DJ Joena, Astanely1991: Thanks!

Shonnia22: Thank you! I try my best to make a Chlark that are both enjoyable and almost close to canon at the same time. It's really hard not to go overboard at times, but I get the feeling you guys won't mind so much;)

Fndee91: Lol. I'm sure you can't;)

The fallen sky: Lol. Don't feel bad for Chlark. I think they're doing a good job of making the most of it. I don't think it really bothers Chloe as much as it bothers Clark though. She already knew he couldn't do much before they even got there, whereas he would feel more like he's hindering her from having a good time. Other than that, they should be fine. And yes, Jason is working my last nerves, probably why I keep letting him pop up. He's such a drama queen, and he makes Clark look good;) I know, I know, you guys want to get to the romance and stuff, but Chloe just would be way OOC if she just accepted that Clark has feelings for her all of a sudden. I think she's more careful than that. At least, I think she is.

Lil: Lol. Love Clark more? Is that even possible?

madlenita: You're so right, that is just like Chloe;)

Windywillow: Lol. I don't know how much more awkward than slow dancing with yolk in their ears they could get, I'll see if I can grant that wish of yours;)

Dhh: Couldn't agree with you more.

~~{(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)(O)}~~

"That one!" Clark exclaims, pulling his hand from Chloe's only long enough to point out the next event he wants to participate in before snatching her hand up like it's an extra extremity he can only live five seconds without.

"Okay," Chloe answers absently. She's staring down at their joined hands. They've been doing that all day. Holding hands, that is. In fact, Chloe can't even remember a time she wasn't holding Clark's hand, barring the time the two spent to take part in an event. And that's only been twice.

You'd think he'd at least let go every once and a while to wipe the sweat (which is actually her sweat as Clark doesn't actually sweat) off, but her wet hands don't seem to bother him.

It's probably not a big deal, probably doesn't even mean a thing. At least that's what she keeps telling herself because her mind keeps rationalizing it, this hand holding thing; reminding her that she and Clark are pretending to be a couple. Couple's hold hands. It's only logical for Clark to hold her hand at times, even all the time, make it convincing to all the other couples; but, as cheesy as it sounds, her heart knows better. She can tell that's not the case. She can feel it in the way he holds her hand.

It's not a tight, unremitting grip that just screams forced unity. It's inconsistent, always changing. At times it canbe firm; not in an overly possessive way, but like a gesture meant to emit strength and a feeling security. Sometimes, his hand is just relaxed against hers, their palms barely touching, the only thing keeping their hands form separating is his thumb's constant caress on the back of her hand. Other times, it's as if he's playing "this little piggy" with her fingers. He's not technically holding her hand, but he is touching a part of her hand, gently wiggling her pinky or her index with the softest grasp of his thumb and index.

"Alright, does everyone understand the rules of the game?" The referee shouts loudly, startling the poopie out of Chloe. And as if that wasn't bad enough, there's a freak behind her, trying to tie her hands behind her back. He's so lucky Chloe notices that Clark is behind bound as well, and not only Clark, but everyone else! What the hell are they playing?

"Clark," Chloe shakes her head in a slight panic. She has no idea of what she's supposed to be doing. She wasn't listening to a word the referee said, which is actually quite unbelievable considering he'd been using a ridiculously loud bull horn.

"What's the matter Chloe? Don't you want to play?" Clark frowns deeply.

"What are we supposed to be doing again? I wasn't paying attention." She answers quickly.

Clark sighs deeply. There's no way she didn't hear the rules of the game. She's just having a change of heart. It's the only logical answer he can come up with because even without his superhearing, Clark would've been able to hear the ref from a mile away.

It's too bad though. He was really looking forward to this particular game, but the panicked expression on Chloe's face is hard to ignore. If she doesn't want to play, he won't try to make her. He wants her to be comfortable with him.

"We can try a different"-

"Clark! Hurry up and tell me the rules!" Chloe hisses impatiently.

Clark smiles, no, he grins. A real big cheesy grin, which makes Chloe a little more than apprehensive; but he can't help it. If she really didn't want to play she would've let him finish his sentence.

"Well, you see these grapes right here?" Clark starts off, nodding toward a bowl of grapes, on the table, a table that seems to have magically appeared in between them.

Chloe nods her head. Yeah, she sees the grapes, and the table, now.

"Well, together we have to get them over there, to that table with the empty bowl." Clark jerks his head behind himself, pointing out another table no more than a yard away. "The couple who has the most whole grapes in their bowl wins," Clark finishes with a shrug, as if it's just that simple; but it's not that simple. In fact, it's not simple at all. How the hell are they supposed to get grapes from bowl A to bowl B with their hands behind their backs?

"On your mark!" The referee's shouts loudly, which is unnecessary as he's got the freakin' bull horn.

"I'll dig the first one out," Clark offers.

Chloe nods her head in understanding. It makes sense. He's taller.

"Get set!"

Everyone flinches, no doubt wishing their hands were untied so that they could cover their ears.

"Go!" he yells, and all the couple's around them start to move.

Chloe waits for Clark to turn around and bend at some awkward angle so that he can dig his tied hands into the bowl. Then she'll grab a hold of one side of the grape while he holds the other and hopefully they won't smash the delicate fruit. But Clark doesn't turn around. Instead, he simply dips his head into the bowl and pulls out a grape with his teeth. Half of it's in his mouth, the other half, she knows, is supposed to go in hers.

How the hell did she miss that?

Clark makes this moaning/grunting noise that Chloe surprisingly knows translates to "come on, Chloe," in English.

There's only a half a second more hesitation on her part before she gives in. It's just a game. A fairly easy one too. Their lips will be close, almost like kissing, but they won't actually touch, so they'll be fine, she guesses.

In the back of her mind, she realizes that if they were a real couple, she wouldn't have to worry about accidently kissing Clark. She would care less if their lips touch; but they're not. And she's got to be careful. Of course she wants to kiss Clark. She always wants to kiss Clark, but, this right now, would not be the best thing for their friendship. It most certainly wouldn't be the best thing for her. She's all for pretending to be a couple; holding hands like a couple, goofing off like a couple, hugging like a couple, even slow dancing when no one else is dancing like a couple, but kissing like a couple would make this so hard for her. There'd be no turning back form that because there's a different kind of intimacy in kissing. She knows, because she's kissed Clark a few times, and each time had been harder to get over than the next because she always wants more. If they were to kiss today, coupled with all the couple-y things they've been doing, their friendship would never be the same again. She'd want to be with him. End of story. And if he doesn't want the same thing, well, their friendship is done for; which is something she can't let happen. She'd rather stay is best bud forever than to kiss him once more and have it ruin their relationship. She thinks so anyway. So, she'll play this one game, and make sure the next game is more or less friendly like the egg toss or the wheelbarrow relay.

As soon as Chloe's teeth clamp on to the grape, she severs it in half and swallows it before she's even realized what she's done.

It was that damn good.

"Chloe!"

"I'm sorry Clark, I didn't eat breakfast," she answers quickly. And it's the truth. She didn't eat breakfast and she's starving. And just as if her body wants to testify to her statement, her stomach gives an almighty growl.

"Why didn't you say something?" Clark's eyes widen. He's not totally alarmed. He knows a human can't die from skipping a meal, but he's been toting Chloe all over the fair for hours now. Even if she had eaten breakfast, she'd still be hungry…and thirsty too. He never even asked, and what's worse, it never even entered his mind. How inconsiderate can he get? "Do you want me to get you something?"

Chloe rolls her eyes. "Not in the middle of a game! Hurry up and pick out another grape!" she answers excitedly; excitedly because if Clark is really careful, and if she doesn't eat anymore of the grapes, they might come in better than last this time.

Wow, that sounds slightly pathetic, but it's true at the same time.

Obediently, Clark digs out another grape while subconsciously deciding to stuff Chloe's tummy right after this event. His treat. He already knows she won't let him pay, so he'll just sneak the money into her pocket…quickly. She'll just find it later and get excited over finding money that she'd forgotten she had. He's done that to her before…more than once even.

Once that plan's decided on, it's much easier to concentrate on the game, the grape, and the fact that he and Chloe are very nearly kissing. In fact, all he has to do is suck the grape into his mouth and let Chloe's lips "fall" onto his own.

Chloe lowers her head slightly. It's time to let the grape go. They've made it to the bowl with their grape still intact. There's just one problem. Clark's daydreaming or something. His eyes have taken on that glassy look and he's not following her lead by lowering his head as well.

She rolls her eyes and resorts to a little of that grunting he had to use earlier. Thankfully, he snaps out of it on her first try. Then he begins to lower his head as well and plop, their first grape is in the bowl.

They quickly run back to table A; and again, Clark digs out a grape with his teeth. Without hesitation, Chloe gently clamps down onto the other side. Thankfully, she doesn't eat it, although she was mighty tempted to.

And so Chloe and Clark go back and forth, digging out grapes, not eating them, and dropping them into bowl B. They're even making good time, probably in fourth or fifth place, which is the best they've done all day.

It's around the seventh grape that things go bad.

Chloe's tired. Not physically drained, because in order to keep from penetrating the sensitive outside of the grape, the couples have to walk pretty slowly, like really slow; and the table's not that far away anyway.

It's her mouth that's tired. The constant baring of her teeth is starting to make her cheeks, and even her neck, ache a little. Without even thinking about what the outcome will be, Chloe relaxes her lips, needing to alleviate the tension in her face.

Her lips touch Clark's, and the act startles her so badly that her eyes widen and she gasps; and not a tiny surprised gasp; a deep Oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-I-just-did-that type of gasp.

Clark instinctively lets the grape go, and as a result it drops into Chloe's mouth; and because of the gasp, she cokes on it. It's been sucked into the back of her throat.

She can't breathe.

Clark sees this and easily breaks the ties binding his hands together behind his back.

Chloe begins to panic, and she looks around quickly. Everyone's staring and whispering as she chokes. She's going to die from choking on a stupid grape. How mortifying is that? But that's not even the reason she's freaking out so bad.

Clark's there, right beside her, patting her back and hoping the grape just went down the wrong pipe. About three seconds, and four "Chloe, are you okays," pass before he decides to graduate from the back patting to the Heimlich maneuver.

Chloe pulls away from him once he's positioned behind her. She doesn't need that. The grape's gone.

She pats her chest a couple times, and coughs out his name.

"I'm right here," he says, wrapping an arm around her as an attempt to comfort her until the rest of the coughing subsides. It looks like the worst is over.

"Idiot!" She wheezes, in between breaths.

"I'm sorry," he tells her. It's not just an automatic response, but a quick way to keep her from talking until she's a hundred percent better. Plus he really is sorry. If he hadn't dropped the grape into her mouth in the first place, she wouldn't have choked, but in his defense, she kind of startled him when she gasped so big. He'd turned his head, searching behind himself for whatever made her have that reaction, only he didn't see anything. Nothing. By the time he turned back around she was choking.

"Here you go, Sweetie."

Clark looks away from Chloe just long enough to see that it's one of the event assistants and she's holding out a cup of water for Chloe. Why didn't he think of that?

He takes it from her as politely as he can manage, trying his best, and failing slightly, not to snatch it away. Then he holds the cup up to Chloe's lips. She takes the cup from him, glares at him, and then drinks.

Clark's confused now. He realizes that he's the reason Chloe choked in the first place, but at the same time she's got to know that it was an accident and that he is truly sorry.

It's another five minutes before Chloe's completely stopped coughing; and when she's all better she tosses the cup in the trash and walks away from the event, and from Clark.

She's walking really fast too, so fast that Clark has to jog a little to catch up to her; which he finds pretty fascinating as her legs are so much shorter than his.

"Chloe, wait up!" he calls, sliding his hand into hers.

She snatches her hand from his, which he expects because she's so pissed, but what he doesn't expect is for her to whirl around, facing him with eyes shining from tears, and apologize.

But that's exactly what happens.

"I'm sorry too," he says quickly. He's more than alarmed. Chloe doesn't cry for nothing. She must've been really scared. He moves in to comfort her but she steps back.

"No, you're not. Saying you're sorry means you realize what you've done was wrong and you'll try not to do it again, Clark! But we both know you'd do it again; you won't even hesitate!"

Clark blanches at her words, completely stunned to silence. How could she think he'd choke her on a grape again?

"I'm not mad," her voice drops to a whisper even though there's no one around; because if Clark can't be careful she's going to have to be careful enough for the both of them. "I just wish you would think before you act sometimes, Clark. That's all."

Clark's completely lost. He has absolutely no idea of what Chloe's talking about. "Chloe, what are you talking about? What did I do?" he asks, because he was never going to be able to guess.

Her eyebrows furrow, and she gives him the exhausted look high school teachers have all adopted as their signature "how dare you not pay attention in my classroom!" look.

"The rope, Clark," she says slowly. "You broke free of yours when I was coughing."

He scoffs at her. That's all? She's upset because he broke through a little piece of rope? Well, it wasn't little. It was considerably thick and tied pretty tight. Any human would've needed at least twenty minutes to get it off by themselves, but still, it was rope. It's not like he'd been bound by steel handcuffs.

"Chloe,"-

"Clark, don't. I'm sorry. I overreacted. You were just trying to save me, but try to be more careful next time. You never know who's watching. End of story." She says. Then she smiles, holds her hand out for him to take, and tells him she's hungry and would like to get some food now.

But it's not the end of the story. Clark knows it. She's still upset. Very upset. Her fake smiles usually look a lot more genuine than the one she'd just given him.

What's more, he recognizes the look of frustration on her face. It's the same look his parents get when he does some unearthly bit of heroism out in public. They want to be supportive, tell him he's done a good thing, but they're afraid he's going to get caught and end up in a lab where he'll be poked, prodded, and studied like a lab rat. They're afraid they'll never see him again if that happens.

Chloe's worried about him, the way his parents worry; which means she loves him. It's a good feeling to know that without a shadow of a doubt. It really is, but she's right. They're all right. He does need to be more careful. Because if he, when he, gets Chloe and his little Chloe and his little Clark, he could put his whole family in danger if someone were to learn his identity. His little Chloe and little Clark could become test subjects as well. Chloe could get taken in, questioned, maybe even tortured depending on who finds out about him.

He can't let that happen. He won't let that happen. And Chloe needs to know that.

So, instead of taking the hand she's offering to him, he slowly takes a few steps closer to her so that he's standing directly in front of her. Just one more little baby step and his body'll be flush up against hers.

She looks up at him, completely surprised by the intensity of his solemn gaze. She'd expected him to agree with her and take her hand.

"Chloe," Clark says, his voice is deep and soothing. He's being so serious that it's making Chloe nervous. Then he touches her, both of his hands lightly resting on her shoulder, his thumbs extending outward to caress her collar bone. "I can't promise you that I will never expose myself in order to protect you; but I will be more careful about it. I promise."

Chloe keeps her arms to her side, again not knowing what to do with them. But she knows what to do with her face. She keeps her eyes on his as she tells him that she doesn't want him to ever be taken away from her. "Especially over a piece of rope and a grape," she adds quickly, just to lighten things up a little and maybe distract Clark from the fact that she'd just told him she doesn't want him to be taken from her personally, and not saying something general like the world needs him.

Clark chooses not to let Chloe's joke distract him, or lighten the mood. "I don't want you to ever be taken from me either," he answers.

Oh god, he's going to kiss her. Chloe can tell. Her hands lift, of their own accord, and grab onto his t-shirt. They must know she's going to need the support, because this is Clark. Not Clark affected by red K, not Clark possessed by Lionel, not any other Clark but the right Clark, and he's about to kiss her!

He bows his head a little.

Her heartbeat speeds up.

His hands slide upward, cupping both sides of her face.

She shivers.

He closes his eyes.

Her tummy grumbles, loudly.

"Chloe!"

"Sorry."

They both laugh. Then sigh. It was gonna be a good one too.

"I've got to be the worst boyfriend ever," Clark mutters to himself as he grabs Chloe's hand and marches up to the nearest food cart.

"I don't know Clark, you're my first, so it's not like I've got someone to compare you to. You seem to be doing alright so far," she winks, then starts ordering her food.

Clark just stares at her. Did she really just admit that they're dating; that they're a real couple?