Ten

"Blow the Candles Out"

A Smallville story by Xica

Characters: Clark, Chloe, Pete, Lana, Lex, and Mari

Disclaimer: C'mon lets be serious folks. All I own is Mari…and my unhealthy love for Lex Luthor.

I would just like to take a quick second and thank everyone for all the great feedback and your continued patience with my 'slow as molasses" chapter posting. I would work on this all day everyday if I could but as usual, life gets in the way. Enjoy.

There's got to be a morning after…

11.a.m – The morning after

Pete

Pete sat in the driveway debating his next move. The night before had been a restless one for him. On a superficial level the evening should have been great. The party had been raging and he had hooked up with Erica, who was still by far one of the hottest girls in school. But on the flip side he had totally blown her off, which, he suspected, she had not taken kindly too. Sighing deeply Pete turned off the ignition and sat back in the seat. He wondered if he had over stepped his bounds with Mari, but he just couldn't help himself. "Lex Luthor!" he grumbled, punching the steering wheel. For the life of him he couldn't understand what kind of hold Lex had on her. Pete felt his eyelids drooping and decided that maybe he wasn't ready for this quite yet. He climbed out of the car and headed back towards his house.

Lana

"So honey how was the party last night?"

Oh, so many ways to answer that particular question. She gave Nell the usual sweet smile and chipper "Fine, Nell" and went back to her breakfast.

"It must have been better than fine" Nell said, raising her eyebrows, "you got in pretty late last night".

Oh, shut up and stop re-living your youth through me.

"Well actually after the party a bunch of us went up to Crater Lake and hung out some more".

Nell actually had to hide a smile before continuing, "Well Lana you know I'm all for you getting out and dating again, but we don't want anyone to think you're loose".

"Don't worry Aunt Nell" Lana said earnestly, "a few guys tried to make a move, but I just hung out with Clark and all my friends". They should give me an academy award for this shit.

"Well all right then, I'm going to head into town, I'll be back in a few hours".

"Bye Nell" she called out, before slumping back in her chair, pushing her plate away.

How could last night have gone so horribly wrong? It was bad enough that Clark had rejected her but then that Sullivan bitch had slapped her. Lana grimaced as she remembered how she had scurried off afterwards when she should have stuck around and gave Chloe what she deserved.

            But the night hadn't been a total loss. She had run into Greg Peters on her way out and he offered her a ride home. They drove up into the woods and parked. They made out for a little while and Greg had tried to convince Lana to go down on him. Lana smiled as she remembered how she had turned it around on him and convinced him to do the deed instead. It had been exactly what she needed to clear her mind. Afterwards she had cried and told him she 'wasn't that type of girl' and he had done everything but sign a contract in blood to promise that he would never tell anyone what had happened that night. And while she'd had no problem drifting off to sleep last night, this morning was a different story.

            Should she just cut her losses and leave Clark behind? Truthfully there were a million guys who would die from happiness if she took an interest in them. But that's what makes them so boring! Clark Kent had been enough of a challenge with his damned determination to do right by Whitney, and now that Chloe had moved in the way it was going to be more difficult than ever.

Clark

Clark stacked the last piece of wood into place and smiled happily. His chores were done for the day and now he was free. He walked outside of the barn and inhaled deeply, breathing in the fresh late morning air. Last night had been strange to say the least, but some definite good had come out of it. Chloe. He felt the heat rising in his cheeks as remembered the time they had spent away from the party. All the way home he had tried to apologize for what had happened with Lana, but Chloe hadn't wanted to hear it. She kept telling him that it didn't matter, and after she had threatened to get out of the car and walk home he had finally gotten the message.

When they finally arrived at her house he walked her to the door and hesitated, even then not sure if he should kiss her. Chloe had solved that problem by pulling him down to her, leaving him with a kiss that he felt on the smile he wore all the way home. He felt like an idiot for mooning after Lana for so long, when Chloe was so wonderful. But, Clark resolved, all that was over now. He was going to make sure that Chloe knew that she was the only person that mattered to him.

Chloe

Chloe padded downstairs, yawning deeply. Being up this early on a Sunday was certainly a foreign concept, but she just couldn't stay in bed. Once she awoke, exhaustion or no exhaustion she needed coffee within fifteen minutes to stave off a major meltdown.

"Hey honey, I thought you'd be sleeping in a bit later than usual"

"Yeah well coffee calls"

Gabe Sullivan laughed and got up from the table to secure a mug of coffee for his daughter.

"Thanks dad" Chloe said, immediately taking a sip of the hot liquid.

"So, late night honey?"

Chloe smiled into her coffee cup, "Yeah, I guess I did get home kind of late".

"Well its not a habit of yours so I'll let it slide this time. I take it you had a good time".

"Yeah I guess you could say that" she answered vaguely

"Honey, I don't mean to pry but is there something you're not telling me?"

Sighing, Chloe put down her coffee and figured now was as good a time as ever.

"Dad, Clark was my date for the party last night"

"And?' Gabe Sullivan might be pretty easygoing, but he knew when his daughter was withholding information.

"And, I guess we're kinds um, well I know that we're….well Clark and I"

"You're dating Clark Kent?"

"Yeah, that" Chloe said, letting a grin escape.

"And this all happened last night?" he asked a look of skepticism crossing his face.

"Dad! Nothing happened! Well nothing really".

"I just want you to be careful honey. I just don't want to have to put a hit out on the Kent boy for breaking my daughters heart".

Chloe laughed and crossed the room. "Methinks you've spent too much time around Lex Luthor dad, but I get your point. I already told him that I'm not going to rush into anything", she said, wrapping her arms around her father's neck.

"Well you know I've got to do my protective father bit, its part of the manual".

Chloe chuckled and then yawned deeply. "Ya know what dad, I think I'm not quite ready for the world yet. I'm gonna go get some more sleep".

"Alright pumpkin, I'll see you when you wake up".

Chloe drifted back upstairs and flopped down onto her bed, burying herself underneath the comforter.

Her thoughts drifted to Clark, and for the first time her daydreams were not of the "I wish" variety but more of the "I can't wait 'til" type. Life is good Sullivan she thought to herself before she drifted off to sleep once again.

Mari

Mari sat in front of her vanity, absentmindedly brushing her hair. Besides the fact that her house was a total wreck, the previous nights events had left her with a lot on her mind. First there was the Clark issue, but she decided that she'd deal with that some other time. The most pressing issue of course was Lex, and on a related note, Pete. She placed the brush on the table and sat back in the chair with a sigh. On one hand Pete's issues really weren't her problem. She valued him as a good friend, and he was a great guy but she honestly had never pictured him as the boyfriend type. Although on the other hand, Lex definitely was not the boyfriend type. Mari was distracted from her thoughts by the ringing of her doorbell. She quickly went downstairs and opened the door.

"Mari Wesley?"

"Yes, that's me. Can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Mark from Lowell's Cleaning Service. I understand you've got quite the job for us today"

"Well yeah actually but I'm confused. I didn't call for cleaning service yet"

"Well someone definitely did and its all been paid for so if you could just show us where to go, my crew and I will get to work".

            Mari had just finished showing the crew all the various rooms to be cleaned when the doorbell rang again.

"Hi, I'm looking for a Ms. Wesley?"

"That would be me"

"Okay then, if you would just sign here, I've got a delivery for you"

Mari took the clipboard and signed her name, and the delivery man handed her a plain cream colored envelope with no return address.

Mari immediately tore open the envelope.

12:30

The mansion.

LL.

Mari smiled a mile wide and tucked the note back in the envelope. She had just enough time to change clothes.