Oh, by the way, I do want to change two things about the last few episodes. One, when Clark had amnesia, he set the lamp on fire after he looked at Chloe just after she adjusted her clothes after hearing about his x-ray vision, not when he looked at Lana. Two, Clark and Lana didn't say 'I love you' to each other just before the meteor shower hit. The rest of the conversation happened, they just never said 'I love you' to each other. Keep this in mind during the rest of the story. Thanks.
Ch. 8
Chloe was still trying to figure out what was going on when the guards came for them. The guards ordered them both to stand up and follow them. When Lana, still weak, took too long to stand up, one of the guards moved to strike her. Seeing what was about to happen, Chloe jumped in front of her friend, preventing the guard from hitting Lana. Instead of pushing Chloe aside, the guard turned his attention to her and, with a sneer, delivered a vicious backhand across her cheek that sent her spinning to the ground. After collecting himself the guard once more ordered them to stand up and follow him. Both of the girls moved as fast as they could, trying to avoid a repeat of what had just happened.
After walking what seemed like miles to the exhausted girls, the guard finally told Chloe and Lana to stand in front of a large door. The guard stepped to the side of the door and activated a comm. panel by pressing a black button twice.
"Kal-el, I have brought the slaves that you requested." said the guard into the comm. panel.
"Excellent, send them in and then leave." Came a commanding voice from the comm. unit.
"As you wish." The guard then pressed the black button again, ending the transmission, and then opened the door. Her roughly pushed both of the girls into the room and closed the door behind them, locking it to prevent them from leaving the room. Looking around, the girls spotted Clark. Lana seemed to shrink back from him, but Chloe had the opposite reaction.
Summoning all of the hurt, anger, and confusion of the last day Chloe balled her fist, stepped forward, and hit Clark as hard as she could. Or, at least, she tried to. About four inches from the side of his face Chloe's fist met with resistance.
Clark caught Chloe's fist as gently as he could. He knew she thought that he had betrayed them, and he didn't hold it against her. After all, he had put on a very convincing act, even if he did say so himself.
Still holding her hand, he felt her shift her weight and was able to read her intention to hit him with her left hand in time to stop her before she hurt herself. Taking his free right hand, he grasped her left wrist and, bending her arm carefully at the elbow, held her hand against the small of her back. He held her trapped like this, both her hands captured in his, almost embracing, for several minutes, the entire time staring into her eyes as she struggled against him, trying to break free. Finally the emotional high she had felt when she first walked into the room and saw Clark faded and then disappeared and all she was left with were feelings of hurt and betrayal.
When Clark saw the change in Chloe's demeanor he loosened his grip on her wrists and began to speak, hoping that she would listen to what he had to say and be understanding of the choices that he had made.
"Chloe, it's all right. I'm not going to hurt you. You're safe. I won't let them hurt you any more. You're safe here." Clark said as gently and reassuringly as he could. He knew that as weak, exhausted, and vulnerable as she was right now, both emotionally and physically, if he didn't handle this correctly if he didn't handle this correctly he could permanently hurt the woman he … cared for, and that was the last thing he wanted to do.
Letting go of Chloe, Clark looked her over and his eyes came to rest on the faint bruise in the shape of a hand left on her cheek by the guard, and for a second, Chloe could have sworn that his eyes turned red, but then he blinked and it was gone.
Continuing to look Chloe over, Clark saw how tired and worn out she was, and knew that she needed to rest and eat before they could continue this conversation. Oh, the conversation would take place, but it could be out off until she was feeling better. Besides, he reminded himself, Lana was there, and she was in even worse shape than Chloe.
Taking another step back and turning slightly, he addressed both girls at once.
"You both need to eat something and get some rest. Go to the table and I'll get you some food."
With that Clark turned and walked over to an alcove on the other side of the room. There he ordered up two hot meals and two mugs of something similar to hot chocolate, hoping it would help them to rest after their meal. Turing around while the synthesizer built into the wall worked on the order, he saw Chloe trying to coax Lana to the table. As he watched them, he reflected on how well Chloe was handling everything. In fact, she wasn't just handling herself well; she was also looking out for Lana's well being at the same time.
In a flash of insight, Clark could picture Chloe with her children. He could see how well she would do as a mother, and he also knew from observing her around children that she wouldn't agree. Perhaps her mother leaving her at such a young age had made her believe that she might do the same, or maybe always being treated like one of the guys had made her feel ill equipped to be a mother, but Clark could see that she would love her children with everything she had in her, and would protect them like a mother bear protecting her young.
Clark was drawn out of his thoughts by the beeping behind him that signaled that the food was ready. Turning back, he grasped the food tray and stepped over to the table, placing the tray in the center and then serving both girls their meal. While doing this he couldn't help but notice the way Lana was drawing back every time he came close to her. Her reaction hurt, but not as badly as he had expected. As he set her mug down, he noticed the bandage she wore on her leg when she moved away from him again. He could see that the bandage was bleeding through and decided to try and treat her injury. He walked back to the synthesizer and ordered a med. unit, a neat little device that worked much like one of the instruments he had seen the doctors use in Star Trek. Turning around, he tried to approach Lana. When she flinched away from him he tried to explain to her that he was trying to tend to her leg, but she wouldn't listen. Finally he gave up and asked Chloe to do it. After giving her a thirty second lesson in how to use the med. unit he turned and grabbed a chair, turning it around and straddling it. He folded his arms over the top of the chair and rested his chin on top of his arms. There he sat as Chloe tended to Lana's leg and then continued with her meal.
By the time both girls were done with their meals they were having trouble keeping their eyes open. Clark was afraid that if he didn't get them into bed soon they were going to end up face first in their meals.
Standing up, Clark walked over to the bed and threw down the comforter and the top sheet. Turning around, Clark addressed both girls in a quite voice.
"Both of you need some rest or you'll be falling all over yourselves soon. Both of you can take the bed. I'll sleep on the floor."
Chloe looked like she was about to protest, after all, no matter how tired she was she still wanted some answers, but she happened to look at Lana first and Chloe saw how tired her friend was and she felt her resistance to the idea of getting some sleep melt away. Not that she wouldn't be asking Clark plenty of questions, she was just going to ask them when her brain was functioning enough to analyze the answers. Clark had given her his last run around, and if he thought he was going to get out of this by telling her some cockamamie story then he had another think a-comin'.
Pausing to make sure that Lana got all the way into bed, Chloe then climbed into bed on the other side and fell asleep the second her head hit the pillow.
Clark wasn't so lucky. After setting an alarm to wake him a few hours before they would come for the girls, he tried to get some rest. Unfortunately for him, while his body wanted to rest, his mind was completely awake and wouldn't let him rest. It kept bouncing around, never settling anything, just jumping from thought to thought every few minutes. After a few hours his mind finally shut down and allowed him to sleep. His final thought was of how much he hoped Chloe would understand the truth about him and why he had had to lie to her so often.
TBC
