What the World Could Be, Chapter 12

Clark/Chloe
Season 5, following my story "Saving Me," which followed "Void"
Rating: Adult. If you're under eighteen, please go elsewhere now.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the WB and DC Comics, not to me.

Half an hour later they walked through the streets of Metropolis, hand in hand. “I don’t know about you,” Clark said cheerfully, “but I’m very happy right now.”

“Because you got a big plate of spaghetti for dinner?”

He grinned. “That’s part of it, for sure.”

She snorted. “You know, Clark, you may be an alien, but in many ways you’re a typical guy. There’s a freeway to your heart running right through your stomach.”

He laughed, then his smile faded, and he looked over at her more seriously. “So where are we headed now? I’m guessing you don’t feel comfortable going back to your dorm room with me.”

“I’m not sure I’m ever going to be able to look Lana in the eye again,” she said softly. “I know what you mean,” he answered. “It’s silly, really. We didn't do anything terribly wrong. She and I broke up a while ago. But still…”

He thought about the way Lana had looked, how her eyes had brimmed with tears, and felt a stab of remorse. He might not love Lana any longer, but that didn’t mean he wanted to hurt her, either. They’d been friends for a long time.

But he knew Lana would never consider him a friend again.

Of course, she’d already been pretty angry with him, and he doubted their friendship would ever have gotten back on an even keel. But he’d inadvertently destroyed Chloe’s friendship with Lana, too. And that was worse, because they saw each other every day. He knew firsthand that Lana could be unforgiving, vindictive, almost cruel, when she was angry, and he was afraid she would make Chloe suffer for what she'd witnessed.

“Yeah,” Chloe answered, a little too perkily. “It's definitely not going to be pretty when Lana comes back. I don’t think she'll come back before she has to, but let’s not go back to the dorm anyway. Okay?”

He looked up at the sliver of sky visible between the dark canyons of the buildings. He liked Metropolis, but it always annoyed him that you couldn’t see the stars here. The city lights faded the sky to a dull pewter color, which wasn’t appealing to a country boy like him. “Want to go out to the country?” he suggested.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s just walk over to campus and get my car.”

“We don’t need a car. I can get there a lot faster.”

“Yeah, but Clark, I don’t run quite that fast.”

He swung her up in his arms, and she giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Close your eyes,” he instructed. She closed them and pressed her face against his chest.

He glanced around to make sure no one was looking at him, then jumped into a fast run, heading out of the city. His mind switched gears, as it always did when he was in superspeed, so the trip seemed to him to take quite some time. But he knew to her it would feel almost instantaneous. A second later, by actual time, he came to a halt, standing in a grassy field. She lifted her head and blinked, looking confused.

“There,” he said, feeling much less confined, and much more free. Being hemmed in by Metropolis' huge buildings made him feel really claustrophobic after a while. “Now we can see the stars.”

She looked around, still blinking. “Where are we?”

“About halfway between Smallville and Metropolis.”

“Ah,” she said dryly. “The middle of nowhere.”

He chuckled and let her feet drop to the ground, then put his arms around her waist and brushed a kiss over her forehead. “The middle of nowhere seemed like a good place for what I have in mind.”

*****

Chloe slid her arms around Clark’s shoulders, letting her hand brush lightly over the nape of his neck. Instantly he shuddered, and one of those low moans escaped him. She hesitated.

“Are you all… worked up again, Clark?”

He nodded stiffly, his eyes closed.

“I would have thought you’d be too tired to react that way, all things considered.” She thought about it for a moment. “I guess spaghetti really turns you on.”

His eyes snapped open, and he looked at her in surprise for a minute, then burst out laughing. “Geez, Chlo,” he said at last, wiping his eyes. “You really know how to kill the moment.”

“I doubt it.” She ran her hand over the back of his neck again, tracing her fingers along his hairline, and all the laughter faded from his face. He dropped his face into her hair and groaned.

“Chloe.”

“Clark,” she said, hearing his breathing grow ragged and harsh. “How long is this going to continue? I mean, you reacting this way to me, going crazy every time I touch you? Will it go on until I say the bonding words back to you?”

“I don’t know,” he whispered against her hair. “I don’t know if it’ll ever stop.”

"What if I don't say the words back to you eventually? Will you start looking for someone else?"

"Never," he said softly, and the utter certainty in his voice sent shivers down her spine. She blinked against the sudden tears that pricked her eyelids and went on, struggling to keep her voice steady.

“And what if we did decide to break up for some reason? What would happen then? Would you stop eating and sleeping and just… pine away?”

“Chloe,” he said, squeezing her gently. “You worry too much.”

“I can’t help worrying,” she answered, annoyed. “It’s not like I can write Dear Abby and ask her for advice. And you didn't come with an instruction manual or anything. I’ve never had a boyfriend from another planet, okay? I’m going to worry about stuff sometimes.”

He lifted his head and looked down at her. His eyes looked very intense in the darkness. “Am I your boyfriend?”

“Um. Considering you keep proposing to me every time we kiss, and considering everything we’ve, uh, done today, I think I should officially grant you boyfriend status.”

He gazed at her for a moment longer, then the intensity faded, and he flashed his wide grin, looking like a kid on Christmas morning. “Cool.”

Amused by his obvious delight, she stood on tiptoes and brushed a kiss over his chin. He groaned again, his deep voice very loud in the still night.

Chloe looked around. The darkness was lit by nothing but stars and a silvery half moon riding low in the sky. The grassy field stretched out in all directions, and she could see the shadowy outlines of a forest on three sides. On the fourth side she thought she saw a road, but she didn't see any headlights or hear the rumble of engines. She guessed it was a back road without much traffic. “Are we alone out here?”

Clark turned his head to the side in his familiar listening gesture. “There’s no one around for miles,” he answered.

“Are you sure you’re not just telling me that in order to get laid?”

He grinned roguishly. “See, there’s that trust issue again. We need to work on that.” He wrapped his arms around her, and her feet came right off the ground. She squealed with surprise.

“So,” he said, his voice dropping to a low, sexy rumble. “Let’s see what we can do about that.”

*****

Clark lifted her against him, lowered his head, and kissed her. Flashes of heat lightning shot through him at the light contact of their lips. She tasted incredible, like honey and spices, like pure desire, and he couldn’t stop himself from deepening the kiss, touching his tongue to hers. He wanted to be as close to her as possible, to immerse himself in her until they were one person.

The craving for more intimacy hit him hard. The muscles in his arms tightened, automatically pulling her closer without any input from his brain, but he managed to stop himself before he squeezed too hard and broke her ribs. He’d never forgive himself if he hurt her. Breathing hard, he pulled his head away from hers, lowering her back to the ground.

“Chloe,” he muttered in a voice that was so rough he hardly recognized it as his own. “I want to touch you so badly, but I can’t…”

She looked up at him, her eyes unfathomable in the darkness. “It’s okay, Clark. I understand.”

He drew in a shaky breath. He wasn’t sure how he could ever get her to trust him if he couldn’t trust himself. Every time she touched him, he simply lost control.

That thought gave him an idea.“Turn around,” he said.

She blinked. “What?”

“Trust me,” he said impatiently. “Just turn around.”

She looked at him a moment longer, then turned around. “Okay,” she said, facing away from him. “Is this some sort of Kryptonian thing? Or just a human thing? Because I gotta tell you, Clark, I’m really not into--”

“I just want to touch you,” he interrupted, letting his hand run over her shoulder, then down her back. She felt very small and fragile beneath his hand, reminding him of how badly he could hurt her with the touch of a finger. “But I can’t focus when you touch me. So just stand there, let me touch you, and don’t touch me, okay?”

“I could face you and not touch you, you know.”

“No, you couldn’t. You can’t keep your hands off me.”

She snorted. “Your ego is getting out of control, Kent.”

“Your mouth is getting out of control, Sullivan,” he retorted, a little irritably. “Don’t you ever quit talking?”

“Rarely.”

“Shut the hell up,” he growled, and slid his hand up under her shirt.

“You really know how to sweet talk a girl, don’t you?”

“You’re the only girl in the world who’d talk so much at a time like this.”

“It’s part of what makes me special,” she said smugly.

He snorted. “Yeah, right. It’s part of what makes you aggravating.”

He cupped his hand around her breast… and she shut the hell up.

At least, she didn’t say anything else coherent. But he heard her making small noises of pleasure as he brushed his fingers over the soft swell of flesh. She was wearing a lacy bra, which was very much in his way, and he thought about ripping it off, but figured maybe he should try to get it off the regular way first. Human guys didn’t have superstrength, after all, but they still managed to cope with bras. Chloe would probably prefer it if he didn’t rip her clothes off her constantly.

He ran his hand over her flat, toned stomach, then around her, across her back. Her skin felt good underneath his hand, soft, pliable, and warm, and his other hand slid under the shirt. He tried to unhook the bra.

Fifteen seconds later he was still trying, and getting very annoyed.

“Having trouble?” she inquired.

“These stupid hooks won’t work. Do I need to know some sort of password or combination or something?”

She laughed softly. “It’s really not that complicated, Clark.”

“It won’t come off, damn it.”

The irritation in his voice seemed to amuse her, because she giggled, then reached around behind her. At her touch, the hooks that had resisted his every attempt opened instantly.

“It must be keyed to your fingerprints or something,” he said.

She laughed harder. “It’s a bra, Clark. It has hooks and eyes, not a keyless entry system.”

“Next time,” he grumbled, “I’m just going to rip the damn thing in two.” He yanked up impatiently on her shirt, throwing it and the bra to the grass, and suddenly she was half naked in front of him, still facing away from him, so that all he could see was the graceful curve of her back, and the silky cascade of her hair half concealing the nape of her neck.

And then she turned around. His mouth instantly went dry, and his eyes burned.

The moonlight cast silver light on her hair and skin, emphasizing her every curve, making her look like some sort of goddess come to earth to walk among mortal men. He was afraid to touch her, not for fear of hurting her, but because she was so glorious that he felt strangely unworthy. He experienced a sudden certainty that he wasn’t good enough for her, that no man could possibly be good enough for her.

He was silent for a long moment, staring at her. At last he gulped and managed to produce words. “You need to turn back around.”

“Clark,” she said gently, “I really think we could--"

“Turnaroundnow,” he said, desperately. He was scared to death she was going to touch him, and then… well, he wasn’t sure what would happen, but he was pretty sure it wouldn’t involve any sort of self-control. The fear of injuring her, breaking her somehow, rose up again, so terrifying it almost choked him.

She looked up at him and seemed to read his expression and understand his concern, because she sighed a little and turned around again.

The fear that had gripped him faded away, and he found he could breathe again. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, pressed his lips to the side of her throat, and let his hands and mouth run all over her, finally allowing himself touch her the way he wanted to. The way he needed to touch her.

Read Chapter 13 here.