Title: Gestalt Therapy Courtesy of the WB
Fandom:Smallville
Characters: Chloe Sullivan
Prompt: #21- Friends
Word Count:1,034
Rating: PG
Author's Notes:After the events of "Arrival" Chloe has a lot to work through. What is better to help you cope with the trials and tribulations of knowing an alien than the TV show "Roswell".
Should be friendly whether you've watched Roswell or not. It gives a simple description of the show. But if you've read my Roswell fics and such, you'll find a few little shoutouts here and there (Viva la Woozle!)
"How to Deal With the Revelation That Your Best Friend is an Alien For Dummies" doesn't exist.
Chloe's checked. For once, her Google-fu skills have failed her. There are plenty of pages and articles on what to do when your best friend comes out of the closet; but absolutely no advice for her situation.
In desperation, Chloe turns to the one thing that has never betrayed her or let her down- television. She digs through her modest DVD collection until she finds the box set containing the complete first season of Roswell, and puts the first disk in the player. She grabs the remote and flops ungracefully onto the couch.
The show centered on a group of teenagers in Roswell, New Mexico- four of which were aliens, having arrived on Earth in the famous 1947 crash. The aliens- Max, Michael, Isabel, and later Tess, had been in some sort of incubation pod until 1989, when they hatched, looking like normal human children. The aliens had different kinds of special powers, and Max, the unofficial leader of the group, had the power to heal people. In the pilot episode, Max heals Liz, the girl that he's always crushed on when she is shot in her parent's diner. Liz is the first person who learns the group's real heritage, and eventually her best friends Maria and Alex, as well as her boyfriend Kyle are all brought in on the secret.
Watching the episode is cathartic for Chloe. At a time when her life is spinning out of control, it feels good to focus on somebody else's drama. She'd fallen in love with Roswell when she was twelve years old, and watched the show through the three year run on two different networks- she continued to be involved in fandom for camels and radishes even after the show jumped the shark.
Chloe knew Clark was special from the moment she met him. He was cute, cuter than any of the stars collaged on her binder; he was a farm boy with looks that seemed to put Leonardo DiCaprio to shame. She still felt star struck around him, years later.
Seeing him catch Alicia's speeding car was incredible. Chloe was shocked. A little part of her, deep in her subconscious had always wondered if he had meteor-induced powers, and here was definite proof. Clark was special. Unlike most of the meteor freaks in Smallville, he used his powers for good. He saved people. Clark had saved Chloe's life more times than she cared to count. She couldn't fear Clark; she wouldn't fear Clark.
With Alicia gone, did he have anyone that knew his secret? Did Mr. and Mrs. Kent? The parents on most WB shows are oblivious to the fact that their children are special; but the WB does not produce Clark's life, and he seems to be pretty close to his parents. They had to know. Did anyone else know? Pete had never said anything to her; and oh, was that boy a blabbermouth. There was nothing she couldn't get him to spill. Lana definitely didn't know, she'd make it a federal case, kvetching on Oprah to the entire nation about it. Lex had to have his suspicions. The bald billionaire was no dummy. Lex knew that Clark was different, but he wouldn't know what made the farm boy that way.. That had to be driving Lex nuts. And Lois? She wouldn't have a clue. Her cousin wasn't that fast on the uptake when it came to the abnormal and surreal.
Chloe had dropped a thousand and one anvils on Clark's head, trying to tell him that she knew his secret. One of the boy's alien powers had to be having an extremely dense head, because once again, he'd only realized it when she told him point blank as she was freezing to death. Clark could be so totally oblivious.
"Well, I'm not from around here."
"Where you from?"
Chloe sighs as Max pointed up with his index finger, trying to tell Liz that he was from another planet. It would have been so damn cool if Clark had done that- the ultimate moment of fandom and real life colliding.
Learning Max's secret on Roswell had forever changed Liz's life. She ended up giving up her dream to attend Harvard to be with Max, her relationship with family and friends would change and grow distant.
Chloe's respect for the character of Liz Parker had grown exponentially. (While the show was on, she'd always related to Maria, Liz's best friend, and obsessed over Kyle, Liz's boyfriend (they broke up early in season one). Liz had always seemed to be too perfect, too pretty. Before now, Chloe had never understood what the character had been going through.
Through three seasons worth of disaster, evil aliens, and FBI overlords, Liz had loved Max. She hadn't always been happy with him, often she didn't agree with him. Max broke her heart several times, but even at her angriest and most hurt, Liz loved Max.
As the episode drew to a close, Sarah McLachlan's beautiful voice played over the action.
But I fear
I have nothing to give
I have so much to lose
Here in this lonely place
With great knowledge comes great responsibility. Learning the entirety of Clark's secret had opened up a labyrinth of new possibilities for Chloe. Who knew what the future held?
She would put her own fears aside. It wasn't Clark that she fears. She fears herself.
Chloe is scared that she will let him down, that she will fail him.
Clark trusts her. He has faith in her, as she has faith in him.
There was no one that Chloe would love more than Clark Kent, even if one day she finally rebounded from her Clark obsession and fell in love with her own personal Prince Charming. Love is a force more powerful than romance; one more potent and longer lasting.
Her love, her faith, gives Chloe the courage to face her fears.
As the credits rolled, Chloe reaches for the phone. Clark needs to be introduced to Roswell, and there's no better to do it than Chloe. Lana is still obsessing over Dawson's Creek.