Fic - Missing
Title: Missing
Author: moviefreak4634
Rating: PG
Characters: Chloe/Clark, Connor, Lois/Oliver, Laura
Summary: Connor and Laura go missing.
Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville or its characters.
Previous stories in this verse can be found here.
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There’s a slow panic rising in him as Clark spins, searching in every direction. Chloe catches his eye, and then she’s searching too. They’re both looking everywhere, and it’s not helping.
He’s about to jump into super speed, to run and search everywhere, but Chloe’s hand is on his arm.
“Clark,” she says. “Don’t.”
He can barely hear her. There’s a ringing in his ears. He finds himself unable to control his hearing, all the voices in the mall crowding in on him. But he does hear her, and he nods slightly. The itch to run is still there, but he recognizes her warning for what it is. This isn’t the place to run off arbitrarily.
Clark is glad one of them is still thinking because Connor is gone, and they need to find him.
“Clark,” Chloe says again, and Clark looks down at her, trying to focus. His head is spinning from the noise, but he works on concentrating on Chloe. It helps when she takes his hands in hers, rubbing her thumbs gently over the back of them. The noises fade away to a dull roar. He can hear Chloe.
“We’re going to find him, okay? And Laura too.”
It occurs to Clark that he hadn’t even registered that Laura was missing too. A wave of relief crashes on him, quickly followed by guilt, but he’d been worried that someone had figured it out - that someone had finally put two and two together and come up with Superman. Connor would’ve been an asset then, but with Laura gone too, it seems less likely. Unless someone worked out both him and Oliver.
Clark looks to the side where Oliver and Lois are standing. He’d forgotten they were there. Oliver looks devastated, like he’s barely standing, and Clark is sure he looks much the same. There are tears in Lois’s eyes, an odd feature on her face, but there none the less.
Clark looks back at Chloe. There are tears tracking down her cheeks, but when he looks at her, she still manages to offer him a small smile, trying to reassure him even while he knows she’s crumbling. He pulls a hand out of hers, placing it on her cheek. His thumb rubs at the tears, and her free hand comes up to rest on his.
“We’ll find him,” she whispers.
Clark nods.
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Connor holds a finger to his lips, motioning for Laura to be quiet. She looks up at him and nods very solemnly. Connor smiles. They sit, waiting.
Connor thinks of this as a game. It’s like hide-and-seek, only the seekers don’t know they’re supposed to be playing. He knows they’ll figure it out soon enough. His mom will at least. She’s very smart.
It’s one of the reasons he needs to keep reminding Laura to be quiet. His mom will guess the game soon, and she’ll tell his dad. Then, he’ll be in on the game and begin to seek. Connor doesn’t want the game to end too early, and it will if he and Laura aren’t absolutely silent.
Connor knows things, and he knows that his dad can hear better than most people. He doesn’t know why. He just knows it true. Connor knows a lot of things - like now, with the game.
His mom will be playing soon, and his dad will be playing soon. For now, they wait.
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“No.”
The word grates harshly in Clark’s ears, his super hearing still barely under control. He winces, and Chloe clutches his hand tighter.
“No,” Lois repeats. “I will not stay here while you go off and play hero. She’s my daughter too, you know.”
“Lois,” Oliver says, his voice much lower than Lois’s shrill. “It’s not about that, and you know it. Clark and I can cover the ground faster. We’ll find them.”
Clark isn’t as sure as Oliver. Oh, he’s sure they’ll find them eventually, despite the gnawing doubt that maybe this is hero-related, that maybe Connor and Laura are in more trouble than they know. He isn’t sure, though, that they’ll cover the ground faster. He’s barely holding on at this point, clinging to Chloe like his life depends on it. Oliver’s grief has passed, and he’s into anger. He wants to find Laura. He wants to punish the people who took her. Clark knows this, and he’s not sure it’s a good thing. But it’s hard to change Oliver’s mind when it’s set.
Chloe lets go of his hand, stepping toward Lois, and Clark mourns its loss for a second. Connor is still missing, however, and it’s time to stand on his own two feet. He makes an effort to pull himself together while Chloe talks to Lois.
Clark doesn’t know how because Lois can be as stubborn as Oliver is, but Chloe gets her to agree to let him and Oliver lead the search. Chloe and Lois will talk to security. There has been no indication that this isn’t a normal lost child thing, that this is in any way related to his and Oliver’s other identities, so they must treat it that way. Clark isn’t sure which situation he would prefer.
Oliver starts off, and Clark begins to follow. His steps are reluctant, unwilling to leave the security that Chloe provides. He looks back at her, and she nods firmly. Her eyes glitter, but Clark can see the unwavering trust in them. She knows he’ll find their son, and now Clark knows it too.
He sets off at a more determined pace, a few feet behind Oliver. Every few minutes, he stops and scans the area with his X-ray vision. It isn’t helping, the scope of the search too wide, and Clark feels at a loss. He’s never needed his powers so much, and now they’re failing him.
Oliver doesn’t seem to be having much success either; although Clark’s not sure what his strategy consists of. It’s not effective anyway.
They’ve covered half the mall now with no luck. He hopes Chloe and Lois have had more luck, but he knows they haven’t when the loudspeaker periodically bursts into a message about Connor and Laura, the missing children.
Clark sinks onto a bench as the loudspeaker sounds again.
Almost instantly, Oliver is by his side, demanding, “What are you doing?”
“Oliver, this isn’t working.” Clark sighs. There’s nothing they can do. He’s never felt so helpless.
“We can’t give up,” Oliver says. “I’m not losing her.”
Clark doesn’t reply, and Oliver leaves, determined to see the quest through. Clark buries his head in his hands. It may not be effective, but neither was searching. Connor and Laura are nowhere to be found.
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Connor doesn’t mind the waiting. He knows the game will be over eventually and sooner rather than later. It’s clear, however, that Laura minds the waiting.
She had started fidgeting not long after they’d been sitting there, and his constant reminders to keep her quiet have started to fall on deaf ears.
“Connor,” she says.
Connor ignores her.
“Connor.”
“What?” he hisses at her.
“Can we go now? I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“No,” he whispers. “They have to find us.”
“But I don’t want to.”
“I don’t care. They have to find us. It’s the game.”
“But-”
“Laura,” he says, cutting her off. “You have to be quiet, or they’ll find us.”
He can hear her sniffling now, and he sighs. They’re going to get found for sure now.
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There’s a tickling in the back of his head. It’s an odd sensation, but it’s one Clark almost recognizes. He tries to focus on the tickling, and it fades slightly. After a minute, he lets it come.
“Can we go now? I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“No. They have to find us.”
“But I don’t want to.”
Clark lurches up from the bench. He knows where they are. Well, he doesn’t, not exactly, but they’re in the mall. They’re not lost; they haven’t been kidnapped; they’re just hiding. Clark doesn’t know why, but why isn’t important. He’s found them. That’s what’s important.
With a renewed sense of purpose, Clark finds it easier to focus his hearing now, tuning into Chloe’s voice. Oliver is back with Chloe and Lois, and Clark listens.
“-searched all over the mall,” Oliver finishes.
Chloe asks, “What about Clark?”
“He gave up,” Oliver spits out. “Fat lot of good he did, him and his powers.”
Clark can hear Chloe’s sharp intake of breath, can almost picture the look on her face. She isn’t happy with Oliver; she’s worried about him.
Clark cuts the feed out, tuning in on a different one, one he almost didn’t hear. There aren’t voices anymore, but with his renewed clarity, he can focus on their breathing, in and out. Clark follows the noise, letting it grow louder until his head is filled with their breathing. It’s a comfort.
Clark slides the clothes back on the rack and looks down at the two children huddled inside. Laura doesn’t look happy, little tear marks streaking her cheeks. Connor, on the other hand, looks up at his dad, grinning from ear to ear.
“You found us!” he exclaims happily.
Clark doesn’t reply. He doesn’t think he can. He’s still not sure what has happened, and he needs to get Laura back to her parents. He picks the little girl up, and she clings to him. Connor takes the hand his dad holds out, his eyes cast down toward the carpet now. He’s not nearly as happy as he was mere moments before.
Clark stays silent as they walk through the mall. There are too many thoughts racing through his head, but at least the voices stay away.
Laura squirms in his arms as they near Oliver and Lois, and Clark lets her down, watching as she runs to Oliver who immediately scoops her up, Lois crowding in close to them.
Clark lets go of Connor’s hand.
Chloe is there, bent down beside Connor, wrapping him in a hug. Clark stands there.
“Don’t you ever do that again,” he hears Chloe murmur into Connor’s hair. She seems to have put the pieces of the puzzle together. Clark feels like he still hasn’t opened the box.
Connor is nodding frantically in Chloe’s arms. As Clark watches them, Chloe pulls back, standing up but keeping Connor hugged to her side.
Connor peers up at Clark from underneath Chloe’s arm. Clark can see the beginnings of tears in Connor’s eyes.
“Dad?”
Clark stays still. He isn’t firing on all cylinders even now. “You heard your mother.”
Connor nods solemnly, his eyes flitting down to the floor again. Clark breathes, the tension in his chest easing a little. He looks down at Connor’s bent head again, and before he even realizes, he’s dropped to his knees, wrapping his arms around Connor much like Chloe did.
“Don’t ever do that again.”
“I promise,” Connor says, and Clark can hear the tears in his voice.
“Don’t do it again,” he murmurs.
“I won’t.”
Clark lets go of Connor and stands, moving to Chloe’s side. He looks over at Lois, Oliver, and Laura. Oliver is glaring at them over the top of Laura’s head. Clark takes a step forward, but Chloe is already there.
“Oliver,” she says. “We’ll handle this, okay?”
Oliver looks like he’s going to protest. He obviously wants to say something, but Lois nods.
“Okay.”
Chloe turns back around, going to Connor and taking his arm. Clark turns too, following her. They walk out of the mall together into the bright sunlight. Clark squints for a second, but his eyes adjust quickly.
The moment is over. Connor is safe. Laura is safe.
Everything is fine.