Title: Just Them
Category: Smallville
Genre: Romance
Ship: Chloe/AC
Rating: PG13
Prompt: Kiss
Word Count: 703
Summary: She's not expecting it. Least of all from him.

Just Them
-Drabble-

She's not expecting it. Least of all from him.

He's just climbed out of the pool, he's dripping wet and grinning like he won a million bucks. She's trying to do paper work. She was forced out of her solitude and told she needed more sun. Which led to her sitting in a plastic lounge chair, her lap filled with League work, and her eyes trying not to follow the attractive man doing laps back and forth in the water.

"You should jump in," he tells her, lifting a brow he supposes is comforting.

All she sees is naughty lips that could be doing wonders to her skin. Suddenly, she wishes she was wearing more layers… or a liter of sun block. For a guy cooling off in the water, he's making her temperature race.

"I'm fine here," she replies, hoping she's casual.

He sighs and she thinks she's won. But then he's out of the water and he's walking toward her. She suddenly thinks men should wear more than shorts when swimming; there's too much going on. He's all rippling muscle and tanned skin that begs for fingertips and tongues and laughter buried in his broad shoulders. When she got out of work mode and into 'interested' she doesn't ponder. Instead, she buries her eyes in statistics and suspicions.

He kneels next to her, cocks a blond brow and grins. "Come on, Chlo… You've been working all morning… Just an hour in the water?"

"Your world is in the water, AC… Mine's up here on dry land, surrounded by papers and security footage."

He frowns, tips his head thoughtfully and she tries to ignore the drop of water that wanders from his collarbone to his navel; even if her tongue wants nothing more than to follow it.

"You got that stuff on your computers?" he asks, nodding toward her lap-load of work.

She nods slowly, brows furrowing.

And then he grins, lifts her up quite suddenly and runs for the pool.

She only has time to yell, "Don't you da--!" and then she's deep under water and his arms let her loose so she can swim on her own. When she comes up sputtering, he's laughing, happy. Some part of her is angry, wants to yell at him and return to the comfort of her work, but a much stronger part wants out. It wants to swim and be free and enjoy a little break. So she sighs, chews her lip and tries to figure out what the answer is.

He notices, advances on her, and she finds herself swimming backwards, out of his reach, until her back hits the edge of the pool. He crowds her, his arms on either side of her, resting firmly and keeping her trapped. His green eyes narrow, stare at her as if he can read her. "What're you so scared of?" he asks.

The water laps at his chin and she wants to tell him she's not scared of anything, but she can't, because she doesn't want to lie to him.

"What's not to be scared of?" she finally replies.

He half-smiles, sadly. And then he leans forward until their foreheads touch. "Out here, it's just me and you… Just water and freedom… Nothing else."

Her heart stutters; she likes the sound of that. She likes thinking that maybe, for just a moment, she can just be Chloe again. Not Sidekick or Watchtower or any other codename. Just her.

"And what would we do with this freedom?" she wonders.

He smirks then, eyes flashing. "Whatever we want."

Before she can ask, he leans in, captures her lips. There's a spark, a flutter in her stomach, and for the first time in too long, she feels alive. She's floating, soaking wet and wrapped in strong arms. He tastes like fresh air and boundless possibilities; his fingers tangled in her hair and his body hard against her. He kicks his feet, pushes them away from the wall, and when she opens her eyes, he's kissing her face as they float free in the center of the pool. No worries, no cares, just him and her.

Whatever we want… She just wants him right now. Just AC.