My Rainbow, Chapter 1

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12

Clark/Chloe, full cast
Season 5, "Reckoning"
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.

In the beginning
I believed every word that you said
Now that you're gone
My world is in shreds

Oh you loved me and left me
You took all the things that I needed so bad
I'm standing here wondering
Where is the love that I had

Give me silver, blue and gold
The color of the sky I'm told
My rainbow is overdue
"Silver, Blue and Gold" - Bad Company

"I brought gloves and a scarf, like you said."

Clark turned around and saw her standing there, on the stairs of his loft, and immense relief flooded him. He loved her so much, and he'd been scared to death that she wouldn't show up. "I was afraid you weren't going to come," he said softly.

"Well..." A faint, wry smile curved her mouth as she walked up the last few stairs into his loft. "To be perfectly honest, I don't think a mystery date is exactly what our relationship needs right now."

He walked over to her and put his hands on her upper arms, tentatively. No more mysteries, he told himself. No more secrets. No more lies. "That's why I called you."

His expression must have given his nervousness away, because her eyes went wide. "Are you okay?" She put a hand on his chest. "Oh, my God. Your heart's racing."

His mouth twisted in an attempt at a smile. "That's because I'm terrified."

"What's going on?"

He looked down at her and spoke very seriously. She was so heartbreakingly beautiful that it almost hurt to look at her. But he knew it would hurt far worse if he didn't see her every day for the rest of his life. "I can tell by the way you look at me that I'm losing you."

"Clark..."

He went on doggedly, speaking right over whatever she had been about to say. "I'm not blaming you. It's not your fault. There's something I should have shown you... a long time ago."

*****

Fifteen minutes later they walked into the semidarkness of the caves together. She'd been very quiet in his truck, like he was freaking her out with all the drama. He thought with a touch of self-deprecating humor that drama was what he did best. Taking her small hand in his big one, he led her to the stone table behind the wall.

"I don't remember this place ever being here..." She frowned, looking around. "How'd you find it?"

Since the wall wouldn't open for anyone but him, there was no possible way she could have ever seen it before. "It was left here for me," he said.

Her eyebrows shot up. "For you?"

"Yeah." He moved to the table and removed the octagonal key from his pocket. "Look, you should know that what I'm about to show you... it may change the way you think about me."

"Clark," she said softly. "Whatever it is, it's okay."

He put the key into the slot in the table. Silver, blue and gold light shot outward, lighting the dark cave, engulfing them, and she looked at him with a startled expression.

"It's okay." He held out a hand to her. "Do you trust me?"

She hesitated, just a moment, then took his hand with an expression of trust that melted his heart. He wrapped his arm around her, and the light twined around them, seeming to swallow them up in a rush of rainbows. And then, suddenly, the light faded, and they were in the Fortress of Solitude, the immense crystal and ice structure that had been built for him in the Arctic.

Even inside the Fortress it was so cold that their breath looked like smoke, and a light dusting of snow drifted through the air. She let go of his hand and stepped away from him, staring.

"Oh. My. God."

"When you asked me if I believed in life on other planets," he said, softly, hesitantly, "you have no idea how ironic that was." He paused, then blurted out the truth. "I'm from a planet called Krypton."

She turned back and stared at him, her eyes wide with shock, then put her hand on his cheek as if trying to convince herself he was real. "But... but you're just like everyone else."

"No. I'm not."

He took a deep breath, steeling himself, then swung her up into his arms and leaped upward.

They rose straight up in the air, sailing a long, long distance up. She didn't scream, didn't squeal, didn't even tighten her arms around his neck. She simply stared up at him. He landed gently on a high outcropping of ice and placed her down, very carefully.

She stared up at him for a moment longer, then stepped away from him, studying the vastness of the Fortress. "This isn't the first time you've done that, is it?"

He was silent.

She turned back to him. "How many times have you been there when I didn't know it, saving me?"

"It doesn't matter," he answered, his voice low. "I love you. I could never let anything happen to you."

"And no one knew?"

He lowered his head, avoiding her eyes, because the truth was that someone else did know. She'd found out by accident, and had become his secret-keeper, his loyal friend and adviser and protector. But the fact that he'd shared his secret with someone else first, before he'd told the love of his life, still made him feel guilty. "There were so many days I wanted to tell you..."

"What makes today any different?"

Her voice was challenging, and he lifted his head and looked into her eyes. "Today," he said softly, "I want you to know who I really am."

He opened his hand, showing her a chunk of coal, then squeezed it hard. Golden light shone from his hand as he applied unimaginable force. When he opened his hand again and blew the coal dust away, a perfect diamond sat on his palm, sparkling in the dim blue light of the Fortress.

He took a gold band from his pocket, placed the diamond in its setting, and used his heat vision to solder it in place. She watched in wonder, her eyes wide, as he displayed his powers.

And then he dropped down on one knee, holding the ring up.

"Chloe," he said softly. "Will you marry me?"

Read Chapter 2 here.