Red Shoes

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

When Chloe returned home she manufactured a story about Marie having had a bad break up and needing her so that she could return to Metropolis a day early.

Once her tears had dried, she'd asked Kal if he was going home but he assured her he was only in Smallville for her. She tried to tell him that the Farm was in trouble but he'd cut her off and, remembering the fear he'd inspired in her a few minutes earlier, Chloe had dropped the matter.

She had no idea how Kal got to Smallville without being seen, or how he was getting back to Metropolis, but he had a head start so she wasn't surprised when he grabbed her as soon as she came in to the apartment.

"I missed you," he said in between kisses.

"You saw me three hours ago," she answered as his tongue began to do wicked things to her neck.

"Last night," he clarified. "I was all alone."

"And apparently horny," she added, laughing as he picked her up and carried her through to the bed. If she was honest, she had missed him too.

As he laid her down on the bed, she grabbed his shirt an ripped it open. She was getting used to his scar and didn't think twice about it as she captured his nipple in her teeth and began to nibble at it. She pushed his shirt off his shoulders and down his arms and Clark threw it aside.

Clark grabbed the front of her shirt to return the favour but he was suddenly overcome with burning pain along the lines of his scar. He pushed himself off the bed and fell to the floor beside it, writhing in pain.

"Clark! Oh my god." She scrambled to his side but he was moving too erratically for her to do anything to help.

Clark clenched his jaw to stop himself crying out. He grabbed the ring as discretely as he could under the circumstances and pulled it off. The physical pain subsided immediately but it left him panting.

Chloe went to him as he stilled and lifted his head onto her lap.

"What's wrong?"

The pain was only a memory now but it was quickly replaced by a crushing guilt and he found himself quietly sobbing. Chloe cradled his head on her lap, stroking his hair and saying soothing nonsense.

He allowed her to comfort him for a few moments, until the memory of what he'd done became too much. He scrambled into the bathroom and locked the door behind him.

Much like Chloe, he couldn't meet his own eyes in the mirror so instead he focused on the ring he held in his hand.

Chloe was frantically knocking on the door, demanding to know if he was all right but he ignored her. Finally he looked up into the mirror and was ashamed by what he saw there. He angrily pushed the ring back on his finger, revelling in the feeling it gave him as the effects coursed through his blood stream.

He washed and dried his face then unlocked the door and stepped past Chloe like nothing had happened.

"Clark, what happened?"

"It's Kal," he reminded her.

"I don't care if you call yourself Clark or Kal or the Jolly Green Giant, I'm still worried about you."

"Don't be," he said, pulling a fresh shirt on and storming out of the apartment.

Chloe looked after him, dumbstruck.

She felt like she'd fallen down a rabbit hole into a world that looked like hers but wasn't.

She sat on the side of the bed and replayed events in her mind, trying to discover something that might have caused Clark, no Kal's she corrected herself, episode.