Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Warner Bros., Inc. and DC comics. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

What you never knew

Summary: One-shot. Years after the main charaters leave Smallville.

Sighing heavily, I stood up, moving over to the glass balcony doors. The pounding of the rain as it beats down on my small balcony is overly loud. With one hand, I close the door, muffing the sound of the rain. Standing there, I look out at the city. Taking note that below me, people rush for cover.

'I use to love the rain. The fresh smell, the cleansing way it would beat down on us while I stood somewhere in your yard. I would twirl about as you laugh at my antics. Your mother would always shout for us to come in before we could catch pneumonia. But by the time we came in both of us would be soaked to the bone. The air would smell so fresh for days after a good rain. You once said that nothing smells as sweet as the air after a good rain, and I would always agree with you.'

'There's no freshness here. When it rains, there is a putrid smell that lingers in the air. Here the rain just beats down; everything always looks dirtier. The chances of someone in this city catching pneumonia from standing in the rain are t about as great as someone winning the lottery without buying a ticket.'

'I use to hate the sunshine. The way it would always be in my eyes, whether it was shining so brightly or reflecting off of surfaces. You would laugh because I wouldn't go anywhere without my sunglasses. My temper would flare up at you, only to subside when you would smile sheepishly at me.'

'There's almost no sunshine here. I have no need of sunglasses. When it finally breaks throw the clouds, I strive to spend as much time in it, knowing that it will not last long. It never does, here. I never thought that I would consider sunshine to be a precious gift, but it is.'

'I use to love the crisp blue skies and wasting time watching the clouds dance by. I would lay down on the roof of my house with a bag of popcorn and a soda, sometimes my father or my best friend would join me. It's funny, you never did. It was one of my simplest pleasures.'

'There are no blue skies here, just never ending gray clouds. I don't have a roof here, just a balcony with a great view of the city. I'm too busy to sit around doing nothing but watching clouds. I lost both my father and my best friend. My best friend was lost when he started to date your crush, while my father was murdered.'

'My curiosity was once one of the few things you loved about me. The way I would focus all of my energy on something. You use to take delight in my discoveries. You were often surprised when I was able to answer many of your rhetorical questions with scientific facts.'

'Now I have the rhetorical questions. There are no scientific facts that can answer my questions. Only you can answer some of them, but all I get is silence. It was my curiosity about you that drove a wedge between us. What you never knew was that I already had figured it out. I just wanted you to be honest with me. Maybe I shouldn't have pushed, maybe you should have opened up. What you never knew was that I would never do anything to hurt you. It's too late now; too much has happened. I often wonder is it the same focused curiosity that drove you from me, that attracts you to her? I wonder, does she think that?'

'I use to love the color red but I hated the color pink. That use to drive you nuts. You just couldn't understand how someone could love one shade of a color but absolutely hate another shade. Every Monday, you would were the same plaid red shirt. I loved that shirt; it made you look sexy and the same time innocent. You never understood why I liked that shirt so much. You would smile that one hundred-watt smile, while you would offer to give me a ride home in your beat up old red truck. I always felt safe in the truck, with you.'

'The color red use to mean so much to me, now it just reminds me of things I would rather forget. How red the roses were, while they laid on the brown surface. The redness of my eye's that stung and hurt from crying. The paleness of my shin exaggerated the many jagged red cuts and deep purple bruises on my body. The red spots on the wall that your mother missed when she cleaned up the hallway. The metallic smell, that still lingers on my hands. You never understood why I constantly was washing my hands. Never understood how guilty I felt or how wounded I was when you rejected me.'

"The rain won't last forever," he whispers as his arms wrap themselves around my waist. Leaning back into his comforting embrace, I felt once again secure. "Alfred is downstairs, waiting for us." A feather light kiss, to my temple soothes my turbulent thoughts. "He says that the plane is ready."

'Clark, what you never knew was that your rejection of me was the best thing you could have done. It spurred me into action. That action led me to him. His is a man that I don't have to hide myself from. Trust me, I've tried, he found out all of my secrets. He accepts me just the way I am, the way you never did.'

"Take me home Bruce," whispers Chloe. "It's time that I put Selena Kyle to rest, and bring Chloe back."


Finished