Chapter 6 - Isn't It Obvious?

Back in Westchester, Sadie had been back from her ballet lesson for a few hours and had been watching the news, frowning as she listened to how SHIELD and the feds were pressing for attempted murder charges to be filed along with a whole slew of other things. The reaction wasn't as shocking now as it had been right after the Texas incident, but usually by this point of a mission, she'd have at least gotten a text from Kaleb letting her know who was down and how bad it was.

But this time? Nothing. Not a peep. But she didn't want to press — just in case it meant that the whole team was somehow compromised. But then … she ran into Sying and Gerry, who were perfectly able to tell her what had happened and who was dealing with it.

So when he finally came in, his tail dragging behind him and his ears drooping...

"How's Chloe?" Sadie asked.

Kaleb let out all his breath at once but tried to rally a sad smile for her. "She's alright, according to Reed Richards," he said in a clearly moping tone. "Still unconscious, though."

"Well," she said as she took a seat next to him — but didn't try to reach out yet, "I wasn't asking Reed."

Kaleb let out his breath through his nose and then shrugged lightly. "I mean… she hasn't moved since she got hit, and she just kind of… lies there. All pale and still," he muttered, wringing his hands, though Sadie didn't think he realized he was doing it. "It's not fatal, but I think they meant it to be and…" He looked up at Sadie and looked mad. "I really want to get the guys who did it, but I don't know which of the bozos it was, or I would."

She was taken aback by the fire he had going. "I don't think you should," she said, shaking her head lightly.

"She wasn't even the target," Kaleb said. "They just — they hit her on accident!"

"They rarely are," Sadie pointed out. "My brother and Chance notwithstanding." She gave him a little smile. "But … you're not nearly as protective of them."

"Well, your brother is very high right now," Kaleb said, the ghost of a smile pulling at his expression.

"Last time, they shot him in the head, though. Again," she pointed out. "And he still doesn't have most of that week he lost from it." She reached over and covered his hand. "And I haven't heard a peep about Elin."

"She's also very high," Kaleb said, shifting slightly her way so he could cover her hand and clasp it in both of his, starting to smile a bit more. "And having conversations with walls. And losing arguments with them, I think."

Sadie smiled at that and watched him for a long moment. "Then she must be high," she agreed, nodding. "But … I wonder if you're not a little high too?"

"What are you talking about?" Kaleb said, scrunching up his nose. "I didn't get hit with anything."

"Kaleb, you're ignoring what's so, so obvious." Sadie smiled warmly at him. "You are so worried about her. I've never seen you like this for anyone on the team. How are you missing this?"

Realizing all at once where she was headed, Kaleb turned a deep purple. "Well — it's just — everyone else on the team has been hit worse before, and Chloe's the youngest on the team and—"

She arched one eyebrow at him and tipped her head to the side. "You have such a crush on her." She was smiling crookedly at him. "And you have for a long time."

Kaleb's tail went still behind him, and he looked totally flummoxed. "What? I — no, that's not — no I don't!"

She nodded slowly. "I know what I'm seeing, and it's okay. Didn't you notice? I want you to be happy." She leaned forward and gave him a little kiss on the cheek. "Go get her."

Kaleb stared at Sadie in obvious shock. "But… Sadie…" He blinked a few times as he tried to wrap his head around what was happening.

"You are the most charming boy anywhere near your age," Sadie said. "Irresistible. Dashing. Handsome. But you want to be with her. And I'm fine with that. You have more in common anyhow, really. And she's so crushing on you. I don't want you to miss it."

Kaleb shook his head at her. "But I'm dating you right now," he pointed out. "And I love it!"

"Not anymore," she said. "I love it too, but this … Kaleb." She kissed his cheek. "You have more fun dancing with her. So dance."

For a long moment, Kaleb just stared at Sadie before he finally let his shoulders drop and leaned forward to steal a quick kiss. "You know… this was not how I pictured things were going to end up for you and me?"

She smiled at him and leaned against the back of the couch, still facing him. "How did you picture it?"

"Well, definitely not ending with you pushing me into the arms of an unconscious teammate who was nearly murdered?" Kaleb said with a small smirk.

"She won't be unconscious for long," Sadie said. "And when she wakes up, what better way to do it than with the kiss of a sweet prince?" She grinned a little wider his way.

"You're… sure you're alright?" Kaleb asked, now watching her more carefully as his tail finally started to move again after being still and shocked for so long.

"Kaleb, I want you to be happy. With the girl you're crushing on. That's not me." She shrugged openly. "I'll be fine. I'd rather do it like this than to watch you fall for her harder as time goes on."

Kaleb nodded along to everything she said before he leaned over to kiss her cheek. "But just so we're clear," he told her quietly, "when I said I love you, I meant that too."

"And I meant it when I said I love you, too," Sadie said. "And I love you enough to want you to be happy. Even if it's not with me."

"I want you to be happy too," Kaleb pointed out.

"You first, speedy," she teased.

He shook his head at that and then couldn't help but steal one more kiss. "Alright," he said finally as he got to his feet. "But I won't kiss her right when she wakes up. That's a good way to give a Summers a heart attack, since last she remembers, you and I were the hottest couple in Westchester."

"What a shame," she said, shaking her head. "Wasted moment. At least give her a chocolate kiss."

"I'm a charming, dashing pirate. I'll have lots of moments, I'm sure," he said, then kissed her cheek. "Love you, Sadie."

"Love you too, Kaleb," she said before he simply disappeared in a poof of blue. She sat there for just a moment before she got to her feet, in a considerably more depressed mood, then headed up the stairs to find her mother and curl up with her for a long while.

The last thing Chloe remembered, she had been looking for traps in the homeless shelter. And then, something had coated her in a fine layer, and her head felt like it was going to explode. It had been like getting her powers for the first time all over again — only so, so much worse.

She must have passed out at some point, because the next thing she knew, she was starting to wake up in a bed, not lying on the floor where she'd collapsed from that trap.

It took her a moment to blink away the sleep from her eyes and from her voice before she saw her mom rushing over to tackle her. She barely had enough warning to get her hands up in time to return the hug before Annie had her wrapped up — and Scott wasn't far behind.

"Hi, Mom," Chloe said, surprised at the slight rasp in her voice and at how tired she felt. "I'm okay." She knew she needed to say that to keep her parents from getting overly worried, though that only seemed to prompt Annie to hold onto her tighter.

"You are so lucky," Annie told her, pushing back Chloe's bangs as she watched her daughter intently. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Chloe admitted, looking around the room with a frown. This wasn't Hank's lab… "Where are we?"

"Avengers Tower," Scott explained. "The Friends of Humanity brought Heat to the shelter."

Chloe sat up a little straighter, her eyes narrowed as she thought it over. "Heat?"

"It was a newer compound," Scott told her. "Which is why you're lucky. Heat can be fatal to mutants if someone knows what they're doing."

"So let's just be grateful that you were facing exceedingly stupid people," Annie said, brushing Chloe's bangs back all over again as she cupped her face.

Chloe frowned as she listened to everything her father had to say before she pulled back and lightly shook her head. "I'm fine, Mom," she said.

"You are now," Annie said. "But, honey, that was a few days ago."

Chloe's frown only deepened as she looked around the room. She didn't know it, but it was much emptier than it had been. James and Elin had stopped talking to nothing and were cleared to go after the first day in the quarantine. "Did anyone else get hit?" she asked at last, starting to feel rather miserable. After all, she was supposed to be leading the team, and she'd asked them to look for traps. If someone else tripped something like that…

"James and Elin were both exposed, but healers don't react to Heat the same way other mutants do," Scott said in a reassuring tone.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you missed quite the show," Scott said with a little smirk. "They were both very, very high."

Chloe couldn't help but smile, especially when she saw the troublemaking spark of laughter in her dad's gaze. She loved when he let that side of himself show. "Then I'm definitely sorry I missed it," she said.

Annie smiled and leaned over to kiss Chloe's forehead, though after that, Reed wanted to double-check that Chloe was alright before he'd let her go home with her parents. By that time, Chloe had noticed the tall blue elfling standing off to the side and watching Reed, clearly just waiting for Reed to be done with his examinations.

Chloe couldn't help but smile to herself when her suspicions were confirmed and Kaleb teleported right to her side with a little smile and a cup of hot chocolate.

"I know you haven't really eaten anything for a while, and I'm sure your mom is going to stuff you when we get home, but you sounded like you had a sore throat when you were talking to them, and… well…" He held out the mug with an almost sheepish smile that had her raising her eyebrows at him. He wasn't usually like that around her, and she couldn't help but wonder just exactly how bad off she'd been if he was looking so hesitant.

But she smiled at him all the same — and the hot chocolate really did feel good on her throat. She wondered if it was from the Heat or if she'd been intubated; she'd seen enough of her teammates go through that to know it was no fun and usually resulted in a sore throat.

Kaleb seemed to be watching her out of the corner of his gaze as she drank the hot chocolate before he shook his head to himself and got back a bit of his more confident expression. "It's nice to see you up," he said at last. "You are absolutely no fun when you're asleep. I win all of the arguments. Shameful."

Chloe couldn't help but laugh at that. "You can't argue with me when I can't argue back!"

"Of course I can. You've already agreed that I'm the best-looking member of the team, and, of course, that you should change your codename to 'Pretty Little Summers'."

"I did not," Chloe laughed.

"You definitely did," Kaleb agreed, nodding seriously before he looked over his shoulder to where Scott and Annie were talking with Reed and then leaned forward. "You also agreed to go out with me," he told her, much quieter this time.

Chloe couldn't hide her shock before she burst into a laugh and hit him in the shoulder. "Shut up," she said. "Sadie would smack you if she heard you joking around like that!"

"Sadie broke up with me," Kaleb told her.

Chloe froze at that, and the laughter died on her lips as she realized he was serious. "She… what?"

Kaleb nodded slowly, though his gaze never left her face. "I… might not have taken it well when you were hurt," he admitted, the very corner of his mouth turning up in a smile. "And Sadie pointed out to me… well…" He took a deep breath and then brought her hand up to kiss it. "She doesn't want to date someone who is interested in someone else."

Chloe stared at him, sure that she was hearing him wrong. Or maybe the Heat was making her high, too. "No," she said at last.

"No?" Kaleb repeated, one eyebrow raised high. His tail was still behind him as he watched her reaction.

"No, that's not right," Chloe said, shaking her head. "You and Sadie — you're adorable together!"

"We were," Kaleb agreed, nodding seriously.

"You can't — you can't break up over me," she said, sitting up straighter, with her eyes wide. She'd spent so much time supporting Kaleb and Sadie but she hadn't missed the "I love you"s passing between them, and she did not want that to go to waste.

"It's a little bit too late for that," Kaleb said simply, still holding onto her hand.

"But…" Chloe found herself shaking her head as she watched him. "But you two were a power couple. Taking on the world together."

Kaleb nodded along to everything she said, though he didn't say anything more about Sadie. Instead, he asked, "Are you interested?"

"What?"

"Are you interested?" he repeated. "Because if you aren't, that's a whole other discussion. But if you are..."

Chloe stared at him like he'd grown a second head. "But you're in love with her!"

Kaleb watched her for a moment before he simply leaned over and stole a kiss — though Chloe pushed him back at the shoulders when he did so, looking somehow even more floored than before.

"Kaleb," she said in a near-perfect imitation of her mother's most scandalized tones.

But Kaleb didn't look sorry in the least. "You weren't listening to reason," he said with a little shrug.

"No, you're being unreasonable," she said, still trying to pick her jaw up off the floor as she stared at him. "And I'm not going to be a rebound just because Sadie broke up with you," she added, this time with a distinct pink flush to her cheeks. "I know how you felt about her, Kaleb. Don't … do… whatever this is. That's not how friends treat each other."

Kaleb frowned at her reaction, though he still hadn't let go of her hand - and for some reason, she hadn't taken it back, either. Finally, he let his shoulders drop. "That's not what's happening here," he said. "You're not a rebound."

"It really feels like it," Chloe said, dropping his gaze when he didn't stop watching her.

When she dropped his gaze, Kaleb let out a sigh and reached over to take her other hand too, to catch her attention again. "This is going to sound overly dramatic," he warned her. "But you've never been hurt that badly before, and at the thought of losing you…" He flushed slightly purple. "I may have lost my head."

"You said that," Chloe said quietly, though she had at least met his gaze again.

"I did, didn't I?" Kaleb said. His tail was swaying behind him, and he seemed to be almost unconsciously leaning forward. "Would it be so horrible if we dated?"

"No," Chloe said, blushing a brilliant red as she almost immediately shook her head.

"Then… why shouldn't we find a silver lining in you getting attacked?" Kaleb asked, leaning forward with a small smile. "I'm very sorry that I'm so dramatic it took the threat of your death for me to realize how much I cared about you."

Chloe blinked at him, clearly at a loss for how to respond to that. "You… but…"

Kaleb smiled and then darted in for another kiss — and this time, Chloe didn't pull away, though she was still rather shocked by the turn of events.

But when Annie cleared her throat from nearby, they didn't really get the time to get into it — arguments or kisses — and Kaleb ended up teleporting off to let Chloe and her family head back together, trying to give her a bit of space so that she could wrap her head around things.

Sadie was once again practicing, as she seemed to do most of the time these days, though it wasn't the kind of upbeat, gracefully enlightening song that she used all the time. And since the song was slow and almost mournful, the movements that went with it matched perfectly — which was excellent, as far as she was concerned, to work on slow, controlled motions. But it wasn't very uplifting. And she really needed something a bit more cheerful, if she was being perfectly honest with herself.

But instead of admitting that she might have been a bit hasty in breaking things off with Kaleb, she simply poured herself into the dance. It was fine for her to have the volume turned up as long as the doors were closed, but the second Chloe came in — almost marching her way through on a mission — she caught Sadie's attention. "Welcome back," she said with a little smile — or as much of one as she could muster. "I'm glad to see you on your feet again. Everyone was worried."

"Sadie, what are you doing?" Chloe asked, her hands on her hips.

"Dancing," Sadie replied.

"You broke up with Kaleb?" Chloe said, her tone obviously showing her pure disbelief.

At that, Sadie stopped what she was doing and made her way over to turn the music down to a much more reasonable level to speak. "Yes. I did. He wasn't … he was enamored elsewhere. And has been for a while."

"But you two were — you're in love with each other!" Chloe blustered.

She let her shoulders drop. "I love him. But I don't think we were in love. Totally different."

"I — you can't give up on him for me," Chloe said, sounding scandalized. "I know he loves you too!"

"Why not?" Sadie said. "It's not the same; I promise you that."

Chloe stared at her for a long moment before she let out a little noise. "This better not be because of Howard," she said at last, her eyes narrowed.

She burst out laughing at that. "No. Not at all," Sadie said. "Kaleb has been enjoying himself more with you than with anyone else. I've seen the way he looks at you, and I'll tell you what I told him: I want him to be happy!"

"So do I!" Chloe said.

"Then … let him go to who he wants," Sadie said. "It's not me if he's got the choice."

"Except it is," Chloe argued. "He was dating you before you practically pushed him my way, and that's not fair."

Sadie raised an eyebrow her way and put one hand on her hip. "Shall we ask him who he prefers?"

"I don't know… maybe!" Chloe said, pushing her hair behind her ears with both hands. "He's — he's always been with you. Not me."

"Because we started kissing before he realized he felt so much for you," Sadie said, shaking her head. "Either way, ask him. He's probably relieved."

Chloe wrinkled her nose. "That's not — no—"

"It's true. 100% true. He wasn't himself, I can promise you that."

"When? When he was with you?" Chloe made a scoffing noise. "He was happy."

Sadie made her way closer and took Chloe's hand to pull her to a spot to sit. "When we were kissing and dancing and being ridiculous, yes. But he worked so hard to keep it going. That's not right."

Chloe let out a sigh. "He — he was competing with Howard," she said, though the steam was out of her sails in her argument.

"Which is not him," Sadie said. "He wasn't acting like Kaleb. That was all a very ugly green-eyed monster that was more competition than anything. And some of the sweet got nuked by it." She shook her head. "It would only have gotten worse once I got into the ballet company full-time."

"But that sounds like this is about Howard, really," Chloe said.

"It's not," Sadie promised. "Howard doesn't know, as far as I know. And I'm not about to tell him."

Chloe bit her lip as she watched Sadie. "I just… I don't want it to be wrong for him, like you're talking about."

"I was going to have to break up with him anyhow," Sadie said. "He really wasn't in love with me. If you don't believe me, ask your sister. She can confirm." She tipped her chin up. "I am entirely sure of it."

Chloe stared at Sadie for a long time before she let out a little noise and then simply darted forward to hug Sadie. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I know you love him."

Sadie wrapped her up in a snuggle. "It's okay. Sometimes you have to let someone go when you love them."

"I feel so rotten on your behalf," Chloe said.

"Don't! Please don't," Sadie said. "I want you to be happy too. I'm telling you—" she let out a sigh. "He would have been beside himself with some of the guys coming in for this next audition. He can't handle it."

Chloe couldn't help but smile at that. "He's very competitive."

"Exactly!" she said in a hushed whisper. "It had turned into competition! That's all."

Chloe finally looked less horrified, but she still didn't look comfortable as she watched Sadie. "But are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, though her tone and body language spoke to a weariness.

Chloe took both of Sadie's hands in hers. "You're amazing, you know that?"

Sadie gave her a crooked but muted smile and gave her another hug. "Go get your Elf. You're the kind of amazing he wants."

"He must be insane," Chloe said with a small smile. "To want me and my ball of anxiety over you and your glamorous life."

"Glamorous life of creepy old men flirting? Strangers making passes? Come on."

"Yeah, that happens everywhere," Chloe said. "You know I got propositioned by a Superior Rising guy, like, not five seconds after he was yelling at my brother for being alive?"

"Oh, well. Improvement in taste on his part," Sadie said. "Poorly done, though."

"No kidding," Chloe said, making a face.

"I really am glad you're alright. James and Elin were messes when I saw them."

"I was unconscious for most of it, so I really don't know what to tell you," Chloe said with a sheepish look.

"They were hallucinating?" Sadie told her. "You looked like an angel by comparison."

"Sleeping Beauty," Chloe said. "Maybe you can play me in your next ballet."

"That might be nice," she agreed with a little smile. "Not sure if I'd get another big part that quickly though."

"I don't know. I was there at closing night, and I think they'd be nuts not to take advantage of someone so talented."

"I guess we'll find out after auditions," she said, shrugging. "I'm still not sure what I'll use, either."

"Probably not the theme from Romeo and Juliet right now, I take it," Chloe said with a smile that was half a wince.

"No, I think Moonlight Sonata fits for the time being. Maybe Requiem …"

"If you go Requiem for a Dream, I'll start worrying," Chloe teased.

"I was told by the director that, usually, girls that had the last lead use their solo dance from that as their audition. But that just seems … lazy. And like they're holding onto it." She shook her head. "Sounds boring too."

Chloe nodded along. "I think you should definitely do something new." She smirked for a moment. "And someone new too."

Sadie let out all of her breath and shook her head. "I think life will be easier if I'm not worried about some boy, honestly. Such fragile little things."

"They are, aren't they?" Chloe said before she hugged Sadie again. "Still, I wanted to make sure you were okay. I don't want to mess things up for you just because Kaleb is… Kaleb."

"You haven't. We're still okay," Sadie promised, knowing that was what was really bothering Chloe; her family had all managed to get complexes.

"Good. Okay. Well… I guess then I'll … leave you to it," Chloe said, backing toward the door and then headed off to go find Kaleb to talk to him, feeling at least a little better that this wasn't some… weird… shoving Kaleb at her and breaking his heart kind of… thing.

When she found Kaleb, he was in the music room going over one of the songs from this year's musical, though he stopped singing when he saw her and smiled her way. "I can definitely say that your mom is right about one thing: you do look better when you're not starving," he said. "But I will never say that in front of her or I'll be fifty pounds heavier by next month."

Chloe shook her head at him as she came down to sit on the piano bench where he had been plucking out notes. "Well, to be fair, I really was starving."

Kaleb tipped his head to the side as he watched her for some time. "And are you feeling better now?" he asked. "About everything?"

"I talked with Sadie," Chloe told him honestly.

Kaleb let out a little "ah" and nodded. "And what did you two talk about?"

"I told her to audition for Sleeping Beauty in my honor."

Kaleb burst out laughing at that. "I like it!" he said, still grinning. "And she'll do it, too!"

"I think she will," Chloe agreed, smiling a bit to herself.

"We should go on opening night together," Kaleb said. "You should see this performance in your honor. It's important."

Chloe couldn't help but smile wider at his enthusiasm before she took a deep breath and held it. "And she said she did not break up with you for Howard."

Kaleb blinked at her for a moment before he waved a hand in almost annoyance. "If I'd thought that, I'd have dropped Howard off the top of the tower while I was there."

Chloe couldn't help but laugh at his expression. "I just wanted to make sure it wasn't… something stupid," she said.

"And if it had been?" Kaleb asked, genuinely curious now.

"I … probably would have put her through a wall," Chloe admitted. "For hurting you."

Kaleb couldn't stop his smile at that as he leaned forward. "I'd do the same thing if it was me and you were hurting."

"You don't have to butter me up," she said with a distinct pink blush to her cheeks. "I believe you. You're the one who was all… super concerned while I was unconscious."

"I was," he said, nodding. "But I already told you that I was interested. Now the question is ... are you?"

Chloe nodded slowly, a smile tugging at her expression as she leaned forward to match him. "I think so."

"That's not very definitive," he teased, though they had moved much closer together by then, and she wasn't pulling back like she had before.

Chloe took a deep breath, held it, and darted forward so that, this time, she was the one to steal a kiss. And then, she couldn't help but smile as Kaleb pushed to make it a bit longer, his tail wrapping around her when she let out a little giggle.