Chlollie Fanfic: Beauty in the Breakdown IX, 'Fessing Up, Chapter 2
Hola! *waves*
Another Chlollie chapter in the House, my loves! In which the girls in particular have a lot of things to discuss…and a chocolate cake to make. ;-)
Enjoy! Awesome banner by alxnhnt22. Thanks again, Alex! *hugs*
Title: Beauty in the Breakdown IX - ‘Fessing Up
Author: BabyDee
Pairing: Chlollie
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: A Re-telling of Chlollie post-Warrior
Timeline: Season 9
Disclaimer: All characters belong to the CW & DC comics.
Series Summary: With Oliver by her side, Chloe learns to let go, find peace, and fall in love.
Story Summary: Chloe upped and got married. Lois is not amused. :)
Feedback: …Always. :)
Read previous chapter here.
Chapter 2
The girls worked in companionable silence for several minutes; mixing, stirring and folding the cake mixture into the requisite consistency.
Chloe smiled to herself. Ever since their first disastrous attempt at baking years ago, which resulted in a sorely distended garish blue rum cake for Clark’s 19th birthday (which was more rum than it was cake), the cousins had taken it upon themselves to try and perfect their culinary skills together at least once every quarter. Baking in particular seemed to have a soothing effect on them, and was therefore the culinary experiment of choice.
Chloe reached for the vanilla essence, and her rings caught the sunlight streaming through the window and glinted briefly. Her cousin glanced at the glittering jewellery with a curious look, but managed to hold off for another five minutes before said curiosity got the better of her.
“Let’s see the bling then,” she finally said. Chloe smiled and held out her hand for her cousin to inspect.
“Wow,” she whispered with wide eyes as she examined the sparkling stones and bands. “What is it, white gold?”
“Platinum,” Chloe replied. “And diamonds, although the eternity ring has an emerald centrepiece.”
Lois rolled her eyes. “Of course there had to be an emerald in there somewhere,” she scoffed loudly. “It is Oliver you married, after all.”
Chloe laughed. “Indeed.”
“They’re beautiful, Chlo,” she said with a soft smile. “Congratulations.”
She blushed. “Thank you.”
“So, tell me - how and when did he pop the question?” Lois asked as she as she turned on the oven to pre-heat and started greasing the cake tin. “Was it before you went to Miami? Had you been mulling it over for a week or two, or…?”
Chloe shook her head and took the dirty utensils to the sink. “No…he actually, um…proposed the night before the wedding.”
Lois gasped. “Are you serious?” she exclaimed. “How did he get the rings so fast?”
“He’d picked them out earlier, and was planning to ask me to marry him when I got back to Metropolis,” she replied as she did the washing up. “But when I showed up in Miami and we said we loved each other…well, I guess we didn’t really see any point in waiting.”
“And I thought I was the impulsive one,” Lois muttered as she bent to check the temperature of the oven. Satisfied with the level of heat, she gave the cake mixture one last quick whisk, then motioned for Chloe to bring the greased pan over.
“How was the wedding?” she asked as it was placed before her. “Did you do it on the beach?”
Chloe gave an impish grin. “We did it everywhere.”
Lois snorted in a most unladylike fashion. “Not that, you horny tart - the ceremony!” she wheezed, almost doubled over with laughter.
“Oh, that,” Chloe giggled, and held the bowl still as Lois spooned the cake mixture into it and flattened the top with a spatula. “Yeah, we used a private section of the beach and kept everything nice and simple. Only three witnesses - well, five if you count the Donohues.”
Lois frowned. “The who? Never mind, I’ll get those details later.” She picked up the now-full cake tin and carefully slotted it into the middle tray of the oven, then closed the door shut.
“Right,” she said as she straightened and pulled off her oven mitts. “That’ll sit pretty for the next ninety minutes or so. And so should you, young lady. Park it.” She pointed to the couch, and they both walked over and sat down.
“Let the Third Degree begin, huh?” Chloe mused with a smile as she got comfortable.
“You betcha,” was the smart reply. “So, what did you guys wear for the wedding?”
“Exactly what you saw in the picture.”
Lois stared in surprise. “No way!” she breathed. “A beach dress, and…shorts?”
She shrugged. “No point wearing a five-thousand dollar gown for a beach wedding, especially if your husband’s gonna take you for a quick dip in the surf immediately afterward.”
“Good point,” she nodded grudgingly.
Chloe’s eyes glowed. “It was perfect, Lo. You should have been there.”
“Yes, I should have!”
Her face fell. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Lois immediately smiled and ruffled her blonde tresses. “Forgiven. On a more serious note…” she took a leaned over and took Chloe’s hand in hers, and fixed her with a serious stare. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
Chloe’s eyes widened in surprise. “Absolutely,” she whispered. “How can you even ask me that, Lo? You’ve seen me and Oliver together; you know we love each other!”
“A difficult question, I know,” she admitted. “One I’d have preferred to ask before the wedding if I’d been given the chance, y’know?”
Chloe made a wry face. “Guess I deserved that.”
“I didn’t mean to be malicious,” Lois reassured her. “But yes, I had to ask.”
Chloe blushed and nodded. “And my answer is the same. Yes, Lois; this is what I want, one-hundred percent.” Then she frowned slightly. “I thought you liked Oliver…”
“Oh, I do, and I approve of him wholeheartedly,” she replied. “I said it then and I’ll say it again; he’s good for you, and it shows. Heck, you’re good for each other.”
“So, what’s the problem?” Chloe asked, slightly puzzled.
“The problem, young lady, is that the last time you got married I had concerns with your decision - huge concerns,” she said seriously. “But because you seemed so determined to be happy with Jimmy, I didn’t voice them.” Her voice dropped. “And then everything went straight to hell in a handbasket.”
Chloe sighed. “I understand your trepidation given the history, Lois,” she replied. “But this is completely different. Oliver is not Jimmy.”
“And neither is he Clark,” Lois whispered softly, so softly that Chloe almost missed it.
“Clark?” she said, blinking in confusion. “I don’t understand. What’s he got to do with---? Oh. Oh…” she said as comprehension dawned. “Lois…do you think I still have feelings for him?”
Lois exhaled with a deep sigh and nodded. “I guess that’s about it.”
“Well, let me reassure you that I don’t,” Chloe replied, her voice resolute. “I love Oliver. I would never have married him if I still had feelings for Clark.”
“But you did when you married Jimmy,” Lois said softly. “Didn’t you?”
Chloe slowly got to her feet and crossed over to the window. Truth be told, she’d expected to have had this conversation with Lois long before now. So much had been left unsaid between them over the years.
But now was as good a time as any to air any and all misconstrued lingering thoughts, she mused. Of course, there was a lot she wasn’t at liberty to divulge without risking Clark’s double identity, but she would say what she could without putting his secret in the frame.
“I’m not denying it,” she finally replied. “Yes, I was in love with Clark when I married Jimmy. But the circumstances were completely different.”
Her cousin frowned. “In what way?” she asked, standing up. “Clark said something like that a while ago…what did he mean?”
“I was…going through some stuff back then, stuff that you don’t know about,” she said vaguely. “Things that affected my reasoning and…decision-making faculties.”
Lois’s frown deepened. “What kind of things?”
Chloe closed her eyes and sighed deeply. How to explain it? Well, an alien supercomputer named Brainiac completely took me over, stripped me of my memories and tried to take over the world, but not before loading me up with DNA-specific binary code designed to lure an immortal alien serial killer into my arms.
“Mental illness,” she finally replied quietly. “Coupled with some memory loss.”
***
Chapter 3…