This is an idea that wouldn't let me alone... set on Saturday, February 12, 2005... which - for those of you who have a life that doesn't revolve around Smallville - means that it's set right after "Recruit" and right before "Krypto".

Just because Chlark should have had a chance!

. . . .

"Just write your name on one of the cards and slip it into the appropriate box," Chloe ordered, giving three of the girls from the dance team the same instructions she had been giving everyone all day, "There is an optional dinner later in the evening for $25.00 a person."

"How's it going?" Clark asked, coming up as the girls finished and left.

"Good," she answered sarcastically, "I am soliciting guests for Lana's party when I could be finishing my story on the undercover drug community in the school. My money's on Mr Hoenas - how else would a literature teacher afford a brand new car? And all of those papers that I found that had traces of drugs on them were Shakespeare. After this is finished, I'm going to see if I can get an interview with Miss Trammer; as his ex she should be more than willing to tell me what she knows about him. Anyways, so far we have five more girls than boys for the party and school ends for the weekend in less than half an hour. Do you think that you could get some of your football buddies to sign up? At least for the free part?"

"I don't know, but I'll do my best," he said obligingly, "I should be able to get at least three, maybe four. In the meanwhile, you can write down my name. Did you know that she was on her way to Broadway before she met Mr Hoenas - after they began seeing each other, she quit her career and moved to Smallville. How's that for devotion?"

"Ouch," Chloe cringed, "No wonder she's been throwing daggers with her eyes ever since he dumped her for his new girl. Trouble is, Miss Trammer seems to have turned into a hermit ever since; it's going to be tough getting her to participate in an interview."

"I'll tell you what; after the party is finished I will help you track her down and get the interview."

"Thank you!" she said, flashing him her rarely seen megawatt smile, "Clark Kent to the rescue!"

"There," he put the paper with his name on it into the box, "Now, let me go see what I can do about the jocks."

. . .

Chloe sighed as she taped up the very last red and pink twisted streamers in the Talon late that night and climbed down the ladder. Lana and Jason had decided to host a Valentine's party at the coffee house, and had asked her if she would be willing to help decorate. Unfortunately, Lana had called her saying that something had come up at the last minute, so Chloe ended up doing the invitations, decorating, arranging the games, and planning the refreshments herself.

The only thing left to do was the creative way of choosing a partner for dinner. Taking the box of red paper hearts that Lana had left on the stairs (one for every two guests), she quickly began cutting them in half - with a variety of swirls and zigzags and make them unique. Setting aside one half of each in the boy's pile, she dumped the other halves into a box marked 'girls' and set a marker next to each; they would just have to choose a half and then write their own name on it.

Shutting off the lights and grabbing her purse, Chloe locked the doors and hurried to her car, telling herself that next time someone wanted to host a party she would only agree to attend as a guest. Shivering as she drove home slowly through the unexpected whiteness of newly fallen snow, she wished that she had grabbed a coffee before she left as she could feel herself starting to fall asleep. In fact, she was so very tired, that her eyelids began to close and by the time her car began to drive off of the road she was fast asleep.

A moment after her car ploughed to a stop in the snow drifts, a dark figure opened the door and grabbed the keys to the Talon out of her purse before disappearing into the night.

. . .

Chloe groaned and raised her aching head from the steering wheel, blinking at the clock which brightly told her that it was 1:13 AM - only one minute later than it had said the last time her weary eyes had glimpsed it, seconds before she had given into the exhaustion that seemed impossible to resist. Sighing she rested her forehead against the cool wheel again, feeling slightly drugged. Less than a second later, she felt the car being forcibly dragged back onto the road and glanced in the side mirror to see Clark pulling the automobile out by the back bumper. Cosing her eyes, she pretended to be still asleep as he came around and yanked the door open.

"Chloe!" his worried voice exclaimed as he undid her seat belt and pulled her out with a speed that equaled his exhibition the night only a few weeks before when Alicia had privately 'outed' his secret to Chloe without his knowledge.

"Clark?" she blinked, yawning in spite of herself.

"What happened?" he asked, only partially relieved to find out that she was apparently uninjured.

"I don't know," she admitted, the night air waking her up fully, "I just remember feeling really tired and wanting to go to sleep."

"You should be more careful," Clark admonished, his eyes betraying his concern, "If you had been near a tree or a telephone pole... you could have been killed!"

"But I wasn't," she reminded him, beginning to shiver, "Now, you may enjoy long midnight walks in the freezing cold, but I am ready for bed." she paused, wondering if she should offer or not and then deciding that if she didn't mention the fact that he was a ways from his home in the middle of the night it would seem suspicious, "Do you want a lift home, or would you rather continue your walk?"

His eyes widened slightly but he shrugged. "I'll continue my walk," he nodded, sticking his hands in his pockets, "You shouldn't drive any more than you have to tonight. Now be careful! And if you feel like taking another nap, pull over and put the car in park first."

. . .

The next morning, Chloe searched frantically through her purse in search of the keys to the Talon. Though it was not her usual way to spend the hour between 6-7 AM on Saturday morning, she had been woken up by a nightmare that she had lost the keys to the Talon and Lana had turned into some evil creature and had tried to kill her. The adrenaline coursing through her veins had been more effective than caffeine in waking her up quickly and propelling her out of bed to reassure herself that she really did have the precious pieces of metal that had been lent to her by the part-owner of the Talon.

Finally satisfied that the keys really were missing, Chloe hurriedly pulled on a pair of jeans, threw her coat on over her pajama shirt and drove out to where she had run off the road the night before - hoping that the keys had fallen when Clark had pulled her out of the car. Reaching the spot, she parked and jumped out of the car, searching the ground thoroughly. It didn't surprise her that hers were the only set of tire marks; not many people drove that road between 1 and 7 in the morning. After spending much more time than she needed to survey the ground, Chloe started to head back to her car in discouragement. Getting in, she sighed and started the engine, prepared to drive back when suddenly her eyes became glued to the snow off of the side of the road. Jumping out of the car, she hurried over and inspected the imprints curiously, a suspicion now firmly in place.
Sure enough, there were foot prints beside the tire tracks where neither her nor Clark had stepped. Nodding grimly to herself, she began following the prints through the snow, leaving her car and trekking cross country.

. . . .

Review please? It only takes a moment, and it will really make me very happy!