Promise Me

Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9

Clark/Chloe
Season 6, "Promise"
12,000 words
Rating: Adult. If you're under eighteen, please go elsewhere now.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.

"Hurry up. I'm freezing in here."

Chloe could hear Clark Kent on the other side of the door, rattling the handle. "The handle broke, Chlo. Hold on."

The door opened, and she saw he'd broken the hinges and was lifting the door aside. Wow, she thought. Handy guy to have around.

"Thanks," she said, walking out of the small room she'd been trapped in. She put a hand on his arm and looked up into his eyes with gratitude.

The corner of his mouth tilted up. "Next time you have a craving for wine at eleven in the morning, go for a red."

"I'm sorry. Really. Lana hid Lex's wedding present down here, and she asked me to get it for her, and... well, the door got stuck somehow."

He put the door back into place, lifting it as easily as if it were made of paper, and used his heat vision to weld it back into place. She watched, impressed despite all the amazing things she'd seen Clark do over the past couple of years.

Wow. Really handy guy to have around.

He turned back to her, and something odd passed over his face. "Um," he said, suddenly looking a little uneasy. "I'd better go."

"That's it?"

He lifted his eyebrow. "What's it?"

"You filled your damsel-in-distress quota for the day, and now you're just going to... walk away?"

He cocked his head to the side, looking puzzled. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Well, for one thing, I'm still freezing. You could at least warm me up."

He studied her for a moment longer, then a slow grin broke over his features. He had a gorgeous smile, she thought, a smile that transformed him from handsome to breathtaking.

"Chloe," he said, his voice full of humor. "I thought you'd never ask."

"Dork." She batted at him. "Use your heat vision, doofus."

"Well, if you're not going to ask nicely..."

"Come on, Clark. Seriously, I'm really cold."

He grinned and narrowed his eyes at her, and heat flared out. She knew he was capable of scorching a hole through steel, but she also knew he was capable of regulating the heat. He stared at her intently, and she started to feel warm and comfortable again.

"Ahhh," she said, leaning her head back against the stone wall and letting her eyes drift shut. "Much better. That feels really good, Clark."

The heat abruptly grew hotter, and he blinked and jerked his head away. A wine bottle on the nearby wall shattered. She straightened up and looked at him, puzzled. "What happened?"

"Nothing." His voice sounded strained, and he blinked hard. "Come on, let's go."

"No." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him. "That was not nothing. What just happened?"

"I just almost turned you into a chicken nugget," he snapped. "Extra crispy. That's all."

She frowned, perplexed. "I thought you had better control over your heat vision, Clark."

"I do, usually. It's just..." He looked away, and even in the relatively dim light she could see his cheeks flush. He lifted his hands to his eyes, rubbing at them. "Never mind."

She thought about what she'd said just before his heat vision had flared: That feels really good, Clark.

A light dawned. She'd assumed he was thinking about Lana, the woman he supposedly loved, who was supposed to marry Lex Luthor today.

But judging from the way his heat vision had abruptly blazed so hot, and considering the unmistakable tension in his big shoulders, it was evident his mind was on another woman entirely.

Clark, she realized, was thinking about her.

Read Chapter 2 here.