Disclaimer: Don't own Smallville, and I'm not affiliated with it.
To Reviewers: Thanks for all the neat comments and thanks for taking the time to write them! Sorry about the long wait. I had writer's block for awhile.
Chapter 10
Lunch, at school:
Chloe walked in with a lunch bag and sat next to Clark and Pete in their usual spot.
For a few minutes, no one said anything, but Clark broke the silence.
"So, any idea how this happened? Because personally I'm kind of weirded out that you both have my strength."
Chloe and Pete shared a glance. Clark caught their looks.
"What? What is it?"
Pete pulled up his sleeve to show Clark his scar.
Clark looked at it, unbelieving for a few minutes and then looked over at Chloe.
"Do you have one too?" he said.
Chloe nodded, and pulled up the back of her shirt a little, enough for Clark to see.
"When did you get it?" Clark asked, almost as if waiting to confirm what he already knew.
Pete gulped. "In the caves, the night we went camping."
Clark nodded. He had figured that. "How come you didn't tell me?"
"We didn't want you to worry about us." Chloe said. She realized now that keeping this from Clark wasn't the best decision that she and Pete had made.
Clark took a deep breath, and looked at Pete, then Chloe. "So you couldn't have mentioned it this morning either? Pete, I know you said you had no idea how you got my strength."
"Clark, I didn't try that, I was in shock, and I didn't even think…"
"Save it, Pete." Clark said coolly. "Something this important, and you didn't even tell me. You know, you're right in thinking that I would've worried about you. I would've. But what if something had happened to either of you because of this?"
"Clark, calm down. We're attracting attention." Chloe said.
Sure enough, most of the cafeteria was looking at their table. Clark shook his head with disbelief and didn't say anything else.
After everyone had stopped looking at them, Pete asked, "Clark, did you tell your parents about the scar on your chest yet?"
"No." Clark said.
"Well, then how is that any different?" Pete reasoned.
"Because it is."
"That's bull, Clark. Pure and total bull. You thought that they would worry so you didn't tell them did you?" Chloe said.
"That's not the point!" Clark exclaimed.
"Yes, it is!" Chloe answered, equally as stubborn. "Look, Clark, I don't really care how pissed you are, but regardless of what we did or didn't tell you, we need you to help us out. You're used to dealing with this, and we aren't. And I'll be damned if I'm going home and breaking everything because you're upset."
Clark sighed, and stabbed a piece of meat with his fork. There was no way to win with Chloe involved. "I guess you're right."
Chloe smiled, knowing that she had won.
"But I don't know what to tell you. I mean, it's hard to describe how to control something that I've been controlling all my life." Clark said.
Suddenly a spoonful of potato flew over toward the group's table. Chloe saw it out of the corner of her eye, and immediately reacted, moving quickly out of the way before the projectile hit her. Almost too quickly. Clark's eyes widened. He immediately stood up and grabbed Chloe's sleeve.
"Come, on. We have to leave the cafeteria now."
"Clark, I haven't finished my lunch." Chloe stated.
"Bring it with you," he said. "You have a lunch bag."
The three teens stood up, and taking their lunches, walked to the Torch.
"Want to tell me what that was about?" Chloe fumed as soon as the group was situated in the Torch.
"Chloe, my strength is not the only thing you have." Clark stated.
"Oh, that's funny, Clark. I move out of the way of a spoonful of potato and suddenly you think I can break the sound barrier. Need I remind you I've been avoiding food thrown at me for years?" Chloe said.
"Chloe, no offense, but I think that having to hold back all my life should have given me some idea of what was normal and what wasn't."
"Right, because us normal people don't know what the hell normal is. Is that what you're trying to say, Clark?"
"Well you're not exactly normal anymore Chloe, so you're going to have to deal with it." Clark snapped.
"Don't go laying into me just because you had to spend most of your life hiding yourself from everyone." Chloe said sarcastically.
Both looked at each other angrily.
"Ok that's enough!" Pete said. "Geez, you two sound married."
That got Pete a sharp look from both.
"This is just great." Chloe complained. "Not only do we have to deal with this, we still have to solve the problem of Whitney."
"I meant to ask you guys how you even knew about Whitney in the first place." Pete said.
"We followed him to the graveyard a few nights ago." Clark said. "We didn't know it was him at first, until he attacked me and began to ramble about taking Lana away from him."
"Yeah, it's probably a good idea to fill you in, Pete." Chloe said, putting aside her annoyance at Clark for a second. "First of all, we know that red kryptonite hurts Whitney. To add to that, we know that Whitney's condition is caused by green kryptonite. That's why Clark and I haven't been able to fight him or bring him in. We also discovered, after you left the Torch, that Whitney was declared to be MIA, when in fact he was in a coma. It turns out that Lionel Luthor was visiting Indonesia, to open a new research facility the week of Whitney's 'death'. He was also in Indonesia this week before Whitney returned here and attacked us."
"I knew it had something to do with the Luthors. They're always up to no good." Pete said, a little pissed. Then he realized something. "Wait a minute. Red kryptonite hurts Whitney? How in the hell did you figure that out?"
"We went to Lex's last night, when I heard Whitney attacking Lex and Lana. Chloe had an idea to try out red kryptonite to see if it hurt Whitney."
"Is Lana ok?" Pete asked, concerned, although still slightly jealous that she had stayed at Lex's.
"Oh she's fine." Chloe said sarcastically. "She didn't really thank us for saving her though."
"I'm sure she had a reason." Pete defended.
"Maybe, if that reason is her being angry because I stopped Clark from giving away his secret." Chloe quipped.
Clark glared at her. "I was…"
"…under the influence." Pete said laughing a little.
"Anyway, Chloe is a little biased." Clark said, "Lana was upset after we chased Whitney away, but I'm not sure if it was because she was afraid or if it was because she wanted to know my secret."
"She seems a little curious lately." Pete said. "But she's usually not that obvious with you, Clark."
"Well, she kind of had reason to be, because I didn't think and moved at super speed. Lana asked me after how I did it…" Clark began, only to have his sentence finished by Chloe.
"…and Clark responded with a remark kind of like he didn't think that she could handle the truth." Chloe reminded with satisfaction. "Kind of reminds me of that movie 'A Few Good Men'…You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!" She giggled to herself silently.
"Yeah. Anyway, can we get off the topic?" Clark asked, annoyed.
Both Pete and Chloe waited patiently for Clark to say something.
"So…getting back to our original conversation, we're going to have to figure out why you two are getting my abilities."
"Aren't the scars enough of an explanation?" Chloe asked.
"I still think we should ask Jor-el and Lara about it." Clark said.
"Yeah, definitely." Pete agreed.
Chloe gave a small nod and looked up.
After school…
Clark walked into the Torch office, where Chloe was diligently working on the paper.
"So, Clark, when were you planning on heading to the caves?" Chloe inquired before he had walked up to her.
"After supper. I have to explain this to my parents first."
Chloe nodded. "Well I'm staying here for a bit longer, yet. I have to finish up some things."
Clark raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to break the keyboard?"
Chloe went to playfully punch Clark but he caught her hand before she had a chance.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I wouldn't want you to hurt your hand." Clark quipped to her.
Chloe laughed. "Well maybe I wouldn't have."
"You know, Chloe, you actually sound like you're enjoying this. What changed? You sounded really freaked out at lunch."
"Well, let's just say that I had a little while to think about it, and it's not too bad." Chloe said.
Clark grinned.
Chloe grinned back.
"Anyways, I'm going to head home now."
"Running, I take it." Chloe said.
"Well…yeah." Clark said. "By the way, don't forget to tell Pete when to meet us at the caves."
"I won't," replied Chloe, "but I have to get a goodbye kiss before you go."
Clark blushed. Chloe stood up and they both began to kiss. Halfway through, Chloe pulled away.
"Chloe, what's wrong?" Clark asked.
"Oh my god you're cold!" she said, holding her shoulders and quickly looking around for something to warm up.
"What?"
"C-Clark, look in the mirror." She said, shivering.
Clark walked over to the mirror. He noticed his lips were blue and his skin was turning a deathly pale color.
"What the?" he exclaimed.
Chloe, upon looking for something to warm up, had found a thermometer.
Clark had barely turned around when she stuffed in into his mouth. Clark grabbed it out of his mouth and looked at it. The red line was at the bottom. He went to hand it back to her when it broke in two.
Then he looked back into the mirror. "Oh, no." he said, and muttered a small, "Chloe-I've-got-to-go-I'll-see-you-at-supper," before a gust of wind went through the room and Chloe's papers went flying everywhere.