I was lying in my bed in Watchtower. Oliver was right and it was the most comfortable mattress I'd ever slept on and, truly, I did appreciate that it wasn't something he and Chloe had slept on. That was really too much for me, new sheets or not. I was glad that I had it. I hurt a lot more than I wanted to admit. Chloe had handedly kicked my ass and my brain was having a hard time reconciling that. Talk about cognitive dissonance. Chloe, the girl I've rescued more times I can count, that Chloe. Chloe who barely came up to my chin.
She'd left my chest feeling a little bruised and my palms scratched up from falling on to them when she'd tripped me.
I know she hadn't meant to hurt me. She just had had so much more training and skills than I ever anticipated. I don't know that Bruce guy all that well, and I should have realized how much prowess Diana had even outside of her powers. She'd been raised as part of a race of warrior women (no really).
It never occurred to me, in all honesty, that Chloe could soak up that much in nine months. It probably should have, because Chloe had always excelled at anything she'd been motivated to learn. She just wasn't...when did she become someone else so entirely and why didn't I notice it. Yeah, I noticed her getting darkly obsessed and lost in Watchtower. That's very true. However, I hadn't cared much. I'd been busy with Lois and with being just The Blur , no red and blue involved, busy scorching buildings and beating up Tess more than once. I just couldn't understand how she'd left Smallville and come back a new person I was barely recognizing.
Chloe Sullivan I mostly knew.
"Anne Queen" was a whole new animal.
Speak of the devil, she opened the door to my bedroom and sat down on one of the armchairs. She had a cardboard holder of drinks in one hand and a bag from the Java Hut. The drinks were huge, overflowing frozen coffee deals with tons of whipped cream. I had never been a fan of that sort of thing before but sugar was sugar, I was learning that. Sitting up and glad I'd put on a t-shirt with my pajama bottoms (I'd never really been one to sleep in just boxers), I grabbed the offered coffee.
"Thank you, Watchtower."
She winked and handed me the bag. "Two muffins, both with blueberry. Pretend it's a real fruit offering, Boy Scout."
"Ugh, I really need to think of a better code name. I never liked that anymore than Bart likes Impulse." I winced a little as I pulled myself up against the headboard.
She frowned. "You're still sore?"
"I think the roundhouse bruised a little. You wouldn't think so because I'm a big guy, but-"
She took a sip of her own drink. The whipped cream gave her a little mustache, until she licked it off. It was cute. Huh, random thought. "I went a little harder than I should have for lesson one. Believe me, with Ollie I'd get sore a lot, but with Bruce or Diana? First time with Diana, I felt like I could barely move and she, of course, held back to mortal moves."
"Or your head would be in Greece."
"Right, but you did insult me by thinking I wasn't tough enough."
"But you're Chloe, you're an indoor girl!"
"I was for a long time. It's so much better being out in the field too, seeing and interacting with the people I save, getting some damn fresh air."
"You hated P.E."
"I have a purpose for running laps now. I'm not that girl from high school or even from the Watchtower two years ago, basically."
I sighed. "We've all changed a lot."
"Sort of what happens when you stay friends with someone since your first growth spurt," she snarked, pulling out biscotti from a second bag in her coat pocket. "It's extra chocolate. I have a spare."
"Well there's only so much sugar," I deferred. "You earned it for 'winning' last night and bringing me the rest. What time is it?"
"It's already six. I just got off." She blushed. "Work, I mean."
"Uh, right."
"But I know you start at eight. I also figured since we didn't get back in until 2 a.m. that you needed your rest. The sugar's partially a wake up call."
"Thanks. I...uh, need to get showered and shaved and stuff. Using a razor sucks too."
"So that's why the cuts? I wasn't really getting that. I...well, I never really thought about hair cuts and shaving."
"Uh, practiced heat vision in the right places and mirrors. This is less complicated but more likely to hurt myself, believe it or not."
She giggled and patted my arm. "Make friends with little pieces of toilet paper." Chloe then took my trash and gave me the tiniest peck on the forehead, something mom probably would have done. "Alright, I'm getting out of here. I'll be back about maybe one tomorrow afternoon, since it's Saturday and you have nights on weekends. Just don't be late!"
"Sure, Chlo, thanks."
I did make it to the main office for my orientation with time to spare. About sixty seconds. I had gotten out of the Watchtower by seven but it was twenty blocks to The Journal and I'd underestimated how difficult the subway stuff was gonna be. First, I got on the wrong line and went fifteen blocks the wrong way. Then the one I did get on had a glitch where the power (and dear god the air conditioning) went out for five minutes. Ugh. Not fun. Being crammed in the subway, cleaning to a rail and having some random dude shoved against my shoulder was not the way to get anywhere, neither was stopping every two minutes, at best.
I missed superspeed.
Hell, I wish I had the truck still even if it was useless in the city, no place to park, certainly not one I could afford.
Sighing, I straightened my shirt and walked in to meet my new boss. He was a short man, not much taller than maybe Jimmy had been, old and grizzled, with skin a shade lighter than Pete's and a healthy day's stubble. His embroidered name badge said "Dave."
"Uh, Mr. Marshall?"
He nodded. "You're Clark, right? Personnel told me you started today. You're taller than we anticipated," he said, tossing me grey, washed out looking coveralls. They vaguely reminded me of the ones that I had worn in my mind escaping the mental hospital." It wouldn't really be flattering.
I slipped into the locker room and changed as fast as I could. Sighing when the sleeves and pants legs were at least each three inches too short. Well, it wasn't like I had dignity more anyway.
Once I was changed, Mr. Marshall gave me the once over and asked me to follow him, showing me what I'd be doing. The Journal had thirty floors. I was in charge of emptying the garbage and recycling on all of the first fifteen, while he did the floor buffering. There was Sam, who did a lot of the carpet vacuuming and Janice for mopping. The windows were done by washers during the day and, of course, there were day shift workers and people from 1-8. It still surprised me it wasn't as large a staff as I wanted or hoped for. I wasn't sure if that was because we were might have been doing our own zones or something or because of the recession, who could tell.
Still, I could empty and organize that. Even if it was a lot of room, I was going to be able to handle that.
As I left for the first level of the building, ready with my cart, Mr. Marshall smirked at me and also handed me a mop, bucket and plunger. "New kid gets the bathrooms by the cafeteria. It was taco day. Good luck, sport."
In retrospect, I really should have finished college.
I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe without everything screaming at me. I had spent eight hours on my feet, two of that had been more related to "taco day." I suppose I should be grateful I didn't have enhanced senses anymore. It still didn't mean that the experience had been enjoyable or
When I got to Watchtower, it was already nine a.m. That meant that J'onn was on duty. I nodded at him, giving him a glare and a thought that now was not the time to discuss my first day. He was decked out as "John Jones" in his Shaft coat and he just smiled at me, clearing reading out of my mind exactly how bad my first day had been.
"Kal-El, I wouldn't press."
"Oh, yeah you would."
"It'll get easier. I didn't have my powers for 18 months. I got shot even."
"Uh, yeah, I'm really sorry I sort of fell down on fixing that."
"Dr. Fate fixed it and I am glad about that," he said stiffly. "Still, it gets easier to adjust to limitations. I promise you."
"I was human for a whole four months once. I got used to most of it...okay some of it. I'm sure this will get better. It's still not like lifting heavy bales of hay or fence posts. That's really stuff that aches."
"True."
"Still," I said, running a hand over my face. God I had to shower. "There was always the option to get them back. It's different when you know it'll never happen."
"It's a loss. You're in mourning for what you were and for what you assumed you'd be. No one expects that to be fixed in two weeks or even a year. The fact that you're trying is what really matters, and we're all here for you. Your mother's proud of you. She's been strict with you because of the way you've ignored her and lied about things that should have been family matters, but she knows that you're trying. I suspect that one day, you will be able to go to Washington and intern on her staff. She'd let you do that if she's re-elected."
"Mom's awesome so she will be."
"Yes, but first, it's good to learn how valuable your gifts were and to stay near us."
"Cause I'm fragile and need to be looked after?"
"Something like that," he conceded. "You do have a habit of getting shot while mortal. We're just here to help you deal with everything that's come at once."
"J'onn?"
"Yes?"
I sighed and balled my hands up at my sides. "I don't know if I want to go to D.C. after I get used to being human. It's already a thousand miles from here to Star City. D.C. is almost across the country."
"There are airplanes, Kal-El, and in Oliver's case, jets."
"I know. I just don't want to be so far from Chloe." I thought better about how that sounded and amended my statement. "Well and Oliver too. I'd miss them."
J'onn shook his head and smiled at me sadly. Then he turned back to his monitor. "One day, you'll have to learn to appreciate what you have before it's gone."
"Yeah, I'm not great at that, but I do miss my powers a ton."
"I wasn't talking about them."
Then what the Hell was he talking about?
I was halfway up the stairs before a question was burning in my brain too much to ignore. "Uh, J'onn, Conner said you and mom were dating."
"We have been for a while, yes."
"Um, that's good, mom's not good at being too lonely and stuff. But, uh, so how far has this gone exactly?"
He smiled. "Kal-El, a gentlemen never talks about certain things."
I hurried up the stairs and slammed the door, but not before shooing Lucky off my bed (eww). J'onn and mom and...for fuck's sake, I just wanted to wake up and have my life back, but that just wasn't an option.
