Disclaimer: don't own
AN: Been awhile but here ya go! ENJOY!
Interlude
He left her room. His comings and goings would be noted, but they weren't anything that would alert anyone. Why should they? He had sat by her bed for hours and no change. She was still there somewhere. Chloe Sullivan was strong and he knew she would pull through. It was the way she was. Through the years, she had changed so much. He saw her maturity. He saw how she tried to protect those around her, and he knew that it weighed on her mind when it wasn't enough because it meant she wasn't enough. She would learn, as everyone else did, that sometimes your best isn't good enough. And just like they, it would make her stronger sometimes and weaker at others. But he knew her. Weakness would never be something she could adapt to, understand, or even accept. It was, perhaps, her greatest flaw. It was also his.
There was nothing more he could do in the hospital, staring at her prone form. There was no peace of mind or new plans that could be developed by sitting and doing nothing. He couldn't keep his life on hold forever. He wasn't built that way. So he made new plans. Plans to find out what she had done to cause him trouble. There could be no forward momentum unless he knew the singular reason why she was here.
He liked to think that he knew her best; but times like these and in the darkest pits of his mind, he knew that sometimes he barely scratched her surface. Sometimes that was a good thing. He couldn't know all of her secrets. She was a separate entity from him, no matter their relationship, but hung his hat on the special insight that he knew set him apart from Clark Kent and her other friends. They liked to think that she was an open book, but they only saw the superficial. They only saw the opaque barrier that hid her true self. Oh, he knew she played their game. He knew that she cared for them and let them see glimpses, but he also knew that she was what they needed. The sidekick. The sounding board. The loving, understanding cousin. But never was she purely Chloe Sullivan. There were times that she could barely accept herself. What made her think that she could give anyone else that part of her if even she wouldn't accept it?
As he walked to his car, he acknowledged to himself that it was the hope that one day she would be able to find that equal, where she didn't have to be anything else, but herself. Few people rarely found it, but it would always be hard for people like her. He chuckled to himself. She and Clark were similar in that way. If Chloe held herself hidden, then Clark Kent never even bothered with the charade. Clark was special and he knew that, but he also knew that the absurd lies hid the true cause of why Chloe was in the hospital. She wasn't fighting for her life in there. She breathed on her own. Her brain activity was still strong if a bit over-stimulated and her heart beat strong in her chest. There was nothing that should be preventing her from waking up. The doctors didn't understand it and neither did he.
Chloe was gifted. She was smart. She possessed abilities that astounded him constantly, but it was nothing that he wasn't capable of and it was time to put them all to the test. He gathered his computer and a few other tools and went to her apartment in Metropolis. It had been a long time since he had broken into a locked place. He found that while he was rusty, it was like getting back on the bike. So while it took him longer than he might've liked, he was in her apartment in relatively little time.
He fully acknowledged that the course of events should never have gotten as far as they had. If he had been diligent or attentive or a million other little things, then he was confident that she would never have so thoroughly been able to pull the wool over his eyes. He had failed and it was a bitter brew to choke on, but he would not stop drinking now. Walking around her apartment gave him a glimpse into the life she led. In many ways, she was as he had always known her and her apartment reflected that. She was loud and brash, with items lovingly positioned. There had always been a method to her madness. She was just very good at concealing her methods, but not from his discerning eyes. That would not be something he allowed anymore.
His gazed alighted on her computer, but it was too obvious. This was the public computer. It would be the one she didn't particularly mind having out in the open because it wouldn't hold anything of value. He needed to look for a hard drive, or a flash drive, or another computer altogether. Chloe would want the comfort of having it close, but not so obvious that anyone with a passing knowledge of her could find it. Even her closest friends. No, it was hidden, but still in her apartment. He bet that she had another, specialized laptop computer with no bells and whistles; just strict functionality. It would be powerful and she would have spared no expense despite her meager funds. While he was ninety-nine percent sure it was a laptop, he wouldn't close off the other possibilities. With this in mind, he went about the business of scouring her apartment, every nook and cranny, every small, insignificant place he could possibly look. It took the full day, but finally found what he was looking for: another laptop.
Taking his prize, he left her apartment. If she ever woke up, it would be obvious that someone had broken into her apartment. There was no reason for him to conceal it. A confrontation between the two of them had been brewing. He would make sure they had it out and everything was in the open because as much as she hid herself, he let her. He would be far more comfortable in his own surroundings. Being in her apartment with evidence of her vibrancy, but lacking the person that made it vibrant was depressing and he didn't want to deal with it. Right off the bat, there were problems because of course even the boot-up would have an algorithm to prevent anyone accessing her secrets. It served as an apt metaphor for her entire life.
Of course decrypting and otherwise getting further access to her laptop was even harder; but since she hadn't awakened, he had time. And then he had access. Her thoughts and hutches through the years were laid bare before him and he seethed. From her wall to weird to now, the sheer volume of intrigue and plans and secrets astounded and infuriated him. Everything he ever wanted to know about Clark Kent was there for him. The full story behind Lionel Luthor's trial was revealed to him as well. It gave him no solace because now he knew. The little bastard had lied to him and now he and Oliver Queen and Lex Luthor would pay. Lex Luthor had many houses with many closets and Gabe knew where he should begin looking for skeletons. Queen would not see it coming and Clark was the weakest of them.
Before he shut down the computer, scrolling texts of what he now knew to be Kryptonian script appeared on the screen. He couldn't read it, but there was a chill that passed over him. That was all it took. Now he would make plans. Chloe was his only child, his daughter, and the only thing he had left of his wife. She was the absolute best he had to offer to the world and he, Gabe Sullivan, would not stop until he took a pound of flesh from the ones who had hurt her and all that she was.