Late Nights at the Daily Planet
PG
Chloe and Clark are bothtwenty sevenand are closer friends then they've ever been. A normal night in the life of them, in which Chloe stays late at work and Clark takes her home. Minor Fluff. CHLARK
"Okay Mr. Wong, thank you. Yes, I promise I will keep your name confidential. Alright, good night." Chloe hung up the phone and sighed loudly, finishing jotting down the tip off on a case that Chloe had been working on cracking.
Reaching for the thermos of coffee that she filled frequently, she took a long gulp and stared at the tip in front of her. Her case had seemed to go cold in the past few days, and it was bugging her to the bone.
"Take a walk with me, Miss. Sullivan?" The sudden masculine voice startled Chloe to the point where her thermos dropped with a loud clang.
Without turning around, Chloe said, "Clark! You know better then to startle me like that in a city like this." She then swiveled around and stood up to go greet her friend.
Hugging him briefly, she then went back to her desk, grabbed some napkins from a drawer she mopped up the cold coffee.
"Don't the janitors do that for you?" Clark asked, leaning his large body against the door frame to Chloe's office.
Chloe turned her head to talk to him while still mopping. "The janitors always leave before me." She then laughed and collected the mass of napkins, tossing them into the trash can.
Before the napkins could reach the trashcan, Clark used his heat vision to burn it into a charred cloud.
Chloe rolled her eyes and muttered "Seems like every time you're in that outfit, you scorch something in my office." She spoke of the red, blue, and yellow outfit he wore. She also spoke of Clark's habit getting bored while waiting for Chloe to close up, propelling him to burn random things with his eyes.
"Oh please, I hardly char things in your office." He adjusted the spandex on his arm.
"Oh, okay. I guess that explains why the picture of Tristan and me is charred to the extent where it was no longer recognizable." She cocked her head as she pointed to the pile of ash at the corner of her desk that she had yet to remove.
Clark looked around guiltily and said, "It was an accident, and besides, that man is trying to make moves on you and I don't like it." He fiddled with the doorknob and smiled sheepishly as the doorknob shattered.
Chloe smirked and leaned down to pick up the remains of the doorknob. "You know Clark, just because you're Superman and you save the world on an everyday basis doesn't mean that you have to save me from the male species." She stood up and emptied her hand full of doorknob in the trash.
"Well I can try." Clark laughed and then grabbed her wrist, dragging her through the door.
"Clarrrkk," She whined, digging her heals into the ground as he pulled her. "I still have to close up, and I have to follow this lead because I think I'm really close-" He interrupted her.
"Oh please Chlo! You and I both know that if you were really close on that case then I wouldn't be able to scare you out of that seat. You wouldn't even realize that I was here!"
Chloe opened her mouth to protest but then stopped when she realized that there was no point, and she was so exhausted that she felt like she'd drop then and there. This case had been mentally trying on her, and she hoped it didn't show.
"Chloe, let me take you home for the night. It's nearly 3:00AM. I should be hearing your snoring next door to me right now, not arguing with you in the middle of the deserted Daily Planet." He took her keys and her hand and they walked outside of the office. He locked the door and then tossed the keys back to her.
Chloe stood looking at her best friend with her hands on her hips.
"You do know that the only reason I let you boss me around like this is because I don't want to crush your fragile male ego, right?" Chloe said as she slipped on her thick, black pea coat.
Clark laughed and came closer to her, grabbing both her hands and placing them on his shoulders.
"Oh I realize that Chloe, you know how I like it when I boss around my twenty-seven year old best friend." He pulled her close and they began slowly ascending into the air.
They were silent for a few minutes as they took in the lights of downtown Metropolis. Clark held Chloe close and she rested her head right at the "S" emblem on his chest.
"You know, so many girls would die for the transportation I receive home every night." Chloe said, her words slightly muffled against his chest, which caused Clark to use his Super Strength hearing.
"Well it means that they don't have to stock up on gas or fit into a crowded subway." He responded, his modesty coming out automatically.
"That and that they would get to be this close to the world's most Eligible Bachelor." They were now parallel to the ground, which was far below them.
"I hate this part." Chloe said, quite unnecessarily due to the fact that Chloe said it every night that Clark took her home.
"Have I ever dropped you in the seven years that I've been taking you home?" Clark asked, looking down at Chloe.
Chloe sighed and shook her head against his chest but then added, "It hasn't technically been seven years you know. Because you've only had the superman gig for six years, and that's when you started flying me home when I worked late. But the two years before then, you'd just run me home. Literally."
"Well Miss. Know it all, I still have never dropped you, and I don't plan on it."
They arrived at the door of their apartment building. This was the part where Chloe thanked Superman for saving her and then went inside, Clark following a few minutes later dressed normally. There were never the same people there, and if there happened to be someone that had seen Chloe being "Rescued" before, they'd just land on the roof and enter through the roof entrance. Clark's door was right beside the entrance, Chloe's a little farther off.
Clark would rather that they entered that way every night, but Chloe insisted that it would seem weird if she was never seen entering her own apartment building.
They landed gently, Chloe's arms high around his neck, her feet dangling. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered, "Chlo, it's time for us to do our thing." He heard her yawn and decided that they'd just go with the roof entrance tonight because Chloe looked too tired to climb eight flights of stairs. (The elevator was out of service.)
So a second later they landed on the roof and Clark hooked his arms underneath her legs and lifted her into the air, preparing to take her to her apartment and put her to sleep, but she opened her eyes.
"Hey Clark, are you tired?" Chloe asked, her voice sounding very clear for how tired she was.
Clark looked into her drowsy brown eyes and said, "No, Miss Sullivan, Superman is not tired in the least."
He was very surprised that she wasn't squirming to get down. The only time that Clark ever got to hold Chloe in his arms like that was when she was asleep. Though she was half asleep right then, she was alert enough to know that she wasn't standing up right.
"Well then Clark, do you mind flying to Italy again? That little bed and breakfast place that we stayed in last time would be great on a night like this." Chloe asked hopefully.
"Of course Chloe, but you know that you have that case you want to work on, and I might not be there when you wake up depending on who needs help." He regretted that he had to tell her that. He considered the Bed and Breakfast Heaven on Earth, especially with Chloe.
"I have my lap top to work on it, and I know the circumstances with you Clark. I always have, and always will. But it doesn't stop me from wanting to spend time with you. Or from wanting to love.." She began to drift off again, and Clark took off.
It took him a total of ten minutes to get to Italy. He quickly (Quickly meaning a nanosecond) changed into his Clark Kent Clothes and checked in.
The older man at the check out counter recognized Clark and the sleeping woman from when they had been there before, so he gladly gave them a room key and turned around to give them an activities brochure, but when he turned back around he discovered both of them to be already gone.
Upstairs, Clark lowered the sleeping reporter into the king sized bed. He set the laptop on a chair in the corner and then laid himself beside her, but faraway enough so that they weren't touching.
Turning to face her, he whispered, "Night Chloe."
She shifted and smiled, mumbling back, "Night Clark."
He reached out to remove the coat he'd forgotten to take off of her, and Chloe didn't notice. When Chloe slept, she slept through anything.
He lifted himself as gently as he could, off the bed, and placed the well worn pea coat on the chair beside the lap top. A piece of paper fluttered out from the pocket and Clark picked it up.
It was a picture of Chloe and him from two years ago when Chloe had been promoted. He remembered that night very well, Chloe had kissed Clark smack on the mouth because she was so excited. He had loved that night. Clark smiled at the photo and then turned it over to see if there was an exact date. Written on the back in Chloe's chicken scratch was,
"August 15th 2011.
Kissed Clark.
Best night of life."
Clark smiled widely as he placed the picture into his own pocket and made his way back to the bed.
