A Box of Chocolates

When the phone rang through the fourth time, Clark was worried that his luck, which granted had been terrible lately, had finally had run out.

"Come on, please be there. Please…"

"Please what now?" An amused voice answered on the other line.

Oh thank god or whoever was in charge of looking after aliens. Recovering quickly, he said, "Mr. White is that you?"

"Yes, although some days I wish it weren't especially when the midlevel cubicle on the 38th floor just seems a bit more cramped than usual. Who's this?"

"Um…It's me, Clark Kent, maybe you don't remember me from Smallville---"

"Clark Kent," Perry repeated, sounding pleased. "Of course I remember you. Hanging on for dear life to your legs over a gorge isn't exactly something I'd be bound to forget. Besides, it's almost like I owe you my first 12 hour chip."

"Huh?" He'd been up way too late for cryptic comments, although something told him that even on a full night's sleep he wouldn't be able to keep up with Perry White.

"AA humor, Clark, ignore me." There was a rustling noise and the sound of clunking. Clark could almost imagine Perry putting his feet up on his desk. He was just casual enough to do it. "So not that I'm not glad to catch up on old death-defying times, but why are you calling me?"

Clark twirled the phone's extension cord around his fingers, taking pains to remind himself not to snap it like last time. "I have a favor I need to ask you for."

"If it's a job at the Planet, the only pull I have will land you in the mail room or as an intern grabbing coffees. Still working the bottom rung at the Planet beats the editor's desk at The Inquisitor any day."

"Uh no, it's not a favor for me, but thanks for the offer."

"Any time, Clark. I love to encourage talented journalists. As long as they don't get under the Tiffany lamps before I do." He laughed. "So what can I do for you?"

"My friend, Chloe Sullivan, you remember her, right?"

"The lady editor with more story ideas than ten seasons of X-Styles."

"Yeah, that's her. See, she actually works at the Planet now, down in the basement and stuff."

"I'm glad you told me that. Now is that all?"

"No, see I was calling about her."

"I can't get her a better job than she has now, but I'm flattered you still think I have that kind of pull."

"No," Clark's grip tightened on the cord and he thought he heard the plastic cracking. "She's sick and I need someone to talk to her editor and get her off of work for the next…um…week."

"So you called me? Was her father not available?" Perry sounded even more amused. Well at least Clark was making someone's morning.

"You're the only person I know at the Planet and she's really sick and I know she'd never stay home on her own if she could go to work. She's got a Daily Planet addiction."

"Well, a run down to the basement might be nice. They have much better donuts than we do, but this illness wouldn't have anything to do with the Luthors, would it?"

Clark blanched. Maybe Perry had become a psychic during his brief foray into the wilds of Smallville. "What?"

"Ms. Sullivan is a good enough reporter to have had a few articles on the front page by now. Even if I hadn't remembered her from Smallville, I'd be aware of her now. Besides, her testimony made my expose on Lionel's trial a page one exclusive. Speaking of the maned menace, he visited Ms. Sullivan about two months ago and it was quite the argument."

"How do you know that?"

"There's only one worse group of gossipers in Metropolis than the Planet staff and they're the staff at that rag whose name I shall not speak. The King of Metropolis visiting and having a meltdown with a cub reporter makes news all over the building." He sighed and over the line, Clark could hear his chair swivel. "Besides there was that whole incident with the attempted shooting last month. What exactly has she gotten herself into this time?"

Clark stopped and chewed nervously on his bottom lip while he tried to come up with a cover story for 33.1. "I…it's complicated but yeah, she's managed to get herself into some trouble again. There was a bad night last night and I don't want her out of my sight for a while."

"Protectiveness of our fine lady editor. Admirable trait." He paused for a few seconds and continued. "I'll let Bernstein know. He owes me a few favors and I have some incriminating bachelor party photos of him I can extort for even more time off for her if she needs it."

"Gee, Mr. White, I really appreciate it. We both do."

"No problem. You're both good kids, although Chloe seems to accrue death threats the way the rest of us rack up points on our licenses. Clark, you'll tell her to pace herself from now on. No one needs two mortal enemies by the time they're twenty."

"Two?"

"Maybe one and a half. I've never been sure how independent Lex is of his father, but I'd be willing to bet my next cruller that he's really the one behind this latest installment of Sullivan-Luthor cat-and-mouse game."

"Uh…"

"It's alright. You don't have to confirm or deny anything. Just take care of Chloe. When I finally replace Kahn, I want a good reporter working under me and she could be one of the best."

"I'll tell her you said that. It'll make her feel better. Um, bye."

"'Um, bye.' Have a little conviction Clark. I'll see you both sooner than later. TTFN."

The phone clicked and the dial tone sounded in for a while in Clark's ears. He was a bit taken aback. He'd never really thought of Perry White as a Tigger fan, although to be fair, Perry had always been a bit eclectic. He hung up the phone and walked to the bottom of the stairwell in the main hallway. His mother was already half way down them with a tray of mostly eaten chicken soup and a full glass of orange juice clutched in her hands.

"Well," she said, stopping in the middle of the steps and holding her arms out, "Are you going to help your mom or not?" He nodded and sped to her and set the tray back on the kitchen counter long before his mother even blinked. She smiled in approval, "Thank you, sweetie." Then she frowned. "Why do you have the orange juice still?"

"I was going to bring it back up to her. She might still be thirsty or something."

"I don't think you need a pretext to visit her. You just saved her life."

"Mom…I…she just didn't really want to talk after everything that happened."

His mother walked down a few more steps until she was on the second one from the floor, putting her at eye level with him. "It's mostly just the shock. She'll want to see you now. I'm sure of it."

He looked down at the floor. "Mom, it's not just that…you know that it's all my fault."

"I think that you're remembering last night wrong. It was Lex who built the secret lab and Lex who abducted Chloe. You saved her life."

"And she wouldn't even be on Lex's radar if it weren't for her status as a meteor mutant and there wouldn't even be meteors if I'd never come here."

"And I'd like to meet the three year old from any planet who can prevent an apocalypse and a meteor shower." She pushed his bangs out of his eyes and let her hand rest on the side of his cheek. "She knows you, sweetie, and she knows that none of this is your fault. Now go upstairs and keep her company. I think she's had her fill of Mama Kent time."

He nodded and blurred up to his bedroom, pausing outside for a second, still nervous. Perking up his ears, he could hear her sniffling on the other side of the room, occasionally a few sobs escaped her throat and it made Clark want to run over to the mansion and strangle Lex for what he'd done. Or possibly scorch him.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and eased his way across the threshold. "Chlo?"

Chloe quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at him. Her face was a mess, her nose blotchy from crying and her eyes red and bloodshot, but she was still Chloe and she'd propped herself up on his headboard and was staring back at him with the same amazing self-possession she'd always had. "Hey. I guess you could hear all that."

"From the couch last night I could hear everything. I'm glad my mom stayed with you. It sounded like you had a lot of nightmares."

"Isn't it more like post-traumatic stress if you were actually there?"

He nodded. "Maybe."

She swiped at her eyes again. "Look I really don't want to take up your bed any longer than I have to. The Talon isn't so bad and Lois should be back from visiting the general in a few days."

Clark eased over to the bed and sat down at the foot of it. "And Lex owns The Talon and it will be the first place he'll look for you. Besides, if I let Lois sleep in my bed for six months, I'd be more than happy for you to take it."

"Thanks for the offer but here is the second place he's going to look for me here." She grumped.

"It's a lot safer than The Talon. He's not taking you again, period. I don't care if I have to tear down the mansion, Luthorcorp, and every 33.1 installation myself. He's not getting you. I've already called Ollie, and he and the guys are coming back from Malta or wherever tonight."

"So that's who was on the phone."

"No, that was Perry White. He's explaining to your editor right now that you're sick and won't be in for the next week."

"You called Perry White?" Chloe practically shrieked. She was turning red, which was interesting, seeing the pink blush spreading out between the freckles on her cheeks.

He shrugged. "He was the only guy I knew at the Planet and it's not like you could go into work like this. Besides…" he trailed off.

She nodded, looking down at her comforter and pulling on a few loose threads. "My ability…I can't control it yet."

"Being out in public might not be the best idea right now," he agreed. "I mean, I don't think it will take more than a week for you to get the hang of it and even if it does, Perry says your editor owes him."

Chloe smiled a little at that. "I still can't believe you're friends with The Perry White."

"It's more impressive now that he doesn't see triple of me."

She laughed. "Being sober does help with the writing, I'm sure." She pulled more on the thread.

He reached over and took her hand, rubbing the back of it gently with thumb. "So how are you really?"

She hiccupped as one tear worked its way down her right cheek. "How do you think I am? I just had Lex drill his way into my stomach, I can't go home because he owns the freaking building I live in, and the rest of my life is completely fucked up because I have this power. God, sometimes I wish the stupid meteor showers had never happened."

He pulled his hand back so quickly that Chloe yelped with surprise. "I know. I'm really sorry, Chloe."

She looked up at him and shook her head. "That's not what I meant. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"No. You're right. I'm glad I'm here. I love my mom and y…I mean, I love hanging out with you, and I couldn't imagine growing up anywhere else."

"Especially not on a giant icicle."

"You just can't enjoy the beauty of the North Pole."

"Yes, that's it. I've never fully embraced all the joy of slowly freezing to death."

He laughed a little and reached back for her hand, relieved when she gave it back to him. "I still wish I could take back all the bad stuff that came with me and the meteors though---Lana's parents, 33.1, you. Even Lex was scarred by the shower. He probably wouldn't be quite as obsessed with meteor mutants if he wasn't one himself."

"You'd think that would make him less likely to lock them…us up in cages."

"Luthors have a funny definition of compassion. Still, I'm sorry I did this to you."

She rolled her eyes and slapped him on his shoulder. "You know that guilt complex of yours is getting tedious. You're guilty for leaving me at Spring Formal and for terrible fashion sense and let me tell you your wardrobe of nothing but flannel is an unforgivable offense."

"I own something else beside flannel."

"I think you own one button down for Thanksgiving and nice occasions. That doesn't count. So to review: sartorial tragedies, totally your fault. Meteor showers: not your fault. You know I'd trade normalcy for you any day of the week."

"You sound like my mom."

"She's a smart lady but I don't know exactly how to take that. I sometimes feel like your mom, considering how much time I spend pulling you out of mopes and making sure you do the heroic thing."

"You are not my mom."

"Uh-huh. Who helped you out with the newest power?"

"You. Still, I don't French kiss my mother in the basement of the Planet."

"Good times." She said, sighing. "You know I'm going to have to break up with Jimmy."

He blinked. "But you guys just got back together."

"And what am I going to tell him?"

"What do you mean?"

"I saw how well things worked out between you and Lana and Lois and Oliver. That whole Natty Bumpo-Lone Ranger bit only sounds good in theory. In practice, this whole hero riding off into the sunset thing pretty much blows."

He blinked twice. Following Chloe always required every ounce of his superior perception. "Huh?"

"I have this weird ability. It's not like he won't notice it eventually, not if he spends enough time with me and you've seen Jimmy. He's the living embodiment of devotion."

Clark shrugged. "Not everyone is as stupid as Oliver or as scared as me. You could always try telling him. He might even understand."

"First of all, the you not telling Lana might have actually been a good thing. Now that she's close to the King of Evil Medical Experiments, having her know that you're an alien would be a disaster."

"And if I had told her, she probably wouldn't have run off to Lex in the first place."

"Hey!" Chloe snapped, raising up her chin. "Isn't this my pity party?"

"You brought up Lana."

"I was doing you a favor. You can't have a conversation without mentioning her name every five minutes. I thought I'd mention her first and let you get your fix."

He flinched and looked back at her. "I guess I have been a little preoccupied with her lately."

"If by 'lately' you mean since first grade, then yeah. It's okay. I've adjusted to your obsession. I just don't like you thinking of yourself as a coward because your probably the bravest person I've ever met. But judging by Lana's latest passion for photography and the general stalker vibe she's giving off, maybe she's not the most stable person around."

"Well, I think I might have broken her a little."

"I don't think that's it, even with her parents. There are just things you don't do and stalking your 'friend' and rifling through their private space is one of those things. I mean, snooping through a locked file drawer or some internet records is one thing, but stealing chisels is kind of another."

He shrugged. Surprisingly, he really didn't want to talk about Lana right now. This was all about Chloe and about trying to help her piece her life back together, not about making him feel better, even if she had adopted that as her full-time project. "Still, Oliver and my romantic mistakes aside, not every person with abilities ends up alone."

Chloe frowned. "You know, technically Oliver is just Olympic quality archery. He's not exactly super."

"And yet he runs the Justice Bros."

Chloe giggled. "Are you serious?"

"No. That's what Bart and I call it when we e-mail each other. I think he's going crazy from living in close quarters with A.C." She laughed some more, her rich peals of laughter making him grin. Right then it was the best sound in the whole world.

"Still, about the Jimmy thing. I don't think he'd get it. I mean, he's only been exposed to the Smallville weirdness twice and his big solution was for me to move the Hell out of Dodge. Even if he did get it, I couldn't drag him into all of this. He already snooped after Lex and the Egyptians, which pissed Lex off enough to get him fired by the way. If he knew about 33.1 or Kryptonite or any of that, he'd just put himself in danger trying to expose it."

"Truth and justice." He murmured. "No wonder you love the guy so much. He's almost as obsessed as you are with getting the truth out about Lex."

Her smile dimmed, becoming wistful. "He's going to make a good photojournalist one day just not with me."

He squeezed her hand a little tighter than he usually would have. With Chloe's ability manifesting he wouldn't have to be as careful around her as he was with everyone else. It was nice. Too bad it came at such a high price. "You could try the lying route."

"Yeah, I can barely cover for you without problems. Now that I'm upgrading from sidekick to crime-fighting partner I don't think that I'll be able to keep it from Jimmy."

He arched an eyebrow at her. "Partner?"

"Oh like I don't go with you on half the rescue missions you try. I'm just thinking that now I can do more than hack through firewalls in a single bound." Her grin was widening a little. "I have to admit, that part of having a power isn't going to suck. Being on the sidelines can be so boring."

"But now you won't have any use for your trunk full of cool toys."

"There's always a use for a flash bang grenade even if you're partner in heroing is the Man of Steel."

"True. I can't fry retinas yet."

"That's the spirit." She said, patting the side of the bed next to her.

"Yes, that is the side of the bed." Clark deadpanned.

"It's also the universal signal for come on and sit next to me." He paused for a second, biting his lip and she rolled her eyes. "Come on. I'm getting tired leaning over to grab your hand. Besides, I think I'm getting a crimp in my neck from looking up at you. Why couldn't a few extra inches be my super power?"

He crawled over, getting tangled for a second in the comforter and Chloe's bathrobe before he reached the left side of the bed. Leaning back, he crossed his arms over his chest, painfully aware of how close Chloe was to him. She might have just said she was breaking up with Jimmy, but that could still be the lack of sleep and the shock talking. Jimmy was a decent guy and Clark didn't want to get in trouble for lying in bed with his girlfriend.

Of course, Chloe being Chloe was going to have everything the way she wanted it. Lying back down, she rolled over and leaned into his chest. "Come on, lift that right arm. My shoulders feel naked here."

"Chlo, I dunno about this."

"Clark, please. Your mom was holding me tighter than this last night." She looked up at him, her eyes shiny with unshed tears. "Please, it makes me feel safe like this. It makes me almost believe that Lex can't get me."

"Lex is not going to get you." Clark growled.

Chloe smirked up at him. "Your eyes just went reddish."

"They did not."

"Did too and I only thought that heat vision acted up when you were aroused. Is there something about Lex you're not sharing with the rest of the class?"

That did it. Chloe needed a lot more sleep. "No. There's nothing at all between us except for my deep desire to crush his skull. You know, I think I could be talked out of my strong sense of morality just this once."

"As tempting and slightly creepy as that offer is, I'd rather have Lex remain in one piece because one day soon his name is going to be splashed across the front page of the Planet for crimes against humanity Lionel could only dream of."

"And you'll have the by-line."

"Naturally. We're going to get him from all fronts: taking 33.1 out from under him and ruining his reputation."

"That's my girl," he said, planting a kiss on the top of her head.

"Now you're all touchy-feely."

"Well," he said, giving her shoulders a squeeze, "you said it was okay."

She reached up and pulled his arm tighter around her shoulders. "Oh, it definitely is."

"How much sleep did you get last night?"

"Maybe forty-five minutes. I tried to get more but every time I closed my eyes, I saw myself strapped to that table and I just couldn't deal."

"I'm sorry."

"Stop saying that." Chloe snapped. "There's nothing you could have done. I got grabbed on my way home from the Planet. It's not like you've ever needed to chaperone me at work before."

He snorted. "I wouldn't try chaperoning you now, especially now since you could actually take me."

"Right. I've got one power. You went to Vegas and hit the jackpot with your collection, but that's a good self-preservation instinct. I don't need secret service."

"You might now."

"I might, but the Planet is a pretty public place. Even if Lex wanted to try something, he's not going to risk exposure to the biggest paper in the country. He's curious but cautious. Besides, there are a lot of meteor freaks out there who are a lot more powerful and who don't have personal protection or such a high profile. He'll be busy rounding them up for a while."

"I don't think I like that term very much anymore."

"'Meteor freak?'"

He nodded. "It's kind of derogatory."

"Oh my god. You're going to go P.C. Nazi on me. I bet you're one of those people who says 'cross-legged' instead of 'Indian style' and everything."

"Well, it just seems kind of mean. I never liked the term much to begin with and after Alicia died, I liked it a Hell of a lot less."

She nodded. "You're right. Of course it doesn't matter what you call me, I'm still going to have a freaky power when I wake up tomorrow morning."

"Still, you shouldn't think of yourself as a freak. How about just going with Kryptonite-infected?"

"Thank you, Intergalactic Traveler. Do you ever come up with terms that aren't like twelve syllables long?"

"Sorry we can't all be as pithy as 'zoners,' but I think it'll work fine."

"If you say so. It still doesn't change things." Chloe added, her tone bitter.

He didn't know what to say to that, not really. Instead, he held her and stroked her hair for a long time, letting her relax in his embrace. He understood only some of what she was going through. It was like mourning, except you got to mourn yourself or more accurately the bland, Madison Avenue prescribed lifestyle you would have led if you weren't so damn different. He'd gone through it when he'd found out he wasn't human and it had sucked, but he'd always at least been inhumanly strong. He'd never had a memory of being normal, aside from his few brushes with it over the years, but he'd been born different. Andrea said that the worst part of her mutation was remembering what it was like before everything changed. He'd be willing to bet the farm's next mortgage payment that she was right.

Even now, remembering the summer he'd been human hurt worse than he could articulate, and even then he'd known deep down that it couldn't last, that Jor-El would make him go back and achieve his destiny, it still hurt.

But Chloe…poor Chloe hadn't known anything was ever going to be different until her power just up and manifested itself three days ago.

Suddenly, Clark became aware of a change in her heartbeat. It was racing at a frantic pace and she was twisting in his grasp, whimpering a little. Realizing that she must have fallen asleep, he sat up and shook her as hard as he dared, trying to get her to wake up. "Chloe! Chloe, come on."

She broke out of his grasp and sat straight up, gasping for breath. Blinking a few times, she reached over with her arms and pulled up her shirt, revealing the smooth expanse of her stomach underneath. It was still marred by a few scars from yesterday's procedure, but it would heal. "Thank God. I thought I was back there."

He wrapped both arms around her and kissed her on the forehead, deciding that Jimmy Olsen really didn't matter anymore. Anything that would make Chloe feel better counted, and, to be honest, it made him feel better too. He wanted to be reassured that she was still here, that he hadn't screwed up in his mission to save her yesterday. They stayed like that for a while, him hugging her until her heart stopped speeding along.

Finally, when she'd calmed down a little, he layed them both back down on the bed, still wrapped up together. She was breathing in deep, even breaths, her efforts to remain clam clearly evident.

"It helps sometimes if you distract yourself. I used to recount every good memory I had associated with the items in this room."

"I don't live here," Chloe sniffed.

"You practically do." He said, continuing. "Like on the desk is the picture of you, me, and Pete at the annual Corn Festival where you won the Corn Queen contest."

"You entered me as a joke."

"Pete entered you as a joke, but I'd never seen your dad so happy as when they put the corn silk crown on you."

"You should have seen him when I got back from Prom. He made me wear the crown all weekend. He was so excited for me."

"See, that's good memory number one." He sat up a little, hating to separate himself from Chloe even for a second, and then he pointed to book on his desk. "And that's the book on astronomy that you actually got the author to sign."

"If that's not love, I don't what is. I had to drive all the way to Metropolis and sit through a two hour talk on black holes to get that guy to sign his book. Do you know how incredibly bored I was?"

"And it was the best birthday present I got junior year."

"That's not a happy memory, that's a 'Chloe was bored enough to dig her way to China with just the yogurt spoon in her purse' memory."

"Oh how can you not like outer space?"

"Do you even understand the levels of irony in that statement? Besides, most of astronomy is just math. Yuck. I'll keep current events, thank you very much and…wait." Chloe added, looking up at him. "You said 'used to.' What happened to you?"

Of course nothing ever got by Chloe. "I…well there was this time in senior year where Lionel tricked me into being a medical experiment."

"He tricked you?"

"Well it was at Summerholt and I was trying to get Lex to stop his memory recovery experiments and instead Lionel sold me out to Dr. Garner."

"Jesus."

"Yeah, the superfun part that I really enjoyed was the tub full of liquefied Kryptonite. Imagine having your skin burned off at the same time your muscles are being boiled by your own blood."

"Jesus."

"You said that already."

"And I thought that a few needles to the stomach were bad. I'm sorry."

"It was a while ago." But he still thought of it. His nightmares had a series of rotations: breaking up with Lana, accidentally killing Lana in the middle of you know, having Lex expose him to the world, having his mom or Chloe killed and/or tortured because they knew all about him, having his mother marry Lionel, and, of course, the perennial favorite of being a lab rat. It's just that the lab rat thing had actually happened the one time.

"But you still dream about it."

"Maybe a little."

"You are the worst liar, Clark."

"Okay a lot. Hey," he said, brightening, "At least you have that skilled liar thing going for you when you start in on your secret identity phase." He sighed, his expression becoming serious again, and rested his chin on her head. "I've always dreamt about being experimented on ever since I can remember. It's not like I was a stupid little kid. Even at three you can figure out that being caught lifting the family car is not a good thing. The memory game is a trick my mom came up with when I was five. I stopped sleeping for about a week because of the nightmares and she was afraid I'd never go back to sleep."

"So a week solid or were there microsleeps?"

"Solid and before you ask, Woodward, I don't know how long I could go without sleep because that really is not something I'd like to test out. I like my seven hours, thank you."

"And waking up at five with the crow of the roosters, oh joy." She shook her head. "At least I've learned a new game. It might help. I'll have to move some of my own good memory stuff in here with yours, though, but thank you."

"No problem."

She sighed. "God, what the Hell am I going to do?"

"Well I was hoping that we could both actually get some sleep and then I think my mom raided the Blockbuster. She's been on a kick of treating bad things like colds and emerging powers with DVDs and chicken soup."

"I know. Your mom should just skip the senator thing and become a full time chef. I think there are people who would give the pink slip to their cars to her in exchange for a bowl of that stuff."

"So, are you ready for the DVD-a-thon already?"

"In a second. It's just that this is nice, but it's not going to make any of the other stuff go away."

"You mean the Kryptonite ability."

"Yeah. It's just…I'm different now and it's permanent. I mean there were times when I was sort of jealous of you because who wouldn't want to be able to run as fast as you do or set stuff on fire just by thinking about it."

"I didn't know you were a pyromaniac."

"I'm not but that's pretty cool."

"You don't seem that enthusiastic about the x-ray vision."

"Fire pretty." She replied simply. "But that old cliché has come back to bite me in the ass because now I can do something seriously dangerous and it's not cool. It's just---"

"Scary."

"Yeah. What if I hurt someone?"

"That's why we're going to practice. I'm pretty much invulnerable so we'll just start with you, me, and a field. If you're that worried about furry woodland creatures, we can always go to the Fortress but you hate wearing the parka so much."

"The back forty is fine." She replied. "How can you just train yourself to do something like this on command?" She said, gesturing vaguely to herself as if he'd get her power confused with his own.

"Well first it starts out as an accident."

"Like blowing a barn door seven miles."

"Or setting fire to the projection screen at school during sex ed. Stupid Kryptonian biology. There is no way that setting one's date on fire is evolutionarily advantageous. Just no freaking way."

She shrugged. "You are fire proof." She bit her lip. "Oh, here's one: hearing everything in school."

"Hey you weren't even there for that one."

"And yet my phone conversation----which was totally wrong and I'm still sorry for that----got repeated over half of Lowell County."

"And then sometimes you accidentally X-ray the girls' locker room."

This time she did slap him and it almost hurt and that was so beyond weird. "You did not. Was I there?"

"I don't know. Did you and Lana share gym period freshman year?"

"No." She rolled her eyes. "Of course it was when Lana was there."

"It was a total accident. I swear!"

"Convenient accident." She snorted. "Okay, so I guess you can get the hang of this kind of thing, but what if I can't adjust?"

"You can."

"You don't know that."

"When has Chloe Sullivan ever failed at anything? Besides," he added, playing his trump card, "You have to get the hang of it and go back to the DP. Perry's already lining up his dream team for when he runs the bullpen and he asked for you."

"Seriously?"

"Deadly serious. He's impressed by you, so you're going to need to go back to the Planet without destroying the building, you know?"

"Not funny." She frowned. "Seriously, what about when you couldn't get the hang of something."

"Well except for some property damage to The Talon, that's never really happened."

"Really?" She asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"Okay, well I might still break my bed slats on a regular basis."

"What you do here alone at night is your business, unless you haven't changed the sheets recently in which case I am going to kill you and now I think I might be able to do it."

He blushed a bright crimson. "No, that's not what I meant. See…I, um, well I sort of float."

She blinked. "How does one sort of float?"

"You see I do it in my sleep so I can't control it."

"And you never told me." She sounded disappointed.

"There's not much to tell. I can't do it voluntarily so it's not like I can even prove that I can do it. It's like a non-ability."

"So is it like the heat vision?"

"I am not answering that question."

"Well if we don't know what triggers it, then how are we supposed to replicate it?"

"We?"

"It'll be this week's project: I'll harness my new power and you'll actually learn to fly."

"Float." He corrected.

"Oh it will be flying by the time we're done. We can celebrate by you taking me to Dublin."

"Dublin?"

"Were you expecting something dewy and excessively girly like Paris? Sorry, Clark, wrong girl. I'm a Sullivan-Lane girl and we celebrate with a healthy round of Guinness. You can even join in, considering you can't even get drunk."

"What if you can't anymore either because of like a Kryptonite-influenced metabolism?"

She drew a hand to her chest in mock horror. "Then it will be a fate worse than death." Laughing, she pulled herself out of Clark's embrace and started to stand up. "I've had enough lying down for a while. I'd like to practice if you're up to it. If Ollie and company are coming I'd like to be ready to go into 33.1 as soon as possible." She smirked. "I cannot wait to see the guys' faces when they get a load of me. There is far too little diversity in the Boys' Club."

"Hey! Alien!"

"Male Intergalactic Traveler. Guy archer, guy speed demon, guy cyborg, half-guy/half-fish. See the trend? Besides, if Bart thought I was Chloelicious before…"

"He's never going to leave you alone now. There aren't enough super-powered girls to go around. The whole Justice Team will be all over you. We already know your Oliver's type---brash reporter."

"I am not just going to work my way through the 'Justice Bros'" She made air quotes on that last part and laughed. "I have my standards."

"Well I was just suggesting since you seemed so bummed with having to dump Jimmy."

"I'm protecting Jimmy. This…it's all too much for him and I don't want Lex to just outright kill him the next time he gets in the way. It still doesn't mean I'm on the prowl."

"It doesn't?" Clark asked, finally standing up from his bed.

"Nope."

"Does it mean that you might have someone else in mind?" He asked, taking a step closer to her and leaning down a little.

She stood up on her toes to meet him half way and closed her eyes. "I just might."

He leaned all the way down and gave her a kiss. It was sweet and gentle with the barest hint of tongue. There was time for all that seven-minutes-in-the-closet frantic groping later. He just wanted to be patient with her now, to let her know that she was loved and cared for. Besides, even now that she was "special," he still had a hard time being entirely relaxed around girls, too much time spent being conditioned to be careful.

They pulled back and the grin on her face was so wide he thought her face would split in half right there. "That was nice."

He grinned back at her goofily. "Yeah, it was. Gets better." He blurred over to his dresser and returned, standing before her with a box of chocolates held out in his right hand. She hit him on the shoulder and this time it did hurt. He rubbed his arm, surprised, and just a little bit scared of pissing Chloe off. "Hey! What was that for?"

She yanked the box of chocolates out of his hands and held them up for him to get a good look at. "Are you serious?"

"What's wrong?"

"First of all Valentine's Day was two weeks ago. Second of all, this box is dented and I think these are Shelby's teeth marks in the corner. What kind of lame ass gift is this?"

"First, I was going to give it to you the day after the party on actual Valentine's Day, but then Lois went crazy and I---"

"Turned into a man-whore."

Clark ground his teeth and reminded himself that he was supposed to be making Chloe feel better today. "Fine, turned into a man-whore."

"As long as you admit it. It's the first step to recovery," she added, batting her eyelashes sweetly up at him. "What's number two?"

"Shelby did really get to the box, but I stopped him before he managed to mangle any of the chocolates."

"That's good. So is this an 'I want you to be my girlfriend' kind of present or a 'Welcome to the League of superheroes' kind of present?"

"The first one." He added, shifing from foot to foot.

She frowned. "How about a 'Happy Belated Valentine's Day and I'm Glad Lex Didn't Kill You' gift?"

"Huh?"

"Neither of us is ready for the girlfriend-boyfriend thing considering that Lana has a magnetic pull on you and Jimmy doesn't even know we're broken up yet. Besides, I need to get a handle on the new me before I add any guy to the mix."

He nodded, agreeing with whatever Chloe wanted on principle, but really hating the compromise. "Fine, but we're still going to eat them, right?"

"'We?' They're my chocolates."

"But a few of them are strawberry creams and you hate those and I love them and we always split."

"You bought me a box of chocolates which you knew I'd share with you?"

"I was really hungry when I bought them. I could have gone with the only nut cluster box but the strawberry creams were calling to me."

"How romantic." She said, reaching up on tip-toe to give him a peck on the lips. "So, what do I get as my 'Welcome to the League of superheroes' gift? Is there a decoder ring? Perhaps a nifty leather outfit?"

"No and no, although in your case, a skin tight outfit might actually be a good thing." He said smirking.

"A world of no. If I wore leather, then no one would ever get any work done back in our super secret headquarters because you'd all be ogling me and beating your chests in manly displays of pigheadedness. Well maybe not Victor, he seems to have common sense."

"I have common sense."

"Yeah and whatever you have that approximates testosterone nullifies it. I've lost count of all the pissing contests you and Lex have had over Lana."

"So a leather outfit is out?" He pouted.

"Oh yeah."

He walked over to the threshold and opened the door wide, waiting patiently for her to step out first. He was a gentleman after all. "So what about spandex."

"Double no."

"A whip?"

"I am going to eat all the strawberry creams just to spite you now."

"Great," he added, moaning dramatically and wrapping and arm around her shoulder. "I was wrong all along. My greatest nemesis was never Lex. It was you."

"Yeah, Chloe Sullivan, heartbreaker and denier of strawberry cream chocolates and the only force on Earth keeping Clark Kent in line."

"You have no idea how right you are." He said, leaning down to kiss her one more time. Right before he stole the box of chocolates out of her grasp and ran (human speed) down the stairs.