Fic: Virus (7/7)
Fic: Virus (7/7)
Series: Special Projects
Summary: A stopover at Ellen's is not as restful as the group hoped it would be, thanks to computer-literate Demons.
Author: pen37
Beta: Clarksmuse
Fandoms: Smallville/Supernatural
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 #98 Writers Choice (tech). The table is here.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
Dean watched as the last of the hunters pulled out of the parking lot. In the distance, dawn was just cresting the horizon. The crackling of the fire in the distance reminded him that they’d need to get on the road themselves soon.
He leaned back and looked at the Impala. He didn’t want to leave her. Yeah, she was more than a little inconspicuous. But once they got to Bobby’s, they could slap a temporary paint job on her. Maybe camouflage her with a few modifications. It would kill Dean to do so - but leaving her behind would be worse. And if, when, they lived through this, he could restore his girl to pristine condition.
Seems like he was always doing that.
He turned to see Ellen return to him with an old CB radio. “I found a couple of these out in the shed,” she said. “I figured - if anyone can get them working - It’s you.”
Dean took the radio without comment. “I’ll work on it. What are you planning now?”
“I’m headed south,” Ellen said. “Jo and I have an understanding. If things go pear-shaped, we’ll meet up in Webber Falls, Oklahoma and plan our next move.”
“Like from the movie Rooster Cogburn? I heard there was some demonic activity out there a few years ago,” Dean said. “Ya’ll watch your backs.”
“You too,” Ellen said. “I’m sending Issac with you.”
“Ellen,” Dean sighed. “We’re the last folks that you want to be sending a kid with. We’re probably going to be right in the hairiest part of the battle.”
“Look, Dean.” Ellen said. “I’ve got a deal worked out with Bobby. He said he would watch the kid if anything ever happened to me. Right now, I figure that our resident demon expert and our resident computer expert could maybe cook up something to hunt this sucker.”
“Alright,” Dean sighed. “At least as far as Bobby’s.” He nodded. Maybe having the kid along would help defuse the tense situation he’d felt between him and Chloe since finding out all about Cousin Clark.
Unbidden, Dean’s eye sought out Chloe. A half-hour after Superman had taken off to rescue Jo and the folks down in Memphis, he’d returned. But this time as Clark. He looked - kind of like a hunter, actually. He wore redwings and old jeans and flannel. But now that Dean knew what to look for, he could see that the habitual slump was an affectation. And the glasses - just made you look past his face.
He’d let them know that he’d blocked some kind of death ray with his own body long enough for the roadhouse crew to get out. The building was still intact, but the patronage was scattered to the four winds. Not unlike the rest of the hunters.
Which was - Dean realized with a mental bout of swearing - exactly what the demon probably wanted.
He cringed at the thought, as he watched Chloe and Sam sitting on the trunk of a junked-out car, in conference with Clark. Sam looked over, frowned, and motioned Dean to them. Dean shook his head. He didn’t trust himself not to make an ass of himself. Maybe later. But right now the news was a little hard to take.
Sam excused himself and came over to Dean.
“What?” Dean snarked. “Are you suddenly on the Cousin Clark bandwagon too?”
“Dude? Enough,” Sam said. “I’m trying to be supportive to Chloe here. And he,” Sam jerked his head over to where Chloe and Clark were still talking, “was telling us that some of the League members have been targeted too.”
“Who?” Dean raised an eyebrow.
“Well, Zatanna for one,” Sam said. “Didn’t you think it was odd that we met Chloe’s great-aunt, but we never heard from Zatanna again?”
“Now that you mention it,” Dean said.
“Well, turns out that she was waylaid by unseelie on her way back. She thinks that some of them may be in league with Meg and her bunch.”
“That’s cheerful news.” Dean frowned. He glanced back at Clark and Chloe again. “Ellen doesn’t trust him.”
“She wouldn’t,” Sam said. “She told me about how she met Chloe.”
Dean realized that Clark flinched at the exact moment that Sam said that. “Dude! He can hear us!”
Clark said something else, and Chloe pulled him into a hug. He frowned over Chloe shoulder at them, and then smiled down at her before - vanishing.
Dean blinked, and then realized that Chloe was coming over there with a frown on her face. “FYI guys, I don’t know what you said, but you hurt his feelings.”
“I’m real broken up about his feelings, Chlo.” Dean said with a frown.
Chloe gave him a pained expression, and then just - shut him out. Dean stared at her in hurt as she turned away to focus her attention on Sam. “So what’s the plan?”
“We’re going to head up to Bobby’s. If we avoid populated areas, and don’t push our speed, we’ll make it there by tonight.”
“Fine.” She headed toward the car. Before she could take more than a few steps, Dean latched onto her arm and turned her to face him.
Sam took that as his cue to leave, and headed to find the kid and get them into the Impala.
Dean stared incredulously down at her. “So that’s it? You’re just going to shut me out?”
“You’re not leaving me a lot of options here, Dean.” Chloe frowned up at him. “You know I kept other people’s secrets.”
“You never . . .” Dean passed his hand over his face. “Friggin’ Superman.”
“Stop. Just stop,” Chloe said angrily. “I got over my hang-ups with Clark long before you entered the picture, Mister. This jealousy thing is getting old.”
“How do you expect me to react, Chloe?” Dean grabbed her by the arms and hauled her to him. “He’s friggin’ Superman. And I’m . . .”
Chloe shut her eyes and shook her head. “You’re Dean Winchester. The man who I choose to be with. And he’s a door that I closed a long time ago.”
Dean dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “I just don’t see how a great girl like you ends up with a guy like me.”
“And that’s why I keep turning you down,” Chloe said. “You asked me to have faith in you - but you don’t have any faith in me.”
“What?” Dean furrowed his brow.
“You’re so convinced that you’re not a good person. Not worthy or something, that you think I can’t decide for myself. I’m not delusional by choosing you, Dean. And I’m not going to someday wake up and go, ‘Oh, I guess I didn’t love you, after all.’ That’s not the way I work.
“Once upon a time, I did love Clark. But it wasn’t enough.”
“Chloe--”
“I know you don’t want to hear this, Dean. But I need to say it. If I loved Clark enough - I wouldn’t have worried about losing our friendship. I would have said damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead. But I couldn’t do that. I was so desperate to not lose his friendship, that having a relationship with him was always going to be second on my list of priorities. So - I guess I got what I wanted. Clark is my oldest friend, next to Lois.” She chuckled wistfully. Dean expected to hear bitterness in her tone, and was surprised when he didn’t.
“I don’t love you that way, Dean,” She shook her head. “With you it’s got to be all or nothing. And if you can’t trust me to choose you every time - then it’s got to be nothing. Because I can’t have a relationship without trust.”
As she turned toward the Impala, Dean grabbed her by the shoulder, and hauled her against him in a passionate kiss.
She melted into him, letting him kiss at eyelids that were holding back the tears she refused to shed.
“I can’t guarantee that I won’t be jealous,” Dean said. “But I do trust you. So . . . I’ll work on keeping it to myself.” He showered kissed across her cheeks, and down her neck. “I don’t know what you see in me, Chloe. I’ve tried, but I honestly can’t see. But maybe I don’t have to.”
“Huh?” She tilted her head back to look him in the face.
“You see something in me,” he smiled at her. “You and Sammy both. I don’t know what that is, and it scares the hell out of me that it might not be there. Because the last thing I want to do is let either of you down. But if it’s there - I’m going to work like hell to figure out what it is.”
“It’s not any one thing, Dean.” Chloe ran her hands over the short ends of his hair. She smiled as she leaned in for another kiss. “You’re you. Every single quirk and facet of your personality. You’re infuriating, and amazing, and I think I--”
He crushed his lips to hers. He wasn’t ready to say the words, and he wasn’t ready to hear them. Even though he knew, deep down, they were true.
Chloe seemed to understand, because she smiled at him and pulled back. “We should - get a move on.”
“Yeah,” Dean nodded. He pulled her to his side and turned toward the Impala.
“Chloe?”
“Yeah?”
“Just - Don’t expect me to put Cousin Clark on the Christmas card list this year.
Chloe chuckled, and patted the hand that was resting on her shoulder. “Baby steps, Dean. Let’s take this in baby steps.”
Series: Special Projects
Summary: A stopover at Ellen's is not as restful as the group hoped it would be, thanks to computer-literate Demons.
Author: pen37
Beta: Clarksmuse
Fandoms: Smallville/Supernatural
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 #98 Writers Choice (tech). The table is here.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7
Dean watched as the last of the hunters pulled out of the parking lot. In the distance, dawn was just cresting the horizon. The crackling of the fire in the distance reminded him that they’d need to get on the road themselves soon.
He leaned back and looked at the Impala. He didn’t want to leave her. Yeah, she was more than a little inconspicuous. But once they got to Bobby’s, they could slap a temporary paint job on her. Maybe camouflage her with a few modifications. It would kill Dean to do so - but leaving her behind would be worse. And if, when, they lived through this, he could restore his girl to pristine condition.
Seems like he was always doing that.
He turned to see Ellen return to him with an old CB radio. “I found a couple of these out in the shed,” she said. “I figured - if anyone can get them working - It’s you.”
Dean took the radio without comment. “I’ll work on it. What are you planning now?”
“I’m headed south,” Ellen said. “Jo and I have an understanding. If things go pear-shaped, we’ll meet up in Webber Falls, Oklahoma and plan our next move.”
“Like from the movie Rooster Cogburn? I heard there was some demonic activity out there a few years ago,” Dean said. “Ya’ll watch your backs.”
“You too,” Ellen said. “I’m sending Issac with you.”
“Ellen,” Dean sighed. “We’re the last folks that you want to be sending a kid with. We’re probably going to be right in the hairiest part of the battle.”
“Look, Dean.” Ellen said. “I’ve got a deal worked out with Bobby. He said he would watch the kid if anything ever happened to me. Right now, I figure that our resident demon expert and our resident computer expert could maybe cook up something to hunt this sucker.”
“Alright,” Dean sighed. “At least as far as Bobby’s.” He nodded. Maybe having the kid along would help defuse the tense situation he’d felt between him and Chloe since finding out all about Cousin Clark.
Unbidden, Dean’s eye sought out Chloe. A half-hour after Superman had taken off to rescue Jo and the folks down in Memphis, he’d returned. But this time as Clark. He looked - kind of like a hunter, actually. He wore redwings and old jeans and flannel. But now that Dean knew what to look for, he could see that the habitual slump was an affectation. And the glasses - just made you look past his face.
He’d let them know that he’d blocked some kind of death ray with his own body long enough for the roadhouse crew to get out. The building was still intact, but the patronage was scattered to the four winds. Not unlike the rest of the hunters.
Which was - Dean realized with a mental bout of swearing - exactly what the demon probably wanted.
He cringed at the thought, as he watched Chloe and Sam sitting on the trunk of a junked-out car, in conference with Clark. Sam looked over, frowned, and motioned Dean to them. Dean shook his head. He didn’t trust himself not to make an ass of himself. Maybe later. But right now the news was a little hard to take.
Sam excused himself and came over to Dean.
“What?” Dean snarked. “Are you suddenly on the Cousin Clark bandwagon too?”
“Dude? Enough,” Sam said. “I’m trying to be supportive to Chloe here. And he,” Sam jerked his head over to where Chloe and Clark were still talking, “was telling us that some of the League members have been targeted too.”
“Who?” Dean raised an eyebrow.
“Well, Zatanna for one,” Sam said. “Didn’t you think it was odd that we met Chloe’s great-aunt, but we never heard from Zatanna again?”
“Now that you mention it,” Dean said.
“Well, turns out that she was waylaid by unseelie on her way back. She thinks that some of them may be in league with Meg and her bunch.”
“That’s cheerful news.” Dean frowned. He glanced back at Clark and Chloe again. “Ellen doesn’t trust him.”
“She wouldn’t,” Sam said. “She told me about how she met Chloe.”
Dean realized that Clark flinched at the exact moment that Sam said that. “Dude! He can hear us!”
Clark said something else, and Chloe pulled him into a hug. He frowned over Chloe shoulder at them, and then smiled down at her before - vanishing.
Dean blinked, and then realized that Chloe was coming over there with a frown on her face. “FYI guys, I don’t know what you said, but you hurt his feelings.”
“I’m real broken up about his feelings, Chlo.” Dean said with a frown.
Chloe gave him a pained expression, and then just - shut him out. Dean stared at her in hurt as she turned away to focus her attention on Sam. “So what’s the plan?”
“We’re going to head up to Bobby’s. If we avoid populated areas, and don’t push our speed, we’ll make it there by tonight.”
“Fine.” She headed toward the car. Before she could take more than a few steps, Dean latched onto her arm and turned her to face him.
Sam took that as his cue to leave, and headed to find the kid and get them into the Impala.
Dean stared incredulously down at her. “So that’s it? You’re just going to shut me out?”
“You’re not leaving me a lot of options here, Dean.” Chloe frowned up at him. “You know I kept other people’s secrets.”
“You never . . .” Dean passed his hand over his face. “Friggin’ Superman.”
“Stop. Just stop,” Chloe said angrily. “I got over my hang-ups with Clark long before you entered the picture, Mister. This jealousy thing is getting old.”
“How do you expect me to react, Chloe?” Dean grabbed her by the arms and hauled her to him. “He’s friggin’ Superman. And I’m . . .”
Chloe shut her eyes and shook her head. “You’re Dean Winchester. The man who I choose to be with. And he’s a door that I closed a long time ago.”
Dean dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “I just don’t see how a great girl like you ends up with a guy like me.”
“And that’s why I keep turning you down,” Chloe said. “You asked me to have faith in you - but you don’t have any faith in me.”
“What?” Dean furrowed his brow.
“You’re so convinced that you’re not a good person. Not worthy or something, that you think I can’t decide for myself. I’m not delusional by choosing you, Dean. And I’m not going to someday wake up and go, ‘Oh, I guess I didn’t love you, after all.’ That’s not the way I work.
“Once upon a time, I did love Clark. But it wasn’t enough.”
“Chloe--”
“I know you don’t want to hear this, Dean. But I need to say it. If I loved Clark enough - I wouldn’t have worried about losing our friendship. I would have said damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead. But I couldn’t do that. I was so desperate to not lose his friendship, that having a relationship with him was always going to be second on my list of priorities. So - I guess I got what I wanted. Clark is my oldest friend, next to Lois.” She chuckled wistfully. Dean expected to hear bitterness in her tone, and was surprised when he didn’t.
“I don’t love you that way, Dean,” She shook her head. “With you it’s got to be all or nothing. And if you can’t trust me to choose you every time - then it’s got to be nothing. Because I can’t have a relationship without trust.”
As she turned toward the Impala, Dean grabbed her by the shoulder, and hauled her against him in a passionate kiss.
She melted into him, letting him kiss at eyelids that were holding back the tears she refused to shed.
“I can’t guarantee that I won’t be jealous,” Dean said. “But I do trust you. So . . . I’ll work on keeping it to myself.” He showered kissed across her cheeks, and down her neck. “I don’t know what you see in me, Chloe. I’ve tried, but I honestly can’t see. But maybe I don’t have to.”
“Huh?” She tilted her head back to look him in the face.
“You see something in me,” he smiled at her. “You and Sammy both. I don’t know what that is, and it scares the hell out of me that it might not be there. Because the last thing I want to do is let either of you down. But if it’s there - I’m going to work like hell to figure out what it is.”
“It’s not any one thing, Dean.” Chloe ran her hands over the short ends of his hair. She smiled as she leaned in for another kiss. “You’re you. Every single quirk and facet of your personality. You’re infuriating, and amazing, and I think I--”
He crushed his lips to hers. He wasn’t ready to say the words, and he wasn’t ready to hear them. Even though he knew, deep down, they were true.
Chloe seemed to understand, because she smiled at him and pulled back. “We should - get a move on.”
“Yeah,” Dean nodded. He pulled her to his side and turned toward the Impala.
“Chloe?”
“Yeah?”
“Just - Don’t expect me to put Cousin Clark on the Christmas card list this year.
Chloe chuckled, and patted the hand that was resting on her shoulder. “Baby steps, Dean. Let’s take this in baby steps.”