Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Smallville or any of its characters or storylines, only this story is my original creation. Smallville and any related properties are owned by their respective owners.
Author's note: This is the sequel to my story "Ruminations and Consequences", so if you haven't, I suggest you read that fic first.
After it happened, after everything went to hell, Chloe Sullivan would admit to herself that she really should have seen it coming. Her and Clark's relationship had never been a very stable one, after all. But she had wanted that relationship to work so badly that she had turned a blind eye to a lot of factors that should have led her to one very simple conclusion: In practical terms, her and Clark's relationship didn't make any sense, and had actually seemed to cause both of them more problems than it solved.
The first set of problems that the relationship had caused them had to do with their friendships with Lana and Pete. Although Chloe and Clark had, at Chloe's insistence, been upfront about their relationship with Lana and told her what had happened the day after they got together, the raven haired girl still had some trouble adjusting to this relational shift. Lana didn't appear to hold a grudge against either member of the couple. Even so, it had taken several days after the announcement for her to become comfortable enough with the situation to start talking with Chloe again, and several weeks before the two roommates had started acting like friends again. And even to this day, Lana still barely talked to Clark, meaning she would talk to him when he got coffee at the Talon or during her, Chloe, Clark's and Pete's regular study sessions. And Lana had only started going to those again after her grades in math started to slip. There was a reason that everyone else in that group went to Clark for help with their math homework, after all. It was widely known that Clark was one of the best students in his grade, and math was one of his best subjects. Surprisingly, the relationship between Chloe and Pete had also become somewhat cool lately. And it wasn't just because she was still upset that Pete had never let her in on Clark's secret, or that she occasionally tried to trip the Ross boy up with her words and make him accidently spill said secret. No, the blond junior reporter was sure that there was more to it than that. All Chloe knew was, after she had told Pete that she and Clark had become an item, Pete had been giving her a lot more space than usual, had seemed much more tense in her presence, and the boy hadn't been smiling or laughing as often as he used to. But Chloe had no idea why that was, and every time she asked Pete about it, he would insist that nothing was wrong, and that he was really happy that his two best friends had finally gotten together.
But Pete and Lana were just the tip of the iceberg. The biggest problem with Clark and Chloe's relationship was the fact that, even though they had been dating for months, Clark was still keeping his secret from Chloe. This fact effected just about every other aspect of the relationship. For example, Clark would still disappear, with alarming frequency, without giving Chloe any explanation whatsoever, aside from a brief head nod or an "I have to go." When Chloe would ask about where he went, Clark would just reply something to the effect of "I don't want to lie to you, but I really can't talk about it."
Chloe had tried to take some comfort in the fact that at least Clark wasn't lying to her about where he was going anymore. But Chloe's reporter brain couldn't just let Clark's secret go, especially since, the closer she and Clark become, the more the blond teen started to realize just how weird Clark's life was. It had started out with little things. Like that one time, several weeks after she and Clark had started dating, that Chloe let her boyfriend get to second base with her in his loft. Everything had been great as first, and Chloe could tell that Clark was really enjoying himself, and then something strange happened. Just for a second, so quick that Chloe could almost believe she had imagined it, Clark's eyes had glowed. And then the farm boy had quickly shut his eyes, said something like "not now!" under his breath, and had yanked away his hands from his girlfriend's chest so quickly one would have thought that Chloe's breasts had been on fire. For the next several seconds after that, Clark had kept his eyes closed, took several deep breaths, and ignored his concerned girlfriend's questions about what was wrong as Chloe put her shirt back on. After Clark had calmed down, he had made no comment on what had happened, but had suggested that he and Chloe should go do something else. So the two of them had gone to a movie instead. Apart from the fact that Chloe had still wondered what had just happened (but now knew better than to ask again) and that Clark had still seemed a little nervous, they had enjoyed the rest of the evening. But Clark had never tried to do anything more than making out with his girlfriend after that. Although Chloe had not forced the issue, she had mentally added another item to her mental list of "Weird things about Clark Kent." This list, which was growing almost daily and included highlights such as the number of Clark's unexplained disappearances, his almost omni-present ability to be at the right place and time to save people's lives, the boy's obsession with the Kawatche caves, the symbols that had appeared on his family's barn, and of course, Clark's mysterious secret, which, Chloe now realized, was actually the Kent family secret.
Clark had told Chloe when their relationship begun that he could not tell her what his secret was because it was a family secret, but she had not realized just how much pressure the Kents had put on Clark to keep that secret, whatever it was, from everyone, including her. Therefore, during the first two weeks or so of her relationship with the farm boy, Chloe had tried to convince Clark, in various subtle and not-so subtle ways, that he should tell her what his secret was. And Clark had kept insisting that he really wanted to tell her, but couldn't. The reporter hadn't really realized what Clark meant until one night she dropped by the Kent farm to surprise Clark before their date that night. Chloe knew that, if she had not decided to pick Clark up early that night, instead of letting Clark pick her up in his truck 30 minutes later, she probably would never have heard the tail-end of a heated argument between Clark and his parents. Although the blonde teen had only been able to hear a little bit from her position outside of the Kent's front door, she got the gist of what the argument was about. Clark wanted to tell Chloe his secret, the Kents weren't sure it was a good idea and Jonathon thought he should wait a little longer before telling his secret to make sure she could be trusted. Clark had loudly yelled that he trusted his girlfriend and that she wouldn't tell anyone else his secret, even if she was a reporter. Martha had said that was probably true, but that Chloe might feel differently about Clark if she knew what his secret was (a suggestion which Chloe had, quite frankly, found insulting) and that she wasn't sure that it was fair to burden Chloe with the secret. Clark had been quite for almost a minute after that, before he had declared, in a frustrated tone that Chloe could only just make out: "I'm just tired of keeping secrets from my girlfriend!" And then, as Chloe had heard the sound of Clark's footsteps coming towards the door, she had dashed out to her car and waited for him there. When Clark walked out the front door, he was frowning, but as soon as he had seen Chloe was already there, he quickly put a big smile on his face (which Chloe noted he was eerily good at faking). After that day, Chloe stopped trying to pressure Clark into telling her his secret. However, the junior reporter had made a point to carefully study all of the actions and mannerisms of the entire Kent family from then on. So, of course, Chloe felt she could no longer trust Jonathon or Martha Kent as much as she used to.
To his credit, Clark had always done his best to smooth over all of the problems that his relationship with Chloe caused both of them. He tried to remain on at least civil terms with Lana and speak to her whenever he went to the Talon for coffee or during one their study sessions, he still made time with Pete, and most importantly (in Chloe's mind any way) he treated Chloe like a queen. The boy was always opening doors for her, getting her chair for her, trying to pick up the check when they went out for a meal, etc. Chloe, of course, tried to pretend she found Clark's chivalrous mannerisms annoying and archaic (she still considered herself a city girl, after all), but she secretly rather enjoyed it. For the first time since she had meet Clark, he was pursuing her, not the other way around. And he was looking at her, Chloe Sullivan, the way he used to look at Lana Lang. So Chloe had turned a blind eye to all of the problems in her relationship with Clark for over a month. But finally, after six weeks, Chloe had decided that perhaps the relationship was more trouble than it was worth, and she had decided to do what she usually did when she got scared about a Clark related matter. She resolved to pull away from Clark and end the relationship.
But then Martha Kent had gotten sick with some mysterious bug that had been found in the soil on the Kent family property. Really sick. So Chloe had decided to postpone breaking up with Clark until that situation was over. Then Clark had gotten sick too, so sick that he had become unconscious for several days. During that entire time, Chloe had been utterly terrified that Clark would die, and she had come to the Kent farm house every day before and after school to see how Clark was doing. On her final couch-side visit to see her boyfriend, just hours before he had woken up, she had talked to Clark, telling him how weird things were at school without him, telling him that she loved him and begging him to wake up. And Clark had said her name. Not Lana's name, or Kyla's, or anyone else's, just hers. Of course, Clark had recovered shortly after that event, and his mom made a miraculous recovery as well. Clark's illness had a more lasting impact on Chloe's psyche, however, as coming so close to losing Clark had made her realize just how much she needed him in her life, and that, perhaps, Clark needed her too. So, against her better judgment, Chloe had decided not to break up with Clark, even though she knew her relationship with him had a lot of problems.
Still, Chloe really should have seen it coming. But she was still floored by the experience on the day that Clark drastically changed her life once again. She never saw it coming when Clark left Smallville on the day of Lex's wedding.
Author's note: Well, that's just the prologue, but as I'm sure many of you can see, this story is going to be much more angsty and a little darker than Ruminations and Consequences, since it sort of my take on an AU version of the storyline's involving Clark's exile from Smallville at the end of season 2 and beginning of Season 3. Because of the events of my last story, however, things are going to go very differently this time….
Please review and tell me what you think of my story so far!