Title: Penance 13/?

Author: Smileeface

Fandom: Smallville AU

Pairings: Chloe/Oliver,

Rating: PG-13 Language

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville/DC or the characters. I am just playing with them.

Summary: Penance: an act of self-abasement, mortification, or devotion performed to show sorrow or repentance for sin. I am really not like Chloe's story arc so I've decided to change it a little to suit my own needs. That's what fan fiction is right? LOL

A/N: Hey Guys, I just want to send a quick shout out to Miss_Morrygan as a thank you for helping with an important matter concerning this chapter so THANKS BIG TIME, MY FRIEND!!!!!! And now to everyone else who has continued to be patient with me and my updates thanks for staying with me and continuing to reading this fic. :)

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Once Chloe's feet were secure on land she took a deep breath and tried to steel herself against what she knew was going to be an emotionally difficult fact gathering mission. She had returned to the scene of the crime…to where her nightmares were created. She took in the run down appearance of the motel; it didn't look as creepy during the day as it had at night. Regardless, it took all her will to walk through the broken door frame into the room where Davis had lost control of the beast within.

"Doctor Emil?" Clark called as he walked through the doorway. The room was dark and Chloe's eyes needed a moment to adjust from outside. She didn't immediately see the six bodies lying on the floor, two where one of the beds had been and the other four thrown all over the room. She did however; notice that the bed on which he had attacked her was left completely untouched. As she walked deeper into the room, her stomach began to rebel against her. She could feel the bile rise within her throat. She swallowed rapidly trying to keep her stomach from heaving at the sight of the bed. This had been a mistake. She should have never come back here. She stopped walking over to Doctor Emil who had been removing something from a hole in the wall. Clark continued on, un-phased, not even noticing that she was no longer following him at first.

"Over here Clark." Doctor Emil called to him. Clark walked across the room to stand beside Doctor Emil. He quickly surveyed the room, taking note now that Chloe had stopped just inside the broken door frame.

"Chloe, are you ok?" He noticed how pale she looked and he began to worry that maybe this trip had been a bit too overwhelming for her.

"I'm fine, Clark." She said, "But I think I am going to just stay here for the moment. I just can't bring myself to go in any farther."

"Ok Chlo, stay put. I am just going to help Doctor Emil gather his samples and then we can get out of here. I know this must be difficult for you. We'll make this quick, right?" He looked over at the doctor and Dr. Emil shook his head yes.

The memories of what had happened to her blitzed her brain and turned her stomach. She had no control over what she was seeing in her mind. The harder she tried to control the memories the fast and more aggressive they got until she thought that she was going to be sick. She barely heard Dr. Emil's voice as he was explaining to them how he had happened upon this gruesome crime scene.

"Jon Jones gave me the heads up when the Edge City police got the call. He's stalling local authorities so we have to move fast. Six dead in one motel room, makes stalling the locals a bit difficult for Jones."

"Bone spur embedded in the wall, you're right Doomsday did make an appearance." Clark said as he watched Dr. Emil remove the bone spur and put it into the plastic bag.

"Yeah and unfortunately he had an audience. There were four teenagers dressed in leather costumes along with a man and a woman who are also dead. The teens, I believe, were here to capture Davis Bloome for the reward that's posted in the Daily Planet and met their end after the couple over there. The man and women over there where the bed was, I believe they are the people who were staying in the room next door. The guy at the front desk told me that they had called him last night to report that they heard the screams of a young woman coming from this room. They wanted him to call the police, but the man at the front desk had ignored them, thinking that it was just a prostitute and her john having a dispute. The couple, I am assuming, came over to investigate after the woman's screams had stopped and the sounds of the room being destroyed ended. But they were unprepared for what they found. I believe they walked in on Davis transforming into Doomsday and paid the price for their Good Samaritan ship. I am also assuming that the screams of the young woman came from Chloe, from what I can gather from this scene, these young women didn't have a chance to scream."

"Oh my God! This is…I think I'm going to be sick." Chloe said as she backed closer to the door and away from the bodies in the room. "I did this. This is my fault. This happened because I didn't stay, Clark. Oh my God, I did this to them." Clark could see the tears falling from her eyes. He could feel the anguish and guilt radiate from her.

"Chloe, don't…" Clark started but she interrupted him.

"No Clark. I did this. This is entirely my fault. I just ran. I left. Clark, I killed these people. How many other people have to die because I couldn't hack it? Because I didn't have the courage to stay with him? What kind of person does that make me? I have to get out of here, Clark I'll wait for you outside. I am sorry. I just can't be in here right now." She turned to leave. She barely made it out the door before she began to vomit. Clark could hear her vomiting outside and went to talk to her.

"Chloe?" He called to her softly as she wiped the remnants of breakfast from her lips. "Are you ok?" He worriedly asked her, her pallor decidedly off.

"Yeah, Clark, I'm fine. I just think that all the mayhem is a little bit more than I can handle. I think I'm going to stay outside here. I need the fresh air."

"Chlo, I don't like you being out here all alone. At least not while Doomsday could still be near by."

"Clark, I am just going to be right here outside the door. I can't go back in there. I just can't. Trust me, if he comes back, I'll holler, but I can't go back inside. I need to stay out here for now. Go in and help Dr. Emil so that we can get the hell out of here. The sooner we get out of here the quicker we can find Davis and end this. Please Clark, just go back in, I'll be fine." She said as she slid down the wall resting her head against the wooden shingles, crossed her legs and sat Indian style. "See, right here," she looked up at him and then closed her eyes to quell the dizziness that began to over take here, "this is where I am going to stay." Clark knelt down so that he was close to her, she opened her eyes to look at him, and he could see the turbulent emotions swirling within her eyes. He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. He wished that he could take away all the bad that had happened to her these last few days. She didn't deserve this torment. He stood up and went back into the room. She was right the quicker he helped Dr. Emil the faster they could leave.

"Clark, can we talk for a moment over here. I think there is something that you need to know."

"What is it, Doc?"

"It's about Chloe. I know that all she's been through must be taking its toll but I think there is something else going on with her. See there are signs here that I just can not ignore."

"Signs of what, Doc?" Clark asked but didn't really want to know the answer to it.

"This is difficult for me to tell you, but I think something horrible may have happened to her. I can not be one hundred percent sure but I have a strong suspicion that Davis Bloom or Doomsday raped her. There is evidence of a sexual intercourse and from that evidence, it didn't look consensual."

"What?" Clark closed his eyes in horror. He knew that something bad had happened to her. He just didn't want to believe that it was this bad. "Are you sure, Doc?" His voice cracked a bit. Sorrow and anger battled for supremacy.

"Clark, I know what a bed looks like after someone has sex. That piece of furniture," he pointed to the bed that Davis pinned Chloe down on, "was the only thing in this motel room to survive...even the other bed that was in this room was destroyed, but not that one. Not to mention the bodily secretions that are present on the bed. I sprayed luminal on the sheets and I saw the stains. However, what caused me to think it wasn't consensual is the fact that her clothing is completely shredded. I found her night gown stuffed into the trash can in the bathroom. That is one of the classic signs of rape. The rape victim wants to rid herself of any reminder of the incident, it's instinctual. I also found what I believe to be her underwear shredded and thrown under what is left of the chair over there. Then there's the front desk report of a young woman screaming, the fact that she was found running through the wood screaming for you, put all this together, Clark and it screams at the very least of some kind of assault. I am sure that you have seen some signs of it yourself. She's going to need help Clark. She's going to need to be checked out by a doctor to make sure that she's not injured."

"Doc, I'll be…I have to talk to her. God, what she…"Clark couldn't speak. The idea that she had survived that and continued on like nothing had happened made him realize that Chloe was a lot stronger than he had ever given her credit for. She was the true hero. She sacrificed willingly everything that she is…for him. She jokingly called him her own personal hero…when he never realized that she was his. "Chlo." His voice broke, tears pooled in his eyes. He turned from Doctor Emil and stumbled from the motel room. He too now felt sick to his stomach. He looked down at her. She still sat against the outside wall of the room, her eyes closed, pink back in her cheeks. He now understood why her eyes lately were always turbulent. "Chloe." He said as the first tear fell from his eyes, "why didn't you tell me what happened to you." He fell to his knees in front of her.

"I take it, that Doctor Emil figured out what happened and told you huh?" She said not even opening her eyes to look at him. "Just forget it, Clark. Just put it out of your mind. I can't deal with that drama right now. Not yet." She opened one eye to look at him. He was a sight to behold, kneeling before her, tears streaming from his eyes. "Don't." She said warningly to him as she opened her other eye and looked straight into his eyes. "Don't you dare feel sorry for me. I deserved what I got. I should have stayed with him and not have run away like the coward that I am. Those people in there would still be alive if it weren't for me. I deserved it, Clark." She said with venom in her voice, her self loathing apparent in her tone.

"Chloe, no one deserves to go through what you went through. Forget about saving that mother fucker, I am going to tear him to shreds when I find him." He stood up angry on her behalf, cursing as he had never done before.

She too stood up anger pouring from her every pore.

"You will do NO such thing, Clark Kent!" She yelled at him.

"But Chloe, he…he, I can't even say it, Chlo, he hurt you so badly."

"That's right Clark, me, he hurt me not you. ME! You do not get to extract revenge on him. That is not who you are." She poked him in the chest. She knew that he wouldn't feel it but it made her feel better. "You are better than that. You have to save the man from the beast Clark, because that is what a hero does. He doesn't go out to get revenge; he goes out and serves justice. Clark, don't you understand that if you hurt Davis…who had no control over his actions, you will cross that invisible boundary line and become that which you were sent here to fight against all because of what he did to me. I can't let that happen, Clark. I just can't. I have sacrificed so much to get you to be the hero that you are meant to become. You can not do that to me that would be worse than what Davis did." Clark bowed his head. He knew that it would be difficult to do what Chloe asked him not to do. He wanted to tear Davis to shreds. He wanted to rip that man's arms from his body and beat him bloody. But Chloe was right. He just couldn't do that to her.

"Ok, Chloe, for you. I will do this for you. But Davis will face judgment. After we separate him from Doomsday and we get rid of Doomsday, Davis is going to jail or at the very least he's going to go into Bel Reeve for what he did to you."

"Ok, Clark. Thank you." She hugged him tightly and he squeezed her back. Now almost everything that had been a mystery since her return has fallen into place for him. He realized that her skittish behavior, her telling the guys to stand behind Oliver no matter what, was all part of Chloe shutting down because of this trauma. Chloe let Oliver go because she didn't feel that she was worthy of him anymore. She let him speak to her the way he had because she was letting him go…letting him go so that he could move on because she felt she was damaged. She felt that was a coward who didn't deserve to associate with the team. That is why it was so easy for her to let go. She even tried to push him away. Clark squeezed her tighter. He was never going to let her go. Not now, not ever.

"Chlo, come on, let's get back to Isis and finish this."

"What about Doctor Emil? I thought that you were helping him gather samples?"

"You are more important. This place must be bringing back some pretty horrible memories. I can bring you back to Isis, where you can call that Bat guy from Gotham. I can come back here, help the Doc and then go and talk to Oliver."

"Oliver! Oh Clark." She looked up at him in panic. "You can not tell Oliver what happened with Davis. Promise me, Clark please."

"Don't you think that Ollie deserves to know about this, Chloe?"

"No. This happened to me, not to him, not to you, to me. I don't want anyone to know, Clark. I didn't even want you to know. If Oliver finds out, he's going to react similar to the way that you did. He's going to get angry and go out hunting Davis down, to what? To kill him because he ra…hurt me. Besides, the way Oliver is feeling towards me right now, I don't think he'll even care." Chloe closed her eyes hoping that she hid the hurt that saying that caused her.

"Chlo, I have a feeling that Oliver said some things that he wishes right now that he could take back. I am sure that if he found out about what Davis did to you, he'd do exactly what I want to do. But if you are going to make things work out between the two of you, you have to tell him. Without honesty the relationship will crumble. Have you not learned anything from my past relationships? Tell him, Chloe."

"Ok, I'll make you a deal. After we capture Davis and split him and if Oliver will ever speak to me again…then I will tell him, but not before. And this is my secret to tell, not yours. Promise me you won't tell."

"I promise, Chloe. Come on; let's get you back to Isis." Clark scooped her up into his arms and ran back to the Isis building. He carried her like she was the most precious of people into the building and put her in her office. "Chlo, I hate to leave you alone with that guy on the loose, but we each have things that need to be done. Lock this door and don't open it for anyone except for me. I will be back as quickly as I can." He leaned down and hugged her. He placed a gentle kiss on the side of her temple. "I love you Chloe, no matter what. You are my personal hero." He said to her and then he was gone a blur of red and blur left in his wake. Chloe wiped the tears from her eyes and locked the door. She had work to do. She walked into her inner sanctuary and pulled up Bruce's file. She dial the number she had for him and on the second ring a British voice answered the phone.

"Wayne residence." The crisp British voice said.

"Alfred, it's Chloe Sullivan. Is Bruce or Barbara around? I really need to speak to one of them."

"Oh miss Sullivan, so nice to hear your voice again. Master Bruce will be with you in one moment. Please hold." Chloe strummed her fingers on her console waiting for Bruce to answer the phone.

"Chloe!" He sounded thrilled to hear from her again. "How are you doing? How is that blond menace that you call boss doing?"

"Oh Bruce, Oliver is doing well, as am I, thank you for asking. However, this is not a social call, but a business call. I need a favor; well actually a friend of mine needs a favor." She decided quickly that it was in everyone's best interest if she just cut to the chase.

"Do tell? Why are you calling me and not calling Oliver?" His voice deepened a little as concern for his friend colored his voice.

"Well, I'm not calling Oliver because we have had a falling out of sorts. He's not really speaking to me at the moment."

"Really?"

"Yes, for now. I may be able to repair the damage later when there is more time. At the moment my friend, Clark, is the one who needs help. He and Oliver have had a falling out too. Unfortunately over me." She couldn't hide the sadness in her voice from him.

"Oh, this sounds interesting. I think you are going to have to tell me the whole story." He said, not hiding his curiosity at their situation.

"I have a better idea, how about I tell you the whole story when you get your black leather ass here?" She said jokingly to him all though he could still detect the lingering sadness in her voice. He decided to take it upon himself to cheer her up.

"HA! Always one for commands, your position on that team of Oliver's suits you. Hmm, I like that in a woman." He said as he tried to cheer her up over the phone. He figured that his charm would draw her out of her melancholy and could possibly get him to the bottom of what is going on quicker.

"Oh please, you only like me because I work for Oliver. If it weren't for Oliver's interest in me you would never have given me a second look."

"That's not true, Chloe, I will have you know that I am partial to blondes." Bruce flirted.

"Now I know why you and Oliver are considered playboys." He could almost see her rolling her eyes at him as she called him on his flirting, but he could also hear her smile through the phone.

"Really, now why is that?" He smiled, he always liked talking to Chloe; there was just something about the petite blond that really did intrigue him.

"It's because you both will flirt with anything in a skirt. Now are you coming or not?" He could tell that her impatience was getting the better of her and he smiled. He had her now, right where he wanted her.

"I'm already on my way. I should be there in little over an hour…that means that you have plenty of time to fill me in on the goings on in your life. Now start at the beginning."

"Geez, what happened to the dark mysterious man in black leather? Now you just sound like an old lady looking for gossip."

"This is recon. I need to know what I am getting myself into. Besides, Ollie's lucky that he has you in his life, but the moment he screws up, I want to be there to scoop you away. Even Barbara and Alfred like you." Chloe laughed and Bruce smiled. His mini mission to make her feel better was accomplished. They both knew that he really didn't mean what he was saying. Bruce was coming to Metropolis to help his friend out, not to steal his girl.

"Such a flatterer you are, Bruce." She said flirty to him.

"Is it working? Are you going to leave Ollie for me?"

"Sorry no, there is more holding me here in Metropolis than Oliver." She said sadly, actually it was only a few weeks ago that she had decided to leave Metropolis and move to Star City. She shook her head to clear her thoughts now was not the time to dwell on the past. Now was the time to work on a plan for the future. "Ok Bruce, let me get you up to speed. We have an hour to kill before you get here." And there she was, back to business in full Watchtower mode planning yet another mission.

"I'm all ears." And so Chloe began at the beginning, how Davis began to consume her life.

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Back at the Super 8 motel Doctor Emil was just finishing up collecting the samples he needed to run his diagnostics when Clark arrived again.

"How's Chloe doing?"

"She's focusing on capturing Doomsday and bringing Davis to justice. You were right, he did assault her. I am going to catch this bastard and he is going to pay for what he did to her. I am going to make sure that stays in prison for the rest of his life."

"Well, I think Chloe is doing the best thing she could possibly do for herself, other than getting the help that she needs. Did you take her to the hospital?"

"No, she didn't want to go, and I just couldn't force her. She'll know if something is wrong with her body and if she needs me, I can be back there in a split second. Is there anything else that I need to know?"

"I won't know anymore until I can get these samples back to my lab and run tests on them. I am not sure what else I am going to find out about Davis Bloome that I haven't already told you and Oliver. But I'll look anyway. Well, I think that's about it. I'm just going to pack up my gear and call Jones to tell him that we're done so that he can let the locals in. Clark, just make sure that Chloe is ok, it's not uncommon for woman who have experienced these kinds of traumas to develop post traumatic stress. Keep an eye on her. If she starts to have trouble sleeping or starts to zone out in the middle of doing something, those maybe signs that she's developing PTSD. She will need some help immediately."

"Thanks Doc. I'll definitely keep an eye out for those. Call me if you find anything new, ok."

"Sure thing, Clark. Take care." Doctor Emil turned and began to pack the evidence bags of samples away into his black kit. Clark turned and left. Once Clark was gone Doctor Emil got on his cell phone and called Oliver.

"Queen." Oliver answered a bit aggravated that he was being delayed in going over to Chloe's to apologize.

"Oliver, it's Emil. There's something that I think you need to know about." The doctor said cryptically over the phone. Oliver just didn't have a good feeling about whatever it was that Emil wanted to tell him.

"Okay." He said slowly, not sure if he really wanted to know what it was the doc was calling for.

"It's about Chloe Sullivan." He said into the cell phone as he held up the evidence bag with her torn night gown in it.

"What about Chloe?" He couldn't keep the concern for her out of his voice.

"I can't do this over the phone, Oliver. Can you meet me at my lab?" The urgency in his voice worried Oliver even more.

"Emil, is Chloe ok? What happened?"

"Oliver, calm down, as far as I can tell Chloe is just fine. But I believe that something terrible happened to her that you should be made aware of. I need to speak to you, but this is not a matter to be discussed over the phone. Can you please meet me at my lab? And if it is at all possible could you please bring Chloe with you. I believe it's vital that she seek medical treatment."

"Treatment, Emil? What the hell is going on?" His voice was laced with anxiety and fear.

"Oliver, please calm down, I won't know what really happened until I speak with Chloe, herself. Until then I have only suspicion and conjecture."

"Fine. I have an important appointment that I have to go to and then we will meet you at your lab. We should be there in an hour."

"I'll see you then."

Oliver no sooner hung up with Doctor Emil and the buzzer at the elevator buzzed. He was extremely surprised to see Clark standing in the elevator waiting to be allowed in.

"Jesus! NOW What!" Oliver said as he buzzed Clark up and walked out to the living area elevator to meet him. He really was in no mood to converse with the over protective Boy Scout. Time was ticking away and all he wanted to do was get to Chloe and apologize for the bastard that he had been to her earlier, but it seemed that fate had other plans for him.

Tbc…

A/N: I wasn't sure about how long it would take Bruce to reach Metropolis from Gotham so I just made it an hour away. So, if Gotham is more than an hour away from Metropolis sorry for the mistake but for this fic it's only going to take Bruce an hour to get there.

Constructive feedback is always appreciated! Thanks for reading! :)

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