Chapter 4

"One day I'm going to climb these steps and you won't be moping around." I laughed as his eyes went wide.

"Hey!" He stood from his place at the couch and bounded over to me, grappling me in a brotherly bear hug.

"Easy man, I just got this jacket. I don't want you to get excited and rip off one of the arms or something."

He was smiling like a complete dork and I loved it. I missed him. I didn't realize how much until now.

"What're you doing here?"

"Enjoying Spring break. Chloe's not the only one going to school."

"Right, I forgot." He swallowed, hiding the regret of being the only one not to be in college. "How's your mom?"

"Same. Except she started dating again. Some guy named Mark. I think he'll be my new daddy." I joked and it won me a laugh from him. Clark too had lost his father this past year and he heavily suspected that his mother might be beginning to have reciprocal feelings for Lionel Luthor.

We caught up a bit as he walked me back to the farmhouse. Clark offered me a cold glass of lemonade, which I gladly took.

Pouring it to the top, he pushed it over to me where I sat on the kitchen-island. "Not that Smallville isn't the most happening spot, but why aren't you lady chasing at the beach with the rest of the frat boys?"

I took a swig of the drink, savoring the taste of Mrs. Kent's lemonade. "It didn't seem right, especially now."

"Oh." He managed, putting the pitcher back into the refrigerator. "Have you seen her yet?"

"Yesterday." He closed the door and turned back to me.

"And how is she?"

"Hanging in there. She hasn't used it once, not since last month anyway."

He shook his head. "She shouldn't do that. The longer she denies it the harder it will be to control in the future."

"Why don't you go tell her that?" He opened his mouth to respond, but no words come out. "Because you're avoiding her like the plague, right?"

He didn't have the audacity to lie to me directly. "Do you have any idea how much that hurts her, Clark?" I waited for his answer but only heard silence. "She's trying to survive the hardest thing she's ever had to go through, and you're letting her face it alone."

"Chloe is not alone." His voice carried louder.

I laughed. "You think Jimmy's helping her? She hasn't even told him yet." Clark seemed unwilling to confront me all of a sudden, walking away to the living room.

"Why haven't you at least called her? Really, why haven't you?"

"I don't know." He spoke to no one, facing the couches. "Every time I see her or hear her voice I get so… I keep thinking 'this is the moment she's going to lose it' and it sickens me. Maybe I'm being selfish—"

"You are."

"—But I can't. What if she becomes like her mom with the sporadic comas or worse… What if she starts abusing the power? You know what she's capable of. Even if she wanted to she won't go down easily."

"Do you really have that little faith in her? She's been able to handle it so far." He quickly replaced his empathy with anger, hardening his emotion as he approached me determinedly.

"This isn't about faith, this is about statistical fact. Meteor freaks can't live normally." He was far more jaded than I'd expected. "And she's not handling it, she's ignoring it. One day it'll blow up in all our faces and I guess I just don't want to be around for that."

Then I understood. Clark wanted to detach himself, to become less dependent on her so that if she died he would be able to keep going.

He was so naïve. When Chloe dies he won't be able to walk on like nothing happened, if its today, next month, or 20 years from now.

"You really think you can just forget about her. That you'll go to training and that'll be that. What happens to her is of no consequence to you." I could've laughed if there were anything humorous left in this situation. "There's a reason you didn't go to the Fortress more than because Lex would have killed all those people."

"That's insane."

"Why didn't you go after then? Why are postponing it for 6 months?"

"Who's going to stop her when she finally embraces it? I can't leave knowing what a threat she is."

"How can you talk that way about her, man?" I stood from my seat and shouted unabashedly, "She's not just another freak for you to defeat and toss aside!"

"She seems to think so. That deal she came up with made that pretty clear." I felt like punching him in the face and I would have too if I could've without breaking my hand.

"You need to open you eyes Clark. I know it's hard for you to believe but Chloe is more terrified than either of us are. If you knew a thing about her you'd recognize that she wasn't thinking straight that night."

"You literally almost died in front of her and her abilities manifested to save you. It was a trying experience for her to have that sort of power. She panicked and pushed you into a plan you will never follow through."

"Oh, I won't?"

"How are you going to kill her, Clark? After you figure out a way to bypass her telepathy, telekinesis, and mind control are you going to just strangle her to death with your bare hands? Are you going to hold her down until she draws her last breath?" I saw his eyes glaze over. "Come on, since when can you kill anyone?"

"You're forgetting that I have no choice."

"And you're forgetting who we're talking about. This is Chloe. Chloe is not going to let her life go if she can help it. She's going to fight whether or not you choose to support her."

"But she won't be able to do it unless she knows you believe she can. She thinks you don't trust her to beat this."

"What else am I supposed to do, huh Pete? Put on a happy face for her and pretend there's not this huge possibility that she might go insane tomorrow?"

"No, Chloe's not an idiot. She knows how much the odds are stacked against her and she doesn't need you to lie to her about her chances. She just needs you to stand by her."

There was a long pause on his end, during which he appeared thoughtful. He walked past me and grabbed his blue coat from the rack.

He shot me a look before he stepped through the open door. "I just need her."