Standing Still
By Misha
Disclaimer- I totally do not own any of the characters of Smallville (though I wish I owned Lex!), they belong to a lot of people with more money than me. I am not making any money off using them in this story, so please don't sue me.
Author's Notes- A short, sort of bitter Chloe fic. It's set in the future. I don't what inspired me to write this except the fact that we know what Clark's future hold, but what about Chloe's? Where does she fit it? That's when this was born. As I've said before, I don't know a lot about the "Superman" universe. I don't read the comic books and it's been years since I've seen the movies, so with the exception of "Smallville", I have little knowledge of the characters and their backgrounds. I mean, I do know the basic facts about Superman, I know who Lois Lane is, and that Lex Luthor is the bad guy. But other than that... So, I just made things up. Well, that's all for now, enjoy!
Spoilers- Everything, I guess.
Rating- PG
Chloe always had one dream in life.
To work for the Daily Planet. Not to be running the Smallville Ledger while she took care of her ailing father.
Certainly not to sit back and watch Clark live her dream.
Sometimes, it seems so ironic that it's almost funny. Clark was never that into running being a journalist in high school, but now he's where she always wanted to be.
They started out together. They graduated with degrees in journalism from Metropolis University at the same time and were both hired at the Planet.
Which to Chloe was a living dream. She had the job she dreamed of and Clark was by her side.
She had thought that it might be her chance to reignite the brief romance that she and Clark had shared in high school.
Yes, they had parted with both of them deciding that they were better off as friends. But Chloe suspected that they both knew that that was really Clark's decision. Which was why she still wanted a second chance with him.
But, obviously, it was not to be.
Lois Lane saw to that.
The pretty brunette became Chloe's rival pretty quickly. They both wanted to get to the top and weren't going to let much stand in the way of getting there. It was pretty obvious that they were going to clash.
But what Chloe hadn't seen coming, was that Clark would start siding with Lois.
Oh, she knew rationally that it wasn't really his fault. Perry White had assigned Lois and Clark as partners and Chloe with someone else, so Clark started spending a lot more time with Lois. And soon began to fall for her.
Chloe had had a good cry over that one.
It was just so predictable. Clark always did have a thing for people with the initials L.L. Lana Lang, Lex Luthor, if what Chloe had always suspected was true, and now Lois Lane.
Chloe sometimes wondered if changing her name might be the only way to get Clark's attention. But she wasn't that desperate. Or at least she didn't want to believe that she was.
Still, there was nothing she could do.
Clark drifted further away from her. As he had once stopped spending time with her in favour Lana and Lex had once become his world, now he did the same with Lois and Jimmy Olson.
Chloe tried to hang on. Tried to ignore the pain that she felt and concentrated on living her dream.
But it was hard, particularly as it became obvious that Perry had decided that Clark and Lois were the ones who were going straight to the top. Especially given the connection that Lois seemed to have with Superman, since she was the only one he'd give interviews to.
If there was any story that Chloe would have killed for it was that. An exclusive with Superman.
But, obviously, it was not to be. There was nothing that Chloe do about any of it.
So, eventually, she left and went back to Smallville and began running the Ledger.
She buried herself in the town that she had once tried so desperately to escape and she willed herself to be happy, to forget her unhappiness.
She realized that she had always known Clark was meant for better things than Smallville had to offer, she had just that that she was too. But obviously not.
She tried to be happy. Tried not to resent losing him again.
But the truth was it hurt almost as much as watching him start dating Lana only a month or so after he and Chloe had called it quits.
Still, she decided that he was part of another life and that she was better of without him.
She wasn't sure that she really felt like that, but she wanted to. It made things a little less painful.
For a while, she convinced herself it worked. Life went on. She became content with the Ledger. Maybe it wasn't what she had dreamed of, but it was she had. She knew that she should stop chasing after a dream that was obviously never meant to come true. She just had to get adjusted to spending the rest of her life in Smallville.
But, that idea didn't always work.
Like when she learnt of Clark's wedding.
Clark was marrying Lois Lane.
Martha was beaming when she told Chloe the news.
Chloe had smiled and offered her congratulations, but happiness was the last thing she felt as she listened to how great life for Clark.
He had a successful career, was starting to gain a lot of attention in the field, was with a woman whom he loved , and was apparently very happy.
Chloe wondered why.
Why she was stuck in Smallville while Clark had the life she had always dreamed of. It didn't seem fair.
It honestly seemed as if she were left standing still while Clark had hopped on the train that was always meant for her.
The End