Those Three Words (Fifteen/?)
Title: Those Three Words
Authors: xtremeroswellia and clarksmuse
Rating: R to NC-17 for language and sexual scenes
Pairing: Chlean (Chloe/Dean) :D
Characters: multi-fandom -- Smallville, Supernatural, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Disclaimer: Neither of us own these characters. We're just borrowing them, so please don't sue!!
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten | Eleven | Twelve | Thirteen | Fourteen | Fifteen | Sixteen A | Sixteen B | Seventeen | Eighteen | Cocnlusion
Clark followed Chloe out of her apartment and down the stairs in silence. He didn't know what to say or where to begin. He only hoped Chloe could tell him what the hell had happened to her that she would hook up with guys like... that.
Leading him out of the building, she reached into her jeans pocket to make sure she had a stake. Sure enough, there were two there. Relaxing a little, she glanced at him. "Tell me how Lois is doing," she said softly.
Chuckling, Clark looked into the night sky. Trust Chloe to take the easy road first, he thought. "She's fine, really," he replied. "Getting into journalism, believe it or not. I think it's because she's searching for you. But she's also helping Dad with the PR for the state election, too."
A smile touched her lips, though it was a slightly sad one. "Well, at least one of us will be keeping the journalism dream alive."
A frown furrowed Clark's forehead. "What do you mean, keeping the journalism dream alive? It's what you've always wanted, Chlo." He tried laying a hand on her arm but she shooed it away.
"Things change, Clark." Her voice was quiet, grim.
"Tell me about it," he mumbled, moving ahead of her to make her stop and look at him. "Care to tell me what Frick and Frack are doing in your apartment?"
She met his eyes. "Their names are Dean and Sam. They're staying with me for the time being. They've been helping me with patrolling." She drew in a nervous breath.
"Dean and Sam, whatever," Clark began and then stopped. Dead. "Patrolling?" he asked. "What is that? Are you a cop now?" He didn't quite understand what she was trying to say.
A smile quirked her lips involuntarily. "Well... in a way, I guess. Yeah."
"Chloe," Clark sighed, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Tell me what's going on, because I had to lie to everyone in order to get here. And I think Mom's suspicious, even though I didn't tell her anything."
Chloe gazed at him. "Okay. Clark, I'm a Vampire Slayer. It's why I left Smallville."
Her words made no sense. "Vampire Slayer?" he asked, laughing a little. "What is that?" He thought she was joking, but the look in her eyes told him otherwise. Whatever it was, it was deadly serious. And not something she was willing to talk too much about.
Drawing in a breath, she nodded a little, and pulled a stake from her pocket. "A Vampire Slayer...has...certain abilities in the arena of killing vampires and demons. That'd be me."
Clark blinked, looking at the stake in her hand. "You mean, the things you used to research... you now kill?"
"Ironic, huh?" She managed a bitter smile.
Clark stared at her, speechless. "Chloe, I... I don't know what to say," he whispered.
"You think I'm crazy?"
"I don't know what to think," Clark replied. "But you said you needed me, so here I am. Does it really matter what I think?"
"Yeah. It kinda does." She glanced past him, her body tensing for a fight.
He pulled back and walked away from her. He didn't know what to think or how to feel about what she just said. "Why does it matter?" he asked, not looking at her. "You left town six months ago, and now you're telling me you're this whole other person. I... don't know you anymore."
"Yeah, hold that thought, Clark." She moved past where he stood, taking off in a run toward the two vampires heading for a young girl across the street.
Clark stared after Chloe, seeing a gracefulness to her movement that he had never noticed before. He supersped towards her, stopping just before she got there and picked up one of the vampires. "What do you do with these things?" he asked, grabbing the other by the wrist and not letting it go.
"Kill 'em," she said, staking the one he held through the heart and watching it explode into dust. "Let him go." She nodded toward the one he was holding.
Clark let go of the one he was holding, too shocked by what he'd just witnessed to say anything. Speechless, he watched as Chloe took three steps, threw the wooden stake into the air, and struck the fleeing vampire in the chest, making him explode into dust again. "How...?" Clark began but said nothing else.
"You're not the only one with a destiny, Clark," she said softly, sadness in her voice.
"So it would seem, Chlo," he replied, wryly, looking into her saddened eyes. "I'm sorry I... doubted you, Chloe, even though I still don't understand," he replied.
"I'm not really sure I do either." She started walking slowly down the sidewalk, knowing he'd have no trouble keeping up. "Apparently... it's an inherited power. One girl in all the world with these abilities. Lucky me." She glanced at him sideways.
"Only one girl?" Clark questioned. "Against all these... weird things?" The force hit him squarely in the heart, depressing and touching him. "What do you need me to do, Chlo?"
She drew in a breath. "There's a vampire walking around that's...not like the others. It's pretty much harder than hell to kill. And apparently..." She paused, not willing to give away Sam's secret. "If I don't kill it first, my slaying gig won't be lasting much longer."
Clark was beginning to understand why she'd called. "You want me to help you kill this thing," he said flatly. "Because I'm pretty much indestructible myself, huh?"
She winced slightly at the bitter tone in his voice. "Trust me when I say I didn't wanna ask for your help. I hated to pull you away from Lana." She continued walking without waiting for him.
"Chloe, wait a minute," Clark replied, following her closely behind. "It's not like that at all, okay? In fact, Lana and me are having problems, if that makes you happier." He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around, making her look at him.
"No, it doesn't make me happier. And yeah, I get that you're pissed at me and I accept that." She gazed at him, pain in her eyes. "If you don't wanna help, Clark, that's fine. Go back to Smallville. I'll figure this out on my own." She turned away.
"Oh, will you just shut up?" he yelled harshly. "I'm here, and I'm going to help, okay? Whether I'm pissed at you or not is not the point. What do you need me to do? I'll do it, alone or with you." He hoped to God it wasn't with those two guys back at Chloe's place, though, because Dean wasn't someone he wanted to deal with.
"You're not doing it without me. It's ultimately my battle." Her voice was quiet as she continued to walk toward the cemetery.
"I figured you'd say that, and I'm not going to stop you," Clark replied. "Not after that I've just now seen." He followed her into the cemetery. "Where are we going?" he asked, looking around.
"Just a quick stroll. There's been a lot of trouble here lately," she said, easily hopping over the fence. She winced a little as one of the injuries on her arm pulled painfully, reminding her that Slayer healing or not, she still wasn't 100% again.
Clark noticed the pain flash across her face. "You're not yourself," he commented casually. "Maybe you ought to get that checked out."
"There hasn't really been time," she admitted. "Things have been kinda crazy lately."
"So I see," he murmured quietly, creeping through the graveyard behind her. "Especially with Fri.... Dean and Sam there with you." He noticed her flinch a little at their names and that urged him onward. "How did you meet them, anyway?"
Oh, he's gonna hate this story, she thought with a faint smile. "Met Dean at a bar," she admitted. "He helped me take out a pack of vampires."
"At a... bar?" he sputtered, speechless for the hundredth time that night. "He took out some vampires with you and that's how he moved in with you?"
"Well, sort of. He pretty much insisted they were going to help hunt down the things here in town so... I invited them to stay with me." She shrugged a little, glancing at him sideways.
"And I take it it's a little more complicated that that," Clark finished for her when she hesitated. Funny, he thought. He never took Chloe to do something like that.
"A little is... sorta understating it," she said softly.
Sighing, Clark resigned himself to knowing these two would be a part of her life. "Well, I don't like them, but I'm gonna have to deal with them if I'm going to stay," he replied with a small wry smile.
"I appreciate that. And I appreciate you coming, Clark. I know it was a lot to ask." She paused, and turned to face him.
"It's you, Chloe," Clark said simply, looking into her eyes with appreciation. "How could I tell you no?"
A faint smile tugged at her lips and wordlessly she wrapped her arms around his waist. She closed her eyes. "For the record... I missed you a lot," she whispered.
Leaning into her, Clark hugged her tightly and smiled a little. "You have no idea how much I've missed you," he replied gently. After a few moments, however, he pulled away from her. "Oh, guess I shouldn't hug you anymore, not with your bodyguard boyfriend around."
She smirked and looked at him. "Don't even act like you're jealous, Clark," she warned with a hint of teasing.
"Who me? Jealous?" he asked, a little shocked she would even mention the word. "No, never... though you might want to mention that to Dean. He looked like he could kill me, as if he could try." Clark smiled at the thought.
"He's kind of... protective," she admitted, a warm smile on her face.
Clark cocked his brow at her but said nothing. Protective was not the word he'd use. Possessive, maybe. "Uh, should we be getting back? I bet he's foaming at the mouth by now."
"Yeah... right after I kill that demon," she said, nodding a few feet away.
Clark backed out of the way and watched her work, running headlong into the demon and kicking it to the ground within seconds. Something he'd normally do, he realized.
It leapt up and smacked her hard across the face but she barely flinched, sending it sprawling into a tombstone. "Up," she commanded, glaring at it. Within seconds, she'd managed to kill it with her bare hands.
Clark watched her with awe as she squeezed the life out of a monster he had never seen before. With all of his abilities, he had never seen such sheer determination in another human being before. "Whoa," he said, not knowing how else to describe it.
Groaning at the bloodstain on her shirt, her shoulders slumped a little. She slowly turned to face Clark, seeing the shock on his face. "I know. Weird, huh?" She tried to smile but didn't quite manage it.
"I bet this job's hell on clothing, huh?" he asked, ignoring her question as they started back to her apartment.
"You have no idea how many jackets and shirts I've gone through in the last month alone. I can barely afford my apartment. If it wasn't for Spike, I'd be living on the street."
"Uh, Spike?" Clark asked her, glancing at her sideways. "Do I even want to know who Spike is?" he teased, feeling that sense of camaraderie return between them.
She grinned. "Probably not," she said with a faint chuckle. "He's... a vampire. But a good one. He has a soul. He can be difficult, but...he's a good ally to have."
"Great," Clark rolled his eyes. "He anything like your Dean?"
"Well... minus the vampire part and the ‘me not sleeping with him’ part... sort of." She laughed at the shocked expression on his face.
"What?" Clark demanded. "You two are... sleeping together?" He could barely get the words out, he was so shocked.
"Oh, come on, Clark. I know you saw him follow me outta the bathroom." She gave him a look.
Clark made a sound. "So what if I did?" he asked. "That doesn't mean anything."
"Why are you so freaked out?"
That was a good question, Clark thought as he made his walked up the steps of her apartment, lost in thought. "I... don't know, Chlo," he whispered. "Guess I never thought about you like... that before."
"Tell me something I didn't know, Clark," she said wryly.
"What'd I say?" he asked innocently as she opened her apartment door and went inside, Following her, he found Dean and Sam sitting on the couch, idly flipping through TV channels. Upon seeing Chloe, however, Dean jumped up and enveloped her in a big hug.
"Hey there," Dean whispered in her ear. "Been worried about you." He just looked over at Clark and nodded politely yet distantly.
She would have rolled her eyes at his overdramatic gesture, but instead she simply hugged him. "Killed a couple vamps and a demon."
"Didn't see that Turok-Han Spike mentioned?" Dean asked her, pulling back and going through the motions of visually inspecting her. "Is that your blood?" he demanded.
"No, Dean, it's the monster's blood," Clark said with derision. "She's fine. Kicked some butt tonight." He looked over at Sam, who'd stood up but said nothing.
"I'm okay," she promised softly, touching his cheek lightly. "But I am gonna change clothes. Sam, do me a favor and make sure they don't kill each other, okay?" She winked at him.
Sam smiled a bit, nodding. "Sure thing, Chlo."
Dean watched Chloe walk down to her room and called, mostly for Clark's benefit, "Need some help with that?"
Sam shot him a look. "Knock it off, Dean," he said under his breath.
"What?" Dean said, feigning innocence as he walked to the beginning of the hallway and leaned against the wall, his back turned on Clark.
Shaking his head and wondering what he'd gotten himself into, he took a seat on the couch, wary that these two didn't like him very much.
She finished changing shirts and stepped into the hallway once more, gazing at Dean. "You can relax, Dean. He's just here to help stop the uber-vamp."
Smirking, he glanced back at Clark, who as sitting about as comfortably as someone about to meet the President of the United States. "Oh, so he's a big bad guy who can help take this thing down? Fine with me." He leaned down and kissed her lips gently. "I'm heading down the hall. See you soon?"
She touched his cheek. "Count on it."
Smiling down at her, he shouted, "Get some sleep, Sammy," before waltzing down the hall to Chloe's room and shutting the door, a little too pleased with himself.
Clark felt like he was going to hurl from the disgusting display he had just witnessed. "Am I going to have to put up with this the whole time I'm here?" he asked.
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Please. If I can deal with you mooning over Lana for the majority of my teen years, you can deal with this."
"I never mooned over her," Clark protested, his chin jutting out in defiance. "That was just a teenage.... thing."
She raised her eyebrows and gave him a look.
"What?" Clark protested again. "Really, I didn't..."
"Protesting too much, dude," Sam replied. 'Face it. You chose to mope over another girl and let a kick-ass one like Chloe get away." He shrugged your shoulders. "Your loss."
Her eyes widened a little in surprise at Sam's words. The look on Clark's face was priceless.
Faking a yawn, Clark really wanted to change the subject. Anything to get them away from his love life. "So, where am I sleeping?" he asked, looking around
"Out here," Sam replied, pointing to the fold up cot. "You get that. The guest rooms' mine since Dean... well, you know..." He winked at Chloe, she had blushed a little.
“The couch folds out into a bed,” she offered.
“Great, that’s wonderful,” Clark retorted, rubbing his eyes. “I fly all this way, just to sleep on the couch.”
“Hey, it beats hanging with the Scoobies,” Sam offered, and at Clark’s confused look, he shook his head. “Nevermind, dude.”
He got up and walked over to Chloe. “Sleep well, my friend,” he said, kissing the top of her head.
“Night, Sammy,” she said softly, not thinking twice about using Dean’s nickname for him. “Sweet dreams.”
Smiling at hearing Dean’s nickname coming from Chloe, he smiled sleepily and padded into the guest room, leaving Clark and Chloe alone.
She offered Clark a small smile. “They’re good guys,” she said softly.
Clark smiled stiffly, pulling out the cot to sleep on. “I’m sure they are, but... I still don’t like them.” He sat down on the cot and listened to the springs creak under his weight. “Guess I’ll see you in the morning, then.”
“Night, Clark,” she said softly. “Sweet dreams.”
&&&
Sleeping was something Dean had no intention of doing, not with ClarkKent inhabiting the same apartment. He paced frantically around Chloe's bedroom, pissed as hell that she even wanted him here. He knew Clark had treated Chloe badly in some way, and to think she wanted him here despite that.... it was inconceivable. Add that to the fact that Chloe refused to tell him about Clark, and Dean was nearly seeing red. "No wonder she was so rough," he growled to himself. He knew there was something wrong. Now he knew what.
The lights were off, but he heard the door open and shut. Chloe's silhouette shadowed the door as she shut it, and before he could think like a rational man, he crossed the room in three paces, grabbed her, and pushed her against the door, crushing his mouth onto hers.
She didn't even have time to think before she found her back against the rough surface of the door, Dean's arms winding around her as his mouth pressed against hers insistently. A soft groan escaped her in response and she rested her hands lightly against his shoulders as she returned the urgent, nearly angry kiss. Her mind spinning, she reluctantly pushed him back a little. "Dean, what--"
"Shut up, Chloe and let me kiss you," he demanded, crushing her arms to his chest as he leaned in to kiss her again.
Though she was tempted to let him do just that, she resisted that temptation for the time being, moving away and flipping the light on. The look on his face startled her and she wondered what was going on in his head. "All right, what's going on?"
Dean looked down, not wanting to see the concern in her eyes. He was too angry to think with his actual brain. "Nothin'," he mumbled, backing away from her and walking across to the window. He clenched his jaw, trying to control the jealousy and anger he felt inside.
"Right," she said wryly. "And vampires and demons are just figments of my overactive imagination." She walked over to where he stood, moving to stand behind him and resting her hands lightly on his shoulders.
He nearly jumped at her soft touch and wanted to move away. But he didn't. He couldn't. It seemed to be the only thing that calmed a little of his hurt over everything that had happened after they'd stepped out of the shower. "Why is he here?" he whispered harshly, his back still to her.
Chloe shut her eyes, resting her head against his back. "To help with the vampire situation," she said quietly. "That's all, Dean."
Dean snorted quietly in derision. "What can he do that I can't?" he wondered out loud, staring out the window.
She felt her heart sink because she wasn't about to tell him about Clark. She hated lying to him, but she hadn't told Clark about he and Sam's secrets, and she wasn't going to betray Clark's trust either. "I've never really told you about Smallville, have I?" Her voice was quiet.
Dean shook his head wordlessly. He knew she was hiding something but knew better than try to work it out of her. Hell, if their long sexual romp couldn't do it, then nothing would, he thought bitterly.
Drawing in a breath and letting it out slowly, she moved to sit on the bed. "Smallville's not exactly a normal town. When my dad moved us there, I was thirteen. The town's nicknamed the Meteor Capital of the World because back in 1987 a huge meteor shower hit and destroyed half the town. A lot of people died, and a lot of people got hurt. But...that wasn't really the end of it."
Dean winced inwardly, knowing all too well the feeling of pain and loss that came with any kind of catastrophe. He turned to look at her, not quite meeting her eyes. He cocked an eyebrow. "What does that mean, 'that wasn't really the end of it'?" he asked cautiously.
"Well...a lot of really weird things happen in Smallville and no one really knew why, but..." She rose to her feet and moved to her closet, biting her lower lip and pulling a box from the shelf with the initials W.O.W. She moved over and set it on the bed, taking the top off and pulling an article from the top. "After a lot of research I came to the conclusion that the meteors affected certain people in... unusual ways." She handed him the article.
Putting his hurt over her not trusting him aside, Dean sat beside her and took the article from her hand, scanning the article about an elderly man who has the ability to make himself young and go on murdering sprees. "This reads like something in Dad's journal," he mused aloud, handing it back to her. He pointed at her box. "That's filled with these kinds of strange occurrences?"
Chloe nodded slightly. "The whole box. And these are just the ones I researched since I moved to Smallville. I guess I've always been drawn to the unusual." A faint smile touched her lips and she sat on the edge of the bed again.
"Just something we have in common," Dean replied, nodding in agreement. "But what does this have to do with him being here?" As much as he hated the sound of jealousy in his voice, he couldn't help it. They didn't need another rookie around to get killed off by this Uber Vamp.
"Clark's lived in Smallville his entire life. He's seen his fair share of weird. He's kind of..." She paused, searching for the right words to use without giving anything away. "Well, the town hero, I guess."
Fan-fucking-tastic, Dean thought, running a hand through his hair and standing up again. Just what we need, a hero with a Messiah complex. "Great, a guy who does no wrong," he muttered, feeling like she had just sucker-punched him. Because more than anything, Dean knew he was nothing near a hero.
A short chuckle escaped her. "Are you kidding?" She looked at him with a bemused expression on her face. "Nobody's perfect, Dean. Everyone screws up, and that includes ClarkKent."
"Gee, that's a relief," he replied, trying hard to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "We have a hero who makes mistakes. Can he keep himself from getting killed?"
Chloe narrowed her eyes, fighting hard to keep her growing annoyance with him at bay. "Clark can handle himself just fine."
"Well, that's great," he replied, turning to look at her, "but when were you planning on telling me about him coming here?" Groaning at his own stupidity, he moved to the other side of the bed and slumped down.
She sighed softly, their backs to each other. "I was afraid to tell you," she admitted. "I knew you wouldn't be happy about it."
"Funny," he replied, "because it seems I'm more pissed about seeing him just show up at the door right now." He put his face in his hands, his frustration level with both of them reaching an all-time high. He hated she already knew him well enough to know when to keep things from him.
"Tell me something I didn't know," she said, annoyed. "Look, the fact is there's some of super vamp running around out there and we have no idea how to kill it. We can use all the help we can get, Dean."
Dean's body shot around to glare at her slumped shoulders. "Great, that's fine, we have another demon hunter in out midst," he snapped back. "But did it have to be this guy you've had this huge history with, who's cocky and too damn confident for his own good?" The guy who hurt you? he thought with hatred.
Chloe stood up abruptly, turning to face him. "Considering I'm the one who's going to get killed by this thing?" she said darkly. "I think it was my choice." Without waiting for a response, she headed out of the bedroom and down the hall, yanking her jacket off the coat hanger before leaving the apartment.
"Dammit," Dean growled, grabbing his jacket from the floor and heading out after her, zooming through the apartment and slamming the door behind him. "Chloe, hang on just a second!" he shouted to her quickly retreating back. Hell, if he couldn't catch up to her, then at least he might be able to get a good hunt in before morning.
Authors: xtremeroswellia and clarksmuse
Rating: R to NC-17 for language and sexual scenes
Pairing: Chlean (Chloe/Dean) :D
Characters: multi-fandom -- Smallville, Supernatural, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Disclaimer: Neither of us own these characters. We're just borrowing them, so please don't sue!!
One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten | Eleven | Twelve | Thirteen | Fourteen | Fifteen | Sixteen A | Sixteen B | Seventeen | Eighteen | Cocnlusion
Clark followed Chloe out of her apartment and down the stairs in silence. He didn't know what to say or where to begin. He only hoped Chloe could tell him what the hell had happened to her that she would hook up with guys like... that.
Leading him out of the building, she reached into her jeans pocket to make sure she had a stake. Sure enough, there were two there. Relaxing a little, she glanced at him. "Tell me how Lois is doing," she said softly.
Chuckling, Clark looked into the night sky. Trust Chloe to take the easy road first, he thought. "She's fine, really," he replied. "Getting into journalism, believe it or not. I think it's because she's searching for you. But she's also helping Dad with the PR for the state election, too."
A smile touched her lips, though it was a slightly sad one. "Well, at least one of us will be keeping the journalism dream alive."
A frown furrowed Clark's forehead. "What do you mean, keeping the journalism dream alive? It's what you've always wanted, Chlo." He tried laying a hand on her arm but she shooed it away.
"Things change, Clark." Her voice was quiet, grim.
"Tell me about it," he mumbled, moving ahead of her to make her stop and look at him. "Care to tell me what Frick and Frack are doing in your apartment?"
She met his eyes. "Their names are Dean and Sam. They're staying with me for the time being. They've been helping me with patrolling." She drew in a nervous breath.
"Dean and Sam, whatever," Clark began and then stopped. Dead. "Patrolling?" he asked. "What is that? Are you a cop now?" He didn't quite understand what she was trying to say.
A smile quirked her lips involuntarily. "Well... in a way, I guess. Yeah."
"Chloe," Clark sighed, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Tell me what's going on, because I had to lie to everyone in order to get here. And I think Mom's suspicious, even though I didn't tell her anything."
Chloe gazed at him. "Okay. Clark, I'm a Vampire Slayer. It's why I left Smallville."
Her words made no sense. "Vampire Slayer?" he asked, laughing a little. "What is that?" He thought she was joking, but the look in her eyes told him otherwise. Whatever it was, it was deadly serious. And not something she was willing to talk too much about.
Drawing in a breath, she nodded a little, and pulled a stake from her pocket. "A Vampire Slayer...has...certain abilities in the arena of killing vampires and demons. That'd be me."
Clark blinked, looking at the stake in her hand. "You mean, the things you used to research... you now kill?"
"Ironic, huh?" She managed a bitter smile.
Clark stared at her, speechless. "Chloe, I... I don't know what to say," he whispered.
"You think I'm crazy?"
"I don't know what to think," Clark replied. "But you said you needed me, so here I am. Does it really matter what I think?"
"Yeah. It kinda does." She glanced past him, her body tensing for a fight.
He pulled back and walked away from her. He didn't know what to think or how to feel about what she just said. "Why does it matter?" he asked, not looking at her. "You left town six months ago, and now you're telling me you're this whole other person. I... don't know you anymore."
"Yeah, hold that thought, Clark." She moved past where he stood, taking off in a run toward the two vampires heading for a young girl across the street.
Clark stared after Chloe, seeing a gracefulness to her movement that he had never noticed before. He supersped towards her, stopping just before she got there and picked up one of the vampires. "What do you do with these things?" he asked, grabbing the other by the wrist and not letting it go.
"Kill 'em," she said, staking the one he held through the heart and watching it explode into dust. "Let him go." She nodded toward the one he was holding.
Clark let go of the one he was holding, too shocked by what he'd just witnessed to say anything. Speechless, he watched as Chloe took three steps, threw the wooden stake into the air, and struck the fleeing vampire in the chest, making him explode into dust again. "How...?" Clark began but said nothing else.
"You're not the only one with a destiny, Clark," she said softly, sadness in her voice.
"So it would seem, Chlo," he replied, wryly, looking into her saddened eyes. "I'm sorry I... doubted you, Chloe, even though I still don't understand," he replied.
"I'm not really sure I do either." She started walking slowly down the sidewalk, knowing he'd have no trouble keeping up. "Apparently... it's an inherited power. One girl in all the world with these abilities. Lucky me." She glanced at him sideways.
"Only one girl?" Clark questioned. "Against all these... weird things?" The force hit him squarely in the heart, depressing and touching him. "What do you need me to do, Chlo?"
She drew in a breath. "There's a vampire walking around that's...not like the others. It's pretty much harder than hell to kill. And apparently..." She paused, not willing to give away Sam's secret. "If I don't kill it first, my slaying gig won't be lasting much longer."
Clark was beginning to understand why she'd called. "You want me to help you kill this thing," he said flatly. "Because I'm pretty much indestructible myself, huh?"
She winced slightly at the bitter tone in his voice. "Trust me when I say I didn't wanna ask for your help. I hated to pull you away from Lana." She continued walking without waiting for him.
"Chloe, wait a minute," Clark replied, following her closely behind. "It's not like that at all, okay? In fact, Lana and me are having problems, if that makes you happier." He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around, making her look at him.
"No, it doesn't make me happier. And yeah, I get that you're pissed at me and I accept that." She gazed at him, pain in her eyes. "If you don't wanna help, Clark, that's fine. Go back to Smallville. I'll figure this out on my own." She turned away.
"Oh, will you just shut up?" he yelled harshly. "I'm here, and I'm going to help, okay? Whether I'm pissed at you or not is not the point. What do you need me to do? I'll do it, alone or with you." He hoped to God it wasn't with those two guys back at Chloe's place, though, because Dean wasn't someone he wanted to deal with.
"You're not doing it without me. It's ultimately my battle." Her voice was quiet as she continued to walk toward the cemetery.
"I figured you'd say that, and I'm not going to stop you," Clark replied. "Not after that I've just now seen." He followed her into the cemetery. "Where are we going?" he asked, looking around.
"Just a quick stroll. There's been a lot of trouble here lately," she said, easily hopping over the fence. She winced a little as one of the injuries on her arm pulled painfully, reminding her that Slayer healing or not, she still wasn't 100% again.
Clark noticed the pain flash across her face. "You're not yourself," he commented casually. "Maybe you ought to get that checked out."
"There hasn't really been time," she admitted. "Things have been kinda crazy lately."
"So I see," he murmured quietly, creeping through the graveyard behind her. "Especially with Fri.... Dean and Sam there with you." He noticed her flinch a little at their names and that urged him onward. "How did you meet them, anyway?"
Oh, he's gonna hate this story, she thought with a faint smile. "Met Dean at a bar," she admitted. "He helped me take out a pack of vampires."
"At a... bar?" he sputtered, speechless for the hundredth time that night. "He took out some vampires with you and that's how he moved in with you?"
"Well, sort of. He pretty much insisted they were going to help hunt down the things here in town so... I invited them to stay with me." She shrugged a little, glancing at him sideways.
"And I take it it's a little more complicated that that," Clark finished for her when she hesitated. Funny, he thought. He never took Chloe to do something like that.
"A little is... sorta understating it," she said softly.
Sighing, Clark resigned himself to knowing these two would be a part of her life. "Well, I don't like them, but I'm gonna have to deal with them if I'm going to stay," he replied with a small wry smile.
"I appreciate that. And I appreciate you coming, Clark. I know it was a lot to ask." She paused, and turned to face him.
"It's you, Chloe," Clark said simply, looking into her eyes with appreciation. "How could I tell you no?"
A faint smile tugged at her lips and wordlessly she wrapped her arms around his waist. She closed her eyes. "For the record... I missed you a lot," she whispered.
Leaning into her, Clark hugged her tightly and smiled a little. "You have no idea how much I've missed you," he replied gently. After a few moments, however, he pulled away from her. "Oh, guess I shouldn't hug you anymore, not with your bodyguard boyfriend around."
She smirked and looked at him. "Don't even act like you're jealous, Clark," she warned with a hint of teasing.
"Who me? Jealous?" he asked, a little shocked she would even mention the word. "No, never... though you might want to mention that to Dean. He looked like he could kill me, as if he could try." Clark smiled at the thought.
"He's kind of... protective," she admitted, a warm smile on her face.
Clark cocked his brow at her but said nothing. Protective was not the word he'd use. Possessive, maybe. "Uh, should we be getting back? I bet he's foaming at the mouth by now."
"Yeah... right after I kill that demon," she said, nodding a few feet away.
Clark backed out of the way and watched her work, running headlong into the demon and kicking it to the ground within seconds. Something he'd normally do, he realized.
It leapt up and smacked her hard across the face but she barely flinched, sending it sprawling into a tombstone. "Up," she commanded, glaring at it. Within seconds, she'd managed to kill it with her bare hands.
Clark watched her with awe as she squeezed the life out of a monster he had never seen before. With all of his abilities, he had never seen such sheer determination in another human being before. "Whoa," he said, not knowing how else to describe it.
Groaning at the bloodstain on her shirt, her shoulders slumped a little. She slowly turned to face Clark, seeing the shock on his face. "I know. Weird, huh?" She tried to smile but didn't quite manage it.
"I bet this job's hell on clothing, huh?" he asked, ignoring her question as they started back to her apartment.
"You have no idea how many jackets and shirts I've gone through in the last month alone. I can barely afford my apartment. If it wasn't for Spike, I'd be living on the street."
"Uh, Spike?" Clark asked her, glancing at her sideways. "Do I even want to know who Spike is?" he teased, feeling that sense of camaraderie return between them.
She grinned. "Probably not," she said with a faint chuckle. "He's... a vampire. But a good one. He has a soul. He can be difficult, but...he's a good ally to have."
"Great," Clark rolled his eyes. "He anything like your Dean?"
"Well... minus the vampire part and the ‘me not sleeping with him’ part... sort of." She laughed at the shocked expression on his face.
"What?" Clark demanded. "You two are... sleeping together?" He could barely get the words out, he was so shocked.
"Oh, come on, Clark. I know you saw him follow me outta the bathroom." She gave him a look.
Clark made a sound. "So what if I did?" he asked. "That doesn't mean anything."
"Why are you so freaked out?"
That was a good question, Clark thought as he made his walked up the steps of her apartment, lost in thought. "I... don't know, Chlo," he whispered. "Guess I never thought about you like... that before."
"Tell me something I didn't know, Clark," she said wryly.
"What'd I say?" he asked innocently as she opened her apartment door and went inside, Following her, he found Dean and Sam sitting on the couch, idly flipping through TV channels. Upon seeing Chloe, however, Dean jumped up and enveloped her in a big hug.
"Hey there," Dean whispered in her ear. "Been worried about you." He just looked over at Clark and nodded politely yet distantly.
She would have rolled her eyes at his overdramatic gesture, but instead she simply hugged him. "Killed a couple vamps and a demon."
"Didn't see that Turok-Han Spike mentioned?" Dean asked her, pulling back and going through the motions of visually inspecting her. "Is that your blood?" he demanded.
"No, Dean, it's the monster's blood," Clark said with derision. "She's fine. Kicked some butt tonight." He looked over at Sam, who'd stood up but said nothing.
"I'm okay," she promised softly, touching his cheek lightly. "But I am gonna change clothes. Sam, do me a favor and make sure they don't kill each other, okay?" She winked at him.
Sam smiled a bit, nodding. "Sure thing, Chlo."
Dean watched Chloe walk down to her room and called, mostly for Clark's benefit, "Need some help with that?"
Sam shot him a look. "Knock it off, Dean," he said under his breath.
"What?" Dean said, feigning innocence as he walked to the beginning of the hallway and leaned against the wall, his back turned on Clark.
Shaking his head and wondering what he'd gotten himself into, he took a seat on the couch, wary that these two didn't like him very much.
She finished changing shirts and stepped into the hallway once more, gazing at Dean. "You can relax, Dean. He's just here to help stop the uber-vamp."
Smirking, he glanced back at Clark, who as sitting about as comfortably as someone about to meet the President of the United States. "Oh, so he's a big bad guy who can help take this thing down? Fine with me." He leaned down and kissed her lips gently. "I'm heading down the hall. See you soon?"
She touched his cheek. "Count on it."
Smiling down at her, he shouted, "Get some sleep, Sammy," before waltzing down the hall to Chloe's room and shutting the door, a little too pleased with himself.
Clark felt like he was going to hurl from the disgusting display he had just witnessed. "Am I going to have to put up with this the whole time I'm here?" he asked.
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Please. If I can deal with you mooning over Lana for the majority of my teen years, you can deal with this."
"I never mooned over her," Clark protested, his chin jutting out in defiance. "That was just a teenage.... thing."
She raised her eyebrows and gave him a look.
"What?" Clark protested again. "Really, I didn't..."
"Protesting too much, dude," Sam replied. 'Face it. You chose to mope over another girl and let a kick-ass one like Chloe get away." He shrugged your shoulders. "Your loss."
Her eyes widened a little in surprise at Sam's words. The look on Clark's face was priceless.
Faking a yawn, Clark really wanted to change the subject. Anything to get them away from his love life. "So, where am I sleeping?" he asked, looking around
"Out here," Sam replied, pointing to the fold up cot. "You get that. The guest rooms' mine since Dean... well, you know..." He winked at Chloe, she had blushed a little.
“The couch folds out into a bed,” she offered.
“Great, that’s wonderful,” Clark retorted, rubbing his eyes. “I fly all this way, just to sleep on the couch.”
“Hey, it beats hanging with the Scoobies,” Sam offered, and at Clark’s confused look, he shook his head. “Nevermind, dude.”
He got up and walked over to Chloe. “Sleep well, my friend,” he said, kissing the top of her head.
“Night, Sammy,” she said softly, not thinking twice about using Dean’s nickname for him. “Sweet dreams.”
Smiling at hearing Dean’s nickname coming from Chloe, he smiled sleepily and padded into the guest room, leaving Clark and Chloe alone.
She offered Clark a small smile. “They’re good guys,” she said softly.
Clark smiled stiffly, pulling out the cot to sleep on. “I’m sure they are, but... I still don’t like them.” He sat down on the cot and listened to the springs creak under his weight. “Guess I’ll see you in the morning, then.”
“Night, Clark,” she said softly. “Sweet dreams.”
&&&
Sleeping was something Dean had no intention of doing, not with ClarkKent inhabiting the same apartment. He paced frantically around Chloe's bedroom, pissed as hell that she even wanted him here. He knew Clark had treated Chloe badly in some way, and to think she wanted him here despite that.... it was inconceivable. Add that to the fact that Chloe refused to tell him about Clark, and Dean was nearly seeing red. "No wonder she was so rough," he growled to himself. He knew there was something wrong. Now he knew what.
The lights were off, but he heard the door open and shut. Chloe's silhouette shadowed the door as she shut it, and before he could think like a rational man, he crossed the room in three paces, grabbed her, and pushed her against the door, crushing his mouth onto hers.
She didn't even have time to think before she found her back against the rough surface of the door, Dean's arms winding around her as his mouth pressed against hers insistently. A soft groan escaped her in response and she rested her hands lightly against his shoulders as she returned the urgent, nearly angry kiss. Her mind spinning, she reluctantly pushed him back a little. "Dean, what--"
"Shut up, Chloe and let me kiss you," he demanded, crushing her arms to his chest as he leaned in to kiss her again.
Though she was tempted to let him do just that, she resisted that temptation for the time being, moving away and flipping the light on. The look on his face startled her and she wondered what was going on in his head. "All right, what's going on?"
Dean looked down, not wanting to see the concern in her eyes. He was too angry to think with his actual brain. "Nothin'," he mumbled, backing away from her and walking across to the window. He clenched his jaw, trying to control the jealousy and anger he felt inside.
"Right," she said wryly. "And vampires and demons are just figments of my overactive imagination." She walked over to where he stood, moving to stand behind him and resting her hands lightly on his shoulders.
He nearly jumped at her soft touch and wanted to move away. But he didn't. He couldn't. It seemed to be the only thing that calmed a little of his hurt over everything that had happened after they'd stepped out of the shower. "Why is he here?" he whispered harshly, his back still to her.
Chloe shut her eyes, resting her head against his back. "To help with the vampire situation," she said quietly. "That's all, Dean."
Dean snorted quietly in derision. "What can he do that I can't?" he wondered out loud, staring out the window.
She felt her heart sink because she wasn't about to tell him about Clark. She hated lying to him, but she hadn't told Clark about he and Sam's secrets, and she wasn't going to betray Clark's trust either. "I've never really told you about Smallville, have I?" Her voice was quiet.
Dean shook his head wordlessly. He knew she was hiding something but knew better than try to work it out of her. Hell, if their long sexual romp couldn't do it, then nothing would, he thought bitterly.
Drawing in a breath and letting it out slowly, she moved to sit on the bed. "Smallville's not exactly a normal town. When my dad moved us there, I was thirteen. The town's nicknamed the Meteor Capital of the World because back in 1987 a huge meteor shower hit and destroyed half the town. A lot of people died, and a lot of people got hurt. But...that wasn't really the end of it."
Dean winced inwardly, knowing all too well the feeling of pain and loss that came with any kind of catastrophe. He turned to look at her, not quite meeting her eyes. He cocked an eyebrow. "What does that mean, 'that wasn't really the end of it'?" he asked cautiously.
"Well...a lot of really weird things happen in Smallville and no one really knew why, but..." She rose to her feet and moved to her closet, biting her lower lip and pulling a box from the shelf with the initials W.O.W. She moved over and set it on the bed, taking the top off and pulling an article from the top. "After a lot of research I came to the conclusion that the meteors affected certain people in... unusual ways." She handed him the article.
Putting his hurt over her not trusting him aside, Dean sat beside her and took the article from her hand, scanning the article about an elderly man who has the ability to make himself young and go on murdering sprees. "This reads like something in Dad's journal," he mused aloud, handing it back to her. He pointed at her box. "That's filled with these kinds of strange occurrences?"
Chloe nodded slightly. "The whole box. And these are just the ones I researched since I moved to Smallville. I guess I've always been drawn to the unusual." A faint smile touched her lips and she sat on the edge of the bed again.
"Just something we have in common," Dean replied, nodding in agreement. "But what does this have to do with him being here?" As much as he hated the sound of jealousy in his voice, he couldn't help it. They didn't need another rookie around to get killed off by this Uber Vamp.
"Clark's lived in Smallville his entire life. He's seen his fair share of weird. He's kind of..." She paused, searching for the right words to use without giving anything away. "Well, the town hero, I guess."
Fan-fucking-tastic, Dean thought, running a hand through his hair and standing up again. Just what we need, a hero with a Messiah complex. "Great, a guy who does no wrong," he muttered, feeling like she had just sucker-punched him. Because more than anything, Dean knew he was nothing near a hero.
A short chuckle escaped her. "Are you kidding?" She looked at him with a bemused expression on her face. "Nobody's perfect, Dean. Everyone screws up, and that includes ClarkKent."
"Gee, that's a relief," he replied, trying hard to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "We have a hero who makes mistakes. Can he keep himself from getting killed?"
Chloe narrowed her eyes, fighting hard to keep her growing annoyance with him at bay. "Clark can handle himself just fine."
"Well, that's great," he replied, turning to look at her, "but when were you planning on telling me about him coming here?" Groaning at his own stupidity, he moved to the other side of the bed and slumped down.
She sighed softly, their backs to each other. "I was afraid to tell you," she admitted. "I knew you wouldn't be happy about it."
"Funny," he replied, "because it seems I'm more pissed about seeing him just show up at the door right now." He put his face in his hands, his frustration level with both of them reaching an all-time high. He hated she already knew him well enough to know when to keep things from him.
"Tell me something I didn't know," she said, annoyed. "Look, the fact is there's some of super vamp running around out there and we have no idea how to kill it. We can use all the help we can get, Dean."
Dean's body shot around to glare at her slumped shoulders. "Great, that's fine, we have another demon hunter in out midst," he snapped back. "But did it have to be this guy you've had this huge history with, who's cocky and too damn confident for his own good?" The guy who hurt you? he thought with hatred.
Chloe stood up abruptly, turning to face him. "Considering I'm the one who's going to get killed by this thing?" she said darkly. "I think it was my choice." Without waiting for a response, she headed out of the bedroom and down the hall, yanking her jacket off the coat hanger before leaving the apartment.
"Dammit," Dean growled, grabbing his jacket from the floor and heading out after her, zooming through the apartment and slamming the door behind him. "Chloe, hang on just a second!" he shouted to her quickly retreating back. Hell, if he couldn't catch up to her, then at least he might be able to get a good hunt in before morning.