Loyalty. It goes closely with trust and honesty, but he's never really noticed how much he needed it. Trust has stopped him from having so much, from having more time with Lana. So has honesty. She could never have his honesty so he never received her trust. In the end, it was probably what stopped them from having a full relationship. A relationship needs those two pillars in order to be healthy.
Pete was loyal, despite his moving to another state. He recognized that if Pete stayed he might have become disloyal, and Clark supposed, in some twisted way, it had been his way of remaining loyal to The Secret.
Yes, he capitalized it. It was a club. There actually were only a few members, but still there was a club for those few people that knew his secret. And he was loyal right back. When they needed him, he'd be right there no matter what.
At least that's what he thought he was like. He thought he was one of the most loyal people out there.
That is, until he compared himself to her.
Now that he took the time to sit down and think about it, no one could quite be as loyal as she could. How many people in this world would keep to themselves that they knew a real live alien? Not only that, but that alien just happened to be a United States' Senator's son?
Clark couldn't fathom how much of a jackpot that must be for reporters. She had once told him it could be the story of the century. It would revolutionize the world. But she had remained loyal to him. Throughout everything that he had put her through, she had proved she was a true friend, despite her reporter instinct.
He knew she would love the chance to tell the world about the fact that there really was life on other planets. But who would believe her? No one, not without proof, not without him exposing himself. That was the thing, she would never do anything to hurt him. She was loyal to a fault. She was loyalty personified.
Which is why it disturbed him to think that she was getting married, giving her loyalty to someone else.
He wasn't jealous of her love of Jimmy.
He was jealous of her loyalty to Jimmy.
But that wasn't what disturbed him. What disturbed him was that he was jealous of that loyalty. For so long he had monopolised her loyalty. It kind of felt weird to think that someone else would have her loyalty. No one knew what it was like to have Chloe Sullivan's complete loyalty.
Then again no one would ever know what it's like to have Chloe Sullivan's complete love.
He would always have her love, and her his. But it wasn't enough.
Chloe Sullivan and Clark Kent could never be loyal to their love. It just hurt too much.
