Title: Heartbeats and Best Friends
Author: Girlygirl (or ConneryisBond)
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Clark/Chloe friendship and depending how you read it, other ships sprinkled in.
Summary: Clark has learned this lesson before and it's not the first time death has come for Chloe Sullivan but it is the first time it's ever gotten this close so he decides to stand guard from now on because there is nothing more important then her.
Author's Notes: First off I need to send a huge thank you to my wonderful beta Dstined4gr8ness without whom everything I write would be unreadable. I've watched Smallville on and off since it started and every time I come back to it it's always because of Allison Mack and her portrayal of Chloe; this time is no exception. This fic is my take of Clark's feelings on how important Chloe really is to him after her resurrection. It's based after the season 7 premier (Bizarro) so it is slightly spoiler-ish for those who have yet to see it. Remember to comment please.

There is no instinct like that of the heart -Lord Byron.

Heartbeats and Best Friends

It takes a whole of five second after her bedroom light finally turns off to reevaluate his life and find that the most important thing in it was her.

And ten seconds after that to find himself standing at the foot of her bed watching her lay completely still, pretending to be asleep. He knows she's pretending by the way she's working at steadying her breathing but he can hear her heartbeat and she isn't anywhere near sleeping.

"You're pushing dangerously close to stalker, Clark," Her eyes remain closed, but her lips turn up at the ends and it hits Clark that less then twelve hours ago he was looking at life without her in it.

He doesn't make a sound as he toes off his shoes and slips into the bed beside her.

He's never really been scared in his life- can probably count how many times on one hand, but today at the hospital was one of the few times he'd ever felt 'life as he knew it was going to cease to exist' type of scared.

Chloe shifts to give him room but he's not looking for room and wraps his arms protectively around her. She lets him. Clark pulls her into his sphere, tucking her head in, letting her body mold itself to his before he brings his head down gently on her chest, taking in the strong beat of her heart under his ear.

Never in his life can Clark remember hearing something as spectacular as the sound beneath his ear. Because her heartbeat isn't just a repetitive beat lulling his off to sleep, it's the reassuring sound that she's alive- her own personal mantra of survival and strength.

There are so many questions he wants to ask her- some of which he's already tried to ask- but they fall to the wayside in light of what could have been. He's never been a believer of 'what ifs' but even venturing into that train of thought sends shivers down his spine. He doesn't need to think about it to know that without Chloe his life would be dark and void of any type of worth.

For two seconds in the hospital his whole world had started to crumple under the simple words of one nurse and he didn't want to know what would have happened if they had turned out to be true. He had a feeling that nothing would have stopped him from going all dark-side had he not heard Chloe calling for him.

He'd lost count of how many Gods he'd thanked that she'd been able to call for him at all.

"I really don't know whether to be frightened or flattered here Clark but you're starting to worry me," small hands come up and tangle themselves in his hair, brushing back unruly waves.

He breathes her in, she smells of lilies and honey - she probably always has- but he finds it captivating now. He's always known these smells but they'd never registered as her until now.

He hated that it took her dying- again- for him to pay attention.

"Clark?" her voice is worried, and she is much too tired to even try to hide it, least of all from him. He steels himself to stay strong should she chose to break. Chloe Sullivan doesn't break- they both know this- so it's an unwritten rule between them to never speak of it when she breaks down in his arms.

They've tried this, this awkward in-between friends and something more thing, but it was weird and forced and finally they came to understand that they belonged in another category completely. It wasn't that he didn't love her- or her him- it was just that what they had transcended even love. Because she understood him and though she was tiny, she protected him. In turn Clark did the same for her; because it only took one look from Chloe to know exactly what was going on- to know the plan; and it only took one smile, even just a half smile, to make saving the world- again- totally worth it.

He pulls her closer and holds on tight as quiet sobs rock her small body. Her tears are all she needs to tell him, if that's what she decided, and still it constitutes a secret. A secret, that Clark will never tell another living soul, because she'd do that same for him- because she does the same for him. He's never been good with tears- especially in the form of a crying woman- but he'd always learn for her. So he steps up and whispers softly into her neck, listening to her heartbeat slow down until he knows for sure she's asleep.

Softly, so as not to wake her, he pulls the covers up with his feet until he can reach it with his hand and he tucks them beneath it. He concentrates hard on her heartbeat under his ear- finds that everything about the day has come back to her heartbeat- and gives in to the pull as it lull him to sleep. He knows he should go, that he's gotten more then his fill of Chloe but he can't bring himself to move.

He knows that his mother will worry, and lord knows Lois will ask questions; he shouldn't feel this at peace with the knowledge that Lana Lang is dead. But he can't bring himself to care about his mother's worry or worry about Lois' questions or fixate on Lana's death. She knew what she was getting into marrying Lex. She'd made her bed; he'd sleep in Chloe's.

Because it seemed that every time he lost sight of how important Chloe was, the world conspired to take her away and holding her against him was his only sure fire way of making sure the world didn't get as close as they had to her again.

End

-Girlygirl