A/N: Wow, not feeling much trust in the reviews, but please just bear with me. You may have to sit through some couples you'd rather not, but I assure you; this is a Chlark fic.

Now, I was originally going to write my version of Crimson in 2 parts, but it looks like it will have to be 3 parts. If I had got to the halfway point in this chapter, it would be wayy too long! But the next few chapters are a definite turning point.

Anyways, enjoy, and review! I'd love to know what you think of my writing. :)

Chapter 6

6x13 - Crimson, Part 1

Clark smiled contently as he sat on Chloe's couch waiting for her to finish getting ready. What was it about girls that took them so long to get ready every time? Chloe had told him that she'd ended up having to work late, but Clark had already been here for at least twenty minutes and Chloe still wasn't ready to go.

He sighed as the door to the apartment opened and Lois walked in with a smile on her face. Given her recent breakup and the fact that it was Valentine's Day, this smile confused Clark, but he wasn't about to complain. If all his friends could just be happy all the time, everything would be great.

"So, you and Chloe are going out tonight?" she asked expectantly as she walked over to the kitchen and pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

"Well, not so much out as downstairs," he said, shifting somewhat uncomfortably on the couch. "There's that Valentine's party thing that we're going to."

"Oh," Lois said taking a sip of her water and then placing it back on the counter. His eyes traced her lips for moment as he remembered the kiss in the alley. He shook his head to get his mind off of it. He was with Chloe and he really didn't want to mess that up. "But you won't be in the apartment?"

"Right," he said.

/

Chloe looked in the mirror at her dress. She knew she was making Clark wait, but she wanted to look good for him for Valentine's Day, and she wasn't sure if this dress was what she wanted him to see. She didn't have much of choice, though, as she didn't really have another dress. Chloe had never had a boyfriend before and when she got with Clark the fact that she was going to be expected to dress up for him had completely escaped her mind.

She took a deep breath deciding that she would just have to deal with it. She was about to leave the room when she heard the apartment door open. Lois. It had been awhile since the kiss, but Chloe couldn't help but to have some emotion whenever they were alone together. She put her ear to the wall listening to their muffled voices. She couldn't really hear what they were saying, but the conversation seemed innocent enough. Chloe was just being stupid.

She jumped when her cell phone rang, pulling her mind away from Lois and Clark. The caller ID told her it was Lana, and new worries sprang to her mind. She probably wanted a headcount for her engagement dinner, and Chloe didn't know what to tell her.

"Hi, Lana," she answered the phone.

"Hi," Lana said into her phone. "So, Lois called and said she's bringing a date. Did she and Oliver get back together?"

Chloe was taken aback. Lois? A date?

"No, Oliver's still out of town on business," Chloe said, a hint of confusion in her voice. Who could Lois be seeing only a couple weeks after breaking up with Oliver? The mystery consumed her as she glanced to the mirror once again.

"Oh," Lana said, also sounding confused. "So, I really need to know if Clark's coming or not."

"I know," Chloe sighed. "I asked him, but he's avoiding answering."

Lana sighed heavily through the phone. "You know, I thought things would get better when you two got together."

Great. Yeah, that was exactly what she needed. She had just started to calm down over a little nothing between Clark and Lois, and now Lana was sitting there insinuating that Clark wasn't over her yet. Lana was lucky she was on the other side of the phone, because Chloe had a sudden urge to strangle someone.

"I know," Chloe said again, trying not to sound disheartened by what Lana said. "I think even with me in his life, he's never going to get used to the idea of you and Lex. Clark doesn't trust, and he's always going to care about you, even if it's not in the same way he used to."

"Oh, okay," Lana said. "Well let me know as soon as you get an answer."

"I will."

And with that the conversation was over. What was it with the girls in this town? Why did they all they seem to want Chloe's boyfriend? She told herself that she was just imagining it, and what she'd said to Lana had been the truth, but she wasn't sure how much she believed it. Clark had been in love with Lana for a long time; was a relationship with Chloe really going to overpower all of that?

Chloe bit her lip as she glanced in the mirror one last time before leaving the room.

"Good," she heard Lois say.

"What's good?" Chloe asked, making her way down the hallway and to the living room.

When she caught Clark's eye, he stood from the couch and just stared at her. "That dress," he said, and when he didn't close his mouth right away, she smiled and then twirled around showing off the entire dress.

It seemed as though Chloe's worry had been in vain. Clark really liked the dress, and tonight was going to be perfect. She wouldn't think about Lois or Lana. All of her attention would be on having the best Valentine's Day ever with her perfect boyfriend. Clark started to smile, too, and Chloe walked up to him, and kissed him. The kiss lasted a little longer than she had expected it to, but it felt so good as Clark's arms wrapped around her. It almost felt like when she had kissed him before Zod took over Lex's body and sent him to the phantom zone.

"Get a room," Lois said, sounding annoyed.

Chloe pulled away from Clark and then just stared into his eyes. And it was as if they were the only two people in the world.

They left the room and as soon as the door was shut and Lois couldn't see them, they started to kiss again. "Guess we should go downstairs," Chloe said out of breath.

"Guess so," Clark agreed.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs Chloe thought she saw a familiar face. No, it couldn't be. But she was distracted as Clark took her hand and pulled her into the crowd.

"Have you noticed Lois acting weird lately?" Clark asked. Of course he would bring up Lois when all she wanted to think was him. Of course.

"Um, why?" was all she could muster up to say.

"Well, I don't know," he said. "She was acting awfully chipper for someone that just broke up with her boyfriend. And it kind of seemed like she wanted to make sure she had the apartment to herself tonight."

The mystery deepened. "Well Lana said she has a date for the engagement dinner," she offered.

At the mention of the dinner, Clark's eyes dropped to the ground. It wasn't supposed to be a segue into asking him if he was going, but Clark seemed to take it as one.

"Chloe," he said tenderly, as if he was trying to soften the blow that was about to come. "I just don't know. Seeing Lex… and… I, it's hard."

Chloe rolled her eyes. He was jealous of Lex. Of course he was. After all, Lex had a beautiful girl with whom he wanted to share everything. Clark didn't have anything like that.

"I'm sorry," he sighed.

"Just give me a minute," she said, turning around. She didn't want to look at those eyes. They would try to make her feel better, and she didn't want to feel better. She wanted Clark to acknowledge his feelings. At least just get it out there. It would hurt, but at least Chloe would know.

Chloe walked towards a decorative table where a very eccentric woman tried to sell her goods.

"Men troubles?" the woman had witnessed her conversation with Clark.

"No," she shook her head. "Just not having the greatest day."

"I know just the remedy," the woman offered a warm smile. She picked up a crimson shade of lipstick and offered it to Chloe.

"Lipstick? Really?" Chloe asked skeptically.

"Trust me."

/

Clark had really done it this time. With Lana, he always ended up getting into arguments about his secrets. Now with Chloe, he felt like she constantly doubted his sincerity. He wanted so badly to look Chloe in the eye and tell her that she was on the only one on her mind, but he didn't know if he could do it honestly. Sure, he was over Lana to an extent he did want Chloe more than he wanted Lana but a part of him would never be able to stomach Lex making her happy. And then there was Lois. There was absolutely nothing between him and Lois, but at the same time, he had given into her kiss when she thought he was Oliver and he found himself wanting to do it again.

His feelings tore him in about a million different directions, but he decided his main concern was to keep his girlfriend happy. Chloe had done so much over the years to make sure he was happy, and the least he could do was return the favor now. It made him happy to think that he hadn't been too late in realizing these feelings for her. But even that wouldn't matter if they let everything else stand in between them. Clark decided that after the party tonight he would talk to her; he would come clean about all of his feelings and hopefully everything would turn out all right. He needed it to.

Clark picked up a chocolate off of one of the tables and stuck it in his mouth. Just as he turned around, he spotted Chloe coming at him, smiling like an idiot. He wondered what had happened in the past couple of minutes to change her mood so drastically. Whatever it was, he couldn't help but mirror her smile at she finally reached him and took his hand.

"Let's get out of here," she said, pulling him towards the door.

Obviously she couldn't have pulled him against his will and it really wasn't. He was a bit confused, but wherever Chloe was going, Clark wanted to follow her. That, and the glow of playfulness that gleamed in her eyes intrigued him. He got a little excited as she picked up the pace towards the door and he followed suit.

He could barely even remember Lois or Lana's names as he wracked his brain trying to figure out what had gotten into Chloe. He wanted to ask her about it, but the mystery made him feel happy for some reason.

"Chloe, what's going on?" he asked.

"Well, I wanted to get away from the crowd," she said as though it were obvious. She smiled as her gaze lingered on his somewhat confused eyes. "I would've taken you upstairs, but who knows what Lois is doing up their with her mystery man. I wanted you alone. Just you. And me."

"I just assumed you were angry about before," Clark said. How had she gotten over that so fast? It definitely wasn't Chloe.

"Not angry," she said, still smiling. "Talk in the truck?" She gestured with her head to where his truck was parked.

They walked in silence to the truck and every time he looked over at her she was smiling like crazy. It wasn't that he didn't love it; he just couldn't wrap his mind around it.

They got inside of the truck and before Clark had a chance to say anything, it was Chloe who spoke. "I was wrong," she said.

"What?" Clark said more confused than ever.

"You were right," she said slowly. "I was wrong. Isn't that what you wanna hear, babe?"

Clark felt as though his mind was going to explode. First of all, Chloe was just not acting like herself. There was no way she'd admit to being wrong, especially when even Clark knew she hadn't been. She was telling him what she thought he wanted to hear. But why? It didn't make sense. And 'babe'? When had they started using pet names? Had Clark missed this milestone in their relationship?

"Well, I " he started to say, but this time it was her body language that distracted him. The way she was looking at him staring at him, really like she wanted nothing more than to rip off his clothes and take off his clothes right there. And if he'd been anyone else than himself, he probably would've given in right then and there. But he couldn't. He didn't want to hurt, or possibly kill, his girlfriend because they wanted to have a little fun. No, that was definitely not in the plans for tonight.

"I want you," she said, still staring.

"Chloe, you know why we can't," he pushed. He'd thought this part would be easier with Chloe than it was with Lana because she knew his secret, and even his fear about what he might do, but whatever was going on right now was making it even more difficult. He needed to find out what was happening right now.

"Let me rephrase this," she tried again. She lifted a hand and ran a finger down his face and let it land on his shoulder rather seductively. "I need you. Now. I don't care if it kills me. I need you inside of me."

Clark was genuinely shocked at what he was hearing Chloe say. He tried to open his mouth to say something, but Chloe leaned forward and grabbed the collar of his shirt. She pulled him close to her body and gave him the most passionate kiss he had ever felt.

He didn't know why, but the kiss triggered something inside of him, and he had an epiphany. With all of his powers he had needed to practice to gain complete control of them. Maybe he just needed a little practice in the art of lovemaking to be able to keep from hurting people.

In this moment, Chloe looked sexier than Clark could ever remember seeing her. He laughed as he decided to give into his need to be with Chloe.