A/N: Wow, I am so sorry! I'm a horrible person who never updates her story. Well, here's a new chapter.

It's summer now, so I should have no excuse.. let's see how well I hold up. Well, you see, the fluff that was the first few chapters was super fun to write, and it kinda flew by, and as soon as the angst came up, it was kind of like... I don't want sad Chlark... let's stop writing! But I do want to finish the story, because I want to make the ending worth it for all you Chlark lovers. And for those of you that aren't and are still reading anyways, there are starting to be a lot more pov's contributing to the story and hopefully working together. ;P

Um, so there's kind of a bit of language in here, but this is rated T, and, well... they're Lex's thoughts, lol!

Enjoy! And please let me know what you think!

Chapter 7

6x13 - Crimson, Part 2 of 3

Things were heating up in his truck, when Clark suddenly had an idea.

He pulled away from Chloe thinking the idea would make her as happy as it made him. She looked frustrated as he just stared down at her, but it would be worth it.

"Call Lana," he told her forcefully.

"What?" Chloe looked baffled. "I mean, I guess if that's what you want, but…" She trailed off, as she looked unsure into his eyes.

"Chloe, just trust me," he assured her. As he stared into her eyes, he did see trust. There was also a hint of something else, but he was not sure what it was. He had never seen Chloe look at him this way, and for some reason he knew at this moment she would do anything for him. That would make things very interesting.

"Of course," she said, shaking her head as if she didn't know what she was worried about in the first place. A smile crept across her face as she started dialing Lana's number.

"I want you to let her know I'm coming to the party," he said.

As if on queue, Chloe hit the 'end' button and her eyes darted again to Clark's. "What?" she said, again.

"Well, you have to go to the party," he started. "And I'm not going to let you go alone." That was, of course, not why he wanted to go at all, but if everything went right both he and Chloe would remain happy.

The next thing he knew, Chloe's hand was stroking his cheek tenderly as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "I could just stay in with you, you know. I mean, your mom's going to the dinner." He got the hint, and he appreciated it. Boy, did he appreciate it. But there was time for that soon enough. After the dinner, no one would be able to keep his hands off Chloe.

"But you're the maid of honor," he said, pushing the point. "And I'm your boyfriend. And I just want to make you happy."

With that, Chloe squealed. Chloe Sullivan squealed. The last time he had actually heard her squeal was when she convinced him to deliver the Toys For Tots presents. Looking back on it, he couldn't for the life of him figure out how he'd let her talk him into it. It was the lamest thing ever. But Chloe had squealed then, just like she squealed now. And Clark wasn't complaining. He didn't know who slipped what into Chloe's drink, but he was fully enjoying the more bubbly side of Chloe Sullivan.

She looked back down at her phone and dialed Lana's number with glee radiating out of her every pore.

/

Chloe was extremely excited as she led Clark up the stairs to her apartment above the Talon. She didn't know how she had ever been so lucky to land with a guy like Clark. Everything about him was absolutely perfect in every way. Every day since she had met Clark had been an adventure, and now, actively seeking out the adventure with him, Chloe was on the verge of falling madly and deeply in love with the farm boy from another planet. Chloe struggled to remember why she had been mad at him only a couple hours before. Sure, there were those things with Lois and Lana, but if she couldn't trust Clark, whom could she trust? And the way Clark had been looking at her in the truck, she could tell that he really wanted her. If this was Clark's version of foreplay, Chloe couldn't really complain.

When they reached the top of the stairs, Clark stopped her and stepped in front of her before she could reach for the doorknob. "Let me go first," he whispered.

"Why?"

"Because it's safer," he replied, but all of the seriousness that had ever been in his tone was gone. Chloe laughed at how ridiculous this notion sounded, but at this point, she was willing to do anything he said. This thought sent a flutter to her heart. She had never felt like this about anyone before. She was Chloe Sullivan, destined to be a big-time reporter, not dependent on some guy. Then again, Clark Kent was hardly just any guy. He was a hero, her best friend, her entire world.

Clark started to open the door, and the excitement started to build up within her until she realized Clark was blocking her view. He wanted to play first. Chloe just sighed.

"Oh, it's you," she heard him say. He laughed a little, and then continued, "That's a bit anticlimactic, isn't it?" These words made Chloe even more curious about the identity of the mystery man. The only name her mind could even come up with was Oliver Queen, but it didn't make any sense why Lois would be hiding him if he were back. That, and Oliver wasn't about to take a break from saving the world to return to a relationship built on deceit.

"Kent?" came the confused the voice, but Chloe recognized the voice. It wasn't Ollie, but… damn, where had Chloe heard that voice before?

"Whatever," Clark said, as he walked into the apartment, finally clearing her view.

Chloe froze in her spot and felt the blood drain out of her face. She had seen him earlier in the Talon, but she thought it was her mind playing tricks on her. What on Earth was he doing here? By the look on his face as he saw her, he had a similar reaction.

"Chloe?" he practically shrieked.

She wanted to try and maintain her composure, though, because she wasn't quite sure how Clark would react. "Jimmy Olsen," she said as calmly as she could.

"So you two know each other?" Clark said, his eyes moving from him to her.

"Yeah, uh, we… we kind of…" Jimmy stammered before stopping. She could see him blush, and then she heard Clark's knowing laugh, which triggered her own blush.

"That's cute," he said, simply. "Now that I can see, but you and Lois?"

Chloe finally brought her gaze to her cousin who had been standing there in silent confusion the entire time, but now she just looked pissed. Clark seemed to know what he was doing, though, so Chloe didn't see the need to intervene. Besides, she wanted to see how this was all going to play out.

"I mean, look at her," he said, and all eyes were on Lois. "You are so out of your league." It hit Chloe that only moments ago Clark had said that he could picture Jimmy with Chloe, but Lois was somehow above him, as if Lois were also above Chloe. Then, she just noticed that Clark was staring at Lois's lips as if he was going to ravage them. A shot of betrayal ran through her as she realized he probably had never stopped thinking about that kiss.

Then Clark turned to Chloe. "But then Chloe doesn't make me want to kill myself."

Chloe knew now that Clark was intentionally baiting Lois and it served to lessen her own pain somewhat. Clark got the reaction he was looking for as Lois stepped forward and slapped him across the face. Had he been human, the slap probably would've hurt like hell, but Clark being invulnerable he didn't even flinch. Instead, he chuckled.

"Who the hell are you to judge my taste in men, Smallville?" Lois shouted. This just made Clark laugh more. It was genius, really. If Clark didn't let words affect him, he could get away with anything. Nothing could touch him physically, so he didn't have to worry about that. In this new light Chloe saw him in, he was even hotter than he was before, if that was even possible.

"Come on, Chloe," he said through his laughter. "We've got to get something to wear to the dinner."

/

After Chloe and Clark had left, Jimmy and Lois were left standing in the now tiny apartment. "Well that was… interesting," Jimmy said after moments of silence.

"That's one word to describe it," Lois said.

"I mean, I met Clark when we were investigating the Green Arrow, and I mean… he seemed decent. Actually, he just seemed plain nice."

"And he usually is," Lois sighed. "Too nice for his own good. Something's going on, though. If Clark's behavior didn't give it away, I know something's up with Chloe. I mean, you've obviously met her."

"Yeah," he said. "I thought that time had changed her or something, but there is no way in hell the Chloe Sullivan I knew would've have just stood there through that."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Lois said, as she looked up into Jimmy's eyes. He just smiled in response, and then she said, "I was trying to keep you a secret, though." With these words, Jimmy's heart sunk as Clark's words rang in his head. Was he right?

That didn't matter right now, though. They needed to figure out what was going on with Chloe and Clark, and even if their investigation into the Green Arrow had been way off base (Lois's fault, of course) and had gone wrong, they did make a pretty good team.

/

As they approached the mansion, Chloe got her invitation ready. Clark had wanted to break in using his handy dandy superpowers, but they had worked so hard to come up with an ingenious plan, and that would have put a huge damper in things. Instead, they walked in like the invited guests they were.

They were practically attacked the moment they walked into the mansion. "The maid of honor is here!" a very chipper Lana called out as she ran up to Chloe and hugged her. Pulling away from Chloe, Lana met eyes with Clark and offered him a warm smile. "I'm glad that you could make it."

"As am I," Lex said as he walked up behind Lana. For a moment he looked at Clark like he didn't really know what to say to him, but then he smiled. "I'm glad that we can finally both be happy."

"Yeah," Clark said; nothing more, nothing less. Then he just walked away in search of a drink.

Chloe stared dreamily after Clark as he walked away. Turning back to Lex and Lana, she said, "Sorry, he can be... moody."

"Right?" Lana giggled.

"That'd by my queue to leave you two to your girl talk," Lex said, before planting a kiss on Lana's cheek before turning away to greet some more guests.

"Men," Lana said, laughing again.

"Yeah, but Clark's just..." she trailed off, not knowing if she could even come up with words to match his beauty.

"I know that feeling," Lana said, turning serious. "Clark can seem like the most amazing person in the world, but things are never really what they seem when it comes to him."

"It's not like that with us," Chloe said. It seemed like Lana was trying to make Chloe rethink her relationship with Clark, but to what end? She was getting married to Lex, she couldn't just keep Clark around as a backup and not allow him to ever move on from her. Furthermore, Chloe was finally happy, and Lana, being her best friend, should want that for her.

"I'm not saying it is," Lana sighed. "I just know how long you've been wanting this, and it would be very easy for him to hurt you. I just want you to be careful."

"Right," she said. "Well, nothing like that is going to happen between Clark and me." She turned around to go find Clark.

/

His engagement dinner had been going nicely, he guessed. Apparently after much deliberation, Clark had shown up just to give him the cold shoulder. The only reason he had been invited was because he was the boyfriend of the maid of honor, but Lex had thought that maybe now that he was with Chloe, he would stop pining over Lana, and might give Lex another chance. Of course, he'd had no such luck. He just wanted to shake the man and tell him that not everything in the world revolved around Clark Kent.

He looked at his beautiful bride-to-be, though, and forgot all about the lying farm boy. She caught his gaze and smiled. This whole situation might have been borne out of deception and desperation, but if any change meant they wouldn't be here tonight, Lex would do it all over again. She was going to be his wife, and it would finally mean more than his past marriages. He loved Lana, and he was damn sure that if Lana didn't love him she would not have agreed to marry him under any circumstances. It was the kind of woman she was, and it made it a thousand times easier to know that she wasn't going to betray him or try to kill him.

The clinging on a glass as Chloe stood up caught Lex's attention. Chloe's speech was supposed to go after Lex's, what the hell was she doing?

Lex decided, though, that it would be alright. Although her boyfriend was a complete asshole, Chloe would never do anything to ruin Lana's day. Throughout his friendship with Clark, he had seen Chloe go from despising Lana to accepting her as a sister. She was an admirable woman, and even through her thinly veiled hatred for Lex, she loved Lana and wouldn't ever hurt her.

"Lex was supposed to tell Lana how much he loved her," Chloe started. "And then I was going to tell her how happy I was that she'd found true love… but there's more fun than that to be had."

"Chloe!" Lana practically shrieked.

Lex could only mentally prepare himself for the train wreck that was no doubt to follow.

"Instead, my own love has a few words he'd like to share."

"No," Lex said. No fucking way was he letting this happen. "No, no, no!"

Clark smirked and stood up anyways. "But Lex," he said. "You're going to want to hear this."

Any color Lex had in his face was now gone. He knew Clark, and Clark was going to say what Clark wanted to say. It was one of the most infuriating things about him.

"It's funny," Clark said. "I was the best man at his last wedding… now I'm only an afterthought."

"Some best man you were," Lex said, gritting his teeth. "You didn't even show up to the wedding."

"Not the point," Clark shook his head. "As the best man, I gave my speech about Lex and Helen at the rehearsal dinner." Lex winced at Helen's name. Since their disastrous wedding nights and the events that followed, she had only been known as Dr. Bryce, Ex-Wife #2, or Psycho Bitch From Hell, but never Helen. "To everyone else, it was an ode to them, but to get the feelings right, I had to make it an ode to Lana and me."

"Clark, please, stop it!" Lana spoke up.

"Lana, this is so beneath you," Clark said, more condescending than pleading. "I thought you wanted a fairytale wedding someday, with a prince to sweep you off your feet. Who would've thought you would settle for a shotgun wedding to a billionaire."

There was a collective gasp throughout the room, and Lex wanted to kill Clark.

He stood up and slammed his glass on the table, the contents spilling over. "It is time for you to leave!"

"You don't get to decide that," he practically growled.

Then, before he could even think, his throat was being crushed by a powerful force. Right before he passed out, he could almost make out Lana pleading with Clark.