One Year Later

Clark's friendship with Lex ended when he heard how Lex had treated Chloe in the caves. Lex never apologized and maintained that he would find out what really happened in those caves. Lionel was in a coma and, according to the best doctors money could buy, he wasn't expected to recover. Lana was never quite the same after the abduction, at least, not towards Clark or the Kent's. Martha tried talking to her but with little success. Lana wouldn't talk about Clark and his abilities or about what had happened after the meteor shower. Instead she pretended that everything was the same and would leave anytime someone tried to say anything that interfered with her game of pretend. She never talked to Clark again beyond hi, how are you, and goodbye. She met a man named Alec eight months after the meteor shower and seemed to be very happy with him.

Clark had decided to attend Met U after all and ran home every weekend and Wednesday morning to help with the farm. He was majoring in journalism with Chloe and together they had shaped the Met U school paper into the best college paper in the U.S.

Clark worked evenings at several different construction jobs that paid by the job instead of by the hour. It still took him a fair about of time to complete each job because he didn't want anyone to suspect anything, but his abilities allowed him to work much faster than other workers and allowed him to take on jobs from several companies, never telling any of them about the others so as not to raise suspicion about how he could tackle so many projects. He was using the money to pay his way through college and to pay for his room and board at a boarding house about seven miles from campus.

He made time for Chloe though, and not just time spent writing and investigating stories either, although they did plenty of that together. Four times in the last year Clark had run Chloe down to Miami for the day to visit the beach. He had also taken her to Disney World as a surprise for their six month anniversary and he paid for both of them. He also spent a lot of time with her studying for exams. He helped her with math and science and she helped him with the arts, which had always been a little difficult for Clark. He also took her back to Smallville with him every other weekend so that they could visit with her father and with his parents. They also went flying together regularly.

They had just finished their finals a week ago and were free for the summer. Clark had been planning what he was about to do for nearly a year. He had been putting away money into several bank accounts for almost the entire year. One was for a down payment on a home. He had his eye on a nice home, big enough for a family and it even had a picket fence. It was just outside Metropolis and it was only a twenty five minute commute to Met U and a thirty minute commute to The Daily Planet, where both of them intended to work. Clark had already talked to Perry White, the new editor, about this and had been assured that if their writing was as good when they got out of college as it was right now, they would both be a shoe in.

Another account that he had started was a savings account that he deposited a percentage of ever pay check in, just in case something unexpected happened.

The third account was for a honeymoon for him and Chloe. He was hoping for either Hawaii or Normandy, although he was pretty sure Chloe would want Hawaii. Just in case neither of those worked, he had several other choices including Niagara Falls and Berlin, which was a city that Chloe had wanted to visit for some time.

The fourth was for a wedding. He had subtly talked to Chloe about this several times and found that both of them wanted a small wedding with only family and a few friends and that's what he had planned for.

The last account was for engagement and wedding rings. He had already bought the engagement ring, a very beautiful ring with a diamond set into a white gold ring with the inscription of 'cherished' written into the inside of the ring. He had personally and painstakingly burned, over the course of nearly two hours, three additional Kryptonian symbols into the inside of the ring. The symbols translated as 'trust', 'love', and 'truth', all of the symbols representing things that they now had between them. Clark had the ring it in his pocket right now.

Clark was sitting across from Chloe, who was nearly crying, at a very upscale restaurant, having just told her exactly, word for word, what he had said to his father in the barn a year ago today.

"Now, a year later, I believe that you trust me with your whole heart, just like I trust you, and I believe that you know that I will never hurt you, and I never will." Clarks said while looking into Chloe's eyes.

Getting down on one knee, Clark produced the ring, safely nestled in its black box, and opened it, showing it to Chloe.

"I love you Chloe, even more now than I did then. I can no longer imagine a day without you beside me. I would be blessed and very happy if you would consent to be my wife." Clark said as he took the ring out of the box and held it before her, the entire time looking straight into her eyes.

Chloe nearly squealed with happiness. She flung her arms around him, completely ignoring the ring, at least for the moment, as she said "Yes, yes, YES!"

Clark closed his hand around the ring carefully, not wanting to lose it, as he held Chloe. After she broke the embrace several minutes later Clark opened his hand and showed Chloe the ring again. Clark explained the ring and its significance, pointing out each detail.

"The word cherished is because that is what you are, cherished. I do, and will always, cherish you. The first symbol is the symbol of trust, which I do. I trust you and will continue to trust you no matter what the future brings. The second symbol is the symbol of love. I love you now, and I promise that I will love you until the day I die. The third symbol represents truth, which is what I will continue to tell you for the rest of our lives." With this Clark slid the ring carefully onto her finger.

Chloe nearly cried again at the obvious thought, consideration, and love that had gone into the ring.

They both left the restaurant quickly after this and Clark flew them to Chloe's father's house, where they stayed for about an hour, celebrating, before he flew them both to his parent's house to tell them the good news.

The Kent's were about to go to bed, as it was just after ten by the time Clark and Chloe reached the front porch. They both answered the door and were surprised to see Clark and Chloe standing outside.

"Clark, what are you two doing here this late?" Martha asked. At first she had been concerned but when she looked at them she could see how happy they were and stopped worrying.

"Mom, dad, I have something to tell you. I asked Chloe to be my wife tonight and she said yes." Clark said with a huge grin.

Martha jumped forward and hugged her son and then hugged Chloe while Jonathon was heard in the background to give out a resounding "YES!"

They continued to talk and visit for a couple of hours until they were too tired to talk anymore. The Kent's insisted that they both stay the night and head back in the morning. After a few token protests, both Clark and Chloe gave in. Martha went upstairs and prepared Clark's room for Chloe while Jonathon helped Clark prepare the couch.

Clark and Jonathon talked while setting up the couch, well, actually Jonathon talked and Clark listened, for the most part. Jonathon gave Clark advise and a few lessons that he had learned the hard way about married life, not the least of which was, "Always remember to put the toilet seat down."

Upstairs Chloe and Martha were having a similar talk, although it lasted much longer when Martha got sidetracked and began to tell Chloe several stories about Clark and the things he had done when he first came to live with them. They both had a great time and ended up talking for nearly an hour before sleep forced them to their beds.

In the morning, after they had breakfast and said their goodbyes, Clark and Chloe made a detour on the way home. This was the first time Chloe had been to the Fortress and she was a little nervous. Clark had been back several times to keep his end of the bargain and learn what he needed to know about his Kryptonian heritage. Jor-el took the news very well and told Clark that he had known from the beginning that Chloe was Kal-el's soul mate but he had known that Kal-el would be too stubborn to listen and had kept silent on the matter until now. He also told them how much Chloe reminded him of his own beloved wife, Laura. When asked, he told them the story of how Clark's mother and he had come together and had a very happy and loving marriage until the end. He then reminded Clark about the silver bracelet. Clark moved to a section of the wall and pressed inwards. The wall opened and Clark reached in for the bracelet that he had left there for safekeeping. He then placed the bracelet around Chloe's forearm in a beautiful Kryptonian ceremony that went back beyond recorded history.

After spending nearly the whole day at the Fortress, Clark and Chloe left and headed home. On the way Clark told her of the plans he had made for their wedding and their honeymoon. He had been right, she did want to go to Hawaii, just not for their honeymoon. She wanted to go to Alaska. The weather was nice up there this time of year and she had always wanted to take her honeymoon there. There was one mountain side village that was close to a small lake, that she was particularly fond of. She promised to show Clark some pictures that she had kept from various sources that showed how beautiful it all was. Not that Clark needed convincing. He was happy to have their honeymoon anywhere where they could be by themselves for awhile. By the time they finished the discussion they were already back in Metropolis. Clark decided to show her the house he had been thinking about. Chloe fell in love with it the second she saw it and Clark made a deal with the owner the next day to buy it. After taking Chloe on a tour of the house Clark flew to her dorm and dropped her off, promising that he would be back after his classes were over so that they could talk more.

TBC