Title: Their Forever
Category: Smallville/Batman Crossover
Rating: T
Genre: Romance
Pairing: Chloe/Bruce
Prompt: Proposal by svgurl
Word Count: 808
Summary: There was only one answer she could give him, only one word came to mind.
Their Forever
-Drabble-
She knew proposals were supposed to be the kind of words that made every woman weep before they even started... She also knew that when a man proposed to her, she didn't want to hear the "You're so beautiful and I'm so lucky," type speech. She wanted something that fit with her; she wanted to hear that this man wanted her for all of her faults and qualities, for her outlandish love of danger and deadly curiosity... She wanted to know that when he looked up at her, when he asked her those four words, he needed her answer to be yes. That he couldn't really imagine a lifetime without her. And years ago, when Jimmy had said that, she'd known it wasn't true. He was scared and it was sweet, but the emotions weren't in his voice or his eyes... It was like he felt obligated, like he needed to ask her, to prove that he loved her. But now... Here... It wasn't Jimmy in front of her. The goofy photographer was the farthest thing from her mind; he was years ago and nothing like the man who knelt in front of her.
She couldn't begin to question how long they'd been together. She'd been in Gotham seven years and she knew that they had come together rather early in her move over, but their true relationship started when all the secrets had been revealed. The Justice League, her powers, her history in Smallville, and his alter-ego, his dark past and future. That was when they became the strong couple they were now, unbreakable. There wasn't a day that she questioned whether she was supposed to be there, with him. She knew it. She knew that all her life had been leading her to a place she never really expected to go. She'd always been a Metropolis girl and then circumstances brought her to Gotham and she chose never to turn back.
"I never thought I'd do this," he said, his voice low. "When I accepted what my life would be made of, darkness and secrets, a dual identity that could mean life or death every night... I thought I'd accepted that nothing could really come of any relationship. That I was meant to be alone and never have that one person... When I met you, that all changed." He smiled. "Your curiosity will probably get you killed... And I won't fight for you to stop; I wouldn't take that from you. It's what makes you so incredible... Your passion and your need for truth and justice." He shook his head. "You're headstrong and sometimes I think you have an underwhelming sense of fear. But... You're the strength behind the idea of truth. You keep pushing until you find it and that's only one of many reasons I love you..."
She bit her lip, her brows lifting. Her heart was pounding and her breathing was becoming shaky.
"I know that a future with me means that you'll spend a lot of days wondering if I made it... I know that you'll be targeted even more than usual because standing at my side makes you an enemy to so many. But... If you're willing to stand up for the world then I can only ask that you stand by my side just as proudly." He took her hand, his thumb stroking the top tenderly. "I can't promise we'll live well into our eighties or retire on a beach somewhere. I can't tell you that I'll live to see tomorrow or that one day the world will be a better place. I can't even assure you Gotham will ever be right. But I can love you with all of myself and give you everything I am for as long as we have."
She blinked away the tears that filled her eyes.
"So, Chloe Ann Sullivan... Would you do me the honor of being my wife?" he asked, his lips curving at the corners.
She stared at him; those dark eyes that she'd fallen for the moment he looked at her, that mouth that had kissed every inch of her, had caressed her lips with such love she'd never known it possible. To so many, Bruce Wayne was someone else; an arrogant billionaire with the world at his fingertips. But to her, he was just Bruce, just the Bat, two men in one, both of which loved her with an intensity she met each day. There was only one answer she could give him, only one word came to mind, and she didn't question it, she knew it was right.
"Yes," she breathed, a tear slipping down her cheek.
He grinned, rising from the floor and lifting her up, his arms wrapped around her. She buried her face against his neck and breathed him in. Finally... They got their forever.