Chapter Four
Summary: Chloe is returned ten years after she was abducted during Dark Thursday. Probably Chlark / Chruce. Set Post-Freak. Connecting events as told in the movie Superman Returns.
Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville, Superman or Batman
Dr. Hawkins was walking briskly and stopped in front of Chloe's door. Being a gentleman of the old world, Dr. Hawkins stood on such formalities as opening doors for women, standing up when a woman enters the room and such. So it was quite unheard of that Dr. Hawkins would turn the handle when she called out, "It's unlocked." He knocked again and he hears a muffled and exasperated curse when the inhabitant of the room accidentally stubbed her toe. The door jerks open to a dishevelled Chloe Sullivan.
"Why Ms. Sullivan, Nurse Fairchild says that you've been locked up in your room for quite some time."
Chloe moves away from the door and sits back down in front of the microfiche machine. Like a father reprimanding an errant daughter, for after all these time, Chloe Sullivan was like the child that Dr. Hawkins never had, he was tapping his foot impatiently with his arms folded across his chest, he starts on his speech, "Ms. Sullivan, I've been quite generous with your requests but I cannot abide this wilful violation of your therapy program. I have half a mind not to give to you a parcel which came for you."
Curiosity getting the better of her, Chloe peels her eyes away from the microfiche machine. "What is it?"
"As it turns out, the computer that you asked for came. But if you are going to be an obstinate and rebellious teenager, I won't give it to you."
Chloe flashes him one of his smiles. Dr. Hawkins reminded her of her father and as fathers go, she is able to wheedle him to do anything, "Oh come on Doc. The parcel came for me. I see thanks are in order again. It makes me curious to see the seriously generous and equally mysterious Bruce Wayne."
"Well, you do not owe him anything. I bought you the laptop but I'm not going to give it to you until you promise to come out of your cave, interact with normal human beings," he takes an offended sniff at her messy surroundings, "probably take a bath before you interact with normal human beings and to limit browsing time to no later than ten pm."
Dr. Hawkins turned about and marched away but upon reaching the door, Chloe calls out to him, "Aye aye Captain! Thanks Dr. Hawkins. For everything. You're a swell guy. My dad was a swell guy. If he were alive you two would get along quite well." Dr. Hawkins looks back and his face softens. Not knowing what to say, he tells Chloe, "Well, right. I'll have it brought up to you after the IT guys have installed some software that might be of interest to you."
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Chloe found everything doubly difficult nowadays – walking, remembering, and having a routine. Especially this business about catching up with life. Thanks to the laptop and wi-fi connection, she was able to piece together some things from her research but mostly about the people she has left behind and get updates on how Clark is doing and being relieved to find out he has survived this most recent battle once more. As for finding herself, she could come up with nothing more but a small obituary in the Inquisitor about her "death" in the August 14 edition scarcely 8 years ago. She has a crazy theory and as crazy theory goes, she needed to talk to Clark about it, if he ever actually remembered her within this lifetime. Her crazy theories have a way of actually being right but now more than ever she hopes that this is one of the few times that she is wrong. Based on the timeline and other circumstantial evidence, her research have led her to surmise that Lois' son is Superman's and as Superman is Clark then Lois and Clark had a son which meant that they had…unable to complete that thought. She cannot imagine that Clark would just have a casual affair with her cousin. With Clark, or at least the Clark she knew, nothing was casual. She tried living with that thought about Clark and her cousin and was almost successful in pretending that she was okay with it. She cannot help but feel betrayed by both of them. Not knowing who hurt her more. Lois for having a son with the man she is in love with or Clark for not telling her when they talked. There has to be a logical explanation for this and as nothing has been verified yet, this state of uncertainty was even worse. She did not know whether she had a right to feel that way. After all they did not know whether she was alive and if they did, love was a decision between two people. Obviously she was not part of that equation. It was times like these that she was glad that Clark had made himself scarce but the inimitable Mr. Kent always had a talent for being present when all she had ever wanted was for him to stay far away as possible.
She was wrestling with all these thoughts when Clark's voice broke her out of her reverie, "Hey. A penny for your thoughts?"
The hair on the back of Chloe's neck stands up and she gets goose bumps at the deep treble of his voice. She tries to hide behind the humour of the situation as she had always done but her attempt failed miserably as it came out, "Hey. I can see you've been busy. Saving people. Almost dying. I'm glad you could squeeze me in your busy schedule Mr. Kent."
He knows that she's upset. After all those years, he is quite familiar with that particular tone of her voice. "Chloe, I'm sorry. I should've come sooner."
"Are you ready to spring me out of this nuthouse Clark?"
A warning in his tone, he turns her wheel chair around and settles on his heels to be eye level with her, "Chloe, I can't. You know that."
"No I don't. Why don't you explain it to me and save me those father-daughter speeches like 'I'm doing this for your own good' crap. I'm done with that."
"I wish I had a better excuse Chlo. But my life is pretty crazy right now. I don't want to drag you into it. I've just found you. I can't lose you again."
"Clark, I'm not some doll you can just keep in a box."
"I'm trying to keep you safe."
"Well in case you haven't noticed, Clark. Newsflash, every single morning that mere mortals like us wake up, there is a 50-50 chance that we won't make it to the end of the day. I'm not saying that we become roomies Clark. All I'm asking you is to help me get out of here and reclaim my life."
Clark lets out a breath in frustration. He has forgotten how stubborn Chloe could be. He stands up in haste and starts pacing around. Chloe eyes him and she tilts her head to the side in observation. "There's another reason why you can't help me out of this place, is there? Clark we are friends right? I mean after all these years, you'd still be honest enough with me, right?"
"What do you mean Chlo? Of course. You're my best friend."
"Yes but the ironic thing is that despite all your reassurances, you are slipping away. We've become strangers Clark and all I know of you is what I see on television or on the Daily Planet. Do you care to hear this crazy theory I have?"
Clark eyes her quizzically at this and Chloe takes his silence as an agreement to continue, "You are in love. What's complicated is that this girl does not know who you are. You haven't told her because in as much as you were scared of letting others know in high school that you're zip code cannot be found on this planet, you are scared that she would know about your Superman's alter ego – the normal guy who is not as invulnerable as the Man of Steel. You're not exactly sure that she would be as accepting but what's complicated is that you have to hide this other part of you, especially since 5 years ago you just left her. To have your child all by herself while she becomes one of the top reporters at the Daily Planet. Riddle me this then Clark, what is it with you and girls with the initials LL?"
Clark's eyes have darkened in confusion. Obviously she knows and she sounds broken as his face was enough of a confirmation of everything she was scared to admit to be true, "Why Clark? Lois and you? So when were you going to tell me? On your golden wedding anniversary? Do you think that keeping me locked up in this place will keep your secret safe? How could you Clark? Does Lois know about me being here?"
Tears have started to brim and threatened to escape her eyes but Chloe was determined not to cry. Clark did not know where to begin but he knew that he should come clean, "Chloe, it's complicated. I didn't set out to fall in love with Lois. It just happened. I wanted to tell you that first day but I didn't know how to tell you. You were just trying to recuperate from being missing. That is difficult enough as it is, I didn't want to add anymore than that."
Chloe's eyes flashed in angry indignation, "You didn't know how to tell me?!? That was your reason? All you had to do was tell me Clark. Do me a favour next time and don't feel the need to protect me because in case you have forgotten, I've lived through more than a decade knowing that I love you and you don't love me back so I guess if you didn't want to hurt me it is a little bit too late for that." The air crackling around her as she tries to hold back everything into some form of acceptable reaction that she thought will make her seem less vulnerable then she already is. "You didn't have to tie up your story in one neat package. Do you think that if you have waited that there ever would be a time or a way you could break this news to me without making me feel like I've been gutted through? Haven't you learned by this time that the best way to deliver difficult news is just to deliver it? It's not as if I expected that you would have put your life on hold to look for me. After all these years, I have to admit that I did harbour some fantastic dream that you would have waited for me but you're a guy Clark and that's what guys do. Whether they are Kryptonians or homo sapiens sapiens. If you have nothing more to tell me Clark, I want you to leave. I do believe that this conversation is over." Dismissing him, she wheels her chair away and she continues to stare outside the window.
Equally riled up by her words which apparently only Chloe could do, Clark closes the distance between them, wheels her around again and lashed out, "Fine you want to hear everything? So be it. You know why she hasn't come to see you? It's not because she doesn't know you're here. I told her already and she refuses to come. Because she says she can't handle seeing you just yet and that she's scared that if she did you'd be as insane as your mother and she'd rather remember you as you were than see you now. Her words. Is that raw truth enough for you?" He grips the arm rest of her wheelchair to keep her moving away, his face just inches away, meeting her defiant gaze which were starting to brim with tears that she was doing her best not to shed, "Ready for more? Do you want to know why I refuse to help you get out? It's because frankly I can't take care of you Chloe. I have this other life now and I don't want to have to relive the guilt all over again when I find out that something has happened to you. I have no time. I'm often out and I barely have time for anyone else – let alone be with my son who I just recently discovered and who by the way I cannot be with because your cousin may love Superman but hates Clark Kent because in some twisted way, I think deep down inside she blames me for what has happened to you. Frankly, I don't need the complication and I'm trying to get my life back too. I have to save people with no benefit of anyone saving me from my overly wrought out life. You were gone. Everyone thought you were dead and now you're not. So excuse me if not everyone can wrap their minds around that. It is not every day after all that someone they know rises from the dead and thus, will be able drop whatever it is they need to be doing right now to take you back in because in case you haven't noticed the world did not stop turning when you did not show up."
With that he straightened up. The haze of his anger has lifted miraculously like the fog as his pent-up frustration was voiced. It reminded him of the time when he told her to back off from researching him and told her to look for her own mother but now he knows that he has gone too far. Determined not to make the same mistake and realizing that his words were inordinately cruel, he reaches out for one of her thin arms which he noticed was lined with white scars of cuts that have healed and he wondered whether those were recent ones. "Chloe, look…I'm"
Chloe reeling from the sting of his words and burned by the pity that she felt through his touch, dejectedly finished his sentence for him, "Sorry? I don't know you. I can't say I understand you or where you are right now. Nor can I say that you have not hurt me more than you have ever done Clark. I think it's safe to say that may be we should stop being friends." With that she pulls her arm from his grasp and wheels herself out of the room before she could cry.
