Dream Girl: Chapter 25 - Beginning
"Hmmmm…" Chloe sighed as she worked on her office computer. She tapped and banged absently, the only things taking shape in front of her were nonsensical phrases and words. For two hours she'd been working up her courage to go home. Home, as in the dorm she shared with Lana back at Met U. She looked at her watch. If she left now, she would have the place to herself for at least another three hours or however long it took Lana and Clark to put the relationship back on the tracks. Or she could go to the Talon and stay with Lois as she had been doing for the past couple of days. Answer all of the Lois' questions. And she would have questions. Then there was always the option of curling up in the DP break room with a phone book as a pillow. Chloe hung her head as she thought her third option was most likely the best.
Can I go back? After all that had happened between her and Clark, could she really go back to living with Lana and watching the two of them try to negotiate the murky waters of their so-called love life? Forever being caught in the middle of knowing and covering? Because Lana called Chloe about two hours ago to tell Chloe she was on her way out to the farm to 'talk things out'. In probably another hour, Chloe would get a text from one of them, telling her the fight was over and everything was back to their definition of normal. The dalliance with Chloe would be pushed to the back of Clark's mind. Chloe would put on her brave smile and go back to being his 'Krypto Hag'. Life would go back to normal.
Surprising her, tears formed and fell before she could stop them. Chloe stood quickly and made her way to women's restroom and cried quietly in one of the stalls. After another thirty minutes, when she was sure all her tears were dried, she made her way out and to the sink to mop up her face. Her eyes were still weak and tired looking but other than that, she seemed fine. Chloe blew her nose and left the bathroom. Rounding the corner, she halted as her breath caught in her chest. Clark stood a few feet from her, his back turned as he leaned against the wall looking through the glass doors. In front of him, Chloe thought he held a bouquet of flowers, a type she couldn't make out, although she knew, from the red and yellow liner they came from the Smallville Florist. Frowning, she took a few hesitant steps toward him but stopped again when Clark turned to face her.
Clark heard Chloe's breathing before he heard her footsteps behind him. She stopped and judging by her sharp gasp, had not been expecting to see him standing outside her office doors. When she began to walk again, Clark turned to her. She'd been crying. Clark did not know how he was able to tell, but he knew without a doubt, she'd been crying not ten minutes earlier. Like a goon, Clark thrust the flowers he picked up on his way out of Smallville behind his back, but he was pretty sure she already saw them. The two stood for innumerable seconds, each waiting the other to say something. Finally, Chloe, as usual, smiled her uncomfortable bright smile and closed the distance between them.
"So!" She started cheerfully. "How you feeling? Any leftover effects?"
"None. How are you? I see you're back at work. Against Dr. Matthew's orders," Clark said sternly.
"Oh, please, Clark," Chloe said easily, falling back into the familiar manner in which she spoke to Clark. She side-stepped him and grasped the brass bar, pushing open the door and prancing inside. Clark caught the door and followed her. She settled back down in her chair and struggled to look busy. "I'm way too important to have a two month vacation," she told him pointedly.
"Well, at least we got you to stay still for one of them," Clark replied, still standing. "You know, its almost seven-thirty. What are you still doing here?"
"Unlike you, it takes me more than five seconds to catch up on the work I missed. I was just getting ready to go home. Clark, what is with the flowers you're trying to hide behind your back?" Chloe finally asked him after he shifted them a second time.
"Oh, you saw them." Clark smiled sheepishly. Chloe nodded with a smirk. "They're for you."
Clark held the bouquet of daffodils and lilies out to her, watching as she lifted her eyebrows in question at the odd pairing.
"Thank you, Clark. They're very pretty," Chloe commented as she took them from him, sniffing them briefly. She had to admit, their mixed aroma was quite nice. She wondered how Clark came up with this combination. She laid them aside and looked back to Clark whose hands, now devoid of flowers, fidgeted nervously with the belt loops of his jeans. "But shouldn't you be giving flowers to Lana? You two kiss and make up already?"
"Chloe, are you leaving anytime soon? Because I thought maybe the two of us-"
"Oh, hold up there, Mr. Avoiding the Question. Did you and Lana talk things out?" Chloe questioned him again. Clark looked at her, a look she was unable to read, which was weird. Then he turned on his heel and motioned for her to follow him into the semi-private room that was just off the basement's main floor. Chloe did, her heels clacking, and shut the door behind her. "What's with the closet act, Clark?"
Clark looked down at Chloe. He could see the nervousness in her eyes, even though she fought hard to shield it from him. Clark knew this was the moment, the moment when he would need to work harder than he ever had before because Chloe wouldn't make it easy on him. But she was worth it. He couldn't help smiling.
"We broke up," Clark told her simply.
Chloe looked at him in shock. Lana and Clark broke up? How was that possible? "Clark... But, why? She knows you were hypnotized. I told her the other night after I took you home."
"Thanks, Chloe. You're always looking out for me," Clark replied as he shook her shoulders affectionately. "But that's not why we broke up."
"Then, I don't understand. Why?" As Chloe finished her sentence, she identified the emotion swimming in Clark's eyes as he watched her. It was how he used to look at Lana all those years ago when they were younger. It was longing. And love? No. "Oh, no. Clark, no, you didn't." She backed away from him, her hand out in front of her warding him off.
"Chloe," he said her name sweetly. "I was an idiot. I was scared. I was every other word you want to use for stupid. When we were fifteen and we went to the Spring Formal, that week when we were together, was one of the happiest times I can remember."
Chloe's eyes were wide with wonder at hearing him talk about things that happened so long ago. Reaching out, Clark grasped her small hand in his, pulling her closer to him until she stood an inch from him. He held her hand to his chest and stroked it with his free one.
"Please believe the only reason I ran out on you was to save a friend. That's all Lana was and if I was in the market of telling myself the truth, that's all she ever has been. I fooled myself into thinking she was more because I was scared, Chloe. I was scared of what we could have had. After I offered to make the date up to you and you said you only wanted to be friends, I didn't fight for you because of my fear. It was easier and safer to go back to what I knew," Clark told her, aware she was still fighting him.
"Stop it, Clark. You don't know what you are saying. You said yourself in the Talon it wasn't easy with you and Lana anymore. Admit it, Clark. That is why you're bailing. Whenever things get tough, you get going. It's what you always do!" Chloe exclaimed as she drug her hand away from him. "Now, there is still time. We can fix things with Lana."
"I don't want to fix things with Lana! Chloe Sullivan you are not easy!" Clark shouted back at her. "You are complicated and annoying and stubborn and pushy. If you were a foot taller, you would be Lois. Trust me, when I say that you are anything except easy. And I want you, all the same. I've wanted you for a long time but I refused to see it. I see it now."
"You know, Clark, even if all this was true, who says I still feel that way for you, Clark? So I kissed you. You're my best friend and I had just woke up from a coma. Emotions run away with me sometimes. But that doesn't mean I'm still coo-coo for Clark. I've moved on," Chloe told him with a harsh look as she grasped the doorknob. Chloe pulled the door open, escaping from Clark and the inevitable abandonment if this conversation were allowed to continue. Clark's next words made Chloe halt, her hand frozen on the golden knob.
"I want to let you in on a little secret. I'm not who you think I am. I'm the girl of your dreams, masquerading as your best friend," Clark read quietly, his low voice becoming slightly gruff.
Chloe turned slowly. Clark stood exactly where she left him, dressed in his usual uniform of worn jeans and red shirt under a blue jacket. In his hand he held a frayed, crumpled looking pink scrap of paper. Her heart melted a little.
"Where did get that?" Chloe asked. She remembered writing that. She remembered reading it to him while he lay on his couch, sick and barely conscious with fever. She remembered the pain that ripped through her when he muttered, "Lana".
"A friend," Clark responded before he continued. " Sometimes I want to rip off this facade like I did at the Spring Formal, but I can't because you'll get scared and you'll run away again. So I decided it's better to live with the lie than expose my true feelings. My Dad told me there are two types of girls. The ones you grow out of and the ones you grow into. I really hope I'm the latter. I may not be the one you love today, but I'll let you go for now, hoping one day you'll fly back to me because," Clark lifted his eyes to hers before he went on.
Chloe stood there, poised with tears shimmering in her eyes.
"I think you're worth the wait," Clark finished. "You said yourself you're my dream girl. Haven't we waited long enough?"
Clark closed the space between them once more, stuffing the note back into his pocket with care. "Chloe, I know you still feel something. I can see it in your eyes. Please forgive me for taking so long to come back to you. Don't punish me for my earlier mistakes, I promise I've learned from them-"
"Shut up, Clark," Chloe choked out. With both hands she pulled Clark down and kissed him with a fiery passion that shocked even her. Clark stood motionless and then gathered Chloe as close to him as possible. The contentment he recalled flowed through him and he knew this was right. So right he would never understand how he had lived so long without it. But he didn't need to worry about that anymore. Chloe was his. Always had been.
Chloe kissed Clark until there was no air left in her lungs. Only when her light-headedness intensified did she pull back, her face wet with her tears. Clark opened his eyes and looked at her. With a sad smile, he raised a hand and gently wiped her tears away.
"Are these good tears?" Clark asked hesitantly.
"Yes! Yes! They're happy tears. Oh, Clark, I've waited so long to hear you say those words. I just forgot until you read me that note. . ." Her voice trailed off. She almost couldn't believe she was standing in the circle of Clark's arms but the strong presence of his solid build told her it was real.
"Chloe, if I had known," Clark started.
"No," Chloe shook her head. "What's important is we're together now. You're sure?" Chloe couldn't help the small doubt still residing in the back of her mind.
"I've never been more sure of anything. You're the girl I need, Chloe. The girl I want. The girl of my dreams," Clark said softly as he kissed her on the nose. "What do you say we get out of here?"
"I'd say that's the best idea you've had in a while," Chloe said. The two shared another kiss, both clinging to each other as if they'd been lost and had only just found the other. Which in a sense they had. A slight cough from the door got their attention. A janitor, with his trusty mop frowned at them. Clark reluctantly released Chloe, missing her warmth already. But she kept a grip on his hand, as if he were lifeline.
"Coffee?" He suggested on their way past her desk.
"Please," Chloe replied as she snatched up her flowers.
As they reached the double doors, Clark told her, "Remind me to tell you about this dream I had."
And they walked out of the bullpen hand in hand.
The End