Title: The Right Girl
Category: Smallville/Transformers Movie
Genre: Romance
Pairing: Chloe/Will Lennox
Rating: PG
Prompt: #001 – "I can't remember."
Word Count: 1,116
Summary: She's lost in the dessert and he thinks it might just be destiny.

The Right Girl
1/1

The day sucked, per usual, but he was getting on as best as possible. They'd been walking for hours, silent except for a few of his men talking in the back and the static of radio Intel. Major William "Wild Bill" Lennox wouldn't say he loved his job, but he was devoted to it. After all his years working to keep his country and the people under it as safe as possible, one couldn't say they enjoyed the darker parts of military work. But then, a certain sense of pride came with his livelihood and that was what kept him as strong as he was. If it weren't for the Dear John letter he'd received nearly a year ago, maybe he'd be a little more cooperative and high spirited with his day-to-day existence. But when one had only the fatigues on his back, the gun in his hand, and the hope that he was doing the right thing to live by, it made some days worse than others.

He found her lying in the middle of the dessert, the sand nearly burying her entirety from his sight. She was face down and the back of her, what skin was showing, was clearly burned from the scorching sun. He jogged across the open sand hills, pushing his gun behind his back as he approached. Epps was shouting at him that he was an idiot; that she was probably dead and if she wasn't, it was a trap. But as he knelt next to her, he could see the shallow lifting of her back as she breathed and she made no movement to acknowledge him, let alone attack. He rolled her over carefully, keeping his hands far away from the blistered skin of her bare neck.

She laid immobile, eyes still closed and sand stuck to her pale skin. She was pretty, even covered in dirt and clearly in the wrong country. Her blonde hair was in disarray but the stylish bob it was meant to lay in told him she wasn't from around there. There was a faint spattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose and her lips were chapped. He could hear his team getting closer and reached for the water container hooked to his belt. Unscrewing the top, he lifted her head and bent the opening to her lips. She came awake abruptly, stared up at him with huge green eyes, scared and confused.

"Shh, it's okay," he murmured gently, lifting the bottle higher so she'd drink deeper.

She looked at him, held onto his eyes as if she expected to read his intentions from there alone. And then her hand was lifting, covering his and pressing the water nearer as she drank desperately.

Finally, gasping in air, her chest heaving, she parted from the bottle and laid back, staring unseeing at the sky. "Where am I?"

"You don't know?"

She frowned. Her brows knit as she chewed her lip for only a second before wincing at the dried skin she found. "I… I can't remember what happened…"

"You know your name?" he wondered, glancing back at Epps, who stood warily behind him, his gun at the ready.

"Chloe... Chloe Sullivan." She swallowed tightly. "My uncle… General Sam Lane… He'll get me home."

He nodded slowly. "And where's home?"

She looked up at him then, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

He grinned. "No offense, Chloe. But I'm kinda stuck out here in war; I don't think I have the time to come stalk you back in the states."

She smiled slightly. "Sorry… Habit."

His brow lifted. "You get stalked a lot?"

Grimacing, she moved to sit up. "Not a lot… But not so rarely that it's uncommon."

Helping her stand, he hooked an arm around her waist so she wouldn't fall as her legs seemed to shake. "Thanks," she whispered, smiling lightly.

"When duty calls," he replied.

Epps scoffed. "Great, flirting with a civvy ya just found sunbathing in the middle of nowhere…"

Will rolled his eyes. "Did you call it in?"

"Do I look like your carrier pigeon? She's your pet now, capt'n."

Shaking his head, he simply grinned. "All right…" Turning back to Chloe, he asked, "Any injuries I should know about?"

Her lips pursed. "If I say yes does it mean I don't have to walk this entirely too empty expanse of dessert?"

Chuckling, he shook his head. "No, you just get more bitching rights."

"Huh." Shrugging, she admitted, "Then as far as I can tell, besides dehydration, I'm in tip-top shape."

"Good." Holding her steady, he nodded ahead. "Terrain isn't easy but we've got a pretty long hike ahead of us."

"Story of my life," she muttered sourly.

Plucking his hat off from around the string hanging at his neck, he dropped it on her head. "At least the company's better."

She chuckled. "I withhold an opinion until we're safe and the dessert is a distant memory."

"Understandable."

Muttering under his breath about them, Epps walked off to take the front.

Keeping her close he surveyed the area, then tipped his head at her. "So if you don't remember how you got here, what's the last thing you do remember?"

"Honestly…" Her brows knit in confusion. "I could've sworn I was planning a wedding…"

He looked over at her, wide-eyed. "Yours?"

She snorted. "No…" Shaking her head, she grinned. "My cousin's… to my best friend, actually."

"Huh." He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. "So is there some poor guy out there wondering where you are right now?"

She hid her smile. "Aside from said best friend, no… I don't think so, anyway."

He nodded, ducking his head as his lips quirked.

"You?"

He smirked. "Nope, cut loose the last guy I had back home… Too clingy," he joked.

She chuckled before nodding toward Epps, "Maybe he'll give you a little more privacy."

His eyes widened abruptly. "Not my type…"

"Yeah? And what is?"

He shrugged. "Pretty blondes that find themselves lost in the desert."

Her brow lifted. "Precise. Can't imagine you date much."

Laughing, he lifted a shoulder. "Better to wait for the right girl."

She wrinkled her nose. "And you know all that because she happened to be in your path, lost and confused?"

"Not yet." He grinned warmly. "But we've got a long walk and not a lot to do but look for enemies… Twenty questions?"

"Deal. Full disclosure, within reason."

He nodded. "Done."

Dragging the hat a little lower over her eyes, she asked, "What's your name?"

"Will Lennox, Capricorn."

She laughed.

A tug in his chest told him this day, maybe even his whole life, just got a whole lot better.