Before Sunset (Part Six)

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She stared ahead, shivering. Clark drew up next to her and she turned her head slightly. "Should we?"

"I don't know. It's a cave."

"I don't think we have other options right now." She glanced up. The sky was darkening. "I'm just concerned it's someone else's home or..." She shuddered slightly. "Something else's."

"Nothing else is home. If it was, it hasn't been home for days."

She squinted and faced him. "How do you know that?" For a moment, she wondered if his powers weren't all gone. If he had some way of sensing...

"No tracks," he said, gesturing to the mouth of the cave. "It's not like they've been covered. There was no fresh snowfall."

"Good eye." She turned back to the cave, breathing between her hands, wondering if she'd make a reporter out of him yet. She still wasn't moving. Neither was Clark. "Maybe we should keep holding out for something better."

"No. You're right. We don't have much choice. We have no way of knowing if we'll find anything else before it gets dark and... even colder." He started ahead, then turned back as she stayed still.

"See, but that's a nice enough cave. Odds are something calls it home and I kind of don't want to be there if it comes back from vacation."

"Come on." Clark grasped her arm. "We still have time to gather more branches," he said, walking her toward it. "If we start a big enough fire at the mouth, maybe whatever it is will decide to extend the vacation a little."

"Wait." She held the blanket and dug inside. She pulled out the flashlight and turned it on after a few fumbles with numb fingers. "Okay," she choked out. They crept forward, her shining the light almost steadily.

"Come on. There's nothing in here," Clark said next to her, giving her a nudge.

She stepped forward, calming down slightly... until she heard the dull crunch. "I wouldn't say that." She shined the flashlight downward, but kept her eyes forward. "Please tell me that isn't what I think it is."

She felt Clark crouch down next to her. "It's just bones."

"That's what I thought it was," she breathed, squeezing her eyes shut.

"They're tiny. Probably a rabbit or something."

"That makes it better."

"Here." She felt him take the flashlight. There was a series of dragging sounds, before she felt him next to her again, out of breath. "There. I think I kicked most of them out." A colder hand touched her cold face. "Chloe, we're fine. You're not gonna start freaking out on me now."

"No. I'm good." She opened her eyes and tried to smile. "It's just... I was really hoping we'd be getting something with a door tonight."

"Guess we lucked out with that shack." He shined the light around.

"It's a tourist hotspot compared to this."

"It's not so bad. I mean, it's c-cover. And, like I said, we can build the f-fire up in the mouth."

"Like a burning door of flame." Strangely, it sounded comfy rather than dangerous. She sighed and put the bundle down. "Okay. Done whining. We should go for more branches."

"No. I'll go. You get the fire started."

"Clark, despite the whining, you happen to be colder than I am. So you can get the fire started and I'll--"

"I can carry more," he said quickly, tossing her the flash light. "Be right back."

She fumbled to catch it as he moved away quickly. It was reason number 587 to be crazy about Clark Kent. Chivalrous to a fault. She frowned and pulled out their meager bunch of sticks, cradling the flashlight between her neck and shoulder. Her eyes lit on the jar as she piled the branches and doused them slightly, eying the tiny bit of jerky left rattling around in it. It wouldn't last them much longer. Wasn't there some kind of edible tree bark? It sounded only slightly worse than beef jerky, which was so salty and made her so disgustingly parched, she'd kill for a stream or even a dingy brook. Anything with water in all this...

She snorted aloud. What do you think all this white stuff is, Sullivan? She was as bad as Clark, calling out for water when his pants were burning. She stared hard at the jar, then dropped a match on the napkin between the sticks. They still had a few more napkins to wrap the jerky in. She blew on the fire, wanting it to start already so she could get started on her brilliant plan.

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

Clark could hardly see his own tracks through the forest he was currently carrying, but it had to be enough to get through the night. He even felt slightly warmer, having moved so fast, zig-zagging through the trees. For a minute, it had felt like... No. Not like before. If he were anything like before they wouldn't be fighting for life in a frozen wilderness. They'd be at his house, toasting their near escape with cocoa. He made a note of that scenario. If they got out of this, it was nearly the first thing they'd do.

As it was, they were hoping for one more night alive. Maybe he should have let Lex find her. Despite his suspicions, he knew Chloe would be okay right now. Where he'd be, he didn't know. It had been all too close to sunset even when he'd left Smallville. Still, he wished he hadn't dragged Chloe with him. She'd be warm and dry, not scared and shivering in a cave. He saw it ahead, a mild glow through the branches. He picked up speed, shedding branches, but unable to slow. He'd never been so happy to see snow and rock in his life. He dropped his load at the mouth, feeling a bit like the proud hunter coming home to... no one.

"Chloe?" He looked around. There was something worse than the idea of her shivering in a cave right now. "Chloe!"

"I'm right here," he heard to his left. He turned, feeling the breath return to his body as she came from behind a tree, holding a branch and a jar of snow. "Clark, I had the best--"

"I told you, I'd get the branches," he said, moving to her. "You were supposed to stay put."

Her eyes widened. "Stay put?"

"I didn't mean it like that. But it's almost dark. You shouldn't be--"

"Clark, just because we're in a cave doesn't mean you get to play caveman."

"Don't turn this around." he stalked back along his tracks, picking up his fallen branches. "I said I'd get the wood. You're the one who went gallivanting around..."

"Gallivanting?" she snorted. "Does anyone under seventy use that word? Are you an old man now?"

"Older than you, apparently." He finished gathering and moved back to his pile.

"Just for that," she said, on his heels, "I have a good mind not to let you in on my brilliant idea."

He kicked his pile inward. "Fine. What's so brilliant you had to--"

"Say sorry first."

He pursed his lips. "Okay. I'm so sorry I was worried you got chased into the woods and I'd never see you again. From now on, I'll be totally unconcerned about whether you live or die."

She rolled her eyes. "Do you have to do that? Make yourself right all the time. I only stepped away for one second and it was only because I had a brilliant idea."

He sighed. "What's this..."

"No. Say sorry without the guilt trip now."

He blew out a steamy breath. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"And I'm sorry I scared you." She grinned. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Aren't you gonna ask?"

He groaned. "What's your idea?"

"My brilliant idea," she corrected. "And I'm glad you asked." She sidestepped the fire and moved into the cave. "While looking at our teensy store of food in this giant glass jar, I realized we were wasting a valuable resource. This here ordinary jar could be used to turn snow magically into water." She held it over the fire. The snow packed inside turned clear and liquid. "See? Just like magic."

He sat down next to her, tossing a few more branches into the fire. "Neat idea."

"Not just neat. Brilliant."

"But won't it get hot in your hands or... burst?" He moved forward, suddenly concerned.

"Not if I hold it high enough over the flames. As for the hands..." She sat back and held up a forked branch. "This ordinary branch is not just pleasing to look at, it hold our jar like so." She rested the closed top of the jar between the branches and sat back further. "I feel kind of like Mr. Wizard right now."

Clark sat back slightly, feeling a smile for the first time in days.

She glanced sideways at him. "What?"

"Nothing." he shrugged, then shivered. "It is a brilliant idea. I guess I'm just glad you're back to normal." He held his hands to the fire. "You seemed so squeamish before. It wasn't like you."

"Well, we were about to make our beds in a cave full of rabbit corpses. I think squeamish is a normal reaction."

"Not from you. You've been right next to me through some things that would make anyone freak out without even a whimper."

"Well..." She chuckled slightly. "That's the weird and wacky. Nature gives me a whole other set of heebie-jeebies." She tilted her head. "Even after five years in God's country, I'm still a city girl. Closest I got to camping was a pop tent behind my brownstone with Lois when I was ten. My dad checked on us every half-hour with snacks."

"So you have roughed it," he said, nudging her elbow.

"Not even. We were in hours before bed time."

"Well, you're doing fine now." He touched her arm. "Chloe, I don't think I would have got through this without you."

She held his gaze for a moment before pulling her eyes away with a laugh. "Just for that, you get the next batch." She pulled her branch back and set the jar down. "Warning -- it tastes a little beefy, but I'm trying to imagine it's bouillon." She shrugged, "I kind of already had two of the early attempts." She rubbed her hand on her leg. "And the burns to prove it. And I'm kind of feeling it now." She placed her hand to her stomach.

He stopped short of opening the jar. "Are you okay?"

"Nothing." She stood. "I'll be right back."

"Chloe, if you feel sick--"

"I'm not sick, Clark." She looked at the ground between them. "I just have to use nature's bathroom. Okay?"

"Oh." He shook his head. "Alright. I'll come keep watch." He started to stand, but felt her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't you dare."

"But it's dark."

She bent over and grabbed the flashlight. "And I have this."

"Well, I should at least stand off to the side and make sure--"

"Clark Kent, if you stand off to the anywhere and listen to me pee, I will never speak to you again." She clicked the flashlight on. "I'll be fine. You just sit there and drink your... beef water."

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

Chloe marched off, stopping once to make sure he hadn't followed. He was still sitting there, sipping from the jar now. She went a deeper into the trees, just in case he got some idea about following. After a night naked with him, she'd prefer to keep some things mysterious. And her squatting to urinate should definitely stay unseen.

She leaned against a tree and worked at her pants, squeezing the flashlight under her arm. She wished she were a guy right now. When Clark felt the call of nature, all he'd have to do is unzip. But she had to balance against a tree, while trying to lean far enough back that nothing touched her clothes. Between periods, childbirth and squatting urination... Why did women have to have everything so hard? At moments like this, she could nearly put stock in the idea of Eve's original sin, drummed into her during her early years at St. Margaret's. Because this just had to be a punishment.

She finally untensed as she finished, pulling herself up and her pants along with her. As she buttoned up, the flashlight nearly slipped and she caught it with a slight... growl?

That couldn't be right.

The flashlight wavered in her grasp as something glowed ahead of her. Two somethings. Gleaming in the beam with another growl, this one definitely not from her...

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