I hit a rough spell there for a while, what with feeling incredibly demoralized by the lack of feedback, but I'm finally back with some new chapters. I'm not sure how many people have been reading this since I've only gotten, what, ten reviews? This is something I just don't understand. I guess I should say something about only writing for myself, but who posts on here and doesn't expect some kind of intelligent response. Tips, things you like, things you don't like, inaccuracies in canon details, I would LOVE to hear about this stuff! sigh here's another chapter for my. . . 7 readers.
Again, I must warn you about the graphic language in this chapter, and the sexual content.
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When Clark returns to the car, Smiley is white as a sheet. She holds a styrofoam cup in each hand, and Clark gratefully accepts the one she passes to him. He takes a sip, ignoring the burn going down his throat, and starts up the car.
"What happened?" It is almost a whisper. The words hiss out of her mouth like a snakeand the look of panic on her face alerts him that she's deathly afraid.
"Nothing. I just had to deal with some stuff."
"What did you do to them?"
Clark hears a click in his brain and can almost read the words on a scrolling line of concious thoughtas he thinks them: She's smarter than I thought.
He doesn't say anything for a full five minutes, just sits there in the car and sips his too hot too bittercoffee. He hears something. A siren. It's distant. He starts up the car and hands her his unfinished cup.
"Let's just say they're not going to be having any more private parties." There is silence in the car as he turns down a side street, headed away from the sirens. He looks over at her face and she is pale, staring out the window at the people on the sidewalk. She fingers her camera.
"Hey." He says, reaching over to take one hand in his. She looks down and sees the red under his nails.
"Oh." She thrusts his hand away and begins scrabbling frantically for the door. Clark stops with a screech as she tears the door open and jumps out, headed for the nearest alley. Clark swears and leaves the car running where it is. He follows her, and finds her crouching behind a garbage bin.
At first he thinks she's hiding from him, but then he hears a retch and a sob. He leans against the wall behind her and waits. Smiley throws up until there's nothing left and even then she can't stop the dry heave, bringing up stomach acid and nothing else.
Finally she finishes, and pulls herself upright, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. She looks sideways at Clark and her face crumples. He takes a step forward and she takes a step back but hits the wall. When he takes another step she flees.
She maybe gets five steps away before Clark has her by the arm, spinning her around to face him and pulling her close. He doesn't know why he continues to hold her as she hits him and struggles and sobs strange, unintelligible words that sound something like 'no' and 'God'. Slowly her protests and cries grow softer, and finally it's all over. She no longer tries to run.
A certain desperate peace settles around them in a heavy, heady quiet. For a moment, the rest of the world falls away in a grey blur, leaving only Clark and Smiley.
Suddenly needing to regain control over the situation, Clark pushes Smiley away and pulls a pack of gum out of his back pocket. "Here." He says. "Chew this. You stink." He turns and strides back to the car, leaving her standing in the alley.
He gets in and she's there, sitting in the passenger seat. She doesn't look at him; her face is cold and drawn. She looks older the she should, Clark thinks.
The day is pretty much shot for anything, any other plans he may have had, so Clark heads back to the hotel.
When they return, she goes into the bathroom and shuts the door. Clark checks on her periodically with his x-ray vision but she doesn't seem to slitting her wrists or ingesting large quantities of pills or drowning herself in the toilet, so he figures she's fine. He has some idea of how he would deal with his own feelings, but he doubts she would appreciate being fucked senseless by the man who she knew had just killed three people.
Not that he cared or anything. . .
But finally after almost two and a half hours he gets impatient.
"I need to clean up!" He hollers. "In the shower!" Reluctantly, she exits her tiny sanctuary, and they both ignore the tear tracks. When Clark tries to brush past her in the aim of showering and getting all the remaining blood out of his hair and fingernails she catches him. She grabs him viciously and grinds her hips into his.
"Fuck me." She says, with passion. "God, Kal. Just- fuck me!"
Clark can't help but acquiesce.
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They while away the afternoon in bed, and when Clark finally has to get up to take a shower Smiley goes with him, clinging to him. He doesn't really mind all that much.
After they've showered, Smiley puts on one of the fluffy white hotel robes and opens the curtains. The fading sunlight illuminates her pale skin, making it seem more golden than it really is.
"Kal." She begins tentatively, and Clark barely grunts at her. "Can I photograph you?" She smiles at him and picks up the camera from where she left it earlier on the table.
Clark looks at her. "Sure, baby." He pulls open his robe, revealing both the scar on his chest and his half-hard penis. He watches her grin and he offers to move somewhere better.
"No, just there is good." Clark just watches her go from angle to angle, clicking and rewinding and repeating the process. She seems to almost zone out, not giving him any instruction or feedback. She looks beautiful to him. He sees something in her that he didn't see before. It's not in the way her robe hangs half-open or the way her hair dries into shiny black ringlets. It's not in the way she fucks.
It's something else. Something good. Something he can't quite pinpoint, but knows it should scare him and drive him away. It should, because it feels so good, but it only makes him want her more. Blindly.
The second the film runs out Clark pulls her down on top of him. She starts wiggling against him but he stills her, and rubs her back, and just feels.