Fic: Waypoint Chlark PG Again 8 of 9
Back to Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 (R)
Afterwards, they lay in bed, side by side, hand in hand, silent. Clark could hear Chloe’s heart slowing to a more peaceful pace. He heard the hum of the refrigerator again, and the ever present Metropolitan traffic. There was a finch singing somewhere outside, and the scrabbling of squirrels. He found himself listening to the squirrels, following their run up and down the tree.
Chloe became restless, and started to pull away. He tugged on her hand, and said quietly, "Stay, just stay a little longer." He heard her take a breath, with just a little hitch, and she cuddled closer and lay his head on his chest. He could smell her shampoo now. It was not quite the right scent. This Chloe must buy a different brand. It was a sweet and clean smell though, overlaying the familiar scent of her. He wished he had the opportunity to get used to this. It wouldn’t be that hard to make her a life here. If it weren’t a choice, it wouldn’t be that hard at all. Somewhere though there were people who needed her. He suspected his other self was first among those people who needed her, even if he might not realize it.
"Tell me about your wife," Chloe said, breaking into his thoughts.
"Well," he paused a bit to think, "first off, just like you, she had no idea of what appropriate pillow talk was." He stroked her back, to soften his words, and because he could. "I would be falling asleep or just thinking how warm and soft she was, and there she would be wanting to talk about graft, or phone records, or what supplies Luthorcorp was buying."
She snorted, "I’ve heard that complaint before. So how did you end up together?"
"Well, I think Lois has the best explanation for that. She says one day my brain just started working. We were together all the time. I should have seen it long ago."
"What happened specifically," she persisted. Then she hesitated, "That is if you can talk about it."
"Yeah, it’s not so bad, but, I don’t know where to start."
"Lana maybe," she suggested hesitantly, "I’m not sure that I can really imagine you looking at someone else. At least not the Clark I know."
"Yeah, I remember that," he said reluctantly. "I tried to make that work. There was a time I could think of nothing but keeping her safe. I could think of nothing but hiding away with her, and living the sort of life I saw my mom and dad living. But it didn’t really work that way."
"What changed?"
"Well I lost my powers for a while. We got together. I thought it could work. But then I got my powers back, and I just couldn’t tell her."
"So far, you are in line with my version of history."
"There was another man."
"Lex..."
"What? No...Lex?"
"I’ll tell you later. Go on."
"Yeah, sorry. I know, I’m making it sound like she cheated on me. She didn’t. I just felt like this guy was waiting for me to screw up. There was always someone waiting on Lana. I had to do something or I was going to lose her. I was too scared to tell her the truth. But I tried to, you know, be with her."
"You mean have sex?"
"Yeah. Nothing happened, I really was too terrified to ever let anything bad happen, but I scared her. Chloe’s theory about it just being ‘mind over matter’ didn’t quite work out."
"And yet," she said running a hand over his chest, "it doesn’t seem like that theory was all wrong."
"Practice. It’s all in the practice...I told Lana most of my secrets. She tried to understand. But she kept getting more and more scared. She stopped pressuring me. I didn’t want to pressure her. We just stopped. Then she wanted to be friends, take a break, all sorts of euphemisms. I couldn’t let her go, but I couldn’t keep her close. I did let her go though."
He remembered vividly. He had never felt as out of control in his life. He was scared what he would do to try to hold on. He had no idea how to go on without the woman he had loved since he was five. Chloe didn’t need to hear that, though somehow he suspected it wouldn’t surprise her. That other Clark was still with Lana, he remembered. It almost made him angry with him. He had never been happy with Lana, she hadn’t been happy either. He knew now that Chloe had loved him all that time, just as this woman must love that man.
"And then?" Chloe prompted gently.
"Lana became involved with that guy I mentioned, Robert. It was like a light went out. When I saw her, she was just a girl. I didn’t think of her all the time. It really makes no sense to me. I was just done."
"Huh," she said, sounding dubious.
It really had been that simple though. As many times as it had seemed there could be no end to the back and forth, eventually it was just over. Eventually, she had just stopped consuming his thoughts, and life moved on as he tried to catch up.
Enough of that, he thought, and continued, "And then Brainiac and Zod. And I could see how courageous you were. Or well, my Chloe. But I’m pretty sure you would have done the same. I could see everything she did, and everything she gave. And mostly I just wanted to look down your blouse...Sorry, her blouse. Anyhow, I realized somehow I had fallen completely in love and I never knew when it happened."
Clark grew silent for a bit, but she didn’t prompt him. He could feel she had stiffened a little against him. He blew out a slow breath, because he was getting mad at his other self again. Even if he wasn’t going to tell this woman that he loved her, he wanted her to hear the story. He knew he could love her, just as he understood that she wanted that guy she had shared so much time with back in her world. He never talked this much, he thought in a moment of farm bred self consciousness, but he wanted her to hear it.
He leaned down and kissed her. Then he realized her face was wet, as she turned away. He continued anyhow, "It seemed like there was nothing to do about it. She was completely oblivious. She had written me off long ago romantically. It was all businesslike. Well, and it seemed like the world was ending. I really wasn’t supposed to be looking at, or thinking about what I was thinking about. And then when it was all over, it hit me. I understood. I was terrified of losing my best friend, my partner. But there was no way she was going to let that happen. I could screw up. I could screw up big time, and she would help me make the relationship work."
Clark fell silent a moment before continuing, "And so one day when you...when she was going on about triangulating a signal coming from Lexcorp, I just decided that could wait. I just leaned over and kissed her. And it was easy. I kept thinking how easy it was. It all happened so fast. I kept thinking, ‘isn’t this supposed to be harder.’"
She laughed wryly, then commented, "Somehow it never got easier where I come from."
"Yeah, well it got harder, later. But speaking of harder." He pulled her on top of him. "We only have a little time together." She settled right where he wanted her, and he arched against her.
"Yeah, only a little time," she said in a low voice. "It would be a..." But he cut her off with a kiss
Afterwards, they lay in bed, side by side, hand in hand, silent. Clark could hear Chloe’s heart slowing to a more peaceful pace. He heard the hum of the refrigerator again, and the ever present Metropolitan traffic. There was a finch singing somewhere outside, and the scrabbling of squirrels. He found himself listening to the squirrels, following their run up and down the tree.
Chloe became restless, and started to pull away. He tugged on her hand, and said quietly, "Stay, just stay a little longer." He heard her take a breath, with just a little hitch, and she cuddled closer and lay his head on his chest. He could smell her shampoo now. It was not quite the right scent. This Chloe must buy a different brand. It was a sweet and clean smell though, overlaying the familiar scent of her. He wished he had the opportunity to get used to this. It wouldn’t be that hard to make her a life here. If it weren’t a choice, it wouldn’t be that hard at all. Somewhere though there were people who needed her. He suspected his other self was first among those people who needed her, even if he might not realize it.
"Tell me about your wife," Chloe said, breaking into his thoughts.
"Well," he paused a bit to think, "first off, just like you, she had no idea of what appropriate pillow talk was." He stroked her back, to soften his words, and because he could. "I would be falling asleep or just thinking how warm and soft she was, and there she would be wanting to talk about graft, or phone records, or what supplies Luthorcorp was buying."
She snorted, "I’ve heard that complaint before. So how did you end up together?"
"Well, I think Lois has the best explanation for that. She says one day my brain just started working. We were together all the time. I should have seen it long ago."
"What happened specifically," she persisted. Then she hesitated, "That is if you can talk about it."
"Yeah, it’s not so bad, but, I don’t know where to start."
"Lana maybe," she suggested hesitantly, "I’m not sure that I can really imagine you looking at someone else. At least not the Clark I know."
"Yeah, I remember that," he said reluctantly. "I tried to make that work. There was a time I could think of nothing but keeping her safe. I could think of nothing but hiding away with her, and living the sort of life I saw my mom and dad living. But it didn’t really work that way."
"What changed?"
"Well I lost my powers for a while. We got together. I thought it could work. But then I got my powers back, and I just couldn’t tell her."
"So far, you are in line with my version of history."
"There was another man."
"Lex..."
"What? No...Lex?"
"I’ll tell you later. Go on."
"Yeah, sorry. I know, I’m making it sound like she cheated on me. She didn’t. I just felt like this guy was waiting for me to screw up. There was always someone waiting on Lana. I had to do something or I was going to lose her. I was too scared to tell her the truth. But I tried to, you know, be with her."
"You mean have sex?"
"Yeah. Nothing happened, I really was too terrified to ever let anything bad happen, but I scared her. Chloe’s theory about it just being ‘mind over matter’ didn’t quite work out."
"And yet," she said running a hand over his chest, "it doesn’t seem like that theory was all wrong."
"Practice. It’s all in the practice...I told Lana most of my secrets. She tried to understand. But she kept getting more and more scared. She stopped pressuring me. I didn’t want to pressure her. We just stopped. Then she wanted to be friends, take a break, all sorts of euphemisms. I couldn’t let her go, but I couldn’t keep her close. I did let her go though."
He remembered vividly. He had never felt as out of control in his life. He was scared what he would do to try to hold on. He had no idea how to go on without the woman he had loved since he was five. Chloe didn’t need to hear that, though somehow he suspected it wouldn’t surprise her. That other Clark was still with Lana, he remembered. It almost made him angry with him. He had never been happy with Lana, she hadn’t been happy either. He knew now that Chloe had loved him all that time, just as this woman must love that man.
"And then?" Chloe prompted gently.
"Lana became involved with that guy I mentioned, Robert. It was like a light went out. When I saw her, she was just a girl. I didn’t think of her all the time. It really makes no sense to me. I was just done."
"Huh," she said, sounding dubious.
It really had been that simple though. As many times as it had seemed there could be no end to the back and forth, eventually it was just over. Eventually, she had just stopped consuming his thoughts, and life moved on as he tried to catch up.
Enough of that, he thought, and continued, "And then Brainiac and Zod. And I could see how courageous you were. Or well, my Chloe. But I’m pretty sure you would have done the same. I could see everything she did, and everything she gave. And mostly I just wanted to look down your blouse...Sorry, her blouse. Anyhow, I realized somehow I had fallen completely in love and I never knew when it happened."
Clark grew silent for a bit, but she didn’t prompt him. He could feel she had stiffened a little against him. He blew out a slow breath, because he was getting mad at his other self again. Even if he wasn’t going to tell this woman that he loved her, he wanted her to hear the story. He knew he could love her, just as he understood that she wanted that guy she had shared so much time with back in her world. He never talked this much, he thought in a moment of farm bred self consciousness, but he wanted her to hear it.
He leaned down and kissed her. Then he realized her face was wet, as she turned away. He continued anyhow, "It seemed like there was nothing to do about it. She was completely oblivious. She had written me off long ago romantically. It was all businesslike. Well, and it seemed like the world was ending. I really wasn’t supposed to be looking at, or thinking about what I was thinking about. And then when it was all over, it hit me. I understood. I was terrified of losing my best friend, my partner. But there was no way she was going to let that happen. I could screw up. I could screw up big time, and she would help me make the relationship work."
Clark fell silent a moment before continuing, "And so one day when you...when she was going on about triangulating a signal coming from Lexcorp, I just decided that could wait. I just leaned over and kissed her. And it was easy. I kept thinking how easy it was. It all happened so fast. I kept thinking, ‘isn’t this supposed to be harder.’"
She laughed wryly, then commented, "Somehow it never got easier where I come from."
"Yeah, well it got harder, later. But speaking of harder." He pulled her on top of him. "We only have a little time together." She settled right where he wanted her, and he arched against her.
"Yeah, only a little time," she said in a low voice. "It would be a..." But he cut her off with a kiss