Chapter Four
Clark was waiting on her front porch when she got home that evening and he saw her demeanour become defensive as soon as she spotted him.
"What do you want?" she asked, her arms crossed defensively across her chest.
"To apologise."
"Is't that what the flowers were for?"
"No. The flowers were to wear your defences down enough so that you wouldn't storm out when I tried to do it in person."
"Well I'm sorry to say that your plan didn't work." She strode towards her front door but found Clark blocking her path. "Get out of my way," she sounded serious.
"You don't mean that," he said smugly, reaching out to brush her bangs off her face. "You still want to believe that, deep down, I'm a good person and right now you really want to hear what I have to say for myself. You're just scared that you might believe me."
"Why would that scare me?" she asked.
"Because you like me, and that frightens you. Being mad at me is easy but admitting the truth means you risk getting hurt."
"In your dreams," she scoffed.
"So what did you do with the flowers?" he asked.
"Pete and I dropped them off at the hospital."
"You didn't keep them?"
"No."
"None of them?"
"No," she stuck her chin out proudly.
Clark's smile widened and he got a wicked glint in his eyes.
"Then open your purse."
Chloe frowned. "What? No! I'm not going to show you anything."
She pushed past him and this time he let her. He didn't bother to turn around when he spoke.
"I know you kept a rose, and I know it's in your bag." He started down the steps. "Give me a call if you decide you want to hear that apology."
III
Chloe sat on her front porch talking on the phone. She still hadn't called Clark, though she had been sorely tempted to. Finally she had decided to bring in the big guns for help.
"So what do you think, Lana?"
"I think that I can't believe you're friends with Clark Luthor!" Lana told her friend.
"I know," Chloe agreed.
"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"
"The truth is... I still don't know what to make of it. Of him."
"In what way?"
"Well... Mostly he's the Clark that we all know and hate, he's chasing girls and picking fights and generally being an ass."
"But?" Lana knew Chloe well enough to know that her friend wasn't attracted to jerks.
"Well... sometimes he's really sweet and thoughtful. When we're together, we get on so well, there's never a lull in conversation and he's the only person besides you who can pull me out of one of my funks. When he joins me for a coffee in the Beanery, he doesn't even look at any others girls. Plus, he saved my life when I was infected with that parasite. And two weeks ago he helped me track down some meteor powered psycho's who robbed a LuthorCorp van. I think he might have saved my life again."
"You think?"
"I kinda got knocked out," she explained. "But that's another thing, he's sometimes really secretive."
"Do you know what he's hiding?"
"Not a clue," Chloe admitted. "It's nothing big but... just a lot of little unexplainable things happen around him."
"Like?"
"Like with the thieves, when I woke up he was buck naked and covered in soot, with no good explanation as to where his clothes went."
"Maybe being in life or death situations turns him on," Lana joked.
"Maybe," Chloe didn't laugh.
"Chloe... Do you have feelings for Clark?"
Chloe sighed. "I don't know. Maybe. I definitely have feelings for the nice side of him."
"But the jerk side puts you off," Lana guessed.
"Yeah. But even if I did want to start something, Clark isn't exactly the dating kind, you know?"
"I remember him well enough," Lana agreed. "So you're staying friends?"
"I guess. At least until he does something I can't forgive."
"Do you think he will?" Lana asked seriously.
"He's a Luthor. Right now there might still be a sweet boy under that arrogant exterior but it's only a matter of time before Lionel kills it off completely."
"All I can tell you, Chloe, is that on their death beds, people regret the things they didn't do, not the things they did."
"Okay, lets move onto happier things," Chloe changed the topic. "When are you coming for a visit?"
III
Clark was lying on Chloe's roof top as he listened to her conversation. He knew she wouldn't like it but he couldn't help himself. Besides, she'd never find out.
He tried to put a face to her friend, Lana, but he just couldn't remember her. Girls names didn't really mean an awful lot to him. He did recall an attractive brunette that Chloe sometimes shared coffee with but was all.
He thought he'd enjoy hearing how Chloe really felt about him but the truth was, it made him want something he couldn't have. A relationship.
Part of him really wanted Chloe, wanted to claim her as his own, someone he could turn to when the rest of the world was against him. Chloe was loyal enough to be that person.
Clark however... well Clark didn't exactly do trust. He didn't think that he would ever have enough faith in her that he could commit to her in any meaningful way. Even if he tried, he was pretty sure that he'd sabotage himself. She would also require him to curb his more excessive activities. The fact was that he enjoyed sleeping with beautiful women, tormenting their boyfriends and picking fights he knew that he couldn't lose.
He wasn't sure that he wanted to sacrifice all that for Chloe.
Perhaps he shouldn't apologise if Chloe called. He would miss her but there was no doubt that she would be better off if she didn't get involved with the Luthors. His father, and by extension the family, tainted everything they touched.
He frowned as he realised that that was probably the first altruistic thought he could remember having.
III
Chloe was putting the Torch to bed a week later when a shadow suddenly darkened her doorway.
"Nearly finished, Pete," she said, saving the final draft. "There, done." She turned to him smiling but her smile turned to a gasp.
"Clark!" she exclaimed.
The figure standing in her doorway was a far cry from the Clark she was used to seeing. He was hunched over, seemingly in pain, his cocky demeanour was gone as though it had never existed and his face was a mass of bloody cuts and bruises.
She ran the few paces to him.
"Oh my God. What happened?" She tentatively reached her hand out to touch his face. "Oh, Clark."
Carefully she wrapped him in her arms. He held her tightly, almost uncomfortably tight but she didn't say anything.
"It's okay, Clark. Everything's gonna be okay," she soothed, stroking his hair with one hand and his back with the other.
Suddenly she felt his shoulders began to shake and she knew he was crying. She continued soothing him, making meaningless sounds as he took comfort in her.
When he finally pulled out of the hug, Chloe led him over to the sofa and sat him down. He winced and adjusted his position.
She sat next to him and looked closely at his injuries, pleased to see that they at least seemed to have been cleaned.
Chloe hears footsteps echoing down the hall and glanced towards the door, biting her lip.
"Stay here," she said. "I won't be a second."
She disappeared out of the door. Thanks to the school being empty at this late hour, Clark could easily hear her conversion, even without his powers.
"Pete, I am so sorry, I should have called you."
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"My computer caught a nasty virus and before I could finalise the Torch issue I had to find out how to remove it. I'm gonna be here another few hours."
"Want my help? We could get done a lot faster."
"You know how OCD I am about the paper," she laughed. "How about we go and see the movie at the weekend instead."
"Are you sure everything's okay, Chloe?"
"Everything's fine. It's just my time of the month and I'm just about ready to smash the next thing that goes wrong. Sorry Pete."
Apparently implying she had PMS was enough for Pete.
"Okay, Chloe. Just don't stay too late."
"I won't. I really am sorry, Pete."
"It's cool. I'll see you tomorrow."
Clark heard the footsteps recede and a few moments later Chloe rejoined him on the sofa. She took his hand, gently running her fingers over the abrasions she found there.
"I was beginning to get worried when I didn't hear from you," she said. 'And with good reason,' she mentally added. Suddenly she regretted cursing him out on the last voicemail message she left and doubting that he was sincere when he said he wanted to apologise. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Clark shook his head and Chloe reason if he didn't want to talk to her, he had come to her for comfort. She opened her arms to him again and he once again settled into her embrace, his head resting on her breast. She continued to stroke his hair, just like she remembered her mother doing when she was a child.
It took a long time but finally he began to speak. Chloe had to strain her ears to make out his words.
"There's something you need to know," Clark said. More than anything he wanted to tell her the whole truth and he was so low that right now he didn't care if she rejected him or if he incurred Lionel's wrath. He needed a friend. "I'm not from here," Clark began to explain.
To his immense relief, Chloe didn't interrupt him at all but let him tell his story at his own pace.
"I came to earth in a spaceship when I was a baby, Lionel found me and used his money to fake an adoption. My unique physiology gives me special abilities... I'm bullet proof, I can fly, I can shoot fire from my eyes, I can bench press a car, I can run faster than a speeding bullet and I can see through solid objects."
It said something about her life that Chloe didn't question any of this, she simply wondered how someone like that could ever get beaten up.
"I have a weakness though, the meteor rocks that fell to earth with my ship. The green ones make me sick, the red ones change my personality but the blue ones just take away my powers."
Chloe remembered the flash of blue she had seen when Lionel hit Clark in the library. He must wear a ring made from it.
To her surprise, Clark held up his hand, showing her that he was also wearing a ring with a blue stone.
"I have to wear it for five days," he said. "If I take it off, I'll heal but Lionel will know."
Chloe tightened her grip on him. Hitting your child was was bad enough but to cold bloodedly insist that they must then live with the pain when there was an easy way to stop it... That went beyond cruel, that was inhuman.
"Why?" she asked.
"We got into a fight because... he said I was being reckless."
"Oh my god," she whispered as tears pricked her eyes. She blinked them away. "Clark, I am so sorry."
He pulled away from her and looked into her eyes.
"Do you hate me?" he asked.
"Why would I hate you?" she asked, genuinely confused.
"Because of what I am. Dad says people will fear me and that will make them hate me."
Chloe reached out and cupped his cheek. "I'm not afraid of you."
Clark smiled slightly. "And you won't tell anyone about me?"
"Of course not."
"Thank you."
"How long until you can take the ring off?" she asked.
"Only another day. I was going to wait to come and see you but..."
Chloe smiled, pleased that he trusted her. "Do you have to go home?" she asked.
"No," Clark shook his head. "He's in Metropolis tonight. I just have to show up tomorrow so he can see that I haven't removed the ring."
"Then you can come home with me tonight," she said.
"Won't your Dad mind?"
"What he doesn't know wont hurt him. You can't stay alone in that mansion."
III
Chloe went in the front door while Clark climbed the tree in the back yard to get into her bedroom. He could see that Chloe had obviously climbed this tree many times in the past but he doubted it was for elicit encounters as his imagination would like to suggest.
By the time climbed through the window, Chloe had already set up a sleeping bag and pillow for him. It was late so he took his coat, shoes and shirt off and went to get into it.
"Clark," Chloe put her hand on his arm but she had to avert her eyes from the bruises on his chest. "You take the bed."
Clark frowned, confused.
"The floor wont be good for... you." She stepped away. "I think I might have some sweats that might fit you. Gimme a sec," she disappeared into the hall and returned a few moments later with clothes that clearly weren't hers.
"My dad keeps these for DIY jobs. They're well worn but they're clean."
Clark nodded and began changing. Modesty didn't seem to be an issue for him.
"I uh, I'm going to go... do something," she said, fleeing from the room before he could bare too much skin. Clark smiled at her modesty.
She returned a while later with a large plate of sandwiches to find Clark sitting on her bed. She had changed into black PJ's
"I thought you might be hungry," she said, then her smile faltered slightly. "You eat regular food, right?"
Clark laughed softly at her. "How many muffins have you seen me eat at the Beanery?"
"Well," she scrabbled around for a justification. "There's a Cookie Monster, why couldn't there's a Muffin Alien."
"You know, I think you're talents will be wasted on journalism," Clark told her. "With reasoning like that, you should be a lawyer."
"Ha, ha." Chloe shoved the plate at him. "So, do you want to watch a movie?"
"What have you got?"
"Mainly rom-coms," she admitted.
"So you are a romantic at heart," Clark smirked.
"Okay, I admit it, Chloe Sullivan has a softer side."
Clark caught her wrist as she passed. "I already knew that," he said sincerely.
Chloe found that she couldn't tear her gaze away from him. She swallowed as she began to feel uncomfortable.
"Uh, I might have a few action films somewhere," she pulled her wrist free of him. "How about the Terminator?" Suddenly she remembered that the Terminator could do very similar things to Clark and thought she'd put her foot in it again. "Uh, I mean it's just a suggestion."
Clark stood up, took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him.
"You don't have to worry about offending me," he said. "In fact I think it's sweet that you care so much."
Chloe smiled. "You know, I hear a lot of words used in reference to me. Inquisitive, insensitive, tenacious, loud, brash, annoying... Sweet doesn't tend to come up too often."
"Then people don't know you very well."
Chloe blushed and turned away.
"The Terminator is fine," he said, backing off.
Chloe popped the film into her VCR and turned her tiny TV on. Clark got into bed and Chloe climbed into the sleeping bag.
"That doesn't look comfortable," Clark said.
"I'm fine," she assured him.
"Come on, Clo," he threw the covers on one side of the bed back. "As beautiful as you are, I think I can control myself."
It wasn't very comfortable on the floor so after a brief hesitation while she weighed up the pros and cons, she climbed into the bed.
"Okay, but just until the film finishes."
"Is it me you don't trust, or yourself?" Clark smiled.
Chloe ignored the question.
"I should have made popcorn," she joked.
"Sandwiches work," he said, handing her the plate.
As the film wore on Chloe grew tired and eventually her eyes closed. Clark decided against waking her and when the film finished, he settled down beside her and watched her sleep for a while.
The way she made him feel tonight, the way she comforted him without asking for anything in return, the way she took care of him... She had given up her bed for him, which didn't sound like much but was a gesture he was positive no one in his family would have made.
It was a strange state of affairs when your friend cared more about your well being than your family did.
Maybe a relationship with her might just have enough perks to make it worth while. Maybe, somehow, she could pull him back from the darkness that threatened to consume him sometimes.
III
Chloe's radio alarm clock woke her by playing the Styx classic, Renegade, but when she put her arm out to silence it and claim another ten minutes of sleep she found she had to stretch much further than normal.
She raised her head to find that she was on the wrong side of her bed, and then she remembered Clark.
She frowned as she wondered where he had gone. She silently checked her wardrobe and under the bed, but there was no sign of him.
She wondered if she'd dreamed the whole thing but her fathers sweats lying neatly folded on her chair said otherwise.
She tried to forget about last night and got ready for school.
She was too distracted to pay much attention in her lessons as her mind kept wandering, either to what Clark had told her last night or to what his father might be doing to him right now. What if he was mad at Clark for staying out last night?
When the lunch bell rang she called him.
"Hey, beautiful," he answered, his voice warm and rich.
"Clark," she literally sighed with relief. "How are you?"
"Why don't you come outside and see?"
"What?"
"I'm in the parking lot." She could hear the smile in his voice.
"Why?" she asked as she made her way there.
"Because I wanted to invite you to lunch to say thank you."
She headed out of the doors and saw him casually leaning against the hood of his car. His cuts and bruises were all gone.
She closed her phone and walked up to him.
"You're okay," she said, smiling.
He nodded. "I healed."
She could see his his usual cocky façade was back in place but, unless she was very much mistaken, it was softer today.
"So, lunch?"
Chloe looked back to the school building, knowing that she really shouldn't leave, but she had so many questions...
"Come on, Chloe, take a walk on the wild side!"
She guessed she could cut class one time without the world ending.
They got in and Clark sped away from the school. To Chloe's surprise, he drove them out of town and pulled over in a lay-by.
"Clark?"
"Chloe, I have to talk to you." Clark sounded serious.
"Okay?"
He turned to her and took her hand.
"About what I told you last night," he said.
"Yeah, you're gonna have to prove all that to me at some time, you know."
Clark looked indecisive for a moment.
"You don't regret telling me, do you?"
"Yeah," he admitted. "But not the the reasons you're thinking. By telling you, I have put you in so much danger. If Lionel ever found out that you knew..."
"What, Clark?" He was squeezing her hand to the point of pain.
"He'd have you killed."
"Wow... Okay... Um..." She looked out of the windscreen as she tried to absorb that information.
"If you want to walk away from... whatever it is we're doing, I completely understand."
"I would never let fear keep me from a friend!" she looked shocked.
The mixture of emotions she saw pass over Clark's face was hard to keep track of but she was pretty sure she saw relief, gratitude, happiness and affection.
"He'd really have me killed?" she asked.
Clark nodded.
"Right... Okay... Well, if I'm risking my life for them, shouldn't I get to see these powers?"
"That's what I was planning at lunch," he said, getting out of the car.
"Clark?"
"Come on, Chloe," he looked expectant so she followed him out of the car.
"Where are we going?" she asked as she joined him
"I know this lovely little place in Vermont."
"Vermont?" she sounded incredulous.
Without warning Clark swept her into his arms.
"You ready?"
Chloe looked both excited and nervous. She nodded and Clark took off into the sky.
Chloe had never experienced anything like this. She wasn't only flying, she felt completely weightless. Everything below her looked so small and insignificant.
"Oh my god, Clark, this is amazing!" she said. "I feel like nothing can touch me up here."
He grinned at her. "Can you handle it a bit faster?" he asked.
Chloe nodded and Clark sped up until the wind was whipping her hair back from her face.
"Okay, this next bit could be a bit scary," he said. "You might want to close your eyes."
"No way!" she laughed.
"Okay."
She blinked. One second she was in the sky, the next they were standing in an alleyway. Clark put her down.
"Uh, how did we..."
"I can't risk anyone seeing me land in daylight," he confessed, "So I used my super-speed to find us a quiet place to touch down."
He placed her back on the ground, took her hand and led her to a restaurant around the corner. They got a table for two and took their seats. After they had ordered their drinks, he asked her how she was feeling.
"It's an awful lot to take in," she admitted. "But in a good way. It's like winning the lottery and discovering Santa Clause is real all in the same day."
"Yeah... Do you think you can handle a little more?" he asked.
"Don't tell me the tooth fairy is real too?" Chloe grinned. "Shoot."
"Okay... I like you, Chloe. I mean, I really like you."
"I really like you too," she smiled.
"No," Clark shook his head in frustration. "What I'm trying to say is that I want to be more than just your friend."
Chloe's smile faltered slightly.
"Clark... I don't know if that's such a good idea."
"Because I'm not human?"
"No! No it's much more complicated that that."
Clark was hurt and he covered that pain by getting angry.
"Then why don't you explain it to me." He sounded belligerent.
Chloe almost spoke but hesitated. Finally she responded as truthfully as she knew how.
"I'm afraid that if I fall for you... you'll break my heart."
Clark's anger evaporated.
"Chloe... I don't want to become my father."
"You don't have to," she insisted.
"But you don't believe that. At least not enough to risk your own heart."
"Oh, Clark... I know my issues are nothing compared to yours, but one thing you need to know about me is that I have a huge fear of rejection."
"Chloe, I would never reject you."
"Yeah, you say that today. My Mom told me every day that she loved me and then one day, poof, gone."
"I'm not your mother."
"I know. But matching what I know with how I feel isn't that easy."
"Will you at least think about it?"
"Clark," she gave a rueful smile. "I doubt I'll think about much else for a while."
"Okay," he knew that if he pushed he could lose her completely.
The waiter came by and they ordered their food. When he left, Chloe leaned forward.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Will all that you can do, why don't you run away?"
Clark flashed her a sardonic smile.
"Lionel would find me."
"Clark, you can outrun a bullet. And even if he did manage to find you, you could run again."
Clark examined the table cloth for a few moments.
"I tried once. I managed to avoid him for five months by living in slums, sleeping rough. Luckily I don't feel the cold... When he found me I spent the next year wearing a blue kryptonite bracelet."
"Kryptonite?"
"Meteor rock."
Chloe closed her eyes. "Was that when you supposedly attended boarding school?"
"Yeah, except there was no boarding school. Lionel kept me in my room, my only company was a tutor for an hour a day, and Daddy Dearest when he deigned to visit me to tell me how useless I was."
"I'm sorry," she said, reaching out to take his hand.
"It gave me a chance to catch up on my reading," he tried to shrug the experience it off.
Chloe still had a ton of questions about his powers, so she turned the conversation back in that direction for the rest of the meal.
When they got the cheque, Clark paid cash. Chloe tried to pay half but Clark was insistent.
"Why cash?" she asked.
"So Lionel doesn't know I've been here," he explained.
"He goes through your bank statements?"
"Lionel goes through everything."
Chloe believed him.