(9/14)

"Somehow I forgot about the long story I was going to have to tell." She settled further into the corner of the couch and grabbed a pillow. She held it against her chest, and she didn't care if it looked like she was putting a barrier between herself and Clark. It was a distinct possibility in her condition.

"My Uncle Sam."

Clark looked at her skeptically.

"Yes, wiseguy, I have a real Uncle Sam."

"I believe you," he teased.

"Uh huh. Anyway, he helped me... die, essentially. I didn't know who to go to that would know anything about a good cover up. He's military, and I knew he'd done a lot of covert ops.

"The messy part was my new identity. I am the reincarnation of his supposedly deceased daughter."

Clark's eyes went wide. "And that was whose idea?"

"His, actually."

"Wow."

"Yeah, I thought so, too." She shifted, trying to get comfortable, and trying to accept the fact she never would be comfortable with any of this. "As you know, I really did have a cousin named Lois, but we weren't identical. However, we looked enough alike that at that age I could pass for her."

"But what happened to the real Lois?" Clark asked.

"Leading to another long story... When she was thirteen and I was twelve, she went missing from a military base in Texas. No trace of her was ever found, even though Uncle Sam exhausted every avenue, through every channel and agency he had access to or could strongarm into helping him. It was always assumed she was kidnapped, and she was declared dead two years later. I have a younger cousin, Lucy, and her parents just decided there was nothing left to go after, and it was taking too much of a toll on the family. It had anyway. My aunt died a year and a half after that from cancer. I never talked about it because it was too painful. I was close to Lois at one time, and I was so young. I never wanted to admit the possibility she was gone for good.

"So... when I got into trouble and came to him for help, he cooked up this plan. Only Chloe Sullivan couldn't die one day, while Lois Lane miraculously turned up the next, so I had to go into hiding for about a year.

"I always hoped that Lionel would be put away and Lex would eventually get caught on some shady charges of his own, but that never happened. Eleven months after I 'died', 'Lois' was found in a small town in Montana, finally abandoned by her abductor. She escaped and came home to daddy, and I've been Lois Lane ever since."

"God, Chloe, if I had -"

"Don't," she held up a hand. "That's not going to do either of us any good."

He shut his mouth, but he was still looking at her sadly.

"Anyway, I never finished telling you how I survived an exploding house."

"Right," he said, trying to slip into objective reporter mode.

"My uncle had the safe house swept, but since I was determined to disappear, he didn't report the explosives. Instead, he found a basement-slash-bunker underneath the house, and decided we'd use that. Dad was never supposed to get hurt at all, but the driver couldn't keep him distracted long enough, and he followed in behind me too closely. I was supposed to go into the house, run into the basement with Uncle Sam, and the house was supposed to explode before Dad got there. But he was nearly to the door by the time everything happened, and they told me it blew him about forty feet, he'd sustained broken bones, and some potentially serious burns.

"I almost gave it up then, but after a couple of days my uncle convinced me he was going to be fine, and we went through with everything we'd planned. A small article ran about Lois' return a few months later, and no one ever noticed the connection. Uncle Sam and Dad have never been close, and they hadn't spoken since my mother left, so I didn't think it would register with him one way or another, and apparently it never has."

"I wish I knew what to say," Clark said, finally settling back on her couch.

"I wouldn't expect you to. It's all kind of convoluted if you think about it long and hard enough, but that's how closely people pay attention to things, I guess."

"Do you keep up with Gabe?" he asked.

"Of course. I have eyes everywhere, ya know. I just want to know he's all right, though that will never make up for what I did to him."

"There wasn't any other way?" he asked with a frown.

She shrugged and laid her head over on the back of the couch. "Clark, I was seventeen. Maybe I wouldn't have handled the situation the same at twenty-four, but all I could think about was what the Luthors would do to me and my family if I didn't disappear. I'm not proud of myself for being such a coward, but I was right. That house was rigged with ten pounds of explosives, which was at least nine pounds more than they would've needed to efficiently get rid of me. Everyone had to know that Lionel was the only person after me, and the only person that would hate me enough to do his best to dissolve my very atoms.

"But they could never prove it in a court of law, and he had all of my evidence destroyed, so he walked free until his liver disease finally killed him. And I'm not going to lie to you, I had myself a little party the day that bastard died."

"I imagine everyone did. What does Lex have to do with all of this? I mean, I know what he is now, but then..."

"He was in league with his father the whole time. He tried to pull one over on all of us with his little 'I'm trying so hard to be good' routine, but I went to him for help first, and that's when I realized it. It was already too late, he'd pulled an Anakin Skywalker, and he didn't want his father put away for life. He knew he'd get power over the company soon enough with his father sick, and he wanted him free and able to willingly give up all his evil little secrets.

"I was horrified when I realized how we'd all been scammed, but there just wasn't time to warn anyone, and I couldn't leave anything behind without it looking like the setup it was. I'm sorry, Clark."

"It doesn't matter. After your death and Lionel's trial things came to a head anyway. I accused him of everything you just said, and he still tried to act like he wanted to be my friend. I could never prove he had anything to do with it, so I started to doubt myself later on, thinking it was just my grief and anger looking for a place to land. Now that I know I was right, he better watch his back."

Chloe shook her head. "If only Lex was that easy to get to."

Clark raised an eyebrow.

"All I'll say is good luck, and I don't want to know any more."

"Fair enough," he reasoned.

"What happened after the fallout with Lex?"

"I finished high school. My dad died six months after graduation."

Chloe grabbed his hand. "I'm so sorry, Clark. Your father was a good man. I wanted to say something sooner, but I just couldn't."

"I know." He squeezed her hand and abruptly let it go, and she tried not to look hurt. "Mom and I got by the best we could, and once I had her set up with her business and help on the farm, I transferred from community college to Edge City. It hadn't been my first choice, but it was far enough away that I could breathe again. For reasons I'm not going to get into, I blamed myself for Dad's death, and I needed some time to sort through that. But maybe no place is ever really far enough when you have super speed." He shrugged. "I finally finished college a year ago, and I moved back to Smallville and worked for The Ledger for awhile. But nothing was ever the same. Even though pretty much anywhere's close for me, my mom wanted me nearby, so I moved here. My recommendations from my internships and The Ledger seemed to get me the job at the Planet pretty quickly, and here I am."

"Here we are," Chloe laughed. "As bizarre a pair as the world has ever seen."

"Anything else, or is story time over?" he asked hopefully.

"Nope. Two more questions."

"Yeah?"

"The tights?" she said, biting back a smile.

"I decided I had to do something good and useful with my abilities," he said honestly.

"Sounds good to me. Now... The kiss?"

Clark immediately turned red. I still got it, she thought.

"I was overwhelmed, that's all. I don't know what got into me."

If he intended to break what was left of her heart, she was going to kill him. "Clark."

He sighed. "A lot of things hit me hard after you were... gone. Not the least of which how I really felt about you."

Her heart dropped to her feet. Of all the things she didn't need to hear, this was at the top of her list.

"Clark, if you're going to say what I think you're going to say, please don't. I can't handle it," she said, clutching her pillow tighter. "It was a long time ago." Never mind that the 'long time ago' factor hadn't erased her feelings for him. The alien factor couldn't even change her mind. She was doomed.

"No, it wasn't a long time ago. I never got over you."

Oh, the irony, she thought. He was finally spilling his guts, and her snarky brain wouldn't shut up.

She closed her eyes and wondered if this was what dying inside felt like. She couldn't make herself look at him, even as she felt him grasp her hand and pull her closer. "No, Clark, please," she pleaded.

"I love you, Chloe. I've been waiting forever to tell you that," he said softly.

A sob welled up deep inside her chest and broke through and there was nothing she could do to keep from crumbling. Tears fell down her cheeks as she finally opened her eyes to look into his. "I had to die for you to realize that?" she asked, her voice breaking.

"I'm sorry. I've regretted it every day; not realizing it before and not being there when you needed me. You have been the ghost that haunted me every day and, now that you're here, safe with me, I don't ever want to make that mistake again."

One of his hands was wiping away her tears as the other slipped under her hair, around to the base of her skull. She leaned into his touch knowing she could so easily make one mistake she would never look back on with any regrets at all.

He freed her ponytail of its holder as she rose to kneel before him on the couch. Her arms went around his neck as his lips found hers and his hands slipped underneath her loose pajama top, massaging circles into her back. She moaned into his kisses as she shifted, straddling his lap and settling there.

Their breathing was erratic, and neither of them could do anything but feel.

Chloe came up for air as Clark moved down to her throat, and her mind began to clear, if only a little.

"Clark? Clark!"

"Hmm?" he hummed against her neck as he nibbled on it.

"Oh God," she muttered. Maybe she should just stop thinking. "We can't..."

Clark raised his head, looking wary. "Are you all right?" he asked, his eyes full of concern.

"I'm -" She ran a hand through his thick, dark hair. Damn you, Clark, she thought as she looked at him, but she couldn't say it. Damn you for doing this to me again. The only thing different this time was that she could feel how much he wanted her, and she could see in his eyes that he really meant it. He wanted her. She wasn't a stand-in, a substitute, or a place holder for someone else. "I'm fine," she said finally. "Kiss me."

Looking relieved, he did so. After a few more moments, she halted him again, and could see he was getting increasingly frustrated.

"Just one thing, I swear," she said, and giggled a bit at the impatience written across his face.

"What?" he asked, tugging her a little closer to remind her why they were there.

"This whole, um... alien thing?" she said uncomfortably. "Can you, well, you know?"

"Yes," he said with a roll of his eyes.

"Have you?" She resisted the urge to bury her face in his shoulder. Her logical side had to get some things out of the way, but that didn't make it easy.

"No."

"No. Okay."

"I think I get the general idea though," he said sarcastically.

She figured as much as she blushed bright red.

"Just so we get all the questioning out of the way, have you?"

She had started this, and she could see he was going to enjoy torturing her with it.

"Once. Ages ago, and I mean that literally." His eyebrows raised and she shook her head. "Not only did it not mean anything, I don't want to go into it."

He didn't push her. "All right."

She leaned her forehead against his. "I still love you, Clark. I never stopped. Just - Please, shut me up."

Clark smiled. "I'm not going to hurt you. I swear I'll never hurt you again. I'll be gentle, but if you get scared you have to tell me."

"I'm scared now." She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tightly.

"Me, too," he admitted. "I'm afraid this is all some cruel dream and I'm going to wake up."

She pulled back to look at him, and ran her thumb along his cheek. "It's definitely not a dream, Clark." She shifted in his lap, causing him to practically growl as he leaned forward to kiss her again.

Her fears were forgotten as he stood up, her legs still wrapped around his waist, and headed toward her bedroom.

Clark watched the woman beside him breathe while she slept and it was enough. In his wildest dreams he had never imagined he would be where he was now. They had both been so alone and somehow found each other again.

He would have found her sooner if he had known to look for her. He hated thinking about all the time they had lost and all they had each gone through, but he was grateful to have her back.

He smiled as he remembered how she had accepted him so easily and encouraged him as they made love. It was everything and nothing like he had expected. He resisted the urge to wake her up, pull her into his arms, and make it all happen again.

Instead, he pushed her hair away from her face and became still as she shifted, reaching out for him.

"I'm here," he whispered, drawing her close.

She snuggled into his shoulder for a moment before opening her eyes. She rolled far enough away to get a good look at him and smiled sleepily. "What day is it and who is this gorgeous man in my bed?" she asked and stifled a yawn.

"It's Friday, and..." he looked around, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Chloe laughed lightly. "Is it hard to be that humble?"

"Not usually. But when a gorgeous woman says something like that, it becomes increasingly difficult," he teased.

She flung her left arm out and reached for the clock on her bedside table. "It's only five? I can sleep two more hours," she said, replacing the clock and rolling over, no longer facing him.

He grabbed her and rolled her over on her back, glaring at her when he saw the grin on her face. Her real grin.

"Tease," he said, kissing her.

"Mmm," she murmured against him. "I've been called worse."

She was going to pay for that and he knew exactly how.

Neither of them was likely to make it to work on time.

TBC