I disclaim. I own nothing.

I knew you loved me then- Taking Over Me, Evanescence

It had been something of an understanding between them that during the day it would be best if they kept away from each other. It was a solid plan. Didn't stop Chloe from picking up the phone every now and again just to see how he was doing. No more than it kept Davis from driving by Isis in hopes of catching a glimpse of her. It wasn't often that he stopped. And he knew better than to actually get out. Until now.

Sitting on the steps of the building across from her office he watched the steady stream of people flow in and out. Around three there seemed to be a lull. When he saw the last person walk out, he quickly pushed to his feet and made his way across the street. Although his work day was over, he knew hers was far from it, but he couldn't stay away. It wasn't anything other than a feeling, but he truly believed something was wrong. That Chloe was hurting and he was the only one who could help.

Stepping into her office he took a few moments to watch her as he flipped the lock at his back. Dark eyes taking in her every movement. The way her soft blonde hair brushed teasingly beneath her chin. The long graceful lines of her neck. The slightly plump bottom lip that hinted at her nervous habit of biting it. Her small fingers flying expertly over the keys of her laptop. He loved her hands, he loved the contradiction of them. The looked so fragile, so lovely. But they were strong, worked callused hands.

Quietly he came up behind her, kneeling down until his face appeared besides hers in the monitor.

"You're losing your touch."

Her eyes didn't even leave the screen as she spoke. Nonplussed, Davis reached out to brush a lock of hair behind her ear. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. I heard you the moment you stomped into the building."

He'd done no such thing, but didn't dare argue with her. Not when he was near her, touching her, without her pushing him away because of where they were. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Chloe answered shortly. "I'm working, so-"

"Hey," Cupping her face in his large hand, Davis drew her eyes to his. "I know you, remember. I know you." He whispered again when he saw she was going to argue. "You can tell me."

With a pained sigh, Chloe rested her brow against his. Her hands finally leaving the keyboard to rest at the back of his neck. "I'm scared, Davis."

Davis felt all the air back up in his lungs. He'd made a promise to himself, vowing that when things finally became too much for her, when the wrongness of what they were doing became clear, he'd let her go. She deserved better. She deserved a life free of the darkness that consumed him. But when faced with the possibility of losing her became a reality, he feared what he might do. "I understand." But the hand that found it's way to her hip tightened painfully. Another set of bruises for her to cover up.

Of course he did. Because if anyone would understand, it would be him. She knew he would listen, he wouldn't judge. It's why she spent the morning wishing for him and ignoring calls from her best friend, cousin, and fiance. But she refrained from calling him, from begging him to come hold her. How could she assure him that she could help him, when she could hardly control herself?

"Davis,"

He couldn't hear her say it. Couldn't bare to listen as she destroyed him. Knowing this was what was best for her, he said nothing. Davis knew he should have never come here, should have listened when she told him to stay away. But now he was here, wishing he could be anywhere else.

Chloe felt, even as she heard, the hitch in his breathing. Felt the growl from the chest that pressed against her own. Beneath her fingers, the muscles in his neck began to bunch and shift. "Davis?" He didn't allow her to pull back. But opening her eyes, she could see that his were clinched shut, his mouth and jaw tight. "Davis? What...?"

Chloe could feel the trembling in his body and knew what was happening. "Davis, please. Please, don't go. I need you." Her tears mingled with the sweat pouring down his face. Ignoring both she pressed her mouth to his.

Davis heard her as if from far away. Felt the pressure of her mouth, the wetness of her tears, and the tightening of the fingers at his neck. "Chloe." The single word burned his throat.

It wasn't his voice, not really. He was further away then she realized. But it was all the opening she needed. The moment his lips parted she was there. Her tongue slipped into his mouth to slide against his. His response was almost instantaneous.

Her taste exploded inside him. Coffee and chocolate and something that was so inherently Chloe he thought he could exist on it alone. His arms came up to wrap around her waist. He couldn't get close enough, couldn't hold her tight enough.

Chloe's arms locked around his neck. Breathing was becoming an issue, but it didn't-couldn't-matter at the moment. But even this wasn't enough. She needed more, needed the feel of his skin, the press of body. She needed him against, around, and inside her. She needed to feel real. She needed to feel safe. "Davis,"

It took all his willpower to pull away when she began to push his heavy jacket off his shoulders. The beast inside of him growled, the man couldn't allow this to go any further. "No,"

Shocked, feeling as though she'd been tossed carelessly out to sea, Chloe felt the tears burn at the back of her eyes. "What? Why?"

"Because you don't want this. I can't touch you knowing it would be the last time." He moved until his back was against the wall farthest from her, fighting the need to curl into a ball and cry. "You have every right to be afraid." He'd never hurt her, he knew that no form of who or what he was would ever do her any harm. But how could he continue to ask her to have that kind of blind faith in him? How could he ask her to continue to place her life in his hands. "I should have never brought you into this."

"Oh, Davis," Chloe was by his side in an instant. Framing his face in her hands she held his dark gaze with her own. "I wasn't trying to send you away." Not now. Not ever again.

"But, you're afraid of me."

Chloe shook her head in denial. "Not of you." Her hands fell away from his face, she would have pulled back when he grabbed her wrists to hold her close.

Davis saw the tears gathered in her eyes. "Then of what? What's wrong?"

It came out in staggering starts and stops. The fear that those she loved were in danger of being hurt. The need to protect the secrets she vowed to keep. She told him how she thought of going to the hospital, of doing whatever needed to be done. How, when she walked away, a man was dead and the knowing that she was the one responsible. "I killed him, Davis. I don't remember it, not really, but I know I did it. I know I killed him."

Knowing there was nothing he could say, nothing he could do to take this away from her, Davis remained quiet as he took her into his arms. Bringing her small body into his lap, where she curled into him and cried into his shirt.

"I don't know who I am any more." She practically wailed into his chest. "I don't know what I am."

Davis began to rock her gently in his arms. Cupping the back of her head in his hand, he pressed his mouth against her ear. "You're Chloe Sullivan. The single most loving and caring person I've ever met."

"I'm a murderer." Chloe argued through her tears.

"No." Davis bit out fiercely. "You're not Chloe. I promise you're not." She was an angel, his angel. And it hurt him to his soul that he couldn't fight this for her. That he couldn't take this from her. So Davis said nothing else as she cried. Simply rocked her and held her as she cried herself into an exhausted sleep.

How was it, Davis thought as he stared down at her tear stained face, that he found her? How was it that she was experiencing the same things as him? He told her once that he believed she was sent to him. Now he knew it to be true. She was sent to him. She belonged to him.

***

The sun had long given way to the quarter moon when Chloe's eyes slitted open. Her face was buried in the crook of Davis' neck, her body still curled on his lap. Recently she'd grown so use to waking in his arms, that she couldn't find comfort anywhere else. Clark's familiar hugs were foreign. Jimmy's loving cuddles offensive. She was marrying Jimmy. She killed for Clark. But when she wanted to feel safe, when she needed to feel loved, it was Davis she found herself clinging to.

Pulling away she took the time to study him, it was something she rarely had a chance to do. Most mornings he was awake and dressed before her. And though she knew she shouldn't, she couldn't help but to compare him to Clark and Jimmy. Where Clark was soft, Davis was sharp angles. He was dark where Jimmy was light. When Clark smiled, it lit his whole face with a boyish innocence. Jimmy's smile reflected his easy going nature. But Davis, she'd never known anyone to be sad even when they smiled the way he did. He wasn't as....large as Clark. But even he seemed to dwarf Jimmy. When she spoke, he didn't listen with half an ear the way Clark sometimes did. Or not at all the way Jimmy almost always did. He never looked at her with pity the way Clark once had. Or with suspicion the way Jimmy still did. He was the opposite of both of them, completely unlike either of them. And in such a short time had come to mean as much as only one of them ever had.

"You're staring."

Chloe smiled as she rested her brow against his chin. "Just taking a page out of your book."

It wasn't something Davis would apologize for. There was something so incredibly right about the way she looked asleep in his bed, that he couldn't help but sit watch her. Thanking whatever twist of fate that brought her into his life. "Well, can you blame me."

When Chloe looked up, Davis was gazing down at her with a soft smile curling his lips. Bringing her hand up, she used the tips of her fingers to trace the lines of his mouth, before cupping his cheek to bring his lips in close to hers. But before the kiss could deepen beyond anything more the a brushing of her lips against his, her cell phone sounded. With a sigh, Chloe glanced over her shoulder to where her cell sat besides her laptop.

"You want to get that."

Chloe's head resumed it's place on his shoulder. "I don't want to get up." If she thought that the issue was closed, she was wrong. In a move so gracefully easy, she'd have only thought Clark capable of it, Davis was on his feet and carrying her to her desk. Then in a move that she was embarrassed to say caused her heart to flutter, he cradled her in one arm as he used the other to reach for her cell. "Thanks. Hello? Jimmy, hey." She avoided his eyes as he lowered them onto the couch.

Davis tuned out the rest of the conversation. Just the mention of the man she was going to marry made him angry. There was a violent rumble inside him that she soothed by rubbing circles on his chest.

"I'm sorry I forgot to call. But you know how I can get when I'm working.....No, it's late and I'm tired, it's probably better if I just stay here....I know Jimmy, but I've just started here and I want to make sure Isis reaches it's full potential. This first year is crucial in that....I know....I know that too and I'm sorry...." Her eyes drifted up to meet Davis'. "This is important to me. I can't give up on it.....I know....Okay, I'll see you in the morning....No, I have stuff here....Yeah, me too. Bye."

Davis rested his head on the back of the couch, eyes closed so he wouldn't see what their secret was doing to her. "You don't have to stay with me. If you're tired I can drive you home."

"Davis," Chloe touched a hand to his cheek, to quiet his protest. "Must we really do this every night."

"Fine." Sitting forward a little, he started to remove his shirt.

"That wasn't code for 'take me now big boy'." Chloe teased.

"No," Davis couldn't help the heat that colored his cheeks. "You're going to need something to sleep in. I just thought-"

Chloe silenced him with a gentle kiss. "Thank you." Laying the shirt over her lap, she began to undo the buttons on her blouse. Excitement coursing down her spine at the heated look in his eyes. Trembled helplessly when he brought his hand up to run a finger along the swell of her breasts. And she grinned when his finger hooked into the front clasp of her bra to snap it open. "Thinking about taking me now, big boy."

Davis said nothing as he eased the straps of her bra off her shoulders then down her arms. Leaning forward, he pressed a gentle kiss to her pulse before pulling her into his arms. A contented sigh, almost like a purr, rumbled in his chest at the feel of her soft skin against his. "Thinking about keeping you forever."