A/N: So obviously I lied. The fic is uber late and it's gonna be three chapters long instead of two. Sorry; but I got called into work on my day off twice! My check is going to be pretty because of all the extra hours and overtime stuff; but I'm just so tired. Anyway, I'm supposed to be off Saturday, for real, hopefully, I'll have the time to finish.
And have you noticed how long this is? It was going to be longer than that but I had to cut it. It was going to be like 8,000 words and you know that my chapters are usually about 2,000. So you're stuck with only 5,000 words. Hope you enjoy them!
Luckylily, L.D, Jeremy Shane, and Lois Joanne Lane : Thanks!
Emma217: Lol. Something like that.
Madlenita: No, you're not annoying. By the new one are you talking about a new story, or "Bring Her To Me?"
Angie B: Lol. Thanks; I'm sure she'll be able to think of something good.
Shonnia22: I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Lol. Of course Lana was there to witness it;)
Dizzy78: Lol.I know, I just figured Clark constantly saying "with me" would irritate the hell out of Lana.
Nakala: Lol. I'm 100percent sure you're not the only one who can't believe they never happened. Thanks for the review;)
Dispatcher652: Lol. Yeah, I don't know where that came from; but when I thought it up. It made me laugh. I'm glad you liked it as well.
A sky: Lol. Thank you. Lana is quite the character isn't she?
The fallen sky: Lol. I know you talk a lot; but you usually don't have this much to say! I'm glad you're enjoying this; but I can't help but feel you're just extra excited because some M rated stuff is gonna happen;)
I am really glad you like this though. I thought it was funny too. You wanna know how this story came about? My brother's girlfriend just turned eighteen; and she believed in Santa all the way until the age of 14. 14! In real life! I was so confused. I was like, "how the hell did you believe in him for that long!"
But she said it was because she lived in a small town, like only one McDonalds small, and she didn't have any friends. Just the girl that lived up the road. Poor baby.
Chlark-it'll happen 1 day: sorry hun. I got called into work on my day off. Twice. Damn holidays.
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Lana watches Chloe eat her pizza with a big frown on her face. She's eating it backwards; crust first; but that's not why Lana's frowning. That's just something that's slightly irritating her. The thing that's bothering her right now is a major, major problem.
The Kents are about to leave. The adult Kents are about to leave. And they're going to be gone for a couple of days. And they aren't going take their son with them. They're going to leave him here…with Chloe. Her boyfriend is going to be alone with another girl…at night; on Christmas Eve, and no one seems to think it's strange.
"Chloe, you make sure you do as Clark says okay honey?" Martha says a little distractedly as she writes down every emergency contact number she can think of and tapes them onto the fridge.
The taxi's already here, the bags are already in the trunk, and nearly two weeks' worth of food has already been cooked, prepared, and put away in the fridge.
They're ready to go; physically speaking. Mentally however, she's not ready at all.
Maybe she should call her father up and cancel. He'd invited them to Paris for the holidays a few weeks ago; but with Chloe's father out of town on "assignment" again; there was no way they'd all be able to make it. It would be too costly.
Clark found out; well, he more like eaves dropped, and he begged his parents to go. He told them they deserved it, and that he'd take care of the farm.
Martha knew what that was all about. Chloe is his friend, and Clark didn't think that his parents should miss out on a chance to go to Paris because of her.
What Clark didn't…doesn't understand is that she wouldn't regret giving up Paris for Chloe. Not even a little. Chloe is practically family; practically a daughter.
She's always wanted a daughter, but she'd been told that she can't have children; but then her son found her when he was just three years old and she adopted him. Seven years later, he brought her another child. A little girl. And no, Martha doesn't have any papers on Chloe Sullivan; but the child is practically hers.
They had a small argument about Paris; she and Clark, and she almost won by telling him that she couldn't spend Christmas without him. It's a family holiday. But then he pointed out to her that her dad was family too; and that she hadn't seen him in nearly ten years.
What could she say to that? Her son, her sixteen year old son, was right.
"And besides, I can go to Paris anytime I want. See?" he added after disappearing for a few seconds and coming back with a flower for her, a flower that she assumed came from Paris.
She swatted him on the bottom then for being a show off; and agreed to go to Paris soon afterward. Now she can't remember why she ever agreed to go in the first place.
She sighs deeply as she checks the list once again. Clark's insisted they'll be fine; but this will be her first time leaving the children home alone for more than just a couple hours and she's worried. Granted, they're not really "children" anymore; but Clark still forgets to put the toilet seat down, and Chloe still has pretty bad nightmares.
Sweet Jesus! They're practically babies still. She can't leave babies home alone. She just can't.
'They'll be fine,' she reassures herself.
It doesn't work.
'It's just a couple of days,' she tries again.
It still doesn't work.
"Chloe? Did you hear what Martha just said?" Jonathan Kent asks when Chloe doesn't respond to his wife.
Chloe nearly rolls her eyes. She heard her just fine; she just doesn't think it's fair.
"Chloe?" Jonathan asks again, but with a bite of warning in his voice.
"Yes sir, I heard; but I just don't see why I have to listen to Clark," Chloe responds immediately so that she doesn't get into trouble.
The Kents are not afraid to ground her at all; Jonathan Kent especially. There was this one time in sixth grade when she failed P.E. because she refused to "dress out;" and the day she got her report card Mr. Kent asked her to see it. She didn't think anything of it, she just figured he was showing a polite interest in hers because Clark had just showed him his; but when Jonathan Kent saw that big ole' F on there, he freaked out on her. He told her that it was unacceptable; and then he grounded her. Grounded her! She had to muck out stalls, and wake up before the sun, and everything for nearly a month! And what did her father do about it? Nothing. Nothing at all. Hell, he was barely there.
And not only that, but Mr. Kent came to her school. To her school! He could do that because her father put the Kents on her emergency contact list so that they could pick her up whenever she needed them to. But it also meant that they could visit anytime they wanted as well. And Jonathan Kent made it his personal mission to eat lunch with Chloe Sullivan every day until she got her next progress report.
Needless to say, there was nothing less than a B on the young girl's report cards from then on. She'd learned her lesson.
"Because someone has to be in charge while the cats are away," Jonathan winks at the girl before tapping her nose affectionately.
"But he's so bossy Pop!" Chloe rolls her eyes exasperatedly. "And he's so uptight, and he's a control freak, and he never lets me do anything! He's just a big, huge, party pooper!"
"Maybe that's a good thing," Jonathan chuckles.
He doesn't mind her calling him Pop. She's been doing it for a while now; probably because she kept accidentally calling him "Dad," and it frustrated her a bit. Her father was nowhere around and Jonathan sort of took his place; going to parent teacher conferences, signing her permission slips for field trips, not letting her date seniors who had cars, etc.
After all of that, "Mr. Kent" just sounded way too formal.
"How is that a good thing?" Chloe scowls back at Jonathan.
"Well, at least I know you won't be able to throw any wild parties while we're away, or have boys over," Jonathan replies jokingly; but he's dead serious.
"I wasn't going to throw any wild parties!" Chloe rebuttals immediately.
Jonathan just raises an eyebrow at her. She purposely forgot to say that she wasn't going to invite any boys over either, and he didn't miss that the way Chloe hoped he would. She shouldn't be surprised. The Kents rarely missed anything.
"Fine," Chloe relents. "Clark's in charge."
"That's my girl," Jonathan says as he ruffles the Chloe's hair.
She in turn just pouts back at him and flattens her hair.
Lana nearly glares at the pair of them. Chloe just called Clark's father Pop! Isn't that a dad word? And that whole little…thing that just happened was so father-daughterly that she had to clench her jaw tightly to keep from making any audible sounds of disapproval. But then she gets to thinking. The Kents treating Chloe like she's their daughter isn't such a bad thing right? It could explain why her boyfriend's so close to the girl. They're made out to be brother and sister. She shouldn't be jealous of Clark's "sister" right?
But it doesn't help. Clark and Chloe are not brother and sister; and Chloe's more than aware of it. Even if none of the Kents are.
"Well we can't put you in charge dear," Martha butts in. "Do you remember the last time"-
"Ma! We have company," Chloe interrupts while jerking her head in Lana's direction, her face going crimson.
She'd started calling Martha "Ma" shortly after she started calling Jonathan "Pop". She had to. It was kinda awkward, calling him Pop, but still calling his wife Mrs. Kent.
Martha told Chloe to just call her Martha, but Chloe felt that was still a little unfair so started calling Martha Ma, short for Martha. It worked so well because Ma is a "Mom" word the way "Pop" is a dad word.
Clark snickers at his friend's embarrassment. No, it's not funny that she'd called the police because she heard a little noise in the kitchen while he was in the shower. But it is funny how embarrassed she gets over it still.
They were thirteen years old; old enough to be left alone for a few hours, but Chloe panicked a little when she was by herself; which was weird to him because her father left her alone all the time.
Anyway, by the time the police got to the farm, everything was alright. Well, his dad had a black eye and a few bruises elsewhere because Chloe had thoroughly kicked his butt; but other than that, everything was fine.
She didn't mean to do it of course. After Chloe hung up with the police, she snuck down into the kitchen and surprised the "intruder;" only to find that the intruder was just a Jonathan Kent who had forgotten his wallet.
It's an inside joke now; one that Chloe will never be able to live down. One that Lana won't ever get to find out about because Chloe made Clark think of the most important people in his life and then swear on theirs that he wouldn't tell a soul.
So Clark won't ever tell anyone. He swore on his parents' lives. He swore on Chloe's life.
"Well, at least we won't have to fear for their lives Martha," Jonathan says while wrapping an arm around his wife's waist reassuringly and aiming a wink Chloe's way.
Chloe groans and buries her face in her hands. That's what he always says when the "incident" is brought up. She's glad he's able to joke about it; really she is, but she just feels awful every time it comes up.
When she finally realized it was Mr. Kent she was attacking instead of a burglar, she'd been mortified. She was so sure that they'd be mad at her; that they wouldn't want her around anymore; and that she'd have to leave and never come back.
She was right about one thing. Mr. Kent was livid, absolutely pissed off, and he yelled at her for hours when the police left; but not for the reason she thought he would.
He was mad at her because she tried to take on a burglar by herself. He yelled at her for being irresponsible, reckless, and for not thinking about what could've happened to her if the burglar had a knife, or god forbid, a gun.
Then he yelled at Clark for letting her out of his sight. Clark told his father that he was in the shower; and his father yelled back at him, telling him that it was no excuse; that he should've taken Chloe into the shower with him.
It should've been funny; but no one laughed. They knew what he meant. He just meant that Clark should've kept an even better eye on her. So now, Clark takes Chloe into the shower with him all the time; metaphorically speaking of course. He hardly ever lets her out of his sight.
"Aren't you two gonna miss your plane," Chloe says, not trying at all to hide the fact that she's trying to get the embarrassing parents out of the house.
"Well, I guess we have everything," Martha says a little uncertainly, still wary about leaving babies in the house.
"We've got everything. They'll be fine honey," Jonathan says reassuringly.
Martha smiles back at her husband before leaning in and giving him a kiss. He's always been able to read her pretty well.
Martha smiles when she turns back to the…her children for a goodbye hug and Chloe's making gagging noises; just as she always does when she and her husband display a little public affection. The girl has certainly made herself comfortable; settling herself into their lives easily.
"Okay," Martha says as brightly as she can. "Hugs, kisses, goodbyes."
Lana watches as both Chloe and Clark stand immediately.
Chloe walks up to Mr. Kent first, giving him a hug, a kiss on the cheek, and telling him goodbye while Clark is simultaneously doing the same to his mother. Then they switch; and Chloe's now giving Mrs. Kent a hug.
Lana watches the older woman squeeze her eyes shut really tight as she embraces Chloe; but it doesn't help. A tear still falls.
"Be a good girl Punky," she whispers, making Chloe want to smile, roll her eyes, and cry at the same time.
Mrs. Kent gave her that nickname when she was ten years old, and it sort of fit. In a way, she was, is, a lot like Punky Brewster. She may not officially be an orphan, but her mother walked out on her when she was a little girl, and her dad's never around.
The Kents are like her foster parents.
"I can't make any promises Ma," Chloe says honestly, but she makes her voice sound like she's joking. The truth is, she's actually planning on being a little naughty tonight.
Martha laughs before pulling out of her embrace with the girl and tugging on her chin a little before kissing her forehead.
"Then be safe," she tells Chloe.
Chloe blushes deeply.
"Ma! You're embarrassing me," she exclaims before once again tilting her head in Lana's direction. She's not really. Really, Chloe knows that Martha was making another referral to the burglar incident; but Chloe couldn't help but to think back to sex Ed, and safe sex lessons, and that god-awful "talk" she had with Pop when he found out that she had a crush on Eric Summers, a senior with a car; and that her little crush wasn't one sided.
"Sorry," Martha chuckles, but she's not. Not at all.
"Lana, sweetie, it was nice meeting you honey. You can stay as long as you like. Make yourself at home," she says as she walks over to her son's new girlfriend and shakes her hand politely.
Jonathan walks up to Lana, and gives her a handshake as well, telling her that it was nice to meet her too. Lana smiles back sweetly, letting her eyes glitter with pure innocence; but she seethes to herself on the inside. Chloe got a hug, and a kiss, and a tear, and all she got was a handshake. A handshake! Maybe it's petty of her; but she could understand if it was really her first time meeting the Kents. It's not. She's known them since she was three years old! But they just gave her a handshake and told her it's nice to meet her?
The Kents walk past Chloe and Clark, giving them one more kiss or pat on the back as they rush out the door to a honking cab driver.
Once the door is shut, and the adults have truly and unbelievably left potentially hormonal teenagers alone in the house, Chloe plops down into her chair.
Clark followers her; but pauses to frown at her as he watches her eat her pizza backwards.
She's not eating it backwards according to everyone else. She's eating it backwards according to her; biting into the part that has the most cheese and mushrooms. Her favorite part. The best part.
This is bad.
This is serious.
So serious that he nearly calls his parents to tell them; but he can't. They'll come back; and they'll miss their trip to Paris. He can't allow them to miss Paris.
He'll just have to handle this on his own.
"Chloe, it's okay," he says gently as he takes the pizza out of her hand.
"I'm fine," she glares at him and snatches her pizza back.
"Chloe, just talk to me," Clark pleads.
Lana nearly frowns at Clark, but she keeps it inside.
She doesn't understand why he thinks there's anything wrong with Chloe. She looks fine. She looks better than fine actually.
"Clark," Lana cuts in gently. "Chloe looks fine."
"She's not. She's eating her pizza backwards," Clark answers simply without looking Lana's way.
It confuses Lana even more. Chloe's not eating her pizza backwards anymore. Now, she's eating it the right way. And what does it matter how she eats her pizza anyway?
"I don't understand," Lana says softly.
Her confused and almost sad tone draws Clark's attention and he looks her way. He keeps forgetting that Chloe eating her pizza the way that everyone else eats theirs isn't weird to everyone; just his family. They're used to it.
"Chloe saves the best for last in nearly everything she does. Her least favorite part of the pizza is the crust. She always eats it first," Clark explains.
Chloe scowls at him and drops her pizza. She's not hungry anymore.
"Chloe, it's just for a couple days. They'll be back before you know it," Clark offers before gently tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
She smacks his hand away and stands up.
"I said I'm fine Clark!" she nearly yells before walking past him.
Automatically his hand shoots out and grabs a hold of her arm, stopping her in her tracks.
She responds by looking down at his hand then looking back up at him with a raised eyebrow. Her expression clearly says "let me go."
He sighs deeply before obliging, but steps in front of her, blocking her just a little as he asks her where she's going.
"None of your business."
It's his turn to raise an eyebrow, smugly reminding her without words that the parents left him in charge.
She catches on immediately.
"I'm going to take a shower," she says as she pushes past him none too gently. She was going to wait until later, but he's pissed her off. She's going to start with that payback now, while Lana's still here. Again, Lana has nothing to do with this; but she doesn't care. Shouldn't she be with her Aunt Nell anyway? It's nearly eight o'clock, on Christmas Eve. Lana should be with family.
Clark watches her go; but he's a little disappointed in himself. He should've handled that a little better. He's pretty sad about his parents not being with him for the holidays, and he knows that Chloe loves his parents too, and that she's upset about them leaving as well. Chloe's had some pretty messed up Holidays in her life; but his parents have given her a few normal ones, good ones. It's understandable that she'd be sad about this one being ruined by their lack of presence.
"Clark?" Lana says after her boyfriend's stared after a Chloe that's not even there anymore for far too long.
He turns to her immediately, like he's forgotten that she's here. It makes her mad, but she smiles instead.
"Where do you want me to put my empty plate?" she asks.
"In the trash," Clark answers simply.
It's a paper plate.
Lana knew that, and she nearly scowls at her boyfriend. Whitney would've known that was just her way of trying to get his attention. Come to think of it, she wouldn't be competing with Chloe Sullivan for Whitney's attention either. She's prettier than Chloe.
"Clark," she tries again. "I think "A Christmas Carol" is on T.V. Do you want to watch it with me?"
Clark glances upstairs quickly before giving Lana his full attention.
"Sure," he responds with a smile before taking Lana's hand and leading her into the living room.
She sits down on the couch as he turns on the television; and once he sits down beside her, she snuggles up to his side.
Upstairs, Chloe smiles to herself as she turns on the water. It's time to start getting Clark back for making her believe in Santa.
'Now, what was one of those powers "Santa" supposedly possesses?' she thinks to herself mockingly as she already knows the answer. It's superhearing; the ability to hear even the softest noises from far away.
Her smile widens as she trails her fingers down her body, touching every part of herself that will make her feel better and wetter than the hot water cascading down her body.
Lana smiles a little when Clark stiffens by her side. She's just run her fingertips up and down his arm gently. Whitney liked it when she did that. He liked a lot of ways she touched him; but then, he always ended up calling her a tease because she'd never let him get past first base…no matter how worked up he'd gotten due to all of the gentle petting.
Clark can feel his mouth starting to go dry. Lana's started to touch his arm in a very nice way. She's so sweet, and gentle, and nice; and he really likes her because of that.
He wishes he could get a pillow or something to stick in his lap. His girlfriend's a good girl. He doesn't want her to get any bad ideas about him. He's a good guy too. He's not one of those guys who're just after "one thing" and he wants her to know it.
But there's a contradicting problem in his jeans and he doesn't want her to get the wrong idea. He doesn't want her to think that she can't touch him without his…without needing a pillow placed into his lap. This has got nothing to do with her; honest. It's Chloe. She upstairs, in the shower, and she's being naughty.
He tries to ignore her; to not make such a big deal out of it. Everybody does it; he's done it before. He's just never really heard someone else do it before. He's never heard Chloe do it before.
But he hears her now. Every sigh, every moan, every gasp, every whimper…They're all so loud in his ears, and he just knows his ears have gone red; that his whole face has gone red.
He rubs at his eyes as they begin to itch terribly. It's a new sensation. Not much really bothers him on a physical level.
"Clark, are you OK," Lana asks beside him.
He jumps guiltily and looks down at her smiling face.
"Yeah," he answers. "There was just something in my eye, but it's gone now," he smiles out of relief when the itching stops; but it's short lived because he hears Chloe cry out, and it's his name that she screams.
Lana smiles at Clark's frown and hesitation. Chloe just called him, but he hasn't moved; he's still staring at her.
"Clark," she says while keeping all smugness out of her voice and feigning concern. "Chloe called you."
"What?" Clark asks, making Lana want to smile wider.
"Didn't you hear her?"
Oh, he heard her alright. He just didn't know that she was calling him, and not just screaming his name because he's who she was thinking of as she reached ecstasy.
Clark clears his throat, his face going even redder when Lana's smile grows a little. She probably thinks he's some kind of dork right now; and he feels like an even bigger dork for thinking that Chloe had been thinking about him while she uh…while she was in the shower.
"Clark!" Chloe calls again when Clark doesn't come to her immediately.
'What's taking him so long? What happened to the superspeed?'
Just then, she hears Clark trying to turn the knob.
"Chloe?"
She smiles at the door. It's locked. She did that on purpose.
"Chloe, why is the door locked?"
"Can you get me some panties Clark?" she asks instead of answering his question. "I forgot to get some."
"You're not allowed to lock the door," he tells her, ignoring her request.
"Can you just slide me a pair under the door?" she ignores him once again.
It makes him mad.
"Chloe!" he yells before making a fist and banging loud enough for Lana to hear downstairs.
Chloe takes a deep breath, praying that Clark doesn't call the parents because it will ruin everything before she yells back at him, telling him that she can lock the door if she wants and that she just needs him to get her some panties and slide them under the door.
"Open up!" is his panicked response. It's almost like he didn't hear what she just said.
"No! Just get me some panties Clark!"
Downstairs, Lana has a slight debate with herself. Should she stay here, or go upstairs? Clark and Chloe are arguing, and from what she can gather from little snippets is that he wants her to open up the bathroom door and she wants him to get her some underwear.
It doesn't take her long to decide to go upstairs. Not long at all.
Halfway up the stairs she hears a loud scream followed by a loud crash.
She rushes to the bathroom; but by the time she gets up there, everything seems to be fine. Well, except for the fact that the door seems to have broken off its hinges; and except for the fact that Clark is wrapping a towel around Chloe's front; and except for the fact that she's not looking abashed about it at all. In fact, Chloe looks rather bored, bored, as she says, "are you going to get my panties or not?"
"In a second," Clark scowls a little; but he gives her a look that's without a doubt full of relief before scolding her a little more.
"This is exactly why you shouldn't lock the door."
"I'm fine. You caught me didn't you?"
"Yeah, after I kicked down the door because you wouldn't open it. You're lucky my reflexes are so good."
Lana watches Chloe roll her eyes.
"Are you kidding me? Seriously, I wouldn't have fallen if you hadn't barged in here in the first place. You scared the crap out of me."
"I wouldn't have had to break the door down if you had just opened it when I knocked the first time."
"Whatever Clark, you're not fooling anyone. You've been wanting to kick a door down ever since we saw it on Cops. The parents should be making their check up call soon. Pop is going to kill you when I tell him," she answers matter-of-factly.
"You're not telling."
"You're right; I won't have to because he'll just see it."
"No, I'll have it fixed before the parents get home, and you're going to help me."
"No, I didn't break the door."
"You certainly contributed."
"Oh, for the love of Christ! Clark, just get me my panties and go back downstairs with your girlfriend."
Lana frowns at the two. Finally her presence is acknowledged; but she isn't at all happy about it. She can't be. There seemed to be a bit of animosity towards her in Chloe's voice, and instead of Clark coming to his girlfriend's defense, he looks more worried about Chloe's feelings.
And not only that, but why does Chloe keep asking Clark to get her underwear? Can't she just go get them? She's already covered up by a towel; a towel that Clark wrapped around her himself as if she isn't capable of doing it.
"Never mind, I'll get them," Chloe says as she brushes past Clark.
Clark watches her go; but he doesn't know what to do. Usually when she's having a tantrum like this he just goes to her and lets her talk to him until she feels better; but this time Lana's here, and he's noticed the looks she just gave him. Maybe it's weird for him to wrap a towel around Chloe the way she just caught him doing; but that wasn't his fault. She nearly fell and cracked her head open on the side of the tub. He'd been scared to death that he wouldn't make it on time, and relieved that she didn't see him use his speed or strength to get to her. Her back was facing him.
"I think the movie's still on," Clark says to Lana. He'll have a very long talk with Chloe as soon as Lana leaves. And for the briefest second he wishes she'd leave soon; but he brushes that thought away. Lana's his girlfriend. He needs to spend time with her. He hasn't been paying much attention to her since she got here; and she's been very nice about everything. He's lucky to have her. Not many other girls would put up with what just happened as nicely as Lana had.
Lana smiles at Clark; but he notices that it doesn't reach her eyes.
He messed up.
Clark takes Lana's hand and leads her back downstairs, intending to make it up to her.
When they get back to the living room, Clark makes a comment on how they haven't relly missed much of the movie; and Lana just smiles back at him in response before sitting back down.