He stopped the kisses and looked her deep in the eyes, "What do you mean?"
Chloe sat up and pulled the covers wither to keep her covered. "I mean we need to stop this, we need to come clean."
Kal too sat up, but facing her and didn't care to cover up. "Chlo, you know we can't."
She grabbed his shirt and threw it on and got out of bed. "Yes, yes we can! We can just tell them. It may hurt, no it will hurt but nothing hurts me more than having to sneak around to be with the man I love."
How sexy she looked in nothing but his shirt didn't go unnoticed, but just put at the back of his mind for the time being. He didn't want to talk about this again, they had been having it more and more lately and it killed him to see her hurting but they had no choice. "You don't think it hurts me, to have to put on his damn ring to be able to have the balls to come and be with you?"
Chloe walked over to the edge of the bed and kneeled on it. "Then don't, we will tell everyone and then we can be together everyday. No sneaking around, no lying, and no more red-K. Just you, me, and our love…"
The entire drive home Chloe thought about nothing but the last five years. She had gone through so much in those five years. More than most people had to endure in a lifetime. Clark had agreed to take a chance on her and them as a couple. Her life was finally perfect, she had her job at The Planet, she was finishing up school, and she had the man she had wanted since the eighth grade. Then it all came to a halt as Clark just up and disappeared. She couldn't believe that fate would be so cruel as to take him just as she was finally getting to have him all to herself. Her depression was thick and she started to miss classes. If it weren't for Lois she never would have graduated and gotten her journalism degree that year. She owed so much to Lois. If it hadn't been for her, Chloe wouldn't be where she was today. Lois pushed her and kept her strong through all those dark and lonely nights. She was even the reason that Chloe had met Todd. Todd. Her husband, wonderful and gorgeous husband. He was the one man, besides Clark, that had ever made her feel loved and sexy at the same time. He was a chef and Lois met him when she was looking for a new company to order pastries from for The Talon. She had thought he was perfect for Chloe, so she forced him into a blind date with her cousin and then forced Chloe to go on that blind date. Chloe of course didn't want to go, Clark had been gone two years at that time, but she did just to escape Lois' nagging. They ate at some fancy restaurant that neither of them liked and then went to a local bar and talked all night. They had hit if off and Chloe finally felt that there was life after Clark. So she asked Todd out again and he said yes, thus began their relationship. They soon became inseparable, spending every amount of free time they had together. Chloe had gotten to a point where she didn't think about Clark everyday, she never forgot about him. he just wasn't always on her mind like before. Chloe realized then, that if she had found a man who could make her stop thinking about Clark for more than two minutes, she had a keeper. And Todd, well Todd had been fairly sure that Chloe was 'the one' sometime around their fourth date. When she confessed she was a closet Lord of the Rings fan. He thought if he could find a girl this gorgeous, funny, smart and into such a geeky movie, than she was the one for him. He gave it two more years, then that Christmas he had asked her to marry him. She didn't even need to think about it, she knew she was ready to spend her life with him. she had given up on Clark by that time and was ready to move forward. The planning took just over a year and they were married in the spring at a small outdoor garden. It had been a small wedding, just close friends and family. The reception was help atop The Daily Planet building, a dream Chloe had always wanted and Todd made sure she got it. The next day they had left for Jamaica to celebrate their honeymoon. It had been the best week of Chloe's life. Staying in a jungle bungalow on the beach was the best way to live she decided. Then they had come home and Lois had called. Chloe almost wished she would have not picked up her phone or at lest not agreed to go and talk to Lois. Better yet, she wished Lois would have kept it from her, but she knew that if Lois had and she found out she would be quite livid with her. Chloe had no intention of ever speaking to Clark again, but her fascination with getting the truth led her to ask for Lois' keys. She needed to know why he left her, that had been haunting her for five years and maybe if she got those answers life would be much easier. Maybe then she could just erase Clark like Lois did Lex. That would never happen, and she knew it. As long as Clark Kent was alive Chloe could never erase him, or her love for him. Just knowing he was back and that he had come looking for her brought back all these feelings she had buried long ago. She didn't like feeling them, because she knew it was wrong to feel that way for another man when you were married, but it was something that just came with the Clark package. The drive had flown by as all these thoughts had bombarded her. She quickly saw the "Welcome to Smallville" sign and turned to get off on the right road. Her heart began its pounding again and she became quite nervous. What was he going to do, what was he going to say? How was she going to react to seeing him again after five long years of only going by pictures and memories? She pulled into the familiar drive way and parked in her usual spot. Even though Clark hadn't been here in years she often came to visit Martha. After he first left Chloe found Martha to be the only one that could relate to her loss. They had been close before, but had gotten so much closer after their loss. Chloe could see the lights in the house were off, meaning Martha was in bed, and probably was hours ago. Being a state senator took its toll on her and he was often in bed before the sun even went down. With one last thread of hope Chloe looked to the barn, she found one lone light on and she started to make her way over. In the days after Clark had left Chloe held herself up in the loft. She thought that if there was one place he would come to from wherever he was, this would be it. She would just sit there on that old couch and red or do homework all day, then sleep on it at night. Martha would bring her meals and keep her company through out the day. The only time Chloe would leave was to take showers, and she was never gone for longer than twenty minutes. Climbing the stairs she had so many times before she thought about turning around and running. Running back home to Todd and the life she had created for herself. The idea was very tempting but, the need to know why was more tempting. So she finished the hike up the last few steps and came upon the vision of Clark sleeping on the couch. She kept quite, not wanting to wake him incase that urge to run came back. She closed the distance between her and the big trunk used as a table and sat down. She watched him sleep, he looked just as he did all those years ago. That black hair that was just long enough that the ends would start to curl. The chiseled features of his face, the cheek bones and jaw line still firm as ever. Then her gaze landed on that single mole atop his right cheek. That mole had been one of her favorite parts of his face. Always made fun of as a very young child for the three moles that adorned her lower left cheek, making a triangle, his mole made her feel more normal. Without thinking she brought her hand up and gently brushed her fingers over what she used to call, their love connection. Her feather light touch was strong enough to pull Clark from his deep sleep. His eyes fluttered and he quickly found her eyes with his own. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Was Chloe Sullivan really sitting on the trunk in his loft, brushing her hand across his cheek? Chloe was unable to speak or move. She hadn't thought she could wake him, but now she had and she was stuck. She couldn't tear her eyes away from his, it was like there was a magnet forcing them to hold the stare with him. Never feeling her hand leave his cheek or see her eyes leave his, Clark knew it was all real. Not wanting to lose her again, he grabbed her hand and held it close to his heart as he raised his hand to brush it across her left cheek, "Chloe?"