CHAPTER 2

The fact of the matter was that she hadn't told Clark. She hadn't told anyone. What had started out like a simple flu-like virus had now gotten her father checked into the hospital with random fits of delirium, an extraordinarily high fever and a yellowish-green tint to his skin that just screamed "meteor freak". Chloe left Metropolis and relocated herself back to Smallville, figuring that a long drive to work was worth the opportunity to sleep at the hospital with her dad as often as she could. Unfortunately she couldn't stay there forever, and on the occasion that she had to go home, she couldn't stand the quiet. Never having been a quiet person, she felt stifled and scared by the eerie silence of the empty house. These were her demons, her own private battle, and her only real family close to being lost forever. Needless to say, this was none of Lex Luthor's business.

She drove around aimlessly, wandering through the town she had called her home for five years. She passed the Talon, the high school and Pete's old house. Long drives around Smallville had become Chloe's salvation, keeping her away from the house when the metallic smell of hospital sterilizer became too much for her. She drove for hours, stopping only for gasoline or coffee- sometimes both. Today, though, she found herself drawn to the Kent's farm. Like a magnetic force, her car pulled itself into the dusty driveway. As soon as she opened the car door, Chloe was hit from all angles by the savory scent of food in the wind. Checking her watch, she confirmed that it was indeed time for dinner, and as if on cue, her stomach growled. Chloe knew she was far from being the next Betty Crocker, and T.V. dinners and hospital cafeteria food had so far been strictly unappealing (as well as being mostly inedible). She was starving.

Knocking on the door, Chloe looked around awkwardly. When the door opened, Martha Kent's face appeared on the opposite side of the screen.

"Chloe!" Martha smiled kindly.

'I know you're probably busy eating dinner, I can leave if I'm interrupting anything…"

"No, no. Come on in." Martha opened the screen door and gestured for Chloe to enter. "Clark! Chloe's here."

Clark rose from the table to meet Chloe halfway across the room. "Chloe, what's wrong?"

Chloe laughed uncomfortably. "Relax. No crime fighting tonight." Clark looked confused. "What, your best friend can't stop by just to say hello?"

Clark face melted into a friendly grin. "Of course you can. It's just a shock to not have you come rushing in with a hard breaking news piece."

Martha closed the door behind Chloe and followed her back into the kitchen. "Would you like to join us for dinner?"

"Oh no, I couldn't impose…" Chloe tried not to stare at the food on the table, which smelled more amazing by the second.

"Are you sure?"

"Well, I…" She glanced back to the table again. "Are you sure you wouldn't mind?"

Jonathan Kent got up from his seat to move an extra chair to the table. "Of course not," he said with a smile. "You're practically family around here anyway."

Chloe flushed pink at the compliment. "Thanks, Mr. Kent."

"So what has your father been up to?" Martha asked, setting a plate and utensils down in front of Chloe.

"He's been really busy. Independent work." Chloe answered sharply.

"Good for him" Jonathan commented, seating himself back down and reaching for a biscuit from the middle of the table. "He's better off. A nice guy like your father shouldn't have been working for a man like Lionel Luthor in the first place."

"A job's a job…" Chloe thought, remembering the days after her father had been fired from LuthorCorp, lost in his own depression. She held her tongue.

After dinner, Chloe and Clark retreated to the barn where they sat on the couch and watched television until they both fell asleep. As she woke up, Chloe rubbed the sleep-induced blurriness out of her eyes and took in her surroundings. Darkness. Television buzzing quietly. Clark sitting next to her, slumped over the arm of the couch in his sleep. As if sensing that she was awake and sitting upright, he sighed and shifted his body to sprawl out farther onto the cushions, his legs now pressing against Chloe's arm. Her arm felt electrified, as if every nerve in her body had been relocated into that one arm, that one bit of skin touching Clark.

Despite feeling a little voyeuristic, she couldn't help but stare at the face she had known since the eighth grade. Her best friend. Her first kiss. Her own personal superhero. Tousled dark hair fell against his forehead and his tan skin seemed to glow in the dim light. She tried to memorize every detail, from the dark eyelashes to the flushed cheeks and lips half-parted in a light snore. Finally tearing her eyes away from him, she glanced at her watch, admitting to herself that it was getting late and she should be returning home. Chloe carefully rose up from the couch and stood on her feet. Feeling some unnamed, overwhelming emotion wash over her, she leaned over and kissed Clark softly on the forehead. With that, she headed outside to her car, leaving the barn that had become more of a home than her own house.