Almost Clark (Chapter Eleven)

Spoilers for Bound and Scare.

Chapter Eleven

It was times like this she really loved her friendship with Clark. Not that it was normal by any means. They weren't hanging out, having coffee or slipping their shoes off and giggling at a bad horror movie. That was just too normal for them. They were on the job, on the story. That was where they belonged.

This particular job was proving Lex's innocence. They say he murdered a woman. She didn't believe it for a second. Not that she didn't think Lex was a total dog with women. He could probably give Kal a few lessons. But a ladykiller? No way. She took a second to reflect on how well she was doing about that other dog. Things were almost... perfect.

It had taken some time. The first few days felt like withdrawal, but afterm se felt this renewed sense of purpose. She could do this. They could do this.

They walked toward the bank of elevators in the hotel lobby. "So the police still haven't picked up on the missing earring thing," she said. "And according to the people at the front desk, they haven't found anything yet. So that's where we're at." All the way in Metropolis for a guy neither of them really trusted anymore. She wished they could get paid for it. She shook her head. It wasn't about that. It was about the truth. Uncovering the truth was almost an obsession for her these days. After all the months of lies (to herself, to others, to Clark), she liked things that were clear, open, truthful.

A soft ding heralded the elevator and the door slid open. They stepped in. Empty. Good, she thought. It would make it easier to find something as tiny as what they were looking for.

"Well, if I were an earring..." Clark said, surveying the elevator through narrowed eyes as Chloe pressed the highest button she could find. The door slid shut and the car started to move.

"Let's re-enact the event, okay?" She gestured to the side. "So Lex had Eve up against this wall right here, so..." She stood against the wall, waiting for her mind to start clicking it all together. She glanced at Clark, waiting. It was hard to re-enact a two-person event alone. "Okay, come on, big boy, it's for the cause of truth and justice. Now, push me up against the wall."

Clark looked like she'd just asked him to kill a puppy. "I don't--"

She rolled her eyes and took him by the hands. In a way, the guy had screwed her all over Smallville, in any semi private place they could get, and he was afraid of a little play-acting. It was almost endearing... and just plain nuts.

******************************************

Clark let her pull him, not sure on what grounds he could protest. He bumped into her, a little too close to the belt for his comfort. She didn't seem to notice. He noticed. The red tank that was just a little too snug, cut a little too low. And now she was moving around.

"And her hand was like this..." She put her right hand on Clark's shoulder. "...and I think his hand was like this." She took his right hand and put it on her face. "And they were..." Her free hand roamed over Clark's back. He felt like his entire body was tightened up, tense.

"Maybe he knocked the earring off accidentally," he said quickly, hoping they could get back to looking with their eyes. Chloe may be in reporter mode, but couldn't she see how uncomfortable all this was for him? Her hand was groping up and down his back and she wasn't even looking at him. Did he even need to be here?

"Yeah. Yeah, and then she pushed him up against this wall over here like this." Chloe pushed Clark across the elevator and up against the other wall. He jolted as it hit his back. She finally looked up at him. "Hi."

His hands ran up her arms as he held her gaze. Their faces were very close. His eyes dropped to her lips. It would only take one move to... They heard a ding and their heads whipped to the door.

"Oh, my." The woman with the twin girls gazed at them with a sneer.

He pulled away and hid behind her, adjusting his shirt to cover what was happening downstairs. "It's okay. You can come in," he said hurriedly.

"Um, no, that's fine. We'll just, uh, take the stairs."

The woman started away and Chloe stepped out after her. "No, but nothing was happening! We weren't doing anything, really!"

Clark pulled at his shirt tail again. He didn't know if he was upset the woman appeared or that she hadn't been there sooner. Lately, his erections had been embarrassingly frequent. A few months ago, theings had been fine. Why was he... His mind hit a wall. He knew well enough not to go beyond it.

"Hey, Clark. What if the earring fell down this crack?" He looked down. Chloe was kneeling on the floor. He took a deep breath. He wouldn't go there either. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and felt his gaze zoom down the crack. Bingo.

***************************************

It was times like this Chloe wondered why she hung around Clark at all.

"Clark, I don’t mean to go all Dr. Phil on you, but don’t you think that you should, uh, admit that they’re in a relationship?" She watched as Clark put down the framed picture of Lana and Jason. Besides, Jason had just collapsed in The Talon for no apparent reason and they had to find out why. That is, if Clark even wanted to.

"Come on, Chloe. I’m past that."

She almost laughed. "Yeah, I should’ve known by that crippling stare on your face ever since you walked in the apartment."

"I just could’ve used more time to ease into it, you know?"

"Clark, you were in love with her. That’s not something you just ease out of." And she knew that better than anyone. She tore her gaze away and surveyed the apartment. There had to be something.

"It’s just by the time I found out, they were already this serious thing."

She let her eyes fall in him again and that hangdog look on his face. "Yeah. But we all keep secrets for our own reasons. I don’t think I have to tell you that." She stared at hm hard for a moment, wondering what he'd say. But he said nothing. Typical.

She returned her eyes to the room and spotted a book bag on the chair. Not pink, so not Lana's. She unzipped the bag, rifling through it.

"I don’t think going through Jason’s personal things falls under your snoop jurisdiction," Clark pointed out.

"Well, I’ll take my chances with the jury on this one." Eureka! She pulled his PDA from the bag. "I think maybe if we backtrack through Jason’s last couple of days, it might help." She pushed several buttons, looking for a schedule of some... "Oooh. Jason had a meeting at LuthorCorp this morning."

"Why didn’t Lana say something?" She looked back a the hangdog look again. If there was one she didn't want to do, it was play shoulder-to-cry-on over Lana. She wasn't in the mood right now... or ever.

"Maybe she didn’t know," she said, keeping her tone businesslike.

***************************************

"This place seems dead," Clark said as they walked toward the gate that led to Luthercorp's company grounds.

"Yeah. My dad used to work the overtime shifts on Saturdays. This lot should be full by now." She pulled a security card out of her pocket and swiped it through a slot outside the gate.

"Where do you think everybody is?" Clark asked as they walked through.

"I don’t know. But while you’re talking to Lex, I’m gonna give myself a little backstage tour." She kept forward as Clark veered left. She needed a little time without him anyway. Lana had been with Jason about half-a-year and Clark still mooned over her like the lovesick farmboy he was.

It was almost boring. No. It is boring. Full-on boring. And she was sick of it. She almost missed Kal. Almost? She shook her head. She was fine last week. She'd been so determined to forget him, fueled by her anger. But now...

Maybe the time passing made her look just a little more fondly on him. It wasn't as if Kal was a stellar human being. It wasn't like Kal was the great humanitarian Clark was. But Kal was...

"Fun," she whispered to herself as she approached a gray door. She looked around before swiping her card. She didn't exactly look like the ideal Luthorcorp drone. She stuck to the wall as she made her way through the plant and let her thoughts wander.

Kal was fun and funny and wild. Three things Clark wasn't. One hot night, they'd gone skinny-dipping in Crater Lake. He'd hummed the Jaws them and swam around her as she'd giggled. Many nights, he snuck them into the school. On one occasion, she'd followed a string of dirty notes to get to him. He was in The Torch office, of course. It was the only room with its own airmat and a darkroom Kal just loved with its subtle red light. And even knowing that was where he was, she had to follow the notes, anyway. That and tear each one down. They mentioned her by name.

Another night, he'd snuck into her shower at home just to scare her. She'd had to scream "Just a spider!' through the door several times to convince her father to go away. Kal just snickered against her chest, not letting up for a second. He liked her flustered. He'd told her so. That was the thing about Kal. He'd liked her. He told her all of the things that Clark didn't... or wouldn't.

"I like Chloe in red." He looked at the ceiling, as if struck by genius. "I like Chloe on a bed."

She giggled. "You suck at poetry."

He crawled towards her, grinning. "I like Chloe with no clothes. I like Chloe when she..."

She laughed again. "Yeah. Finish that one."

"Blows," he said, looming over her.

"What's that? A hint?"

"Just a suggestion," he grinned again. "Will you answer my question?"

"That makes no sense. And stop rhyming, you stupid oaf." She giggled and shook her head. "God! That poem is stuck in my head now."

She let out a laugh in the empty hallway and quickly covered her mouth. It was still in her head. He was. She could still see him, hear him... feel him. She missed him. She missed a split personality that was buried inside her best friend. She was possibly crazy.

She started towards a dark set of stairs. Kal was buried, but he was there. She supposed Clark had got rid of the ring. But why did he need the ring? There was something inside him and it obviously needed out once in a while. Clark was all that was decent and kind and shy and sensitive. She snorted. Well, sort of. Kal was all that was uninhibited and wild and sexual. Kal lived for the moment. Clark lived like skittish accountant. Neither of them were complete.

She started down the stairs. It would take more time than she had to unravel the mystery that was Clark Kent. A clanking sound broke up her reverie. Suddenly, the small amount of light on the stairs was gone, leaving Chloe in almost complete darkness. Slightly startled, Chloe squinted her eyes to see better and continued down the stairs. A soft blue light glowed from a room around the corner from the bottom. She walked slowly to the open doorway.

There was a woman with short disheveled hair sitting hunched over in a chair with her back to Chloe staring at a dark window. She crept closer and was horrified to see that the woman was wearing a straitjacket. What was Lex doing down here? The woman's head was bent over. Chloe couldn't see her face. But she heard her speak.

"I’ve been waiting for you, Chloe."

Chloe's heartbeat sped up. It couldn't be. "Mom?" she whispered.

"You can’t escape this, Chloe. None of the women in our family ever have."

Chloe continued walking toward the woman (her mother?) until she was right behind her. None of this made sense. She reached out her hand as if to touch the woman’s shoulder, then pulled it away fearfully. Is it real? But she knew there was only one way to find out. She reached out again, finally resting her hand on the woman’s shoulder. Mom, her mind whispered. After all this time...

Suddenly the chair whipped around to face her, and Chloe jumped backward. Me!, she screamed inside. It was her face, but with large, black eyes and crusty lips. She screamed. The thing looked up at her and opened its mouth wide.

Darkness took over and she couldn't stop screaming. She tried to turn, to run, but her arms felt so... She looked down, seeing the straitjacket, the chair.

"No! No!" She got up and ran for her life, the straightjacket binding her, making her almost lose her balance.

She ran, still until she saw something coming. A golf cart, a man, Clark. "Help!" she wanted to scream as they stopped and got out, but nothing but noises would come out. The guard looked at her like she was crazy. Maybe she was crazy. Maybe Clark wasn't the only one with another person inside. She saw Clark no more than tap the man on the head and he fell.

Oh, God! I am crazy. It was her last thought as arms encircled her, darkness took her.

***********************************

When it was over, she wasn't exactly relieved. Sure the chemicals were cleaned up. The personal demons of the residents of Smallville had stopped chasing them around. But she was still anxious. "Just displaced anxiety," she told Clark after she'd calmed down, having paced four frantic circles around her desk.

"I found my mom, Clark," she said quietly. She hadn't meant to, but it came out. That was the thing about the truth. It always came out.

Clark came around the desk. "Wow. That’s... Chloe, that’s great."

"Yeah, I mean I put my feelers out for years, and something, three months ago, finally came through, so... um, it turns out she’s, um... not exactly MIA, so to speak." She found herself crying "She’s in a mental institution."

"I’m sorry," he said softly.

She could only nod as her face crumpled again. "The real kicker is it’s hereditary."

"Listen, hey." She felt his hands on her arms. "If there’s one thing that I’ve learned it’s that you’re not destined to follow in your parents footsteps, all right?"

She nodded again, wiping her eyes. "Yeah, thanks." She pulled away. She didn't expect him to get it. "So," she bagen, trying to brighten her voice, "popular question of the day. What is Clark Kent’s worst nightmare?"

"When I woke up," he said, sitting on the desk. "Everyone that I knew was gone. I was completely alone."

She stared at him. Clark would have a fear that was so damned unselfish. Everyone else dead. Not him. Never him. She wished it was something stupid like clowns or spiders so she could despise. Why did he have to be so... perfect? She moved to desk and sat next to him. "I wish I could say that I’ll always be there for you, but somehow I get the feeling that may not be a promise I can keep." She furrowed her brow. "You were the only one who came out of it, Clark, and I don’t think it’s because you’ve been taking your vitamins."

"Chloe--"

She got up. "Look, you know what? You don’t have to tell me. I know that I gave you my word that I was going to stop all this prying but... In these last few months, I really got a taste of what it was like to keep my mom’s secret, and I’ve never felt more alone."

He nodded as if he was really pondering it "It’s weird when people think they’re so close to you but have no idea what you’re really going through."

"Yeah. I’d hate to live my whole life like this," she stared at him, willing him to tell her. Tell her what he was hiding. Maybe he could also tell her why he became another person when he put on a God damned ring. She took a deep breath and calmed herself. "But after ‘fessing up," she went on, "it’s amazing how quickly that feeling of loneliness disappears. I mean, if you can’t tell your best friend, who can you tell? Right, Clark?"

He stared at her for a long time. She didn't flinch. She held his gaze. I can wait, Clark. But not forever.

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Chapter Twelve