Chloe heard a regular beep going and felt a pinchy feeling in her arm and shifted on the bed. Opening her eyes, she saw she was in a hospital room. Rolling her head, she saw Jimmy sleeping on the side of the bed with his head pillowed on his arms. She smiled fondly and stroked his hair. Her touch roused him and he lifted his head to look at her.
His worried eyes met hers. "Chloe?" He sounded hopeful.
She smiled. "Morning, handsome."
"You know me?"
She grinned. "Yes."
He let out a whoop of joy and pulled her to him. She grimaced as he jostled the IV in her arm. Clark came rushing into the room.
Looking over Jimmy's shoulder as he held onto her, she met Clark's eyes. "Clark!" she cried joyfully.
He gave her that wonderful heart-stopping smile of his.
Jimmy finally released her. "What happened? How is your memory? Are you ok?"
She laughed and held his hands. "Slow down, tiger. I'm fine. I feel much better."
Chloe began scrolling through her memory. She knew faces and names. She knew her past...wait. Did she? There were still weird blank spots. She remembered doing things, but she didn't always recall why. She felt her brow knit in consternation and saw worried expressions come across both their faces. She quickly smiled and pushed the thought away. She didn't need to worry them again. At least the symbols were gone. The symbols - should she know what they were about? No! She pushed that thought away too before it could show on her face.
Looking at her with worry still tinging his expression, Jimmy asked, "What do you remember?"
Smiling, she told him, "I remember that we still have to figure out a seating chart for Saturday."
He grinned back at her. "I think I can handle that."
She reached a hand out towards Clark. He moved forward to accept it. "And I remember our Best Man here still needs to pick up the rings from the jeweler's."
Clark smiled warmly at her again. "I won't forget."
She laughed.
The hospital ran a number of test and drilled her rigorously on her memory before finally clearing her to go home. She had been wanting to call Davis all day, but didn't feel comfortable doing so with Clark or Jimmy in attendance. They only left her side when she was in testing.
Even so the hospital wanted to hold her overnight for observation. The staff finally kicked Clark and Jimmy out, but now it was late.
She wasn't sure of Davis' schedule, so decided to put off calling him until the next day.
She would take the quiet time tonight to think. She sat up and stared intently at nothing, letting her mind run.
She had been very careful during the testing today to not let on that she still had gaps in her memory.
She decided to work on the mental issue using one of the techniques from the testing today. She started with something she knew to be true and worked forward until she hit a roadblock. The easiest one to do was Jimmy.
She loved Jimmy and was going to marry him. They had been kidnapped on the night of their engagement party and questioned by a madman. She had passed the questions by doing...something. Block. She didn't know what she had done.
She ground her teeth in frustration and shifted forward across the skip in her memory.
Jimmy had been keeping secrets from her. His real name was actually Henry. His parents weren't coming to the wedding. He hadn't trusted her enough to tell her the truth even though they had been together for years. But she had been keeping secrets too. Her secrets were... Block.
Wait, what?
How can her own secrets be a mystery to her? Why were they a secret from Jimmy?
She started over.
She loved Jimmy and was going to marry him. She wanted to marry him because he was normal and was someone that wouldn't interfere with the important parts of her life. She wanted normal because... Block.
She ground her teeth and started again.
The important parts of her life were...Isis? Maybe? Clark? Yes, Clark.
Wait! Why was Clark more important than Jimmy?
Block.
This was getting more and more confusing.
She had the nagging feeling that she was missing something about Clark and it had to do with why she was marrying Jimmy. Yes, she loved Jimmy, but did she love him enough to get married? Was he everything she wanted and needed for the rest of her life?
She wasn't entirely sure. Those blank spots felt like the key. Like she chose Jimmmy for a reason she couldn't quite recall.
She shot up straighter. She was getting married and didn't know why. Her eyes darted around the room as if seeking answers.
Who could she ask? How could she find out?
She didn't have any answers. If she asked anyone, they would think she was losing it again. She didn't want to put the people she loved through any more of that.
Should she be getting married if she didn't know why?
Davis flashed to her mind. He was smiling at her while wearing a towel.
She quickly banished the image. No, that wasn't a good enough reason to call it off with a week to go. She had committed to marry Jimmy for reason, even if she couldn't recall it. She would have to trust herself that she was doing the right thing.
Damn it all, she would marry Jimmy Olsen! Or Henry! Or whatever-his-name-is!
Hopefully she would know why later...
Until then, she would be the best damn bride EVER.
Author's Note: There were a few things that I really wanted to address when I wrote this fiction in relation to the many, many, many mind wipes that Chloe faced this season. A big one was how did Chloe seem so oblivious to the fact she was mind wiped AGAIN by Clark. By this point, so much of her life had become tangled in his secret that I don't see how she couldn't tell something was wrong. The most logical answer was - she could tell, but Chloe being the person she is and wanting to protect the people she loved, she would have tried to shield them from the truth. So she lied and pretended to be OK, while looking for a solution on her own, which is very Chloe.
I also wanted to make a differentiation between the mind-wipe/replacement she suffered from Brainiac versus the block that Jor-El put in. You'll see more of that later. I had a lot of fun with that, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I like writing it.