Ever the Same, Chapter 5

Clark/Chloe
Season 5, following my story "Never Let Me Go"
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me

The past

"Just when I think I have you figured out, you surprise me." Chloe smiled up at the tall boy who was holding her in his strong arms.

Clark Kent lifted his eyebrows. "How's that?"

"The tux... the song... tonight..." She smiled into his eyes, unable to articulate exactly how wonderful this moment was. Everything was perfect. It was the best night of her life, beyond question. And given the way Clark was looking at her, like she was the most gloriously beautiful thing he'd ever seen, she had the feeling it was only going to get better.

"And I'm still here," he said softly, lowering his head so that he was almost whispering into her ear.

She'd been afraid he was going to leave her and run off, but he hadn't. "Yes," she agreed, turning her head slightly, so that her lips brushed against his cheek as she spoke. "You are."

She thought he might kiss her, but instead he pressed his face into her hair and pulled her against him a little harder. She could feel the hard muscles of his body, the heat that seemed to radiate from him. She turned her nose into his throat and breathed in the clean fragrance of his skin, a scent that somehow managed to be sweet and masculine all at once. And then she lifted her head slightly and looked straight at him.

Despite his height, he was only fifteen, but something very adult suddenly flared in his eyes. She didn't know much about guys, but she was pretty sure the look in his eyes was sexual desire, a reflection of the same heated sensation that was melting her from the inside out.

His eyelashes fluttered down, veiling his eyes. He lowered his head again, and their lips touched.

He tasted good, fresh and cool and crisp, and she opened her lips just a bit in an instinctive response. His tongue slid into her mouth and touched hers, very lightly, and she almost fainted, right there in his arms. She was standing on a dance floor, French kissing Clark Kent right in front of the whole school. Unbelievable.

Somewhere in her mind, a faint warning bell went off. This isn't right, she thought vaguely. This isn't happening. Somehow, this isn't right.

She ignored the warning bell and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on tiptoes and kissing him harder. She didn't care if the other kids were staring at them, giggling, or even if chaperones were heading in their direction. Because this was definitely happening, and it was definitely right. Beyond any question, this was right.

She and Clark were finally a couple, and that was exactly how things ought to be.

*****

The present

"Take it easy, Chloe." Lois rubbed Chloe's shoulders, looking awkward and uncomfortable. She was always uncomfortable faced with emotions, because Lois was the kind of person who generally tried to keep her emotions under wraps-- until she totally lost control and kicked the shit out of someone, anyway.

"I'm sorry." Chloe snuffled, wiping her tears away with her palms. "I know I'm pathetic."

"No." Lois sounded a lot more sympathetic than Chloe had expected. Lois had never been a big Clark fan, but she loved Chloe like a sister. "You're not pathetic, just sad. You and Clark had been dating a long, long time."

Chloe lifted her head and smiled wryly. "Well, yeah, if you consider a month to be a long time."

"A month?" Lois blinked at her. "Huh? You guys have been dating ever since I can remember, Chlo."

"What?" Chloe shook her head. "No, we just started..." She trailed off, bewildered. Suddenly she couldn't quite remember when she and Clark had begun dating, or what they'd done on their first date, or even when they'd made love for the first time.

What ought to be a clear, sparkling memory in her head, a joyful memory of the first time she and Clark had made love, had become a muddled mess. She could remember dozens of first kisses, a score of totally different moments in which she'd made love to Clark for the first time. She could remember Clark standing on a football field telling her he loved her, and standing in the exact same spot, telling her sorrowfully he'd never felt that way about her.

All of a sudden, her head whirled with so many contradictory memories that she felt dizzy.

"No," she said slowly, trying to dredge up the truth, even though her mind didn't seem to want to cooperate. "We just... we started dating last month..."

"No." Lois shook her head firmly. "You started dating way back in freshman year. You told me so."

Chloe closed her eyes, overwhelmed by a jumbled kaleidoscope of memories that didn't make any sense. "No," she said softly. "We started dating last year. I was under the influence of this Gatorade love potion, and I went up to Clark's loft and kissed him, and next thing I knew we were making love. We started dating then."

"No." Lois was starting to look wide-eyed, too. "You started dating right after I came to town. I remember, he and I found you at that old foundry, and when he untied you, he kissed you..." She trailed off, sounding as uncertain as it was possible for Lois to sound. "That can't be right, Chlo. It can't all be right."

"No," Chloe agreed numbly. "It can't be. But it is."

Lois stared at her. "What the hell?"

Chloe frowned, trying to make sense of everything rioting in her head, without success.

"I have no idea," she said at last. "I don't know what's going on, but I think something really weird has happened, Lo."

Lois rolled her eyes.

"Oh, there's a surprise," she said.

Read Chapter 6 here.