Chlark Fanfic: Agenda, Chapter 1
Banner by go_clo.
Title: Agenda
Author: BabyDee1
Pairing: Chlark
Rating: NC-17 (mostly PG-13)
Warnings: None
Timeline: Futurefic; follows Season 8’s Injustice & Failsday Doomsday
Disclaimer: All known characters belong to the CW & DC comics.
Summary: More than a decade after the Doomsday Rampage, Clark makes a shocking discovery that changes his life forever.
Feedback: …makes me squee. :-)
Written for the 2011 smallvillebbang long Fanfic challenge. Many thanks to twinsarein for all her tireless organisation and support!
Beta’ed by legendarytobes & The Fallen Sky at KSite.
Art by sylvanelfmistre & go_clo.
Read the Prologue here.
Chapter 1
When he’d woken up that morning, Chloe had been the first thing on his mind.
Nothing new there. She was always the first thing on his mind in the morning, and the last thing on it when his head hit the pillow. Not a day had gone by since he’d last seen her that she hadn’t been in his thoughts.
She was, however, the last person he’d ever expected to turn up on his doorstep.
Yet here she was. And despite his resolve not to let emotion in, it bubbled up within him like a spring in the ground desperate for an exit.
“Chloe!” he exclaimed, returning her smile. “Chloe…my God, it’s so good to see you!” he said, extending his arms and pulling her into them. She went willingly, her small arms going around his waist as her head rested over his heart.
He wrapped his arms around her tightly and inhaled deeply. Nothing had changed. Her hair smelled different; no doubt she used a different shampoo now, and different perfume. But the underlying essence that was Chloe was still there; potent, enduring, and stronger than ever.
As was everything he’d ever felt about her.
“It’s good to see you too,” she said, her words muffled against his chest. She lifted her head and studied him carefully. “You look well.”
He smiled warmly at her. “You look beautiful, Chloe. Haven’t aged a day.”
“Yeah…hate to ruin the moment, but could we like, do this inside?” piped the young girl by Chloe’s side. “It’s getting’ kinda chilly out here.”
Startled Clark quickly stepped back and put some space between himself and Chloe, feeling sheepish.
“Yes! Yes, of course, sorry,” he said, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Please come in.” He stepped aside and the two of them walked past him into the apartment. He followed them in, pinching himself hard to make sure this wasn’t a hallucination.
The sting in his arm assured him that this was very much a reality. Chloe was actually here, in his apartment, and she had brought…
“You must be Gabriella,” he said with a sense of wonder as he stared at the young girl who, despite her dark colouring and generous height, was clearly Chloe’s daughter.
She stuck out her hand. “Gabby to my friends,” she said blithely.
He swallowed. “Gabby. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Gabby,” he said softly, taking her proffered hand. She looked at him searchingly, and he stared back at her, feeling a strange rush of emotions coursing through him.
Chloe’s daughter. Chloe was a Mom. His childhood friend had a child of her own…
“Gabriella to you,” she said smoothly, bringing him back to the conversation. “For now, at least.”
“Manners, Gabby,” her mother warned threateningly.
Far from being offended, Clark couldn’t help but smile. Clearly she had inherited her mother’s snark. And her piercing gaze, he realised. Those hazel eyes…God, it was like looking into Chloe’s face all over again...
“You have your mother’s eyes,” he said in awe.
To his surprised, she gave a snort. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” she drawled. “Up until last week, that is…”
Chloe, who up until this point had been silently watching the two of them from a distance, suddenly shot forward.
“Sorry to barge in on you unannounced like this after all these years, Clark,” she began, but he stopped her.
“No it’s…it’s I who should apologise to you,” he replied. “As I recall, I was the one who walked away.”
“And I understand why; I do,” she answered, taking his hand. “And I totally respect your decision.” She took a deep breath and continued. “Having said that, I wouldn’t have come looking for you if I didn’t have a very, very good reason.”
His eyes narrowed in concern. “Chloe…are you and Gabby okay? What is it?”
“We’re fine, we’re fine,” she reassured him. “I just, er…” she swallowed and turned to her daughter who was leaning against a wall with her thumbs hooked into her belt-loops, observing them with keen interest.
“Gabby, why don’t you get yourself something to eat or drink from the kitchen?” she asked, staring at her pointedly.
“Which is like totally code for ‘the-big-peeps-wanna-sound-off, so-vamoose’,” she said tartly, pushing off the wall and walking towards them. “Meh, whatever. Which way’s your kitchen?”
He blinked. “Huh? Oh, of course. It’s er…it’s that way.” He pointed to the door on the far left. “All the Girl Scout cookie boxes are stacked up in the corner by the toaster, and there’s a couple of Cokes in the fridge; help yourself.”
“Got any Diet?”
Chloe scowled. “Gabriella Marie Sullivan, you’ll drink whatever you find in that fridge and you will be thankful,” she said fiercely.
The teenager’s eyes brightened. “Ooh, even alcohol?”
“Gabby!” Chloe hissed.
Clark shook his head and adjusted his glasses again. “Er…no, I don’t drink.”
“And neither do you, young lady!” her mother exclaimed indignantly.
Gabby held up her hands and smiled. “Just askin’.” She ambled off into the kitchen (no doubt to go and listen from behind the door), and Chloe exhaled slowly and sat down.
“Sorry about that,” she murmured wearily. “She’s at that age, and…”
“Chloe, you don’t have to apologise for anything,” he said with a huge smile. “She’s a lovely girl; you’ve done a great job with her.”
She stared up at him. “You think so?” she asked doubtfully.
He nodded. “Definitely. I know she varies vastly from you in her looks, but my God, there’s so much of you in her.”
Chloe smiled wryly. “There’s a lot of her father in her too, as we’ve just begun to realise,” she mumbled.
Clark sat down beside her and avoided her gaze. “How is Bruce doing?”
She swallowed before answering. “He’s well,” she said carefully. “Keeping the streets of Gotham crime-free. Well; as crime-free as one very athletic human being can manage.”
Clark nodded, his jaw hardening as it always did when the other man’s name was mentioned.
He’d emerged from his self-imposed ten-year exile at the Fortress to discover that Chloe had, in his absence, long since swapped Metropolis for Gotham and had returned to reporting, landing a top job with the Gotham Gazette. There she had met and quickly begun a long-term relationship with world-renowned entrepreneur Bruce Wayne, a relationship that had produced a daughter.
Why Gabriella bore her mother’s name was something he’d wondered about, but never given much thought to. Chloe had kept her private life very separate from her professional one, and had never publicly acknowledged her and Bruce’s relationship, nor had she ever confirmed paternity of her child.
“But it’s obvious to anyone with eyes,” Cat Grant, the Daily Planet’s gossip columnist had loudly declared to the entire office one afternoon shortly after his return. “Gabriella Sullivan is clearly a Wayne. Chloe may think she’s being smart, but she isn’t fooling anyone with her radio silence. That’s totally Bruce Wayne’s love child.”
He stared at Chloe now, sitting with her hands clasped tightly together and the edge of her bottom lip between her teeth. It was heart-warming and amusing to see that she still did that after all these years. At the same time it was worrying, because he knew it was a clear indication something was troubling her.
“Why did you come to see me, Chloe?” he asked quietly. It was the question that had been on his mind from the moment he’d seen her standing at the door. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”
She took a deep breath. “It’s Gabby. She needs your help.”
“My help?” he echoed in surprise. “What’s the problem?”
She took another deep breath. “You know I mentioned she was at a certain age? Well…her body’s going through…changes. They’re changes that she doesn’t quite understand, and…”
Clark let out the breath that he’d been holding and felt his cheeks turning red.
“Is that all?” he said, relieved. “Chloe…much as I’d be happy to help, isn’t this something that would sound a whole lot better coming from you?”
“I wish it were that easy,” she said with a sigh. “But this is more than just puberty, Clark. Or maybe it is just that, and that’s the problem; I don’t really know…”
“Chloe, you’re not making any sense,” he said gently. “Begin at the beginning; what’s going on with Gabby?”
Chloe wrung her hands nervously. “She’s recently manifested some unique, fundamental changes that…”
He frowned. “What do you mean, ‘unique, fundamental cha---” He stopped, a terrifying thought filling his head. “Oh, my God. Is she meteor-infected?” he whispered.
“No,” she replied. “No, she’s not; but she does have abilities.”
He frowned. “I don’t understand. How can she have abilities if she isn’t meteor-infected?”
“Because her abilities didn’t come from the meteors.”
He sighed, sadness and guilt washing over him. “Chloe, I know you may not want to hear this; but have you considered the very real possibility that your daughter may have inherited your meteor powers?”
She shook her head emphatically. “No. She didn’t. That was the first thing I checked when she was born, and she’s absolutely meteor-free.” She stopped and cleared her throat. “Gabby’s abilities are genetic…but they’re not from my side.”
He stared at her in surprise. “Are you saying they’re from her father?” he asked.
She nodded slowly. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”
“But…but Bruce is human…” the eyes behind the glasses widened as the obvious answer came to him. “Bruce isn’t her father, is he?” he whispered.
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “No. He isn’t.”
A chill seeped through his entire body, numbing him from head to toe. His heart thumped hard within his chest and his hands began to shake as realisation dawned on him.
It couldn’t be…
“Who’s Gabby’s father, Chloe?” he whispered hoarsely. “Where is he from?”
For several seconds she sat very still and very quiet. The only sound to be heard was the harsh, unrelenting ticking of the clock as it periodically broke the silence.
Finally, Chloe lifted her face and met his gaze head-on with tearful eyes.
“He’s from Krypton,” she said quietly. “And I think you know who he is.”
Clark’s head started to spin, as if he’d been caught in a whirlwind. He stared at Chloe with wide eyes, his mouth open in complete and utter shock. Slowly he turned towards the kitchen, his gaze falling on Gabby who was leaning against the doorjamb with her lanky legs and arms crossed, munching on a chocolate chip cookie.
She smiled and lifted her Coke can towards him in salute. “Hi, Daddy.”
***
Chapter 2...