Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville or anyone or anything in Smallville.
Rating: Rated for sexual situations, language and possible violent situations.
Summary: Takes place first in Season 9 episode 17 - "Checkmate" in the episode when Chloe is kidnapped and then back to Season 1 just before the Pilot. Captured by Checkmate, Chloe is shot. Turns out Brainiac may have changed her meteor power more than she knew.
Pairing: Chlark.
Author: Darkfirelight.
Chapter two:
When Clark had arrived home that night his parents had run straight for him, worried beyond belief. "Mom, Dad, I'm fine! I need to talk to you about something!"
Martha and Jonathan stepped backwards, looking worried. "What is it son?" Jonathan finally asked.
"Well..." He blushed. "While I was out in the field I activated another power."
"What power son?" Jonathan asked, sounding almost afraid.
"I can... see through things." He finally said after a brief pause.
Martha and Jonathan stared for a few seconds, gawking before slowly Jonathan asked, nervously, "Well son, how did it... activate?"
He swallowed, looking away before finally answering, "It activated when I was above Chloe, tied to the scarecrow post..."
Jonathan continued on, "...And you could almost see down her... vest?" He looked at him enquiringly.
Clark gulped and nodded.
Jonathan sighed and started; "Well you see son, sometimes a man meets a woman and they get these urges..."
"Dad, no."
"And these urges, well they're just..."
"Dad, No!"
"Natures way of telling you..."
"Dad, STOP!"
"That you're going through something very strange..."
"DAD, NO!"
"...Hair in strange places..."
"NO, NO, NO!"
"...Sexual, why, me and your mother..."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Chloe couldn't help but be afraid. She was afraid because there were variables that she couldn't change. She couldn't help Davis Bloome for at least a few years because the fortress was inactive, she couldn't stop many of the meteor freaks. Something she COULD stop, however, was the second meteor shower. No human blood could touch the stones, she could prevent this.
She marked it down on the underside of her beds' frame, along with many other notes of things to stop.
'Stop Doomsday.'
'Prevent Pete being tortured by the FBI.'
'Incarcerate Lionel Luthor.'
'Prevent Jimmy Olsen's death.'
'Kandorians.'
'Find the stones.'
And the last note bought a tear to her eyes and a smile to her lips.
'Help Clark.'
Things would be different. She swore it.
As they sat on the bus to School Chloe grinned at Clark and Pete, "So, Pete, how was your afternoon yesterday?"
He grinned back at her. "Pretty good, dancing with one of the prettiest girls in school."
She smiled at him, "That's nice."
He smirked back at her, "But not as interesting as your night, right? I heard you were found dressed in tight, black clothes with Clark shirtless and covered in red and sweat." He grinned even wider.
Her mouth dropped open as she stared at him with wide eyes, she quickly snapped her jaw shut, gulping. "That- That's not how people are telling it, right?" His grin just widened. "Right!"
He snickered at her misfortune, "I'm afraid so."
She bit her lower lip, her eyes wide with horror. "Oh, snap." She looked at him, his face tinged pink as he struggled to contain his laughter. "Y-You're joking right? You are kidding!" Pete burst into laughter, drawing the attention of the bus to them. Chloe sunk into her seat slightly, blushing a deep crimson as she tried to shrink as much as was possible
Pete wiped the tears from his eyes, still snickering as he saw Chloe try to hide behind her bag and turned to Clark. "And how about you...?" He trailed off, seeing the haunted look on his friend's face. "Dude, you alright?" He reached forwards, looking concerned and patted him on the shoulder.
Clark started slightly, then sighed and sunk into his seat, closing his eyes. "I don't want to talk about it."
Pete recoiled, his eyes wide and Chloe quickly adopted a sympathetic look, the reasoning for his behaviour becoming obvious. "You were given The Talk, weren't you?"
He furrowed his brow, a frown crossing his face. "Can we talk about something else?" he asked them, looking into the sky.
Chloe "hn'ed" and snapped her fingers, "How about the farmers' market tomorrow?"
Clark sat up straighter and grinned, his eyes lighting up. "I forgot about that, me, mom and dad," His eyes narrowed at 'dad', making her grin even wider, "Are going, we're going to have our own stall, maybe I'll see Lana, a lot of the farmers in town are going to be there."
Chloe grinned at Clark's enthusiasm. 'Ah, the simple enjoyments of the farming community.' "Great, mind if I come along?" He grinned even wider (If such a thing was possible) and replied; "Sure."
She pretended to put a thoughtful finger to her mouth and faux-pondered; "I wonder if Lana will buy something, she might even come over and talk to you." snickering when she saw him adopt the 'Dreamy expression' as she liked to call it. 'That's kind of sad.'
"...You are a cruel, evil woman." Pete murmured, staring at his blissfully unaware best friend.
She giggled. "I know, but it's so fun." She replied, picking up her drink and taking a chug from the bottle.
Pete grinned at his friends unfeminine behaviour. "Whatever you say..." He waited until the bottleneck was to her lips before continuing on, "...Ms. Dominatrix."
"GURK!" She choked on her drink. After holding her throat and choking she glared at Pete, pouting at him. "You're one to talk about cruelty." She sulked, turning away from him.
He just grinned and waved two finger at her mockingly as she pouted.
"...Well this is... Droll." She stated flatly, staring at the stalls, filled with homemade foods and trinkets. "Well, at least I remember why I didn't go last time." She sighed, rubbing her nose with her palm, the air filled with the smell of god-knows-what making it itchy.
Clark smirked back at her, snickering at her scratching nose. "C'mon Chloe, it's not that bad, it's not my fault you forgot about your hay-fever." He told her, his grin widening.
She pouted and turned to glare at him. "I don't have hay-fever, it just smells here." Clark's smirk widened into a good-natured grin. She looked away. "...I wanna go back to Metropolis."
"Aw, there-there." He grinned, patting her on the back as he passed by her, arms laden down with a crate of vegetables, "Help me carry some of this, will you?"
She sniffed and picked up a small box filled with carrots. "Happy?" She asked him defiantly, picking one out and throwing it at his head, smacking him in the side of it.
He rolled his eyes at her as Jonathan and Martha grinned at them from the side, "I thought you said you were from the future, making you older than me?"
She narrowed her eyes at him. "...What are you insinuating, Kent?" She cocked her arm back, another carrot at the ready.
He snickered again, "Oh, nothing." He put his last crate down next to their stall before picking up the sign from the ground, telling Pete he would handle it. Pete thanked him and went to look around the stalls (Read: Ladies).
Martha pulled Chloe off to the side to help her check out some of their stock. She tilted her head considerately at the layout, noting the brightness of the apples. "That looks good, I like that." She told the older woman, straightening some of the containers.
Clark peeked around to make sure nobody was looking and pressed the nail into the sign with his thumb, pushing it into the wood. Chloe snickered from her place next to Martha, causing her and Jonathan to look over at Clark, they both gave him deadpan looks as they saw his thumb. He bit his lip and shrugged. "What?" They both shook their heads in exasperation, causing Chloe to snicker slightly louder, making him crack a grin.
Jonathan patted him on the back. "Good job, son. That's nearly the last of it, I can cover the rest. Why don't you and Chloe take a look at some of the stuff on sale?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at Chloe, knowing full-well that she was probably bored stiff sitting around here.
Clark grinned widely and replied; "Sure!" Putting an arm around Chloe's shoulder and pulling her aside, Pete coming over to put an arm around her other shoulder.
She grinned, pushing them away slightly, "A little space you guys, I can walk, you know?" Then she looked over and her eyes lit up. "All hail the Homecoming King and Queen!" She shouted over at Whitney and Lana, smirking good-naturedly.
Lana looked over, raising an eyebrow and returned her grin, if a little confusedly. Chloe mentally smacked herself as she realized that they hadn't become friends yet.
Lana walked over, ignoring Pete and Chloe temporarily to turn to Clark, "Clark, I didn't see you at the dance last night." Chloe winced.
He smiled, "I was-" He lost his smile and a neutral look took over his face. "-A little tied up." He finished, staring at Whitney over Lana's shoulder. Lana turned to look at him, confused and Whitney looked away, pursing his lips.
"Hey!" Jonathan came over, smiling at Whitney, "Congratulations!" He said, reaching out to grasp Whitney's hand and shake it. Whitney grinned widely, reaching out for the shake. "That was one heck of a game, I haven't seen an offence that good since I played!" He joked.
Whitney nodded, smiling. "Thank you ."
Clark turned, pasting a false smile on his face, "I'm gonna get the rest of the boxes out of the truck." He told his dad. Jonathan followed him with his eyes as he walked away, confused.
Whitney looked over as Clark walked away. "I'll help!" He told Jonathan and Lana, making to follow, Chloe quickly shrugged off Pete, "I'm going to make sure those two don't do something rash." She told him. He winced, remembering the Scarecrow incident, "You want me to help?" She shook her head, "No, I'll be fine, don't want to start a riot or anything, why don't you distract Lana and ?"
She quickly wondered over to listen in on Whitney and Clark, "...Last night was just a joke, right?" Whitney asked Clark, smirking.
Clark looked off to the side and kept walking, ignoring Clark. Whitney put a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, I need that necklace back." He told Clark seriously.
Clark smiled faintly, finally looking up at Whitney, "I don't have it."
Whitney looked to the side and sighed, "...Look, it's Lana's favourite, so..." "...So you'd better go out to that cornfield and find it." Clark finished, glaring at him, then turning to walk away.
Chloe watched Whitney glare after him then stepped out to reveal herself. "Whitney!"
He turned to look at her. "Chloe?" He intoned, sounding confused at how friendly she was acting.
She stopped in front of him. "Looking for this?" She smiled, holding out Lana's meteor rock necklace.
He grinned widely, relieved. "Yeah, where'd you find it?" He asked, holding out his hand.
She dropped all pretenses and stared at him stone-faced. "The cornfield." She glared.
He gulped and looked away slightly, wondering at how a girl a foot shorter than him managed to intimidate him. "Right, can I have it back?" He smiled, hoping she would fall for his clueless act.
"Sure." She replied lazily. He grinned at her. "But if you do something like what you did before, there will be payback." She glared again and he raised an eyebrow sardonically. "Your fathers failing health may be upsetting you but that's no excuse to take it out on others."
He stopped dead, staring at her in shock. "H-How did you...?" She looked him in the eye. "I have my sources."
Whitney's father had been showing steadily declining health over the past several weeks, it was getting to the point where he had trouble walking around. "I can help him, you know?"
He sucked in, sharply, "H-how?" He asked her, stunned. She smiled. "I know someone who can synthesize a cure." She replied, dropping the necklace into his outstretched hand. 'Meteor powers For The Win!' She thought to herself, grinning even wider.
Whitney wasn't stupid, despite appearances, he had to maintain a certain grade average in order to stay on the football team, afterall, he knew that something like this came without questions, but not without strings, he'd seen enough Cop dramas to know how Blackmail and Bribery worked. "...What'll it cost?" He grimaced, looking down at the necklace in his hand.
She smiled up at him. "You apologize to Clark and come clean to Lana, and tell me anything you hear Lex Luthor say whenever he's around Clark or Lana and anything odd around town, deal?" She held out her hand.
He looked down at her, so tiny in comparison to him and raised an eyebrow at the last two requests but nonetheless reached out to shake. "Deal."
She beamed widely, "Great, here's my number." She quickly wrote it down and slapped in down on top of the necklace. "I'll get back to you on the cure, if your dad gets bad enough to be hospitalized then I'll have it administered ASAP, that's the best I can do."
She felt slightly guilty as she walked away, but the satisfaction overrode it. She had an informant and Whitney's father got the help he needed.
"Hey!" She shouted up at Clark as he lifted one of the crates out of the truck, he turned and pasted on a false smile that she could clearly see through from a mile away. "Hey yourself."
She looked up at him, "What's wrong?"
He grimaced. "That obvious?" He asked her, chuckling hollowly.
She tilted her head, confused and concerned, wondering what was wrong, "Pretty much, yeah, what's up?"
He blinked and sighed, "Nothing."
She eyed him speculatively and then grinned knowingly, "Lana?"
He blinked again, this time in shock, turning to look at her, lips slightly parted as he asked her, befuddled; "Yeah, how'd you know?"
She chuckled under her breathe, "Clark, you have no idea how irrational you get over Lana." He glared at her, she sighed, "Look, Clark, if something is meant to be, it's meant to be, stop worrying about your relationship with Lana."
He turned to her, hesitantly, "Did we... Have a relationship? In the future?" He asked her.
She shook her head in exasperation. "That... Is a secret." She said with a grin, turning and walking away with a cheeky wink.
He stared after her and pouted, shouting after her, "That's not fair! Come on!"
She walked faster and winked at him again just as she left his sight. His pout deepened. "Now that's just not fair..."
Lex came over to him, seemingly out of nowhere, taking an apple, having caught his last sentence. "That's women."
He stared at Lex, confused, and then his eyes widened as he realized just what he was insinuating. "That's not- Me and Chloe aren't... You're just screwing with me, aren't you?" He finally realized, walking the grin that had slowly spread across Lex's face as he denied him and Chloe.
Lex chuckled, "Maybe, it's what the younger people are there for." He frowned. "I feel so old." He looked over at Clark, spotting Jonathan coming over. "!" He said, holding out a hand.
Jonathan hesitantly pasted a smile on and shook his hand, "Lex." He turned to Clark, "Come on, we've got to finish up."
Lex tilted his head over at him, "At least I got a handshake this time." Clark grinned and walked after his father.
Lex smiled and turned, taking a bite out of his apple as he watched Lana walk past. He dropped the apple, spitting out the piece he was chewing and furrowing his eyebrows, but quickly recovered, continuing to stare at Lana.
Clark spotted Chloe walking in the hallway of the school and quickly walked over to her, trying to get her attention.
"Chloe! Is Greg Arkin still a side-reporter for the Torch?" Clark asked her, tilting his head curiously.
She stared at him and bit her lower lip, her eyes widening, "How could I forget? He's a meteor freak, right?" She looked up at him.
He blinked, stunned. 'Right, future-girl.' He mentally face-palmed, feeling stupid. "Right." He groaned, sounding exasperated. He turned back to her, "So, what's his power?"
She furrowed her brows and squinted, trying to remember, making him grin at the adorable look on her. "Anything insect related, if I remember correctly he was infected by a swarm of meteor infected insects, in large numbers they made him a meteor freak." She smiled and then frowned, "He hasn't shown his face in around a week."
He sighed, "Right, thanks."
She looked up at him, looking worried, "Clark, bugs have a short lifespan, we need to find him. If I remember correctly... He's killed his mother." She whispered. "And he's after Lana, I've forgotten where he could be, though."
Clark's eyes widened, "wherever Lana might be, with her horses!" He shouted, she grabbed his coat. "What?"
She pursed her lips and looked him in the eyes, "I'm coming with you."
He clenched his teeth. "It might be dangerous."
She didn't falter, "I'll stay out of sight and make sure Lana's okay." He looked to the side, as though thinking. "I won't go anywhere near Greg, promise."
He looked down, "Alright, but stay out of sight." He walked out of the School, she trailed behind him, slightly stunned that he had agreed so readily.
Clark looked around the stables with his X-ray vision, "There he is, in the rafters." He whispered to Chloe, making sure Greg didn't hear them even outside.
She grinned, "Perfect." She pulled out a glowing blue syringe, making him eye it curiously. "What's that?" He asked, staring at the needle warily.
She smiled, "Blue meteor rock." He backed away from her, looking betrayed. She eyed him, confusedly and then realized what he was thinking, "Oh, no! No, no, no. The blue meteor rock doesn't mutate people, it can neutralize certain infections, and it can't hurt you."
He frowned in confusion at her, "You mean it neutralizes meteor freaks?"
She shook her head, "Only when they're inflicted on them and they're not either born with them or set into the them fully biologically, it wouldn't work on me because the meteor rock concentration is around my heart, whereas Greg's is only in his bloodstream, that's why it renders some meteor infected mentally unstable."
He nodded, "Okay, you know a lot about this." She grinned, then his eyes widened, "You're a meteor freak?"
She frowned at the term but nodded. "I heal, I'll show you later, right now we need to stop Greg."
He frowned but nodded.
Ten minutes later Greg was down and out, stronger and faster than usual and with a few different powers but not nearly strong enough to match up to Clark.
As she injected him with the chemical cocktail Clark turned to her, "So your power?" She grinned and put her hand to a bruise on Greg's arm, healing it.
He noticed her grimace and shift. "Does it hurt when you do that?"
She looked away, "No." He looked unconvinced. "...A little. But I'm perfectly fine afterwards." She grinned at him. "Promise."
He nodded, still looking wary.
"The blue meteor rock affects you, by the way." He raised both eyebrows, "When you're holding blue meteor rock it temporarily neutralizes your powers."
He looked at her, shocked. "You mean... I could be normal?"
She shook her head, "Normal's overrated Clark." He looked unconvinced. "In my time you were normal and within weeks you were shot and needed to regain your powers." He gulped at the word 'Shot', "Besides, I'm not normal myself, you don't see me complaining." He frowned at her. "If I get emotional and cry I automatically take the injury of the person I'm crying on, it 'kills' me for a few hours and then I wake up." She gained a haunted look in her eyes, "Sometimes in the morgue."
He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, "I promise I won't let you wake up in the morgue ever again." He looked into her eyes, "I swear."
She looked into his eyes and smiled, teary-eyed. "I know you wouldn't." She grinned at him. "I trust you."
He smiled and pulled her into a hug. "I trust you.
Whitney and Lana walked into the stables, catching sight of the two, they stared in confusion, first at the bruised Greg, then Chloe and Clark, hugging eachother with tears running down Chloe's cheeks. Whitney stepped forwards, "Are you guys okay?"
Clark and Chloe both started, surprised to see them there but nodded. Chloe rubbed away her tears. "Call the cops, he killed his mother and we realized he was going to come after Lana." Their eyes widened.
Lana cupped her face in her hands. "Oh my god." She whispered, her eyes wide as she buried her face in Whitney's jacket. Chloe looked across, expecting to see Clark looking at Lana and Whitney, only to find herself surprised to find him looking at her with a slight smile on his face.
Half an hour later the Police were holding Greg in custody, Whitney had apologized to Clark and Clark had accepted his apology, both Lana and Whitney were back at her house, explaining what had happened to Nell and Clark was explaining the situation to his parents. Chloe had decided not to tell her Father, but still found herself thinking back to the situation, though for a different reason than the others.
She thought back to the look that Clark had given her and found herself murmuring words that she had said once before a year ago, with Clark in mind.
She mulled over the look in her eyes and found herself telling him, in her mind, "You've never looked at me like that before."
By the end of the week the word had spread around school about how Greg Arkin had been arrested for murdering his own mother, and Clark and Chloe found themselves being hailed as the current 'heroes' around the small community, something that Clark found embarrassing and Chloe found hilarious.
Despite being older, mentally, than all the other students, she still found herself blushing when she heard people calling them a couple, though Clark, as always, remained oblivious.
A/N: Chapter 2 completed! That makes this story over 9000 words long, the longest story I've written thus far!
IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!
P.S. Note that Chloe does not trust Lex, she's willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now because she hasn't seen him show an unhealthy interest in Clark yet, and this time Clark and Lex's friendship is built around Lex wanting to get on her good side and find out more about her, "The more you know" and all that.