Title: And The Rest Will Be Rewritten.
Author: BkWurm1 aka Melissa T
Pairing: Chlark!
Rating: PG, PG-13 if you squint
Spoilers: Season 4. Dialogue from several episodes through Unsafe and a touch of Arrival. No, I don't own any of these characters, though I know I treat them better.
Warnings: None…ok, a touch of happy ending-itus
Summary: This story is broken into two parts. Section 1 is a series of vignettes. Three times when Clark does think about Chloe that way, though he would deny it, and one time when a small change changes everything. Section 2 takes some of the events in Unsafe and rewrites the episode as a Chlarky replacement. (Sorry, no RedK sexy time, but on the upside, no time wasted on Lana deciding if she should give Jason her flower.) Clark and Chloe's evening is interrupted by a plea for help from Alicia Baker that ultimately brings them closer together…cause that is how I roll!
Section two - (Unsafe - part 2)
Clark went back home to wait, but Alicia didn't show up. He was still waiting in the barn the following morning when he again checked with Chloe. "Her mom hasn't heard anything either. How are the videos coming?"
"Everything so far is circumstantial, he said, she said stuff, but I went by Bob's Pump and Munch this morning and traded a puff piece in the Torch for a copy of yesterday's security videos. If I'm reading the body language right, I think we might have something. The audio stinks, but I'm enhancing it as we speak." Clark heard the familiar clack of Chloe's keyboard while she went on about what she'd learned.
"The more I dig into McBride, the more I think Alicia is telling the truth. The files were supposed to be sealed, but if it's connected to a server, I can find it. Seems two years ago, he took a real special interest in another pretty blond patient, Anna Sinclair. Two months after her release, she disappeared. A guy who claimed he was her boyfriend said Dr. McBride would take her on dates and call them sessions. Her friends and family didn't know the guy, but he claimed Anna had to keep him a secret so McBride wouldn't freak out."
"Like he did when he found out Alicia and I were talking."
"I'll keep working on finessing the audio so we can nail this scumbag. Hopefully our girl hasn't skipped town for good."
"Okay, call me if you hear anything. Bye." He disconnected the line and then remembering he wanted to ask Chloe to check if Alicia had any relatives she might run to. He hit the redial button, but before he could raise the phone back up to his ear, he heard the shuffle of dress shoes on the dirt packed barn floor. He spun around.
"Drop the phone." McBride waved a gun at him.
"Dr. McBride. Why do you have a gun."
"I said drop it!"
Clark dropped the phone on top of a bale of hay and carefully put his hands up in the air. The doctor took a step closer. He looked like he hadn't slept. His clothes were wrinkled and his long hair tangled and greasy. Last night he'd been furious. Now something more resolute burned in his eyes.
"I warned Alicia to stay away from you."
Clark narrowed his eyes. "Where is she?"
A strange smile played on McBride's face before he answered. "She called me from her cell phone – hysterical. Crying that maybe she wasn't better... that maybe she belonged back at Belle Reeve."
Clark shook his head. "You're lying. That's just where you threatened to send her if she didn't agree to your private sessions. But she doesn't want anything to do with your twisted plans."
McBride took another step toward him. "Alicia is my greatest achievement. When she came to me, her mind was fractured and broken. I made her whole again." He sneered at him. "Now look what you've done to her."
"What I've done? You're the reason she wanted to run away."
McBride's eyes grew wild. "No, you stalked her, you kidnapped her. You forced her to use her powers again."
"That's not what happened."
A sly look flashed over his face. "Well, that is what the police will believe when I take you in. This time they'll listen to me. They tend to do that when teenagers start playing with guns."
"You're the one with the gun."
"No one will believe it's mine. You see Clark, to help Alicia I had to understand her obsession, so I studied you."
Clark stiffened, concerned for the first time since McBride showed up. The doctor went on. "It wasn't hard. The sheriff's files are filled with your unexplained appearances at violent crime scenes. It's the classic earmarks of a troubled teen." The sly smile returned. "But don't worry, they don't send kids like you to jail. They send them to me...at Belle Reeve."
A chill went down Clark's spine. No. That wouldn't happen. Chloe would come up with proof about McBride's obsession. Suddenly Alicia materialized behind McBride.
"Stop it. Clark didn't do anything."
"What are you doing here?" McBride half turned to face her.
"Alicia, get out of here."
"Don't tell her what to do!" He snarled at Clark, before turning back to Alicia. "I'm not gonna let him keep hurting you."
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Alicia spat out. Her disdain infuriated McBride. He swung fully around and coldly, steadied his aim at Clark.
"This stops now."
Clark's world moved in slow motion as he watched the bullet discharge from the gun's muzzle with a flare of fire unseen by the naked eye. McBride stood too close. Believably diving out of the way wasn't possible, plus Clark didn't dare take his eyes off the man with the gun. He was still grappling with the knowledge that McBride, who already wanted to lock him up and mess with his brain, was about to discover his secret, when a misty green haze appeared in front of him. In his shock, the world around him slipped back into full speed. Alicia materialized in front of the bullet and fell to the ground in pain.
When McBride reached for her, Alicia cringed from his touch and Clark knocked him back hard, sending him flying through the wall into another section of the barn where he landed out cold.
"We should really get to a hospital, don't you think?" Blood soaked the front of Alicia's sweater.
He crouched down next to her. "Alicia, why'd you do that? You know I could've caught that bullet."
Her voice, though getting weaker, remained clear. "Because I promised you that I'd always protect your secret." Her eyes fluttered shut. "I promised."
In the background, Clark became aware of the sounds of sirens and the crunch of gravel beneath the tires of emergency vehicles pulling into his driveway.
"I'm going to get you help." He ran out to meet the squads in his drive. An ambulance was just pulling in too. He quickly explained what happened and a team of medics rushed to work on Alicia. Before the Sheriff could pepper him with too many questions, he asked one of his own. "How did you know I needed help?"
The sheriff tilted her head and stretched out her weather worn smile. "That blond reporter friend of yours. Somehow, she got a hold of my private cell number. Called up and insisted I get some people over to your place pronto."
"Chloe called you? How did she…," he trailed off. Abruptly, he remembered his phone. He'd hit redial just when McBride showed up. A deputy approached Sheriff McAdams with a question, so Clark quickly dashed back to the barn. He found his phone lying open on the bale of hay. From the tally of minutes accumulated on screen, he knew the line was still connected. "Chloe, are you there?"
"Clark?" Chloe's relieved voice rushed on. "What's going on? How bad is Alicia? Are you ok? Did the sheriff get there?"
"I'm fine. The police are here. The paramedics are working on Alicia." He answered on autopilot, most of his mind consumed with rewinding through what he'd said to Alicia. "You know I could've caught that bullet."
Had Chloe heard?
"Clark?" She prompted on the other side of the phone when he trailed off into silence.
"I have to go."
"I'll meet you at the hospital."
"No." He needed time to think. "I mean, it's going to be crazy down there. Call you later?"
Chloe waited an extra beat before replying. "Sure. That's fine." He said goodbye and hung up. He stared at the phone. Even if she heard everything, she'd back off if he told her to. He just had to decide what he was going to say. Before he could think of anything, the sheriff came looking for him.
He spent the rest of the day handing out explanations to the police and his parents and doing paperwork. Alicia was going to recover completely and Dr. McBride was behind bars. Besides holding him for the shooting, the sheriff's department "anonymously" received a set of recordings that backed up Alicia's story about McBride following her and trying to force an inappropriate relationship. Other staff members at Belle Reeve stepped forward to not only express their own earlier concerns about their colleague's behavior, but also to independently support Alicia's recovered diagnoses, which meant once she was released from the hospital, she would be free to restart her life.
Her parents, faced with nearly losing their daughter again, rallied to her side and something broken in her family appeared to be healing. They were already talking about family in California and making a fresh start. Clark wished them well and said his goodbyes to Alicia in advance. Alicia wistfully spoke of what might have been, but in the end, she thanked him for his help and asked that he thank Chloe as well.
"Despite my past, she listened. I think I understand what you see in her. I just hope you don't take what you've found for granted."
He finally called Chloe that night after he left the hospital. He knew what he needed to do. When her cell went to voicemail, he left a message, asking her to stop by the barn so they could talk. The sound of her VW's tires rolling over the frozen gravel in his drive alerted him when she arrived. He turned on a few lights so she wouldn't find him sitting in the dark, but he didn't go out to meet her. He was still nervously sitting on the couch, waiting to discover what she knew, when she rounded the last platform, stopping before she reached the loft.
She looked around, taking extra time to study the corners and shadows in the room before she gave him her full attention. She seemed subdued or maybe tense was a better word for it, but either way, she wasn't wearing her normal smile. "I hear Alicia is recovering."
"Yeah, for some reason the bullet didn't go very deep."
Chloe nodded and absently ran her hand along the edge of the railing. "I also hear she's not in danger of going back to Belle Reeve anytime, which coincidentally is convenient since they'll be in need of her old berth for a new patient." She glanced up at him.
Clark froze. No. She couldn't be implying that he…
"Do you remember Tim Wescott, the kid who wanted to write an op-ed piece for the Torch on how the town has changed since the meteor shower?"
He nodded, numb with relief.
"Well it seems his fondness for Smallville's glory days included a small minded mindset about what is morally acceptable. Lucky for a few friends of ours, he was putting some garbage in the incinerator at the Historical Society when the boiler broke, and even though the burns he received weren't life threatening, for some reason Tim's mind broke too. One of the candy stripers at the hospital told me he raved on and on about his ruined plan and that 'they' needed to be punished. Got real specific about who and how permanently too. He knocked out an orderly before they got him subdued."
"Who was he targeting?"
"Alicia for her past and among others, Lana and Jason for their former student-teacher relationship."
Clark frowned. "He's secure now?"
"Yep, sedated, tied down, and two guards watching him as they roll towards Belle Reeve's gates."
"Good. That's good."
The awkward silence descended again, both of them looking anywhere but at each other. Clark gathered his nerve and was about to speak when Chloe beat him to it.
"Words are supposed to be my bailiwick, so I guess I'll go first." Their eyes locked and Clark nodded. Chloe took a deep breath and then blew it out. A weak smile played on her lips. "It crossed my mind more than a few times how much easier this conversation would be if I pretended I hadn't heard anything."
Well that answered one question. He rose from the couch. "Chloe, I…"
She ignored him and pressed ahead. "After all, I've been disregarding scraps of memories that filled in the pieces to the Clark Kent puzzle for years," she finished not unkindly. The heel of her boots made a dull thudding sound as she climbed the last step. Her hands squeezed the strap of her purse in a death gripe while she paused and swallowed. Clark reminded himself to breath as he waited, frozen, for her to go on.
"I've told you before and I'll say it again, you don't have to tell me your secret, but I don't want to lie to you Clark and I couldn't help but come to certain conclusions." He didn't say anything, waiting for Chloe to be more specific. He realized he was sending her the wrong message with his silence when a sorrowful frown twisted Chloe's expression. "But now I see that makes you too uncomfortable. I get why you would want to push me away. As much as I don't want to, I get it. A lot of people would use your secrets against you."
Clark shook his head and took a step forward. "But you wouldn't. I know that."
Chloe's shoulder's sagged in relief and the pained, worried expression vanished from her face. "So then can we just move forward like nothing happened?" She suggested eagerly, a small, hopeful smile appearing on her lips. She cocked her head to the side and bit her lower lip. "Maybe revisit where we were before Alicia interrupted?"
Clark slowly shook his head. "I don't think I can do that."
She flinched and her always expressive face fell hard. But not for long. A smile, faker than the blond hair on Chloe's head, appeared even as she blinked rapidly to fight the sheen forming in her eyes. "Okay. Well, hopefully someday we can be friends again, but whatever happens, I promise nothing of what I heard or I suspect will ever be repeated." He only understood what was happening when she swung around to leave.
"Chloe, wait!" He lunged forward and caught her by the hand. He was struck all over again by the fragility of her fingers, but also by the importance of their connection. He couldn't let her go; he felt stronger with her hand entwined with his. "That's not what I meant. I was talking about ignoring what you heard. I don't want to do that."
She sighed and glanced back over her shoulder. "Clark, you really don't…"
He squeezed her hand. "But I want to." He smiled ruefully. "If you can't tell your best friend, who can you tell? Right Chloe?"
This time, the smile that lit up Chloe's face was completely genuine. As always, her joy fed his and a warm feeling settled in his chest. He led her back to the couch where they both sat down. She bit her lip, not nervously, but to contain her anticipation.
"So…," she prompted, "was there something you wanted to say to me?"
He nodded. "Yeah, yes." Suddenly he felt nauseous and sweaty. He swallowed and weakly smiled. Old habits really did die hard. Where to start? "Maybe, if you told me what you heard?"
She cringed a little. "Yeah, about that, I was in the middle of the gas station recordings so I had the whole conversation running in real time through audio clean up."
"So…you did hear everything?"
"About you being able to catch bullets and Alicia knowing your secret? Yeah."
Clark nodded again, still not sure where to start, but Chloe made it easier for him as she went on.
"Since this is confession time, you should know that for a long time I've known in the back of my mind you can get around faster than the laws of physics allow and I've never believed adrenaline explained away the times you casually tossed our resident crazy stalkers across rooms and through walls. Nor have I ever really bought that you're just lucky when it comes to broken padlocks and unlocked doors."
She scooted closer, excitement flashed in her eyes as she really warmed up to her subject. "And that doesn't touch on how you do things like pull up fully buried coffins bare handed, let alone how you knew where in that dark field I was buried. Oh, and more recently there's my miraculous rescue from Mxyzptlk. Yes, more than a thousand people would swear you never left the football field, but the handcuffs didn't just break, Mikhail didn't go flying backwards all by himself and you were the only one who knew I was in trouble. I didn't go looking for answers, but…," she trailed off into a shrug.
"Ok." He nodded, a little stunned by how much she already knew without trying, but also jazzed by her excitement. "Ok," he repeated, stood up, and turned back around to face Chloe, who was waiting even more expectantly. "Yes to super speed and strength." He zipped down the steps, returned with an old rusty tire iron, and bent it like pretzel dough.
She tucked her windblown hair behind her ears and gaped at the twisted metal. "Wow. I thought I knew, but…wow." She glanced up at him in eager wonder.
Her reaction made him want to keep going. "There's more. X-ray vision and enhanced hearing." He narrowed his eyes and stared at her purse until he could see the contents. "You have the exact change in your wallet for a triple mocha latte and just now, my dad told my mom your back tire is low."
She got to her feet. "Clark, don't have to prove anything to me. Wait…did you say x-ray vision? Like you can see through," she nervously clutched at her collar, "stuff?"
"Yeah, but I don't…you know," he hastened to reassure her. "I mean except the first time it happened and when I was on redK, so, yeah, I know about your birth mark on your..., but normally I swear I wouldn't…"
"Wait, what's redK?"
He quickly explained his problem with the meteor rocks, both red and green. Chloe made the connection to his lost summer all by herself.
"I'm still trying to make up for the problems I caused. I'm so sorry for how I treated you."
"It was a bad time for both of us, but Clark, you've taken it upon yourself to be Smallville's self-appointed hero and if you ask me, I think that is amazing. I'm just glad I finally have the chance to tell you." She briefly covered his hand with hers before she spun around and started pacing, her reporter's mind bent not on exposing, but understanding everything. He loved seeing her like this, her mind working overtime, the possibilities dancing in hers eyes.
Chloe tapped her chin and frowned. "There are still a few blind spots though, like your extra special interest in the Kawatche caves and how and why some of the same symbols from the caves were burned into your barn." She glanced over her shoulder, "Random vandals, I don't think so."
"I made those symbols…I can…" He made a gesture with his hands of something exploding from his eyes.
"Shoot laser beams from your eyes?"
"Pretty much."
"Wow. Just…wow. And the Kawatche caves? Also, wait, why do the same meteors that gave you your powers make you sick?"
"Chloe, there's a lot of things about me that even I don't understand, but the meteor rocks," he paused and took a deep breath, "they didn't make me the way I am."
She stopped pacing and tilted her head to the side. "So, you're saying you were born this way?"
He could have left his explanation at that, more than he told Alicia, but less than the truth, except he wanted Chloe to know everything about him, just like he wanted to know everything about her. He told himself that he trusted her; it was time he proved it.
"I wasn't born anywhere near Smallville. In fact, I wasn't born anywhere near this galaxy." A ball of tension dropped into his gut; he waited for her reaction.
Chloe stood a little straighter. Her eyebrows scrunched together and she pursed her lips. "Okay...okay...so that would make you an..."
He shrugged. "Yeah."
Perplexed, she blinked and waved her hand at him. "But you...you look so..."
"Human?" He supplied the word she was searching for and took a tentative step in her direction, wary of startling her. "I'm still the same person," he told her wistfully. Her forehead smoothed and her confusion vanished, replaced with the same welcoming smile she always saved for him. The roiling anxiety in his stomach disappeared.
"For so many years you've been my hero," she closed the space between them, "but Clark, you save people's lives and take zero credit for it. To me, you're more than just a hero. You're a super hero."
"Chloe—"
"I'm serious." With their eyes locked, she reached up and lightly touched the side of his face, her affection and acceptance stamped on every feature. "Clark. If more humans were like you, the world would be a better place."
He slid his arms around her waist like it was the most natural thing to do and pulled her against his chest; he closed his eyes and rested his chin on her head. She wound her arms around his back, hugging him in return. He savored the way she felt, the way she smelled, and the contentment he had having her pressed against his heart.
"You know I'm totally going to rag on you about football, I mean, it's not like I haven't already mentioned you were meant for more than tossing pigskins and playing hog pile."
He pulled back a little so he could see her face. He smiled. She was in full-blown Chloe mode, her eyebrows scrunched together and her eyes fixed off in space while she worked the problem through.
She thoughtfully chewed on her bottom lip. "Though a full ride at Met U would be hard to turn down - not so sure I could. As it is, I'm just now figuring out what forms I'm going to need to fill out for financial aid. Still it seems kind of like a waste of your talents." She briefly surfaced to glance up at him. "You're a good writer, Clark."
He felt a moment of surprise and then a rush of affection as he realized she still saw him, not just his powers. She slipped back into problem solving mode. "Though I guess journalism wouldn't really fulfill all your potential. Sheriff McAdams drops regular hints about recruiting you for law enforcement, except, no, even best case scenario, there would be way too much paperwork."
She was adorable. Maybe he should have felt pressured, but this was what Chloe always did, believed in possibilities he had never considered. Over the years, he'd come to her and asked her to take leaps of faith so many times that he'd forgotten to see her support for the incredible gift that it was. This beautiful, brilliant girl was amazing. How had it ever taking him this long to figure it out?
"Maybe a private eye or a freelance thing would work better, though even that might be…"
He bent his head and cut off her ramble with a kiss that expressed his gladness in the moment. Her soft lips parted and he deepened his claim, nibbling and teasing her mouth. His heart raced. Her sweet tongue tantalized him like nothing else and he boldly chased after it, not feeling any of the awkwardness or insecurities that usually plagued him in situations like this. Stroking her back, he held her in the circle of his arms, not wanting to stop, but pulling back to give her a chance to breathe. He was feeling a little lightheaded himself.
"Sorry Clark, I planned to nag you about your options, not beat you over the head with them," Chloe apologized, not looking sorry at all; her bright green eyes sparkled, her cheeks were flushed, and her tempting lips looked red and luscious. He gave into temptation and captured another quick kiss.
"Graduation is still months away. I haven't figured everything out yet, but I discovered one, very important thing." He touched her face tenderly, mirroring the way she'd gently stroked his cheek. "The future is a lot less frightening knowing I have you."
Chloe slid her hands up his chest, looped her arms around his neck and tilted her head back; her eyes flashed with a teasing glint. "Oh, so you have me?"
"Yeah, I think I do," he answered confidently, happiness pushing away all his insecurities. "But it goes both ways." He wouldn't have thought it possible, but her smile got even brighter.
"Yeah?" She traced her pink tongue along the edge of her top set of teeth, smiling and wagging her eyebrows.
He swallowed hard. Seeing her tongue did things to him. He nodded slowly. "Definitely."
"I could get used to that."
"Get used to this." He crushed her close and took her mouth again, a mouth that he prized no matter what it was doing. She met his kiss just as fiercely, belying her previous teasing tone. Her unrestrained response satisfied a hunger in his soul. On every level, Chloe was what he craved: her mind, her friendship, her love - a love he didn't need declared to feel. Whatever destiny Jor-El, or society, or even his parents had planned for him didn't matter; he had Chloe and with her, came the strength to believe that together they would create their own destiny. Everything else would be rewritten.
The End
Author's note: What a lovely simpler time Season 4 really was! I think Chlark could have easily come together then so I was glad to get this story prompt and have the chance to make it so. Plus, I saved Alicia Baker's life and let her stay true to her promise not to reveal Clark's secret. The Smallville writers were so changeable. One week she was taking bullets to protect his secret, the next she was setting him up for universal exposure. So random!