Fic: Ex Machina (4/9)
Fic: Ex Machina (4/9)
Series: Special Projects
Summary: After their experience with the Demon Meg, Chloe is broken. Dean is shattered. Somehow, they've got to find a way back, while at the same time figuring out how to stop a Demon-made Artificial Intelegence.
Author: pen37
Beta: Clarksmuse
Fandoms: Smallville/Supernatural/DCU
Characters: Chloe, Sam, Dean
Pairing:Chloe/Dean
Rating: Pg-13.
This is a part of the Special Projects series. You can find the rest of the series here.
Written for the Crossovers100 challenge. Prompt #67 Snow. The table is here.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9
Chloe leaned through the window, and placed an ancient, heavy headset over her ears, and pulled the mouthpiece down to talk into it.
Dean and Sam walked back into the house, and sat flanking her on either side of the window.
“You know this makes zero sense,” Dean said. “You can be half-out a window and not panic. But if you're full-on in a room, you have a mental breakdown.”
“And when has the brain ever made sense?” Chloe snarked.
Dean nodded. “Okay, you got me there.”
She gave him a rueful smile, and reached for the radio transmitter trigger.
“Hello?”
“Tower?”
A big smile broke out across her face. It's Clark, she mouthed to Dean. He frowned in response.
“Hey, big blue,” she said with false cheerfulness, while at the same time looking at Dean with concerned eyes. “How are things out there in the world?”
“Good to hear that you're okay, Chlo. You dropped off the radar for a while.”
“A lot has happened. We're at the hiding spot we talked about before.”
“Permission to bring a team in?”
She glanced warily at Sam and Dean. Then she clicked on the trigger again. “Big guy?”
“Yeah?”
“I'm going to have to get back to you on that.”
“Don't take too long. We're not certain if this channel is secure, and we have a lot of things to talk about.”
“Affirmative,” she said. “Tower out.”
Once she sat the receiver down, she looked at Sam and Dean with a questioning expression on her face. “Well?”
“I don't want him here,” Dean shook his head emphatically.
Chloe sighed. “And I want to move to a warmer climate and live in an open-walled pagoda. But sometimes we have to suck it up and do things we hate because there is a greater good involved.”
He stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. “Man, this sucks!”
Chloe shook her head. “If there are things going on that we have to talk about face-to-face, then we just have to deal with it. You don't have to like it. But I need you to act like the mature adult that I know you are.”
Sam snorted in response to that.
“Shut up, Psychic boy,” Dean said. Without another word, he turned, and stomped from the room.
“Well, that went well,” Chloe said. “I suppose we should batten down the hatches. This is going to be a fun one.”
***
Chloe sat in the middle of the living room on a straight-backed, cane bottom chair. She gripped the lowest rung that her hands could reach in a white- knuckled grip. Her eyes were shut tight, and she was forcing herself to breathe normally.
Dean sat against the wall, watching her fight her mental battle, and wishing he could fight it for her. “You okay?”
“Just . . .” She broke off to take a couple of deep breaths. “Talk to me.”
“That really going to help?”
“It gives me something to focus on. Right now I'm trying to picture myself in a meadow beside a fucking brook with a baby deer, but my brain isn't cooperating.”
“Okay,” Dean said. “Tell me about it.”
“The meadow?”
“Yeah. What's it like?”
“It's full of wildflowers.”
“What kind?”
“There are all kinds of colors. Purple coneflower and black-eyed susans. Some great big Kansas sunflowers.”
“How do you know the names for all of them?”
“Mrs. Kent used to grow a plot of flowers and sell the cuttings at Farmer's Market along with the apples.”
“You actually went to those?”
“Farmers markets? Yeah.”
“That just seems so wholesome.”
“You saying I'm not wholesome?”
“You act more like a Metropolis girl than some farm kid from Smallville.”
“I guess,” Chloe shrugged. “Mrs. Kent was probably the closest I ever had to a mom. When I was fourteen, I had this huge scheme to get her to adopt me too.”
“Wouldn't that make Clark your brother?”
“Adopted. That totally doesn't make it squicky.”
“Yeah, it does.”
“Okay, so as far as plans go, it needed work. Besides, I've moved on since then.”
Dean grinned. Chloe still had her eyes closed, but she wasn't attempting to force her breathing under control anymore. Her face was more animated as she engaged him in word-fu.
“So you ready to open your eyes yet?”
“Nope. The meadow still isn't holding me.”
Dean sighed. “Okay. So - flowers and shit.”
“There are butterflies.”
“Butterflies? How girly.”
“Well, I am of the female persuasion.”
“Oh, trust me. I noticed.”
“Hm.” She smiled. “They're monarchs. Headed south for the winter.”
“Butterflies do that?”
“Monarchs do. They go down to Latin America, and you can see them all over the countryside. They just swarm. I've seen video. It's almost magical.”
“We could do that, you know,” Dean said. “Get into the Impala and just go driving. There are a lot of places that I've never been.”
“Like where?”
“I always meant to go to the Grand Canyon.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why?”
“Why? Some folks want to see Hawaii. Some folks want to go to Maine for the lighthouses. Why the Grand Canyon?”
Dean shrugged, and then realized that she couldn't see him. “I don't know. It's just this place made by time and water and pressure. I've heard that all your problems seem so insignificant next to it. I think I'd like the perspective.”
Chloe nodded in understanding. “Okay, so we're driving anywhere, and we see the Grand Canyon, and then spin down to Mexico for the butterflies. Where next?”
“I don't know. What about you?”
“Well, I've been to Ireland. That was a big one.”
“I can't drive you to Ireland. Pick someplace I actually have a chance to take you.”
“Okay. How about the Keys?”
“Down in Florida?”
“There is over 300 miles of highway connecting an island chain all the way down to Key West. It’s almost a testament to man’s mastery over nature. Or man’s indomitable will. Or sheer determination. I like it because it's the closest you can get to the Bahamas in a car.”
“And it's in the Bermuda triangle,” Dean shook his head. “A lot of hinkey stuff happens in Florida.”
“Sounds like our kind of place.”
“Maybe it is,” Dean said. “Hey, Chloe?”
“Yeah?”
“You realize that you've been in here for fifteen minutes, and you're pretty calm.”
She smiled, in spite of herself. “I think I'm ready to go out for a while.”
“If you're sure.”
“We can try this again later, though.”
“Maybe take a drive in the car?”
“Maybe.” She said. “Hey, Dean?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
He smiled at her as she opened her eyes, and headed to the door. He noticed that her breathing didn't pick up all that much as she headed out. “Don't mention it.”