Disclaimer: You guys know I don't own Smallville right? I'm a Chlarker, if I owned Smallville…is it really necessary for me to say the rest? You guys get it right?

Warning: This all kinds of AU. And the characters are all sorts of out of character; but I hope you enjoy this anyway.

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Chloe watches her best friend eat lunch and frowns. She's used to him being the only one at the table that actually eats the stuff Smallville High calls food. She's used to him just grinning at her when she scrunches up her face and tells him that she's not exactly sure the stuff has been approved by the FDA yet. She's used to him grabbing her milk off of her tray and guzzling it down without her permission. He's been doing all of that since she moved here from metropolis when she was ten years old.

What she's not used to however, is his attitude.

He's happy. Jolly. Merry.

And right after those thoughts, she has a major epiphany.

Clark Kent is Santa Clause.

She can't believe she didn't realize it before! How could she not have known? Granted, she hasn't always known that her friend is special; in fact, she just found out a few days ago. But she should have put two and two together the very second she saw, or didn't see Clark speed way, and she's disappointed in herself for that. She's not usually so slow on the uptake. That's Clark's thing.

"Hi you two," Lana Lang, Clarks new girlfriend says softly as she makes her way toward their table. She doesn't mean to talk softly; that's just how she does everything. Nicely, and softly.

Chloe widens her eyes and turns away angrily just as Lana bends forward a little, placing a very gentle kiss on Clark's lips. Chloe didn't see the kiss. Even though she's been kinda ignoring all the lovey dovey interaction between the two since they started dating yesterday, she didn't purposely miss this kiss. She just realized something; something that just pissed her the hell off. Clark's the reason she, a rational minded person, believed in Santa Clause until she was sixteen years old. Sixteen Years Old! How humiliating!

She's so gonna get him back for this.

Lana smiles a little at what she perceives to be Chloe's angry reaction to the kiss. Having a boyfriend who has a girl as his best friend is challenging. Especially because this best friend of his has the biggest crush on him; and it's not a secret either. Everyone knows how Chloe Sullivan feels about Clark Kent. Well, everyone that is except Clark Kent. But everyone also knows how Clark Kent feels about Lana Lang as well; and they feel sorry for Chloe.

Lana doesn't. She's slightly jealous of her; always has been. Even when she was dating Whitney, no, especially when she was dating Whitney, she was jealous of Chloe. It's not like she was lusting after Clark at that time. She knew he liked her, but she had Whitney. She loved Whitney. She and Clark were just friends; but after a while she started to notice just how much better Clark's and Chloe's friendship was. She started to notice how much time Chloe and Clark spent together, how comfortable they were around each other, how well they seemed to know each other; and that's when the first few twinges of jealousy came in.

She told herself that they were only so close because they'd known each other since the fifth grade; but that excuse didn't work. It only made it worse. This is Smallville. Everyone's known each other since kindergarten. She's known everyone since kindergarten. She's known Clark since kindergarten; but she didn't know him as well as Chloe seemed to. That bothered her.

She began to watch them a little closer from then on; and she couldn't help but to compare Chloe's "friendship" with Clark, to her relationship with Whitney.

It was closer, in a way even more intimate than hers and Whitney's; and as she watched the two friends interact with each other, she realized something.

She wanted what they had.

She wanted to be that close to someone. She wanted someone to treat her the way Clark treated Chloe.

Whitney treated her fine, he treated her like he loved her even; but Clark treated Chloe like he'd die for her. And if Clark was in love with her, Lana Lang, and not Chloe, Lana literally couldn't even begin to imagine how much better he'd treat her.

She'd started pulling away from Whitney then; not on purpose. She's a good girl, and she would never hurt Whitney that way; but at the same time she couldn't help what she was feeling. And she was definitely feeling something toward Clark.

Eventually, her relationship with Whitney died down. She didn't mean for it to happen. She's too nice of a girl to just flat out dump him for Clark. But she was happy that it did. Now she has Clark.

"Chloe? Where are you going?"

Lana frowns as she's pulled out of her reverie by her boyfriend's voice. She'd been so deep in thought that she didn't notice Chloe get up. If she had, she would have smiled about that too.

It's about time she left. Clark and Lana haven't been alone together since they started dating. Not once. Granted, they've only been officially dating for a day, but still, Chloe hasn't left Clark's side once yet, and frankly, it's annoying.

"I'm just…I have something to do," Chloe stammers out an answer. And even though Lana can tell that she's being less than honest, she doesn't particularly care that the other girl is probably about to do something that may get her into trouble.

Now's her chance to have some alone time with Clark.

"Like what?" Clark asks before standing to his feet.

"Shopping."

"Shopping for what?" Clark asks, practically cutting her off and letting everyone within hearing distance know that he doesn't believe a word Chloe Sullivan is saying.

Chloe blinks at Clark, wondering what on earth his problem is. She glances past him, toward Lana, in hopes of getting some kind of clue from the other girl; but Chloe just ends up smiling instead when she catches the look on Lana's face. The girl's jealous.

She can start with her payback now. Sure, Lana will definitely be the biggest casualty in all of this, but she really doesn't care. The way Chloe sees it, she was here first; and if Lana can't take the heat…

Chloe takes a few steps toward Clark and puts on the most innocent smile she can conjure up. "Why milk and cookies of course," she answers sweetly.

"Milk and cookies?" Clark repeats with narrowed eyes. She can do better than that.

"Yeah, for Santa Clause," Chloe winks.

"Santa doesn't come for two more weeks!" Clark hisses back.

"I'm getting a head start," Chloe pouts prettily.

"You're lying," Clark rebuttals immediately. He's starting to get angry. The only time Chloe lies to him is when she's about to do something dangerous. If she would just tell him where she's really going he can protect her if, no, when she gets herself into trouble.

"I'm not lying Clark."

"Yes you are, no one buys Santa's cookies this early. They'll be stale before Christmas Eve."

"You don't think Santa will like my cookies?" Chloe asks softly.

Clark wishes he wasn't looking at her when she asked that. Her eyes have gotten big and round and wet; but no tears have fallen. She looks just as innocent and vulnerable as she did six years ago, when he explained to her that there was a Santa Clause.

He hadn't meant to. It was just that, she had just moved to Smallville, and she looked so sad and lonely all the time.

He talked to his parents about her; and maybe having a new girl in class may not have been news worth telling anywhere else, but there were rarely "new kids" in Smallville. He could count on one hand the amount of kids who moved in, or moved away since he'd arrived on earth.

He remembers his parents telling him to try to be her friend.

He told them he didn't really know how.

His mother told him to just talk to her, see what she likes; and go from there.

So he did. And boy oh boy did she let him have it when he asked her about herself! She talked about everything. Everything. She talked so much that when school ended he had to sit outside with her and wait for her dad to come and get her. He even missed his bus; but he couldn't just tell her to stop talking so that he could go home. That would've been rude. And he had a feeling that it would've made her sad. She hadn't looked sad since he started talking to her. Not once; she smiled…a lot. And subconsciously he realized it was a nice smile; but he was too young to think anything else about it. Girls were still a little bit icky. Not a lot; but just not non-icky enough to think about how nice their smiles were; or how it made the corners of their eyes crinkle up a little bit, or how it made their eyes look like there were a bunch of stars dancing about in there, or how it made him smile too. Nothing like that. That was high school stuff. He still had to get through middle school before he could have thoughts like that about a girl.

So he just sat there at school with her and listened to her talk, and watched her smile; but in the most innocent way a ten year old boy could.

Then she stopped talking; and then she frowned; and it made him frown. He wanted the smile back; but then she told him that her dad was running really late and that he doesn't have to sit there and listen to her blabber anymore. She told him that he could go home.

Clark blinked then. Her dad was really late? What time was it? They just sat down. Then he looked at his watch, and noticed that he was late getting home…hours late getting home. His parents were going to kill him; but…

He couldn't leave the girl with the semi-icky smile there at the school by herself. Well, she wasn't by herself. There were still teachers around; but what if her dad didn't come? What if all the teachers just left her there by herself? What if one of the teachers gave her a ride home but she was locked out of her house until her dad finally showed up?

He didn't just think those questions in his head. He asked her. But then her answer to the last question made him nervous. She told him she had a key. She had a key! He could run really, really, fast; and he didn't get hurt the way the other kids did; and he didn't get sick; but his parents wouldn't dare leave him in the house by himself. Something might happen to him.

She was just a little girl. She could easily get hurt if she was left at home all by herself! There was no way he was going to let her be home by herself.

"Come on," he commanded before standing to his feet.

"Where are we going?" she asked him suspiciously.

"To my"-

"Clark Kent!"

He froze then. That was his mother's voice; and he was in trouble. Big trouble. He should've been home a long time ago.

"Mom," he answered while quickly grabbing the new girl's hand and pulling her to her feet beside him. He doubted that he'd get into as much trouble as she intended for him to get into with another child/witness standing beside him. "This is Chloe. The new girl I told you about. I was waiting with her until her dad got here but he never came."

"Oh."

He nearly smiled when his mother's face softened almost immediately as she caught sight of the other child. Then that softened face broke into a genuine smile as she took in the sight of the children's joined hands.

That's when their friendship really took off. His mother took Chloe home, to his house. She let the little girl use the phone to call her father. And that's when they learned her father was hurt. He'd had an accident on his job and he'd be in there for a couple of days.

Instead of asking Chloe if she had relatives she could visit, Clark told her she could stay at his house until her dad got better. He didn't ask his parents' permission, and he didn't see his mother raise her eyebrows at him because of it. He kept his eyes on his new friend, hoping she'd want to stay with him.

"Nah, it's okay. We're on Christmas break now. I don't wanna mess up your holiday. And Dad already called my Uncle Sam. He's in Metropolis. He was supposed to send someone to pick me up, but I guess he forgot," she shrugged as if uncles forgetting to pick up their nieces at school were a normal thing before continuing with, "thank you for letting me use your phone Mrs. K. I really"-

"Mom," Clark interrupted the rambling girl. There was no way he'd let the girl go off to Uncle Sam, the four star general. She'd told him all about her uncle when she was telling him everything there was to know about Chloe Ann Sullivan, that's right, she even told him her middle name; and he wasn't a bit impressed by her uncle. He was sure that he could give her a better Christmas than Sam Lane.

His mother gave him an amused look, and he knew that she already knew what he was asking, begging. She knew everything.

"Chloe, sweetie, why don't you leave your Uncle's number with me. I'll call him for you. Clark, why don't you get your friend a snack and the two of you can eat it in your bedroom."

It was Clark's turn to raise his eyebrows at her mother. He wasn't allowed to eat in his bedroom.

He hurried to the kitchen, dragging Chloe behind him as quickly as he could get her to move. He needed to hurry before his mother changed her mind.

It was a few minutes later that the Santa issue came up. They were sitting on his bed, enjoying a sandwich and a soda when he asked her what she asked Santa to get her for Christmas. He didn't particularly believe in Santa Clause, never had; but he knew that some kids in school did and it was rude to tell them otherwise. They usually started crying or yelling, sometimes they'd even get violent and throw things, so he just kept his mouth shut. Granted, the last time that happened was in the third grade; but still…saying anything against Santa was a taboo at Smallville Elementary School. There was always the chance you'd be overheard by a stray kindergartener or first grader. Little ones like that usually came with angry parents who did the yelling because nobody had the right to destroy their child's innocent belief in Santa Clause before they felt it was time.

"There's no such thing as Santa Clause," Chloe answered.

He furrowed his eyebrows at her. He knew that already; but the way she answered him, it was like she thought he was mentally challenged or something. It kind of embarrassed him a little.

"Seriously Clark, how can one man travel around the whole world and leave a gift for every boy and girl in just one night? It's impossible," she finished.

Clark worked his jaw a little. She'd offended him; ruffled Clark's feathers a bit.

If that was the only reason why Chloe didn't believe in Santa Clause then he had to do something about it. Because there was a person who could do what Santa's supposed to and he was sitting right there in front of her. He could do it. He could deliver presents to every boy and girl in one night. And he was real. It wasn't impossible.

He couldn't quite fathom why Chloe not believing in Santa Clause felt as though she didn't believe in him. He just knew that he wanted her to believe in him and his abilities. But he wasn't allowed to tell people about his powers. So, he had to make her believe in Santa Clause. That way, one day she'd believe in him.

He lied to her then. He told her that there were certain rules about Santa Clause that most people didn't know, that there was a trick to getting a present from him.

He told her that she's supposed to leave a note under her pillow, telling Santa exactly what she wanted and he'd come and get it at exactly 12am on the 24th of December.

She scrunched up her face and told him he was mixing his magical mythical holiday people together.

It took him a minute to figure out that she was talking about the tooth fairy.

He scowled back at her and told her that if she didn't want to know how to do it, he wasn't going to waste his time on her, that he'd just keep the secret to himself.

She straightened up then. She was still skeptical about what he was telling her but at the same time, he was the only one who talked to her at school, and he was nice enough to sit with her for two whole hours while she waited for her ride home. The least she could do was listen to what he had to say. And besides, her curiosity had been peaked despite herself.

Clark told Chloe Sullivan almost everything there was to know about Clark Kent that day; but under the guise of Santa Clause. He took away the North Pole and gave Santa Krypton; he took away the reindeer and gave Santa superspeed; he took away the naughty and nice book and gave Santa x-ray vision; he took away the round belly and gave Santa super strength. He let Santa keep the cookies and milk though. He liked cookies and milk.

Then he told her the most important part of it all, was that she couldn't tell anybody. Not even her father. It was a secret that nobody was supposed to ever know. Nobody. Not ever.

"Then why are you telling me?" had been her response; and before he could think about an answer he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Because I trust you."

She frowned at him then; and he knew what she was thinking. They'd just met. How could he trust her?

He was thinking the same thing. But instead of dwelling on it, he chose that moment to reinforce the importance of keeping Santa's secret.

When he was done, he could still tell she didn't believe him, but a week later at 12am on the 24th of December, he zipped over to Chloe's house; and he smiled when he got there.

She was wide awake; just sitting up in her bed. But he was too fast for him to see her, even with her eyes open. He got the letter, and left; leaving her a letter of his own. A letter he asked his mother to write for him because Chloe knew his handwriting.

At 12:01 am, he stood outside of her house looking into her bedroom. He could see her looking around herself wildly. Probably wondering where her letter went and how Santa managed to put his letter under her pillow without her seeing him do it.

Then he went home. He needed his mom's help again. Chloe's letter said she wanted a necklace. He was sure that's not what she really wanted. She wasn't a necklace type of girl; she was just testing the Santa thing out. She hadn't expected it to really work.

But it did. On Christmas morning, there was a present sitting on her dresser for her when she opened her eyes.

It was a necklace, just like she asked Santa for.

It took about two more Christmas's for her to believe in Santa Clause. She'd still been in denial after the necklace fluke; but the year she turned 12, she hid a camera in her bedroom, and she saw for herself that her present just appeared out of nowhere, and that the cookies and milk she set by her bedside table just disappeared at 12am Christmas morning. Finally, she had to give in and admit that Santa Clause was real.

And once she admitted that to Clark, they became the best of friends. They were close before; but now that Chloe believed in him, and wasn't creeped out about this strange man who could do all of these weird things, he felt he could totally relax around her.

One day, he'd tell her he was Santa Clause; and she wouldn't freak out any, or tell anybody. She'd still be his friend, and she'd still keep his secret. He was sure of it. She never told a soul about Santa Clause. He was certain she wouldn't tell a soul about him either.

Clark sighs deeply as he looks into the eyes of his best friend. She's still pouting because he insulted her cookies for Santa. The sad thing about it is that even though he knows she's faking it, she gets to him anyway. He hates to see her sad, and before he can stop himself he reaches a hand out, giving her arm a gentle squeeze before reassuring her that Santa will love her cookies; even if she bought them the day after Last Christmas.

She smiles back at him, her biggest brightest smile, and he wants to kick himself. She totally has him wrapped around her little finger.

"But just stay here with me," he continues. "If all you were really going to do was "buy milk and cookies" for Santa, then stay here; finish your lunch, finish school, and I'll take you to buy the milk and cookies."

Lana watches the exchange between the two of them with a confused and slightly angry raise of her eyebrow. She can't help but to feel left out. Everyone knows there's no such thing as Santa Clause; so it's more than obvious that they're speaking some kind of code. They're close enough for "codes". She wishes she was close enough to Clark for codes; but they just started dating she reassures herself. She'll have plenty of time to get there with Clark.

"Clark," Chloe sighs exasperatedly. "You already ate my food, and you already drank my milk. I still have fifteen minutes left on my lunch; and I have my own car. Why do I need to stay here with you?"

"Exactly," Clark answers satisfactorily. She's just made his point for him and he's going to take great pleasure in letting her know so. "How can you possibly got to the store and come back within fifteen minutes?"

"Who said anything about fifteen minutes?"

"You…you just said"-

"Yeah, lunch ends in fifteen," she glances down at her watch before correcting herself. "Fourteen minutes, but I have a free period after lunch. That gives me enough time to buy Santa's milk and cookies." And with that she turns on her heels and tries to leave.

"Wait," Clark grabs her arm in a sort of panic. "You have to pack up so that you can come to my house anyway. Why don't we just go shopping when I pick you up tonight?"

Chloe sighs again. "I have my own car Clark," she repeats. "I can drive myself to the farm."

"Clark, why is Chloe going to be at your house?" Lana cuts in sweetly; not liking the fact that Clark is giving his friend more attention than his girlfriend. She's also not liking the fact that she feels the need to remind Clark of her presence.

Chloe looks at Lana; and again she nearly smiles at the girl's apparent jealousy before answering her.

"My dad's out of town on assignment"-

"Wait, he already left?" Clark butts in.

"Yeah."

"When?"

"Saturday."

"Tomorrow's Saturday."

"I know"-

"Then how could"-

"Think about it."

"Last Saturday?"

"Bingo."

"Chloe!"

"Clark!"

"Why didn't you"-

"I'm sixteen, Clark!"

"What's that supposed"-

"I'm not a little girl anymore"-

"We'll just see about that."

"What's that supposed"-

"We'll just see what Mom"-

"Wait!"

"Wait what?"

"Don't tell."

"Why not?"

"Please don't."

"Then sit back down."

"Evil."

"Nope, concerned friend."

"Sure you are. Can't sit though."

"Why?"

"Lunch is over."

"But"-

"Gotta go."

"But"-

"Don't worry, I'm not leaving the school, and I'll even let you pick me up tonight," she winks at him before kissing him impulsively and hurrying away.

Clark stares after warily. She's lying. She's still up to something. He knows it.

"Um, Clark?"

Clark turns around, giving Lana his full attention for the first time today.

"You're picking up Chloe tonight?"

"Yeah, she's gonna be staying with me for a little while," Clark answers honestly while gathering his and Lana's tray up and dumping them. Then he walks back over to Lana, tke her hand in his and begins to walk her to her next class.

Lana blinks at him a few times. He doesn't seem to think there's anything wrong with what he just said. He doesn't seem to notice that he just said Chloe will be staying with "me" as opposed to Chloe will be staying with "us."

"Oh," she says instead of asking him about it. They just started dating. She doesn't want to come across as pushy and jealous so soon. Guys don't like that. "So, how long is Chloe going to stay at your place?"

"Just until her dad gets back," Clark shrugs with a frown. He still can't get over the fact that Chloe's been home alone for a week. She should have told him that her father left earlier than he originally planned. His parents wouldn't have minded taking her in the day he left. Sure, they hadn't been expecting her to come over until tonight; but she's family. They would've let her come over a month early if she needed too.

"Clark!" Lana nearly yells with a frown. It's her third time calling him.

"Yes?" he blinks down at her. His eyebrows are still furrowed. He's still worried about his friend.

"I said, where is her dad?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I never ask. He travels a lot. "

"And every time he travel's, Chloe stays at your parents' house doesn't she?" Lana finishes almost sadly. No wonder the two were so close. They practically live together.

"Yeah, Chloe stays with me," Clark answers her.

Lana can feel her jaw twitch. He said it again. He said Chloe stays with "me" again. It bothers her. Bad.

"So what does her father do?" Lana asks, trying to ignore the irritation building up inside of her. She just realized something. She doesn't know much about Chloe, never cared to find out. She was more interested in Clark. But it's more than obvious that Chloe means a lot to her boyfriend; and she needs to get along with the girl; become her friend. Keep her boyfriend close and her enemy closer so to speak.

"He's an assassin."

Lana just stares at Clark. She asked him what Chloe's father does for a living, and his answer was the wrong one. He didn't hear her right.

"No, Clark, where does Chloe's father work?"

"Wherever assassins work I guess," he shrugged out as a response.

Lana opens and closes her mouth a few times before she can speak.

"Are you serious? Is Chloe's father really a, a…"

"Hitman? I don't know. I doubt it. That was the answer Chloe gave me when we first met. I'm pretty sure she was just being sarcastic. I never got the chance to ask her about it," Clark finishes.

"You've been best friends for six years Clark. You've had plenty of chances to ask her about it," Lana frowns.

Clark smiles at Lana; but she doesn't like it. It's not a loving or an awestruck smile; it's a patronizing smile.

"I have had plenty of time to ask her, Lana; but Chloe is friend. Not her dad. I don't really care about where he works. And if she wanted me to know where her father worked, she would've told me by now. Trust me. She tells me everything."

"Not everything. She hasn't told you where her dad really works," Lana rebuttals immediately.

"No," Clark chuckles before sliding his arm around her shoulder and hugging her closer to his side. "But it's not like I've told her everything about myself either."

"But you'll tell me right?" Lana beams up at him. She's so glad to know that Clark hasn't shared everything with Chloe, that soon she'll know something about Clark that she doesn't.

"Sure Lana," Clark replies with a hesitant smile. "I'll tell you someday."

'Maybe,' he adds to himself.

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A/N: This is only a two chapter story guys. I'll be posting the next chapter no later than Wednesday December 29th.