Elixir

by Lener

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Smallville.

Chapter Seven

          Chloe went on typing, watching Clark from the corner of her eye. His gaze was still on the door that Lana had closed about 3 minutes ago. He seemed lost in thought, not even registering the fact that she had stopped typing now and was just observing him. Hmm… probably thinking about Lana and regretting the fact that he had chosen that time to do a little best friend bonding with me. Now he probably thinks that he stands absolutely no chance with that girl. I wonder what she has that makes every guy who looks at her want her.

        "Chloe?" Clark's voice brought her out of her thinking process, and she realized (with bitter irony) that the tables had been turned. It was now Clark who had caught her staring at him.

        "Yes?" she turned away quickly, then proceeded to resume typing a website address.

        "I…"

        Chloe held her breath, but went on typing. 5 seconds later Clark had still not continued the sentence he had started.

        "You what, Clark?" she persisted impatiently.

        "Oh, nothing."

        Darn Lana.

*

"It happened when you were at home? Okay… okay… uh huh… tell me exactly what happened. What did you see and hear? And what time was it? What were you doing?" Chloe said into the receiver, trying hard to keep the excitement out of her voice.

A quick look at the Smallville High School enrolment archives had told her that one of her good friends, Jessica Hunter, from the Computer Club, lived just next door to Mr. Martin Spout. Chloe had immediately called Jessica up the minute she had reached home, and after some idle chit chat, had cleverly directed their flow of conversation towards the murder of Mr. Spout.

"Well, I was in my room and I had the radio on, but not to full blast. Then I thought I heard something like glass breaking. I turned off the radio and went downstairs where my mom and dad were. It was already about 7 something. I…"

Chloe started as Jessica suddenly screamed into the receiver. There was a loud thud, and then the line went dead, but not before a strangely cold voice from the other end said, "I'm coming for you, Sullivan." A chill raced up Chloe's spine, and she slammed the phone down with shaking hands. Something had happened to her friend- and someone out there was trying to make her life a living hell in the process.

Without warning, Chloe grabbed her black leather coat and threw it over her clothes. Then she stalked out of the house to Jessica's house, halfway across town.

*

The pale moon hung suspended in the starry sky, like a rare diamond brooch on black brocade. All the other glittering stars lay greatly lessened in beauty.

Clark sat in the shadows of his loft, gazing out at the dark sky, deep in thought. In his mind he saw Lana, with her silky coffee brown hair and doe eyes, smiling up at him. A split second later the image was replaced with Chloe, her shiny blonde hair and expressive, deep green eyes.

His mind whirled in confusion. He had always liked Lana- so when had these feelings for Chloe started? Something deep down inside him protested, and Clark knew he could no longer feign ignorance. He had always liked Chloe. Ever since she moved to Smallville he had been taken by her, and back then Lana had been nothing to him.

So now when had Lana ever appealed to him? Clark frowned and got up from the worn couch, walked towards his telescope and moved it so that he could look at Lana's house. She was on the porch, sitting on the ledge with a pink shawl wrapped around her shoulders. In her hands was a paperback, and she seemed engrossed in whatever she was reading.

Clark stared for about a few minutes, and then realized that the sight of her brought to joy or elation to him. He felt completely normal. He felt… nothing.

He brought the telescope away from Lana's house, and just then a moving object caught his eye. He squinted into the lens, and could just make out a billowing black coat and light blonde hair…

"Chloe?" Clark said.

At that moment the figure turned her head, as if sensing that someone far away was watching her. Clark caught a glimpse of her face, but it was enough to tell him that he knew who the person was. His heart missed a beat as his eyes locked into hers. It was, indeed, his best friend, and the expression she had on her face was one of fear and yet determination. He had seen it on her before, but never this strongly. Something had happened.

In a flash, Clark was gone from the loft.

*

Chloe stopped in her tracks, turned around and stared into pitch darkness. "Who's there?" she called out, but received no answer. Strange… I felt as though someone was watching me, she thought. Abandoning her suspicions, she took a step forward, but stopped again when there came a rustling sound from behind her.

"Who's there?" she called out, louder and fiercer this time. A figure emerged from the shadows of the bushes, and Chloe took a step back, afraid that it would be the person whose voice she had heard over the phone earlier.

"Chloe?" a familiar voice rang in her ears. It hardly seemed hostile- it was more of concerned, actually. The figure stepped out of the cover of darkness and into the faint moonlight, and Chloe recognized the dark curly hair and shape of a strong jaw.

"Clark?!" she exclaimed.

"What are you doing out here by yourself in the middle of the night?" Clark asked.

"I should be asking you that question too, you know," she retorted, placing her hands on her hips. Secretly she was glad that it had not been the strange murderer, and also glad that Clark was there with her.

"Well, I was looking through my telescope- night gazing, you know, and I guess it sort of radar-ed in on you," Clark scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. Chloe raised her eyebrow, but said nothing. "And you?" Clark asked. She quickly related the phone conversation she had had with Jessica.

"So you're going to go to her house now? At this time of the night?" Clark looked at her as though she'd gone permanently insane. "I don't have much of a choice, do I? That voice sounded awfully familiar, and besides, I want to get to the bottom of this mystery so I can live my life in peace. Anyway, this is a Chloe certified Wall of Weird mystery, and I can never rest until I solve it," she stated matter-of-factly.

They had begun walking together and for a while neither of them spoke, enjoying the comfortable silence.

"You sure you're mom won't kill you for leaving the house like that?" Chloe decided to ask.

"I'm sure she'll under…" Clark suddenly stopped short, and Chloe turned her head in the direction which Clark was gaping at.

"Oh… my… god…" the words escaped her lips as a mere breath, and it was then that she became aware of the noise and commotion about them. There were Smallville police cars parked outside Jessica Hunter's house, and an ambulance wailed forlornly into the dark night. Bright lights from torch lights and headlights glared about like intruders, and the noise of anxious talk was ceaseless.

"What happened?" Clark gasped.

Author's Note: Ahh… chapter 7 is done! Quite exciting, I must say. The action scenes start to come in here and the next chapter! DO read and review! I would like to apologize to all readers for not updating for a very, very long time! I hope you accept this apology, and I had absolutely no time to write replies to the reviewers, that's why the replies were missing!!! Now that I have a little muse and inspiration back, it's time to make good use of that!

Sylphide- Thanks for reviewing! Oh, sorry I didn't reply, but I'm glad you said that you didn't need a reply to review! *feels touched* Anyway, I'm glad you liked the previous chapter. Hope you liked this one! Hahaha… I'm glad that you don't think the Chlark tickling scene and shampoo one was stupid! Well, can't wait to hear from you!

Calty- Hahaha! Thanks for your review! It was hilarious (as always). I don't know… is there a great big Chlarky scene in this chapter? I don't think so… nevertheless, the story is finishing (yay and boo) so there WILL be a major Chlarky scene coming up soon! Don't miss it!

Starburst- Well, I updated! (Lol… thanks for the review!)

Arekanderu- Hey… thanks for the review. Well, they found her fingerprints at the scene of the crime and took her in for questioning but Lex and Clark and Pete came with her alibi… and so the Smallville police could not arrest her as she was innocent. So that's it… this can be found in Chapter Four!