Title: Always You
Author: Cassandra Mulder
Rating: PG
Feedback: Here or danamulder at Smallville; Chlark; missing scene from "Gone"; Chloe & Lois friendship
Spoilers: Up through "Gone".
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, it all belongs to AlMiles. Don't sue. You wanna be more unpopular? No infringment is intended.
Written: March 1 - 3, 2005
Distribution: My site, Bound, anywhere else, please ask.
Summary: She always knew he'd save her.
Words: 1, 953
For: Tracy ,who wanted Chlark, a missing scene from season 4, and Lois.
A/N: Yes, some of this is inspired by Chloe's line in "Obscura". She said it once, and it still holds true, so why not? I chose "Gone" to do a missing scene from, because there's so much, well, missing from that episode Chloe-wise.

Chloe always knew he'd save her.

He always did, no matter the state of their relationship, no matter where he was or what he was doing. This time she'd even thought him to be lost, and still he'd come through for her, just as he always did.

Not that she hadn't worried when Lex had notified her of his disappearance. It was around the same time Lionel had tried to blow her and her father to smithereens, and at the time she'd wondered how much she could take. Nearly losing her life and the boy she loved was not what she had planned for her summer vacation.

Thank God they don't make you write those reports in school anymore, she thought wryly. The teacher would think she'd turned in fiction.

Chloe picked at the sheets on the bed, not wanting, as usual, to be confined to her least favorite place in Smallville. She couldn't help but wonder how she and her friends wound up spending so much time in the hospital. But her life being so dangerous was just another thing she hadn't planned.

Lionel was almost assuredly going to prison, especially after her testimony in a couple of days, but he had already proven that she still wasn't safe. She could literally put him away for the rest of his life, but she would still be looking over her shoulder for the rest of hers.

What had she done?

Tears pricked at her eyes, but she refused to cry them. She refused to be afraid of Lionel Luthor anymore. There had to be some way to defeat him, to get her life back. Everything was such a mess right now that she knew it might take awhile, but she was determined. And a determined Chloe Sullivan almost always got what she wanted.

Her lonely reverie was broken when her cousin, Lois, walked through the door.

Lois smiled brightly, and looked over her shoulder briefly. "Have you seen those security guards of yours? One's too old for me, but the other one? Wow. He is gorgeous."

Chloe just laughed and rolled her eyes. "Since when is anyone too old for you?" she teased.

Lois gave her a mock frown. "I'm only going to let you get away with that because you're lying in a hospital bed, Chlo. Remember that."

"Only if you remember I hate being called 'Chlo'."

Lois laughed.

"Oh, come on, what if people went around calling you 'Lo'?"

"You might have a point there," Lois gave in.

"I always do," Chloe said smugly.

They both dissolved into laughter, despite their surroundings. Most of their teasing ended that way.

Lois sat down on the edge of her bed. "How are you really feeling?"

"Okay. Relieved. Safer. Pissed."

"Pissed?"

"Yeah, that they're making me stay overnight. Dad cannot afford this."

"Clark said Lex is paying for it," Lois said slowly, like her cousin should've already known.

Chloe sighed. "That figures."

"I guess he feels -"

"Responsible," Chloe finished. "You don't know Lex. He always feels responsible."

"For, like, everything in the world?" Lois quipped.

That made Chloe laugh a little. "Pretty much if he thinks he has anything to do with it," she said.

"Well, at least he wants to clean up his messes. How is that bad?"

"I wish I had the time to explain that one, Lois. But we'd be here all year. I know Lex tries, but it's mostly out of guilt and not wanting to be like his father. That's the short version anyway."

Lois nodded and let it go for once.

"I feel like I should've brought you something."

"Next time. They're thinking of reserving me a permanent room."

"Don't joke like that, Chloe. This is so far beyond funny..."

Chloe saw the tears forming in Lois' eyes, and was a little startled. She put a hand on her arm.

"I'm sorry, Lois, I didn't mean -"

Lois shook her head. "It's okay," she said with a sniffle. "What would we do without a sense of humor?"

Chloe smiled a little, still not used to seeing her older cousin act this way. Nothing ever got to Lois Lane. Not that anyone saw anyway.

"You okay?"

"Yeah." Lois sniffed again, and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's just... Chloe, I thought you were dead."

"I know," Chloe said softly. "I didn't mean to make light. If it had been you, I'd have felt the same way. It's okay."

She leaned up gingerly to give Lois a hug, and even though Lois squeezed a little too tightly, she let her. She couldn't imagine what she'd gone through these last few months.

Lois sat back on the bed and grabbed a tissue from the bedside table. "You're fine, I shouldn't be such a mess," she said, embarrassed at getting caught being emotional.

"Well, it's nice to know someone cares," Chloe said.

Lois finished wiping her eyes and sighed. "Do you want company tonight? I could stay, and we could watch bad infomercials, 'cause that's all that's ever on late at night on basic cable, and I could be your third bodyguard."

Chloe laughed. "It's nice of you to offer, but if I let you stay, you'd just whine at me about how the chair you attempted to sleep in nearly killed you. I don't think they're going to roll in another bed for a visitor."

"You know me too well. The General always says, 'You're a Lane! You should be able to sleep anywhere!'" she said in a bad imitation of her father. "But it's just not true. It's me and the bed, or me and exhaustion."

"Speaking of... I heard you've been staying with the Kents."

"Yeah. I don't think I've made a very good impression though."

"They'll just have to get used to you," Chloe teased.

"Yeah. Maybe." Lois paused. "So, this Clark. He's the guy you've been mooning over the last four years?"

Chloe blushed. "What? You don't think I should've been?"

"Well... I don't know. I'm sure he's different with you. We're like oil and water."

"Uh huh."

"No, really, he was weird on sight. And, um, naked..." Lois frowned.

Chloe nearly choked. "Naked?" she managed to get out.

"Yeah. I'll tell you all about it some time. Don't bother asking him, he says he has no recollection of the incident at all."

Chloe blinked a few times, and her face screwed up as she said, "I'm just trying to picture -"

"Clark naked?" Lois finished, an evil grin spreading across her face. "I bet you are."

Her younger cousin gave her a death look, and shook her head, then started as she saw someone open the door.

It was Clark.

Lois burst into peals of laughter, while Chloe blushed a deep pink. Clark looked at them both like they were certifiably insane. He figured Lois was, at least.

Lois stood up. "I think this is my cue to leave." She hugged Chloe, then brushed past Clark. "I think Chloe might have something she wants to discuss with you," she said, flashing a mischievous grin.

Chloe glared at her till she closed the door behind her, then turned to Clark with a bright smile.

"You came to visit me!"

"Don't I always?"

They both laughed uncomfortably at the implications of that question.

"Yes, you do. One of two ways in which you're dependable."

He took no offense, because she meant none. It was just one of those issues they'd beaten to death and accepted.

"I won't ask what the other one is," he said as he sat in the chair beside her bed.

"It's better you don't," she said with a wrinkle of her nose.

"How are you feeling?"

"Little bit sore." She rubbed her wrists where they'd been chained. "Other than that? A little bit sore." She smiled. "I don't know why they want to keep me here, I'd be fine to go home. I want to go home, I miss it."

"I know. I'll take you home in the morning."

She cocked her head questioningly.

"I'm staying tonight." But then his confidence faltered. "Unless you don't want me to..."

"No... I'd like that. Thank you, Clark. Hospitals are creepier than usual at night. I don't know what it is, but if it freaks me out, it must be something."

Clark leaned forward, his clasped hands dangling between his knees. "I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner."

Chloe frowned. "Find me...? I was supposed to be de-"

"I know," Clark cut her off. Even now that she was okay, he still hated to hear that word.

"So..."

"Maybe I'll be able to explain it all better someday. But basically there were just things that didn't add up. When, uh... When Lois dug up your grave, we understood why."

Chloe's eyes were huge. "She didn't tell me she dug up my grave. I mean, I know there was nothing in it, but she didn't know that, so..." She made a face. "I'm just not gonna think about that."

"I'm not thinking about anything except the fact that it was empty," Clark said, but his eyes went a little further.

Why did he have to look at her like that? It just wasn't fair, because it gave her all kinds of thoughts, and a million false hopes, and... Hadn't she been through enough?

She tried desperately to shake off his gaze. "Hey, I'm grateful for that, too. But my big concern right now is keeping it empty. And with Lionel able to reach me, even from prison, that's looking a little iffy, don't you think?"

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Chloe," he said, determined to make it so.

She knew he meant it. She knew he always had done, and always would do, anything to keep her safe. But Clark was just one boy, and he couldn't keep an eye on her all the time.

"Are you going to be with me twenty-four/seven?" she laughed, but her eyes let him know she appreciated the gesture.

"I know... I know I can't be. But we will find a way, Chloe. You're not going anywhere again as long as I have any say in it." He smiled at her, and reached out to take her hand.

She smiled at him, and tried to stay calm. He was being so gentle with her, so he didn't aggravate the bruises on her wrists, and she was torn between wanting to laugh and cry. She knew if only he was hers that she wouldn't worry so much, that they would be together enough that maybe he could protect her in the way he said he wanted to... But that was going to have to wait for another day. There were other things, other stress she had to deal with, and if she could do that with Clark by her side, it would be enough for now. Even if it was only as a friend.

He broke the contact, and sat back in his chair. She wasn't the only one to notice she'd had no clever comeback to his declaration, but it didn't matter. Comfortable silence could work, too.

But with a reporter for a best friend, it didn't last long.

"How did you know I wasn't dead?" she asked bluntly.

"I just knew. You couldn't be."

"Simple as that?"

"Almost," he said with a grin, then sobered. "I didn't feel it, Chloe. I felt like you were out there somewhere, and you needed my help. Nothing else made sense."

"Your disappearance didn't add up either. I knew you'd find me."

"How did you know?"

Chloe shrugged. "I just knew it would be you, Clark. It's always you."

Finis