---- Chapter Five: Grant Us Peace
Hefting her bag up on her shoulder a little more solidly, Chloe walked out of the jetway and into the Metropolis airport. Clark had offered to fly her back from Gotham, but she'd declined, wanting to do it the old fashioned way.
As she was swallowed into the groups of people making their way towards the front of the airport, she let her eyes run over all the faces, noting the direction people were looking and how they held themselves. She smiled as she caught the reunion of two lovers out of the corner of her eye, and had to stop walking quickly when a little girl ran out in front of her and stopped, casting a curious glance up at her.
Chloe smiled down at her. "Hi there."
After staring with wide eyes for a moment, the little girl ran off in the direction she'd come from. Chloe rolled her eyes and started walking again. "Apparently barely any human contact for years on end hasn't made me any more endearing to children," she mumbled.
Scratching at her scalp for a second as she walked, she once again hefted her bag up onto her shoulder and went back to letting her eyes run over all the faces in the crowd. It had become habit, despite the fact that this was really the first large crowd of people she'd been in since she'd left Metropolis over three years ago.
The fact that Bruce had arranged for her to return four years to the day after she'd lost her job at the Daily Planet was hardly lost on her. She'd yet to mark the anniversary with anything more than a couple depressing thoughts that she dismissed after a few minutes, but apparently her mentor, counselor, or whatever Bruce had been to her was intent on seeing her confront the annoying date. She didn't know if this actually counted as confronting it so much as just simply returning to the scene of the crime.
Passing through a revolving door, Chloe walked along the baggage carousels until she spotted the one that had her flight info on the screen above it. Looking around, she walked back a few paces and rested her back against the wall, letting her eyes close with a deep breath. The bag on her shoulder slipped to the ground, and Chloe smiled a bit as a familiar scent hit her nostrils. Opening her eyes again, she watched as a woman with long blonde hair passed her, her perfume the scent Lois had once worn.
Lois. They'd talked frequently for the first five or six months of her time in Gotham, but once she'd started traveling, spending time in some of the places Bruce had recommended for training, they'd lost touch. She had returned to Gotham intermittently, but Bruce would just send her out again, hardly granting her time to take a shower before she was on her way to somewhere remote.
By the time the previous Christmas had passed, she hadn't talked to her cousin in about two and a half years. Now, it was getting towards three. It was by far the longest they'd gone without talking to each other.
Sighing, Chloe pushed that thought out of her head. She didn't feel nervous about going and seeing Lois, Clark and Jacob for the first time since the day after her low point, but she just hoped that they could see her with new eyes instead of seeing the woman she'd been then.
As the carousel began to spin, Chloe lifted her bag up and walked back to it, standing by the side as bags began to spill onto it. Watching black suitcase after black suitcase pass her by for what felt like hours, she finally leaned over and grabbed the duffel holding her clothes, many of which she hadn't worn in almost as long as it had been since she'd seen her family. When she'd traveled, she'd traveled lightly. The bag on her shoulder had been all she'd needed most places, and more than she needed in a few.
Walking along the windowed front of the airport, Chloe caught a glimpse of herself mirrored in the glass. Her hair was short again, and stuck out in small spikes of sorts, though not through any conscious styling choices. Her body wasn't as soft as it had been, her curves toned down and replaced by lean muscle. Would her clothes in her duffel even fit anymore? She'd never been all that muscular prior to leaving, and while she wasn't rippling now, she was sometimes caught off guard by how trim her body was.
The first time she'd seen her reflection, truly seen what her whole body had looked like after only catching glimpses of her face for over a year, had been a shock. The image that she'd been used to and grown to love through her life was gone, replaced by something the rigors of her life had demanded.
Walking outside, Chloe smiled as the sun hit her face and felt her clothes ripple with the wind. It felt good to be outside now, after having spent the majority of previous years outside. When she had first found it odd to be inside for long amounts of time, she'd realized just how much her life had changed. Before that, spending as much time outside as she had seemed something she would never do.
Waking down a row of taxi's, she declined a brochure about the city from an airport worker and walked to the first unoccupied cab. With a quick greeting to the driver as he took her bags, Chloe gave him the address of the apartment downtown that Bruce had purchased for her. She'd attempted to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't budge. When she'd appealed to Diana for help, she'd just sided with him. Apparently being in love with Bruce counted for more than female unity these days.
Ruffling her hair a bit as she got into the backseat of the cab, Chloe buckled her seatbelt and told the driver where to go once more as he got the car going. A couple minutes later she could see the city in the distance, and swallowed as she knew what she was going to have to face.
---
"We have a cake, right? This seems like a cake kind of situation, though I don't know what we could possibly write on top of it. 'Welcome back from the near three and a half years away from Metropolis I forced on you!' That seems a little long for a cake, unless we were to get a really big cake."
Lois stopped talking as she wiped a hand down her face, knowing that she was rambling. She was going to see her cousin, one of the people dearest to her, for the first time since that fateful night in December 2019. Now that it was April of 2023, her life had changed, though people told her that she hadn't. Did people know when they had changed, or did they just not notice it and think that whatever happened was the norm?
Shaking those kinds of thoughts out of her head, she made her way along the table of food until she spotted the large cake at the end, adorned with the words 'Welcome Home!' instead of her much less succinct cake-top greeting. Nodding her head in approval, the rubbed her neck for a moment, attempting to alleviate some of the tension in it she wished wasn't there.
She wanted this to feel natural, like she was greeting somebody that was coming home from military service with happiness and rejoicing. She didn't know what she was going to see, though. Bruce had only said that Chloe was all right, and that it was time for her to come home. Lois really hadn't seen why her cousin had needed to be gone so long, but Bruce had told her that if she was going to let him help Chloe, he was going to help her the way he had helped himself.
Of course, Bruce had never really become less angry about his parents murder. Lois knew that it shadowed him everyday. But when she and Clark had talked about what they could do to help her, and he'd floated the idea of letting Bruce help her with the anger like he'd helped himself, she'd thought it sounded like a good idea. She hoped that when she saw Chloe, it would be confirmed as a good idea.
"Daddy, is mommy ok?"
"Yeah buddy, she's just nervous."
Lois turned around and glared at Clark. "I'm not nervous. I'm... anxious."
He raised an eyebrow. "You look nervous." Clark looked down at Jacob, who was standing next to him. "Do you think she looks nervous?"
Jacob looked up at him, nodding. "I think she looks nervous." He looked back at her. "Why are you nervous, mommy?"
Rolling her eyes, Lois crossed her arms and glowered at a wall. "I am NOT nervous, you two. If Cassidy were down here, she'd agree with me."
"She's two, Lo, and only leaves your side when she's sleeping. Were it not currently nap time she'd either be standing at your side with Mr. Whiskers or settled on your hip, which is more or less her favorite place in the world. One of these days you're going to have to limit hip time."
Los scoffed at him. "She's my daughter, Smallville! I'm not going to tell her she can't spend some quality time close to me. Plus, more talk like that and there will most certainly be some limiting of time, but it won't be her hip to hip contact with me that goes down."
Clark scowled at her a moment, which caused Lois to grin and stick her tongue out at him good-naturedly. When there was a knock at the door, Clark picked up Jacob and took him with him to answer the door to the apartment while Lois got back to going over everything to make sure that it was all in good order where it should be.
When Clark and Jacob got back they were accompanied by Lucy, Jimmy and Bridget. Their little girl was sitting on Jimmy's shoulders, but Lois pulled her down into a hug before handing her back and getting Lucy tangled up in a quick hug. "How are you guys?"
Lucy answered. "Good. Great, actually, now that we're here. This place is amazing! There's only one other apartment up here."
Lois looked around at the giant place for a moment, which was more of a penthouse than a plain old apartment. Bruce certainly hadn't spared any expense when he'd purchased and furnished the place for Chloe. Apparently since he'd come home to loads of money and a giant home, he thought she should too. This was definitely better than coming home to live in their basement.
"Yeah, Chloe caught a break and got a good deal on this place when she was arranging her return."
"Did she also become independently wealthy while she was out in the world, traveling and finding herself, or whatever it was she was doing?"
Lois shrugged, knowing she would have to lie. "Appears that way. I still haven't talked to her. A mutual friend in Gotham is who alerted us to the fact that she was coming home and wanted to see us. We were just as surprised as you are at the quality of this place."
"Yeah, well, I'm just eager to see her. I still wish she would have at least taken the time to say goodbye in person instead of just giving us a quick call from the airport. Would she have even done that if you hadn't been there with her?"
Lois grabbed a chip out of a bowl and popped it into her mouth. "I don't know. Don't hold it against her, though. She was having a hard time with things back then and needed to get away. Obviously we had no idea it would be near to three and a half years later when we saw her again, but if it's what she needed that much time to feel better, then I'm all right with it."
Lois looked down when there was a tug at her jeans, and smiled when she saw a sleepy Cassidy rubbing at an eye with her other hand, her stuffed cat Mr. Whiskers tucked into the crook of her arm. Lois kneeled down and ran a hand through her daughter's messy hair. "Hey there, sleepyhead. You awake now?"
Cassidy nodded and wrapped the previously tugging hang around her neck. Lois wrapped an arm around her daughter in turn, and lifter her up as she stood. Cassidy laid her head against Lois's shoulder, rubbing against it a couple times. "Do you want to say hi to your aunt Lucy and uncle Jimmy?"
A quick shake of the head was the only answer she got, and Lois shrugged at Lucy. "You know how it goes."
"I do. Plus, Lane's are never good with the rising and not being grumpy, aside from dad. Saying it that way, maybe it's not a Lane thing so much as something we got from mom." Lucy nodded a couple times before wandering off to get something to drink, and everybody else had disappeared while they were talking so Lois got Cassidy resting on her hip while she gave things the once over for the fifteenth time.
Looking down at Cassidy, Lois wondered what Chloe would think of her daughter. She couldn't believe that the two had never met. Hell, Jacob didn't remember her because he'd been so young. Neither of her children knew Chloe, and that was just unfathomable to her. She'd never imagined that something like that could happen.
Of course, she'd never imagined what had transpired at the end of 2019 could happen, so life was just liked to throw improbabilities at her. The fact that she was married and had two kids with somebody born on another planet was proof of that.
Rubbing a hand over Cassidy's back, Lois decided to go over things one last time. Not because she was nervous. Maybe because she was anxious.
---
Handing the taxi driver a fifty, Chloe told him to keep the change and smiled when he tipped his hat at her. She hadn't thought that people actually tipped their hats anymore, but apparently she'd been incorrect. Watching the taxi merge into traffic, she took a deep breath in and released it a second later before picking up her duffel and slinging her other bag over her shoulder.
Walking into the building, a doorman let her in without a question, which she figured was Bruce's doing. She smiled at him as she walked by, and made her way to the elevator at the end of the entry foyer. Waiting a moment, she looked around and inspected her new surroundings until she heard the ding of the elevator greet her.
Letting a couple people exit, Chloe walked in and dropped her duffel as she pushed the button for the top floor. Rolling her shoulders a bit, she watched as he floor numbers flashed by until the elevator stopped. Hoisting up her duffel once more, she walked out of the elevator and made her way along the hallway.
Frowning, she glanced at the first door she passed, which was oddly far away for a first door, and when it wasn't the number she'd been told was hers she kept walking. A little ways further she finally got to the door she'd been looking for, on the opposite side of the hallway. Glancing further down, she noticed that there were no other doors. How big a place had Bruce gotten her?
Testing the door, she found it unlocked. Not surprising; Diana had told her that Bruce had told Lois and Clark she was coming back. She assumed that he was going to tell her, but he'd never said anything about it. Maybe Diana had told him and he hadn't bothered. The day Bruce planned a surprise party was the day she questioned whether the world had started spinning clockwise. Secretive as he was, he'd always been honest with her.
After a long breath to keep the nerves down, she walked into the apartment and let her bags down onto the floor softly. Rubbing at her neck as she closed the door softly, she made her way into the main part of the place. As soon as she saw what awaited her, she couldn't help gut gape at the size of the place. Why the hell had Bruce gotten her such a monstrous apartment? Talk about a shock to the system; after living such a Spartan life during her travels, this was going to be extremely different.
Expecting a greeting as she walked into the living room, she found it empty with a big table of food at the other end. Not sure what to make of all this, she made her way across the room and inspected all the food. Gabbing a piece of celery, she took a bite as he wandered along the length, glancing at each food as it sat on a plate or in a bowl. When she came to the large cake at the end, she dipped her finger in the icing and licked it off, smiling as she tasted it.
Hearing light footsteps coming from her left, Chloe glanced over and saw a little boy running into the room. He stopped when he noticed her, tilting his head a bit as she pulled her finger out of her mouth.
"Who are you?"
Chloe swallowed and smiled. "I'm Chloe, who are you?"
"Jacob."
Eyes going wide, Chloe stared for a second before realizing that she doing just that. He was huge! He was what, four years old now? She didn't have a clue as to if he was big for his age, but seeing him now compared to the size he'd been... it was crazy. "Wow, uh, hi. I haven't seen you in a long time."
"We've met before?"
"Well yeah. I knew you when you were a baby. In fact, I was there the day you were born. We knew each other pretty well until you were one."
He walked a little closer to her, and she took a second to analyze his features. Clark's eyes, Lois's mouth and nose... he was a good mix of the two.
"I don't remember you."
Chloe sighed and got down on her knee's, smiling at him. "I know. I've been traveling for a while, and ths is the first time I've been home in Metropolis for over three years."
"That's a long time!"
"Too long," Chloe said. "May I have a hug? I know you probably aren't supposed to hug strangers, so if you don't want to that's ok."
When he didn't move, Chloe nodded and stood up. "That's depressing," she said to herself. She'd never thought that she'd a stranger to a little boy she'd once known and taken care of like he was her own. "So, Jacob, where are your mom and dad?"
"In the kitchen."
"You want to come with me to say hi to them?"
He nodded and took off at a run in the direction from whence he'd come. Chloe followed at a much slower pace, running a hand through her hair before once before she thought about just how short it was. Two years it had been short and she still forgot about it sometimes. Finding a swinging door her only barrier between her and family, she pushed past it.
She was greeted by an empty room.
Looking around, she found that Jacob was nowhere to be found , nor were his parents. Scratching her head, she saw that there was another door out and used it, walking out of the kitchen and back towards the living room. Once she got there, she found herself staring at the backs of four adults a three children.
"Hey, guys."
---
Spinning around, Lois spotted Chloe and had to flex her jaw to keep her mouth from falling open. Her cousin looked completely different. The hair, her face and body... all completely different. It didn't look bad on her, but compared to what she'd known for so many years it was a hell of a sight. When she noticed nobody else saying anything either, she made herself step forward and speak. She smiled and put Cassidy down on the floor.
"Chloe, hi. It's so great to see you!" Taking another couple steps forward, she pulled her cousin into a hug. She felt Chloe wrap her arms around her, and suddenly all the nervousness she'd been feeling oozed away and it was just her and Chloe again. She took a step back, leaving her hands on her. "How are you?"
Chloe smiled. "I'm all right. Good, even."
"How were your travels?"
Chloe shrugged and shook her head. "We can cover that later. Who's this beautiful girl standing next to you?"
"Oh!" Lois grinned and picked up Christina, settling her on her hip. "This is Cassidy Corinne Kent, your niece."
Chloe smiled softly, looking down at Cassidy. "Hi there."
Lois watched Cassidy look at Chloe a second before hugging herself a little tighter to her body. Lois shook her head and smiled at Chloe. "Sorry, she's pretty shy. She obviously takes after her father."
"Don't worry, Lo, kids have never been the most fond of me."
"Hey, Jacob loved you when he was a baby."
"Yeah, well, babies are a different matter. Most of the time, they can't run away from you. At the airport earlier, a kid ran out in front of me, I said hi and she took off. I think something about me says to kids 'Run away!'"
"Nonsense. I bet you got a hug out of Jacob earlier."
Chloe raised an eyebrow before grinning. "Nope. I asked him if he was supposed to hug strangers, and when I didn't get a hug I took that as the answer."
Lois frowned, not knowing what to say to that. Chloe walked past her a second later.
"Hey guys."
Lois turned back and watched the greetings, realizing that she'd been dominating the welcome home proceedings. She watched as Chloe got introduced to Bridget and hugged Jimmy and Lucy, and lastly got a big hug from Clark. Sighing happily, Lois was relieved to have her cousin home.
---
"After Japan, I spent about seven months in Nepal, four in China and a few in Thailand. After that, I flew back to Gotham, which was a week ago, and now I'm here."
"Wow," Lois said. Chloe watched her cousin as she lounged on the couch, a cup of coffee in her hands. It was good to know that some things never changed. "I'm impressed."
Chloe smiled and looked out the window, seeing some lit buildings a little ways off. Letting herself sit back into the couch a little more, she took a sip of her water before continuing. "The training was intense. Everything I did I had to do full out. I threw myself into it, but I didn't know if I was going to make it through at the beginning. As time passed and I didn't fall over dead, I found that I was stronger than I thought."
"Good, I'm glad."
"Me too. I needed to know it."
Lois turned her head and faced her. "I always knew it, Chlo."
Chuckling, Chloe took another sip of water. "I know. Unfortunately, being told that we have that strength inside us isn't that same as finding it for one's self. Bruce really knew what he was doing when he sent me where he did, and knew what it would force me to face."
"I wish you hadn't been gone so long, but I'm glad that you're all right. That's all I've wanted to know since we lost touch."
Chloe smiled through a sigh. "All right, enough about me. What've you and Clark been up to in the last three years and four months? You know, aside from making more offspring."
"Well, there is that one little thing. She was a surprise, but a good surprise. We weren't actively trying so much as we just stopped using birth control and whatever happened, happened."
"She's gorgeous, Lo."
Lois smiled. "Thank you. Like you saw earlier, she's a little shy. Jacob was never shy with people at her age, so I don't know if it's just her being two or her personality. Time will tell, I guess." After another sip of coffee, she continued. "Aside from children, we went to print with the article about how Lex had been testing on the children of meteor infected, which got him in serious trouble with all sorts of people. He's currently incarcerated, actually, on the second year of a thirteen year term."
"Really? Well, that's good news. Did anything ever come about as a result of the altercation he and I had?"
"Not that I know of. There was never anything reported to the police, and Clark and I checked out at all the hospitals a few days later to see if Lex had been in for treatment, but there wasn't anything conclusive."
Frowning, Chloe stared out the window a moment, and didn't turn towards Lois when she spoke. "What prison is Lex in, Lo?"
---
Sitting down, Chloe waited. A moment later, a guard led Lex to the chair across the window. He paused when he saw her, then sat down. He picked up the phone piece, and Chloe mirrored his action.
"Hello, Lex."
"Chloe."
"How's prison treating you?"
Lex shrugged. "As expected. You disappeared after our night together."
"It was necessary." Taking a deep breath, Chloe squared her shoulders. "I'm sorry."
"Is that so?"
Chloe nodded. "It is."
"All right then." Lex hung up his phone and stood up, walking away. Chloe watched as the guard trailed him before hanging up her phone and walking out of the visitation room.
---
"How's the adjustment going?"
Chloe smiled into her phone, rolling her eyes as she walked down the street. Glancing up as a streetlight turned on, she focused her eyes forward again. "It's going fine, Bruce. At heart, I've always been a city girl."
"I know. Once you get used to the quiet of the rural east, though, it can be more difficult to go back."
"I haven't had a problem yet. Granted, it's been all of twenty four hours since I got to the monstrosity that you called a regular apartment, so it may not all have hit me yet."
"Do you not like the place?"
"I like it just fine, but don't you think it's overkill? I've spent almost three years living in small rooms with a single window and a candle for light. Living someplace with more square footage than I care to estimate is almost as different a situation as looking myself in the mirror was for a while." Glancing back discretely, Chloe noticed a couple men following her. Making note of it, she continued her conversation. "I mean, I love the place and all the furnishings, but it just seems like overkill."
"If you like it, then it isn't overkill. Diana sends her best, by the way. She wanted to be here when I called but got called away."
"I understand. Tell her thank you for me."
"Why?"
"She warned me that people would be in my apartment when I got there."
The other end of the line was silent for a moment, and Chloe took the opportunity to check behind her again. Four men now. Apparently Lex did hold a grudge. Either that or she'd pissed somebody off by sleeping and eating.
"I thought it would be a good surprise."
"I know Bruce, and I appreciate the sentiment. It was a little tense at first, and it kind of sucked when Cassidy was too shy to say hello, but overall it was good. It felt like I had been gone a few days instead of a few years with Lois, and you have no idea how thankful for that I am." Catching a reflection of the four men, she saw that she needed to wrap things up. "Look, I'm going to let you go. I'll talk to you soon, all right?"
"All right, Chloe. Goodbye."
"Bye."
She snapped her phone shut and stuffed it in a pocket. Shaking her head, she turned into an alley between buildings and walked a little ways in. Taking a deep breath, she turned around when she heard footsteps following her. The four men she'd seen had followed her in. None were huge, but none of them could pass for small, either.
"May I help you?"
She didn't get a word from any of them. Instead, they spread out and surrounded her, all only a few paces away, eyeing her like cats surrounding a mouse.
Before they could get set, though, she charged the one nearest the alley entrance, landing a quick punch to his jaw. Turning, she ducked under a punch and brought a knee up into his groin. Taking a step backwards, she threw her elbow back and felt it collide with a face before she ducked down again and took out the legs of the last man.
The first man charged her and Chloe dodged a couple punches before landing a kick to his midsection and following up with an elbow to the back of his head as he doubled over. Turning, she was tackled by one of the men before she could land a punch. Rolling on the ground, she landed below the man but quick punched him in the throat hard enough to stun him but not totally cut off his air.
Pushing him off, she got up in time to sidestep a kick And land one of her own to the stomach and a punch to the temple, knocking the guy out.
As suddenly as it had started, Chloe found herself surrounded by four bodies on the ground. Taking deep breaths, she ruffled her hair a bit as she walked out of the alley. She knew that those were probably just the first of many to come.
---
Chloe smiled as she opened her door, seeing Lois, Clark and the kids there to greet her. "Evening, guys."
"How goes the transition to urban life, Chlo?"
Chloe moved out of the way so they could all walk into the apartment, and closed the door as she followed them inside. Thrusting her hands in her pockets, she watched as Lois put Cassidy down and let her run. Jacob ran after her, and Chloe could tell that he was already protective of her.
Shaking her head, she smiled and joined Lois and Clark as they sat and watched the kids. "The transition goes well, Lo. It's almost like I never left, except for everything that's changed and whatnot."
"Yeah, things changing does make it harder to feel like you never left." Lois looked over at Clark. "Will you go see if Cassidy is hungry?"
He nodded, but rolled his eyes. "You're so lucky you have a husband that doesn't mind doing things."
Chloe hid a smile as Lois grinned. "I know."
She looked over at her, and Chloe stopped hiding her smile to meet her gaze. They just looked at each other for a moment before Lois asked, "Are you happy?"
Chloe looked surprised for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, I am. In peace, I found happiness."
"Does that mean I can be annoying woman again?"
"I don't know what that means, Lo."
"It means... well, it means that I'm wondering how long it is until I can ask when my kids can expect to get second cousins. Just this morning Jacob asked why he didn't have any, and I had to make up an excuse."
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Oh good lord. None of that until I'm forty, Lois. That's only, what, about four and a half years away? You should at least have to wait an equal amount time to the time I was away."
"Oh come on! I'm not trying to force anything on you, because I learned my lesson there, but I am allowed to make suggestions, right? Consider this me making a suggestion as to something that really makes life special. Plus, you're happy again, and that means I can be annoying without you getting overly annoyed at my attempts to see you as part of a family."
"I am part of a family! Your family!"
"I want somebody to spoil, cuz."
"Spoil me. I like being spoiled."
"You're too big to spoil. I prefer to spoil small people with overly large heads that have recently been born. Ask Bridget. I spoiled her like crazy. Plus, there's this great guy Jimmy knows that I think you would really like."
"Do you not remember my stance on blind dates?"
"I do, which is why I think I could come up with a plan where you two get to know each other over time before I make him ask you out. It's fool proof."
"I'm seriously debating kicking you in the shin, Lo."
"Fine, fine. Don't say I didn't try, though. You deserve the whole package. Not to say what you have is lacking, but my vision of the package includes somebody in your life with a package, if you catch my drift. Don't rule it out. It's worked out well for me, and I know you'd love it."
Chloe rolled her eyes. Life was certainly back to the norm.
The End.