Entwined

Chloe/Clark/Jimmy, Star
Season 6, after "Crimson"
Rating: PG-13
1700 words
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.

"Can I help you?"

Chloe Sullivan shut the door behind her, hearing the little bell that had announced her arrival jingle again. The shop she'd entered was dim, and a strange, sweet smell hung in the air, the odor of herbs and oils mixed together into a rather overpowering fragrance.

She resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose, fixed her most professional smile onto her face, and headed for the counter. "Yes," she answered. "You certainly can. My name is Chloe Sullivan, and I'm a reporter for the Daily Planet."

The woman behind the counter offered a misty smile. Her long brown hair was pulled back and secured with a headband, and she wore large, gypsy-style earrings. Flower child, Chloe thought at once. A young flower child, maybe in her mid-twenties, but definitely a flower child. She was willing to bet this woman listened to the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Starship, and that there was a skull and roses tattoo somewhere on her body.

"Good afternoon, Chloe Sullivan. My name is Star."

Star. Definitely a flower child. Chloe paused in front of the counter. "My cousin bought lipstick from you a couple of nights ago, and I wanted to talk to you about it. It had a rather strange effect on her. I was thinking of writing an article on it."

The other woman-- Star-- considered her for a long, thoughtful moment.

"That is not your true purpose here," she said at last, her voice gentle.

Chloe felt her eyebrows shoot up. She frowned and held up the PDA she used to take notes. "Yeah, it is," she said. "Trust me. I'm all about articles."

"No," Star said. Her brown eyes bored into Chloe's. "You have another purpose. A question you wish to ask."

Under the scrutiny of those knowing eyes, Chloe blinked. She did have an ulterior motive, but she'd flattered herself that she'd put her poker face on. Evidently her poker face needed some work.

She hesitated, then decided there wasn't any point in obfuscating, and just blurted it out. "My boyfriend Jimmy told me you said Clark and Lois are destined to be together."

"Your boyfriend?"

"Well..." Chloe felt very uncomfortable. She fidgeted, something she almost never did. "He was my boyfriend. We broke up."

"Because of..."

"Various things," Chloe said sharply. "But I want to know why you said that. Why exactly would you think Clark and Lois are destined to be together?"

"That's not what I said." Star smiled vaguely. "I simply said I believe their destinies are more entwined than either of them realizes."

Chloe frowned. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"What do you think it means?"

"Um... honestly? It sounds like you're saying they're going to wind up together. But that's just ridiculous."

"Why?"

The way this woman kept answering her questions with questions was starting to annoy Chloe. She put both hands on the counter and glared at the other woman.

"Because they can't stand each other," she said tersely. "Now answer the question, please. Are you saying they're destined to be involved romantically?"

Star considered her for a moment.

"Not necessarily," she said at last.

“Well, that’s a relief. Jimmy was trying to tell me you had said they were destined to be, you know, forever together. Not that I believe in destiny and all that stuff anyway. But I mean, come on, Clark and Lois? No way.”

“Why exactly does this concern you so much?”

“It’s just…” Chloe shrugged, trying to look casual. “Clark and Lois are like oil and water. They don’t mix. Lois is my cousin, and Clark’s my friend, and I think if they ever got… together… in any romantic way, they’d be miserable.”

Star studied her for a long moment. “So your concern is simply for their happiness?”

“Exactly. I want them to be happy.”

“Your friend Jimmy seemed pleased at the notion that they might be together in the future.”

“Jimmy doesn’t know either of them the way I do. Besides... he has this silly idea that I have a thing for Clark.”

“Do you?”

“No, of course not. Clark and I are just friends. We’ve been friends forever, but that’s all.”

Star studied her a moment longer, a faint smile on her face. “And yet you want to know if your destiny is entwined with Clark’s too. Don’t you?”

“I don’t have to ask. I know it is.”

Star leaned forward, her eyes very serious. “Are you sure?”

Sudden anger lit in Chloe. “Look,” she snapped, “I don’t believe in psychic powers or any of that mumbo-jumbo. So no matter what you tell me about the future, I’m not going to believe it anyway. It's nonsense.”

“You are not being entirely honest with yourself, Chloe Sullivan. You have encountered people with true psychic abilities before.”

“Only people who have been affected by…” Chloe trailed off and blinked at the cosmetics, remembering the main ingredient in the lipstick that had affected Lois. Red meteor rocks. “Are you from Smallville?”

Star inclined her head, so that her long hair fell forward over her shoulders. “I lived there until last year.”

“And your psychic powers—do they date from the meteor shower, by any chance?”

Star nodded, and a faint, wistful smile curved her lips. “My husband had just left me for another woman," she said softly. "I was standing outside, looking up at the bright afternoon sky and wishing that I could see my destiny. That I could see who might be the perfect mate for me."

"And then..."

"And then the meteors came roaring out of the sky. One hit nearby, and I was knocked unconscious by the blast. And when I woke up… I could see glimpses of destiny. My own, and others.”

“Glimpses,” Chloe repeated slowly. “Sort of like... flashes? So you can’t point to a guy and a girl and say for sure that they’re destined to be together forever?”

“Sometimes I can, if it's very obvious. But I admit my abilities are limited. Besides, I think perhaps destiny is not as carved in stone as most people would like to believe." She shrugged. "Sometimes, though, I see people together and know that their futures will be entwined somehow. That was true for Lois and Clark.”

“But—romantically?”

Star shook her head. “No, not romantically. I believe you’re right. If Clark and Lois tried for a romantic relationship, they would both regret it deeply. They are lacking a fundamental trust and respect for one another. Their futures are entwined together... through someone else.”

Chloe stood still for a long moment. “Through me?”

“You are the reason they met to begin with, aren’t you?”

Chloe nodded, slowly. “Lois came to Smallville to find the person she thought had killed me,” she said softly. “They never would have met otherwise.”

“Exactly," Star said. "The three of you are entwined somehow. I am not certain how, but your destinies are tied together."

Chloe looked away from the bright eyes. "What about me and Clark?" she asked in a whisper.

"I already told you, your destinies are entangled."

"But... romantically, I mean. Are the two of us destined to..."

Star's mouth curved in a slight smile. "Are you certain you wish to know the answer to that question, Chloe Sullivan? Do you really want to know your destiny?"

Chloe closed her eyes for a long moment. She'd spent the last six months trying to convince herself she was in love with Jimmy, but she couldn't deny that Clark had always meant an awful lot to her. He still did. And yet she wasn't sure he was the right guy for her, either. He'd never treated her like she was rare and valuable and precious, the way Jimmy did.

At last she opened her eyes and studied the other woman. "Is it really possible for me to know my destiny?"

Star shrugged. "Perhaps."

"All right. Then tell me what you know."

Star tilted her head, and her eyes grew unfocused, as if she were looking at something in the far distance. "When you leave this shop," she said at last, "you will encounter the man you are destined to be with for the rest of your life. You will find the man whose destiny is entwined with yours, waiting for you, outside on the sidewalk."

Chloe felt her stomach tie into knots. "Okay. Thanks."

She turned and walked away, the PDA still clutched in her hand, and Star chuckled. "Did you decide not to write that story after all, Chloe Sullivan?"

Chloe twisted her head back and grinned ruefully at the woman over her shoulder.

"Maybe some other day."

She put a hand onto the doorknob. The bell tinkled, and she pushed the door open and stepped outside, breathing in the fresh, unperfumed air of outdoors, and blinking as her eyes adjusted from the dimness of the shop to the brilliance of midmorning.

Jimmy was waiting for her on the sidewalk.

And next to him stood Clark.

She looked up at them both, and her lips curved in a wry little smile. "Hey there, guys," she said softly. "What are you doing here?"

"We kind of wanted to talk to you," Jimmy said.

"About, you know, you and Jimmy," Clark said. He looked unhappy but resolute, and she realized he was trying to get them back together because he was worried about her happiness.

"Okay," she said. "Let's talk, then."

She walked over to them. They stood up, and she stepped between them, putting her arms into theirs. The three of them headed down the sidewalk together.

Could be either of them, she thought. She had no way of knowing for sure. And maybe that was for the best. Maybe it was better not to know your own destiny in advance.

Because sooner or later, she'd figure out who she was fated to be with, and whose life was destined to be most entwined with hers. Sooner or later, it would become obvious which guy was right for her, and then she'd make her choice, and hope he chose her too.

Until then... well, just like everyone else, she'd simply have to wait to discover her destiny.

-The End-