply. "And now I know, and I understand. He gets in here," she put a hand to her chest, clenching her fist tightly. The diamonds on her wedding ring glistened in the city's light. "And he won't let go."
"Eloquent." Chloe chuckled. "Guess you did deserve that Pulitzer after all."
Lois regarded her solemnly; so quietly and so solemnly it made Chloe uncomfortable. She shifted her weight and turned her gaze out toward the glittering glass tower of Metropolis' prince of darkness. Lana had barely escaped being locked up in that tower forever. Who would have thought her knight in shining armor would turn out to be the shy young senator from Wichita they all knew and loved?
Pete and Lana. Lois and Clark. Who could have predicted any of this? Chloe thought. I certainly didn't.
"You deserve him more than I do."
Chloe started, surprised. One look told her Lois was serious. She shook her head. "No, Lo. He loves you. He never loved me."
"Don't be so sure." Lois jumped down from the parapet and walked away a few steps before turning back to face her cousin. "I'll let you in on a secret," she said softly. "The first time we did it..." A small, wry smile crossed her lips. "Wasn't very romantic, or noble. Superheroes are supposed to be noble you know, sweep you off your feet." She shook her head. "He swept me into the supply room at the Planet and plopped my ass down on a copier."
Chloe laughed. "Oh, my God."
"Yeah, well, there you have it." Lois met her gaze once more, pinning her down with a look. "We talked a lot before we did it. He was scared, so was I. It was the first time he had...the first time since..." Tears glittered in her eyes, threatening to send her mascara running. "That day I owed you, Chloe. I owed you more than I could ever repay, little cos. But," she whispered. "I had to call it even afterward."
It took a moment before Chloe could find her voice. "Why?" she asked gently.
Lois smiled sadly. "Because he remembered more than the fact he wouldn't hurt me. In the throes of passion the name he whispered in my ear - wasn't mine."
Before Chloe could say a word, before Lois could turn and make her dramatic exit, the French doors opened and a familiar curly head appeared in a burst of light and music.
"There you are, Ms. La...I mean..." Jimmy grinned. "Mrs. Kent. They're ready for you to toss the bouquet."
"Hell." Lois turned all around. "What did I do with the damn thing?"
Chloe spotted the spray of roses lying on a nearby bistro table. She picked it up and held it out to her cousin. "Here it is, Lo."
"Oh! Thanks."
Their hands touched as the bouquet was passed from one to the other, and both of them froze.
Lois let go.
After a moment she smiled, and leaned in to give Chloe a kiss on the cheek. "You keep it," she said, and then turned her attention to Jimmy. "I threw it. It's been caught. Let's go cut the cake. I want you to make sure you get a good picture of me shoving buttercream frosting up Clark's nose." She winked back at Chloe. "Blackmail material."
They were gone.
Chloe stood at the edge of the balcony with the roses in her hands. There had been many loves and losses over the years, but Lois was right. There was one love, one loss, that had left a wound that would never fully heal. They'd somehow managed to remain friends until Chloe let loose a mean streak and wrote a scathing rebuttal to one of the famous reporting duo's expose' stories. She'd found a chink in their credibility, and tore the story to hell, calling it fantasy fiction based on a lack of sufficient fact, and citing their sources as "suspect."
Of course their primary source, who to this day remained unnamed, was a man who flew around Metropolis in a bright red cape. Chloe had known it too and still wrote her editorial.
Clark had been pissed. Like Lois, however, he chalked it up to jealous, competitive, spite. Chloe Sullivan, ace investigative reporter since the age of twelve, had been scooped by Lois and Clark. Lois, who couldn't spell to save her life, and Clark who had cut his journalistic teeth typing up Smallville High's lunch menus. Chloe was upset because the dynamic duo of Lane and Kent swooped in on Superman's back and stole the prize she had been seeking all her life - with an article she herself could have written years before.
Do you want a Pulitzer with those chicken nuggets? Why yes thank you.
"You cheated. You won a Pulitzer based on a story about you, written by you."
"I didn't have anything to do with it, Chloe! Lois wrote it!"
"Lois couldn't write her way out of a paper bag, Clark and you know it. If it weren't for me she'd still be writing misspelled copy about two headed cows and UFO sightings for the Inquisitor."
"She sort of did write about a UFO sighting if you think about..."
"You know what I mean, Clark. Don't try to make this a joke!"
Chloe sighed. She had indeed let her heart rule her head, and for far too long.
She let go of the bouquet, letting it fall from her fingers toward the street below. A moment later she realized she wasn't alone.
"You dropped something." Clark's eyes appeared over the edge of the parapet. The rest of him slowly followed as he rose through the air fifty feet above the sidewalk. He held the bouquet in his hand. He gave it back to her. "Do you need a lecture about littering, miss?"
"Uh, aren't you supposed to be at your reception?" Chloe pulled herself up to sit on the wall where Lois had been only moments before. Superman sat down beside her. She toyed with the end of the cape. "You're fraying."
"Bank alarm went off 'cross town." He grinned. "And I wasn't looking forward to having buttercream icing shoved up my nose."
Chloe grinned back. "Lois will be so disappointed."
"I'll make it up to her." He sobered. "It seems I have a lot to make up for."
"You heard?"
"Hard to hide secrets from a guy who can hear a whisper on the other side of the planet."
"She's wrong, Clark." Chloe said after a long pause. She idly stroked the soft red material draped over her knees as she spoke. "We should have never slept together. You knew you wouldn't hurt me. You didn't need me to prove anything."
"Maybe not." Clark said softly. "But I wanted you. I just didn't know how to ask without..." He shook his head sadly. "Took a while for it to all fall apart, but that's pretty much where it started, wasn't it?"
"It started way before that, you just never knew it." Chloe sighed. "Maybe if I'd been a little more open..."
"And I'd been a little less stupid...
The muffled strains of dance music came from within the party room. Far below, on the city streets, cars bustled back and forth, honking, their engines roaring and their drivers ignorant of what went on up above them on the balcony. Chloe looked down at them, wondering what it was like to fly through the maze of buildings and bridges over Metropolis, what it was like to never have to touch the ground.
"I can't wear white," she whispered. "It's bad for my complexion."
"I doubt that, Chloe."
Their eyes met. Chloe felt the old pain returning. She saw his face twist in an all too familiar look of guilt and confusion.
"We better get back in there," she said, and managed a smile. "Wouldn't want Lois thinking I've stolen her husband away on her wedding night."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Another silence fell.
"I've missed you, Chlo."
"It's hard to miss you, especially in this hideous clown suit."
"That's not what I meant."
"I know," she breathed. Her heard clenched up in a hard, painful knot. "I've missed you too." She glanced back over her shoulder. "Seriously though, you need to get back before they miss you."
"Always looking out for me."
"Of course. Your alien butt would have been outed years ago without me around." Chloe gave him a little shove. "Go on, shoo."
Clark made a face back at her, a funny, goofy face she'd not seen since they were kids. It made her laugh. It was not one of Superman's expressions and it clashed with the outfit.
"I'm not a pigeon, Chloe," he said, pouting, but then he winked and jumped off the balcony. Chloe heard the echo of his laughter as he vanished around another building in a rush of air and a flutter of red cloth.
She sighed.
Friends again. Family again. It's all she really needed, right?
Chloe clutched the bouquet of roses to her chest, and held on to it tightly.
Never mind the thorns.