Almost Chloe (Chapter Twenty-Five)

Chapter 25

Clark sat across the table from his mother. The room was unfamiliar. "So how do you like Winnipeg?" he asked.

She smiled. Despite the awful events that had transpired, she was glad to see him when he'd come to her door. She'd only stopped crying an hour ago. "Not much. I want to go home with my son."

"Soon," he promised. "Oliver's making sure it's safe. We're going to meet them in Star City first."

She nodded. "As long as you're here."

"Mom, I..."

She dropped her head. "Please don't say it."

"I have to go back. Jor-El let me go on that condition." He sighed. "Even without that, I need to. My eyes, Mom... I have to go back and finish."

She looked around her, her eyes wet. "Finish what? And for how long? Does Jor-El..." She sneered the name. "Does he plan to keep you forever?"

"Mom, we've... I think all of us, you, me, Dad..." He looked at his hands. "We always had things wrong. I wasn't sent to... rule or conquer. I was sent to help."

She tilted her head to the side and stared at him, wide-eyed. "How..."

"He says my powers are a gift. I... I have so much to tell you. But, suffice it to say, he thinks that I should be grateful that Earth sheltered me when Krypton was destroyed. He says my mission is to... Well, shelter Earth right back. Protect its people. My powers can grow and... He thinks I can lead everyone to peace. I'm not clear how, but..." He smiled. "It's actually kind of cool. And I need to... No. I want to try." He watched as tears streamed from his mother's eyes. "Mom?" He stood and came around the table, knelt by her side. "Mom, don't..."

"No, Clark..." She wiped her eyes and took his face in her hands. "I'm... I'm not really sad. I'm so many things. Relieved, confused, and... so, so proud."

Tears stung his own eyes and he wished he could take the glasses off and look into her eyes unobstructed. "I learned things, Mom, about my birth parents. Jor-El and Lara."

She sniffed and nodded. "Your... mother?"

"Well, she is. And Jor-El is my father. I think a part of me will always miss them and is always grateful that they saved me. But you and Dad... You raised me. You taught me everything in here." He tapped his chest. "Jor-El may have had a plan for me. But it was you and Dad, what you taught me, that makes me want to follow it."

"Honey," she cried out, leaning down and kissing his hair. He'd missed her touch. There was something about his mother that made him feel clear and safe. "I want to know everything. I want to know about..."

"Later," he said, pulling back. "We can talk on the way."

"Yes." She wiped her eyes and smiled. "Star City. I want to see Chloe and the boys. And poor Lois..."

He stood. "Do you have bags?"

She stood as well and shook her head. "There wasn't much time. Only the clothes I had, really..."

"Do you have a warm coat?"

She nodded and took it from the back of the chair. "Do you have plane tickets?" she asked as he helped her into her coat. She took some gloves and a hat from the pocket.

"Don't need them." He pulled on her hand and she followed him to the door.

"Clark, I don't know," she said as they stepped into the cold night air. "Running me all the way from Canada..."

"We won't be running, Mom." He smiled and lifted her easily into his arms.

She looked at him with some confusion, then grasped him tight as they rose up. She stared at him in fear.

"Mom? Is this okay? We can get a plane if..."

She suddenly smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Oh, Clark." She sniffled as tears filled her eyes again. "No. This is wonderful."

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

Chloe lifted her head from the pillow in the lavish bedroom. It was wet and she turned it over. She wondered that her tears hadn't soaked clear through it. She couldn't sleep. All she could do was cry silently.

Bart and A.C. and Victor were probably asleep somewhere in the mansion. It was six in the morning, but everyone was sleep-deprived and battle-worn. Oliver and Lois... She didn't know. Maybe they could sleep, too. The sleep of the innocent.

Innocent.

She was nowhere near innocent. Maybe she hadn't pulled the trigger, but she couldn't help feeling...

Lois hadn't spoken to her, still. On the short drive from headquarters to Oliver's home, she'd sat silent next to Chloe, pulling away when Chloe tried to take her hand. She didn't blame her. Chloe felt she must be no better than a murderer. Lucy Lane had died so Chloe Sullivan could live.... or die. She wasn't dead, though. At least not on the surface. She was as alive as Lana Lang and in much the same way.

She thought Lana's death had been a cruel maneuver, however necessary. Not the death itself, but the fact that no one who had once cared for her knew. Now Chloe was doing the same. Except she didn't have many people to care for her. Her father was dead. Her uncle was in a deep freeze. Lois despised her. And Clark... well, she didn't know what he thought or where he was. She hadn't seen him since the Yukon.

She buried her face in the pillow, wondering if a dead girl could ever find happiness again. She started when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She lifted and turned.

Lois was sitting at the edge of the bed, a towel wrapped around her hair. And Chloe felt fresh tears as her cousin leaned down and finally embraced her. "Lois, I'm sorry."

"Shh! It's not your fault." She pulled back and wiped a tear from her eye. She favored Chloe with a watery smile. "I thought I was done crying. Oliver will probably have to buy a whole new wardrobe. I've just soaked it all through."

"Lois, I..."

"No." She held up a hand. "I'll talk and you listen." She stood and paced a moment before sitting at the bottom of the bed. "Luthorcorp has reverted to its shareholders. Lex Luthor is in Belle Reve. He's nearly catatonic. He hasn't spoken yet. Oliver's been digging and, though most of Lex's top men both here and in the Yukon have escaped... Well, some are talking. If Luthor wasn't in the nuthouse, he'd be so deep in jail, he'd never come out. The world is safe from Lex Luthor. And so are you." She looked at Chloe sadly.

"But Lucy..."

"You couldn't control what she did and... If anything good can come out of this, it's that Chloe Sullivan can't be killed."

"She's dead," Chloe said numbly.

"And that's okay," Lois said, nodding and wiping her eyes. "Because we're all that's left of this family and I can't lose anyone else."

Chloe cried out and reached for her. They rocked together slowly, both sobbing, until Chloe pulled away. "Who am I? I don't know where to go. Are we going back to Kansas?"

"I'm not," Lois said seriously. "If there's one thing this has taught me, it's that life's short and can be snuffed out with no notice." She looked into Chloe's eyes. "I love him. And I want to stay with him, help him if I can." She shrugged. "I never had a life in Kansas. I never fit. I fit with Oliver. And you..." She stroked Chloe's hair. "You need to find out where you fit now."

"I always dreamed of The Daily Planet. It was all I wanted. I... I guess it still is. I wish..."

"Wishing doesn't make things happen," Lois said sharply, rising to her feet. "You need to find yourself again. A new you. It's the chance of a lifetime." She smiled sadly. "Trust me."

Chloe sighed. "So Lois Lane is going to be a resident of Star City."

She shook her head and pulled the towel from her hair. "No. Linda King is."

Chloe gasped and stood, touching the wet, red hair that surrounded Lois' face. "But Lois..."

She pulled away and strode to the window, her back to Chloe. "Linda King was fired from The Inquisitor after failing to come to work for four days. She was a crappy reporter, anyway. Didn't even have any friends in Metropolis." She turned, the rising sun a halo around her head. "She's going to try to make it in Star City. Oliver Queen has offered the lovely lady a job. She has a knack for campaign management, having worked for a senator. She can help Oliver run for mayor, then... who knows?" She smiled. "Linda King and Oliver Queen. If they got married, she'd be Linda King-Queen. How stupid is that?"

Chloe offered her a teary smile. "But what about Lois Lane?"

She came toward Chloe and took her hand. "Lois Lane should go back to Metropolis."

Chloe stared at her, confused. "But if you're here..."

She put her hand over Chloe's mouth. "Lois had a stint as a tabloid reporter. But with the recommendation of Oliver Queen, well... I think it's a reasonable hope that The Daily Planet might take a chance on a rag reporter with a dream." She removed her hand and placed it on Chloe's cheek. "Don't you?"

She couldn't speak. It was all too much.

"Don't answer now," Lois said softly, putting an arm around her shoulders and walking them to the bed. "Let's just lay down and have a nap. We need it."

Chloe settled on the bed and scooted over for Lois.

"Remember when we were kids?" Lois asked, settling to face her. "Whenever either of us had a sleep-over, we were pretty much forced to go to bed. But we still stayed up talking."

Chloe felt a yawn and her eyes began to close without her permission. "We were such brats."

She heard Lois chuckle. "Well, you were. I was an angel. In fact, I think every time we snuck out, it was really your idea. I only..."

She didn't hear the rest. Her mind and body finally succumbed to sleep.

She dreamed about The Daily Planet and Metropolis and a guy who always left her...


Previous Chapter

Chapter Twenty-Six