Come Sail Away, Epilogue

Clark/Chloe
Season 6
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.
The music is "Come Sail Away," by Styx.

Come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me...

Seven nights later, the corn rustled as the starship lifted into the sky for the last time. Clark heard Chloe's footsteps approaching, but he didn't turn to face her. He was watching the green lights of the ship recede, then vanish among the stars.

"I'm glad you decided not to go," she said softly.

He was comfortable with his decision, though a small part of him regretted it. But he knew Earth needed him more than a paradise did. On this troubled world, he could make a difference. He mattered here, in a way he'd never matter in a world full of peaceful, joyful, superpowered beings.

"Yeah," he answered, still staring at the stars. "Me too."

"I was afraid..." She paused for a moment. "When I came to the loft tonight and found you gone, I was afraid you might have changed your mind."

"It was tempting," he admitted. "I mean, I think everyone on Earth'd like to travel through space. And who wouldn't want to go live on a perfect world?"

"I think maybe perfection is overrated," she answered. "I figure it would get boring after a while. Which is probably why your cousins are sailing around the galaxy instead of sitting at home on their perfect planet."

He turned to face her, smiling slightly. "That's a good point," he admitted. "I actually hadn't thought of that, but if perfection was all that great, they wouldn't be exploring the galaxy, wouldn't they?"

She took a step closer to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. His heart immediately began to thud in a rapid rhythm, but he tried to ignore his reaction. It was a friendly touch, for God's sake. Ever since he'd realized what he felt for her, he'd been trying to come up with some way to tell her about his feelings, but he kept coming back to what he thought of as the Jimmy problem. She was dating Jimmy, and a decent guy wouldn't try to break them up.

The problem was, he wasn't at all sure how decent he was, because all he'd been able to think about for the past week was kissing her, Jimmy or no Jimmy.

"Earth may not be perfect," she said softly, looking up at him. He noticed she was looking at his mouth, and he wondered if maybe she'd been thinking about kissing him, too. "But I think it's a pretty nice planet."

He tilted his head back, staring up at the stars scattered across the sky in the patterns he'd known all his life, then looked down into her face, and he had to agree with her. Earth might not be a paradise, but it was a beautiful world, and he couldn't have left it behind, any more than he could leave her behind.

He remembered her voice saying softly: You can't leave. We need you here on Earth.

All of a sudden he wished she'd said she needed him. But she didn't need him. She had Jimmy.

The thought of Jimmy hit him like a slap across the face, and he turned away from her before he could be tempted to do something terminally stupid, like kiss her. "It's a nice night," he said softly. "Want a ride?"

He heard a soft laugh. "I don't know, Clark. Am I safe with you?"

"Absolutely." He'd been practicing over the past week, and while he hadn't developed as much control as he thought he could in time, he'd gotten a lot better. He turned around and held out a hand to her. "You can trust me."

She looked at him for a long moment, her mouth curved in a gentle smile, and then the smile melted into a more serious expression.

"I know that," she whispered.

At the softly spoken words, his heart melted in his chest. She stepped toward him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and looked up into his face expectantly. "I'm ready," she said.

He looked down into her eyes and answered without thinking.

"So am I."

He wasn't talking about flying, and he instantly flushed, embarrassed by what he'd said. But she only smiled and pressed her face into his shoulder, and he thought maybe she wasn't talking about flying, either. He wasn't sure, and didn't want to press his luck. Right now, it was enough that they were here together, on the same planet, beneath the same stars.

He held her tightly around the waist and concentrated, and together they floated up into the sky and sailed away.

-The End-