I have had this chapter complete for over three months so I apologize for the lateness, but I was incapable of getting it edited.

Seven years prior:

"What do you think you're doing?" Clark Kent said, his voice fluctuating steadily as he chased, yes, 'chased' after Chloe Sullivan. "Come back! Don't just drop this on me and waltz away!"

She looked back at him, an expression of complete confusion plastered on her face. "I do not waltz, you should know. I've stepped on your toes before. Really, you should know better." He could not tell whether or not she was serious or not. "This is my decision, and I have decisioned...er, decided." She quickly revised, shocked at her own lack of grammatical skills.

"It is," He agreed slowly. "But, are you sure? You can't just decide this so suddenly. One day your engaged, the next you decided that it doesn't work for you anymore?"

"Clark, I know what I'm doing." She snapped, flipping her shoulder-length champagne hair over her shoulder. He was quick to follow, shoulders stiff, lips tight.

"You never know what you're doing, Chlo." Responding to the skeptical glare she spared him he quickly revised. "Fine, you rarely know what you're doing." She nodded, accepting the gesture.

"That's all I ask Clark. I just need a little...faith."

He quirked a raven eyebrow. "All you ask? You are perhaps the most high-maintenance 'noble' girl that I've ever met." Her lips twitched as though she were about to speak, but instead she turned away from her friend with a sort of self-satisfied smile plastered on her face.

Being Clark, suddenly developing the Chloe-curiosity, he admitted defeat. "What is it that's so funny?" He asked, exasperated by her. Once the words left his mouth she whirled around and put her hands into the air, stretching the turquoise material of her cardigan.

"Say it, Clark." She said, baring her teeth and taking him by the flannel collar. He frowned, considering whether or not Chloe had a personality disorder.

"What, Chlo? Did you run out of Ritalin, I could go and get you some in about...what, eleven seconds?" This did nothing to pacify her.

"You're always doing that, Clarky-kins. I can't help but smile like a dummy when you stay silly stuff like that." She teased, tweaking his cheek affectionately before returning to her normal posture and increasing her pace slightly. She was begging to be followed.

He caught up with her, unable to avoid getting caught in the little intricate trap she construed in her mind moments before. "Say what, keep up like this and I'm shipping you off to Belle Reve with the rest of the wackos in town." She laughed at him unabashedly.

"Yeah, then I'll just conspire with the rest of the crazies on bringing you down. Half of the inmates have been personally toted there by the men in white coats courtesy of you, farm boy." She joked, nudging his shoulder painfully and without need as they approached the aloof red-haired goddess.

Leanne LaRock smiled winningly to her companion, someone that Chloe vaguely recalled. "Go super speed Clark, c'mon, you don't need this. She can't see you yet." They halted and he stumbled to the ground, hiding behind the nearest bush, yanking the petite blond along with him. "...or you could hide."

He shot her an exasperated glance, "I'm not hiding. Now shush, they're coming." Though it certainly looked that way. They passed by, blissfully unaware of their presence. Chloe came to her feet, brushing the dirt and twigs from the pleats of her pants.

"These were new."

He rolled his eyes. "I've seen you in those since before Christmas." She was caught.

"I was depending on the cliched generalization that men don't pick up on clothes to help me out in this situation. Try to score a free pair of pants." They continued on their merry way, hoping to avoid any other encounters.

"Clark, have you even talked to Leanne since the two of you called things off?" He grew increasingly uncomfortable, resulting in a quick change in conversation.

"What did you want me to say 'Chloe-kins'?" She giggled like a tipsy school girl.

"You are the master of sub-change, Clark." She said, avoiding his eyes slightly. He laughed at the hypocrisy in that statement.

"I am? You are the...jedi master." The Star Wars inference was not worth a patented eye-roll.

"Clark, you should drop the pop culture references. It doesn't suit your...country charms."

"And what is that supposed to mean...? Wait, your changing the subject...again!" She bowed gracefully, flipping her hair.

"I am Obi-Wan-Chloe. Bow down before my lifesaver." He furrowed his brow and tapped her shoulder.

"It's light saber." She snorted.

"You are such a dork."

"You really should harness your distracting ability for good." He joked.

"It's good to be bad, sometimes." Clark seized her by the shoulders and shook her bodily for good measure.

"What were you talking about!" He asked, exhausted. "I'm not going to let it drop, hate to disappoint you." He knew defeat when he saw it, and Chloe was showing all signs of this.

She was not going to give up without one last fight for silence. "I know you can snap me like a toothpick Clark, and honestly that does a bit to make me feel feminine." She batted her eyelashes.

"Chloe," He said in a would-be-dangerous tone if he were not smiling.

"FIne." She shrugged, throwing up her arms in defeat. "I surrender, I pull a Dido with my white-flag, wave it high and proud." Her cheeks were hot enough to fry an egg on, burning under his scrutinizing glare. "I was just thinking, er, saying that everything you say-to me, is...a compliment that's twisted to sound like an insult. And you should just tell me...why." It was evident that this was not her original wording, but he cared not.

He released Chloe, looking at her strangely, as though she had something large and green wedged between her teeth. "Is this...'this' why you and Jim aren't working out?"

She frowned slightly, itching behind her ear hastily. "Is 'this' why you and Leanne didn't work out?" Chloe questioned, turning the tables on him so quickly that not even his super-balance could withstand it.

"Well, no." He said in an utterly unconvincing tone that caused her to roll her eyes and raise her brow simultaneously. The girls undoubtedly had talent. "I couldn't...talk to her about, well, you know." She smirked and nodded.

"Yeah, 'I know.' You couldn't tell her that you were humanly-challenged, that might have put a damper on the honeymoon-period." She said, searching his face for some sort of acknowledgment. He spared her a shrug before changing the topic. The two of them seemed to be vying for the professional title.

"Are you doing anything later?" He asked, looking squarely at his feet.

"I'm returning the engagement gifts and avoiding Jim's crazy mother. My inbox is already full of her threats and bribes. A bit bipolar, eh?" She said, unable to muster up a smile.

"Okay, I'll leave you to that. I've got to see my mom, one of the lesser evils of superpowers." He said, still avoiding her eyes. Chloe's hand clamped on his chin, turning his face to hers.

"You know that annoys me." She said before lapsing into a brief and somewhat stiff hug before turning away. "Go ahead, fly, Superman." She near commanded, sliding her fingers down from his shoulder to his hand, squeezing it gently.

He locked eyes with her, bringing her unpolished hand to his lips and kissing it before dropping it. Then he did what he was best at, he ran.

There will be many different pairs, and my favorites are Chloe/Lex and Chloe/Clark, so you bet there will be a bit of that in here. This is going to have many flashbacks, perhaps even most of them taking up the entire chapter, such as this one. I won't progressively move forward, i could jump from seven years ago to two and then to five. part of what makes it a mystery!