My Rainbow, Chapter 2

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

"Mom... Dad... I have something important to tell you."

At his nervous words, Clark's parents came to a halt and looked at him, a little suspiciously, he thought. At their cautiously attentive expressions, he shuffled his feet, more nervous than before.

"I, uh, told Chloe everything. Everything about me, I mean."

Martha Kent pushed a strand of auburn hair out of her eyes and stared at him. "What?"

"Yeah. I did." He nodded, staring at them hopefully. "Right before I took her to the Fortress... and proposed to her."

Martha's mouth fell open, but he thought she didn't look displeased. "What did she say? Did she say yes?"

"I asked her not to tell me yet. It's an awful lot to slam her with, all at once."

His father was frowning, the lines on his weathered face more noticeable than ever. He looked a lot more worried than Martha did. But he'd always been more anxious about Clark's secret. "Clark," he said. "Have you really thought this through, son?"

Clark looked back at his father steadily. "I've been in love with Chloe forever, Dad. If I'm ever going to risk sharing who I really am with anyone... I want it to be her."

"I'm proud of you, Clark," Martha said quietly. Jonathan shot a quick frown at her, and she lifted her chin in a dismissive gesture. "Well, I am. I know this has been weighing on Clark for a long time, Jonathan. And yes, it's a risk, but any big decision has risks associated with it. And he loves Chloe so much."

Jonathan hesitated, as if mulling it over. "I guess so," he agreed. "It's just hard looking over at your son and realizing you're talking to a man. A man who doesn't really need you any more."

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Clark. Clark hugged him back, enormously relieved to have his parents' approval.

"I'll always need you, Dad," he said softly.

*****

"Okay, cuz. Spill it."

Chloe sat on a stool in the apartment over the Talon, an old movie theater turned coffee house. She looked over at her taller cousin, who was getting the red, white and blue decorations together for the Kent campaign party that was scheduled for this evening, after the election results were announced. Lois had managed Jonathan Kent's campaign for state senator, and she looked really harassed right now, so busy that Chloe sort of regretted coming over to talk to her.

"It's nothing," Chloe said, shrugging. "Not really."

"Please." Lois rolled her eyes, picking up a big box of patriotically hued bunting. "Three guesses as to what's bothering you. Tall, dark, and bumbling."

"Sort of." At Lois' wry reference to Clark, Chloe blew out her breath in a sigh. "It's just that... okay, what would you do if you thought you knew someone really well, but it turned out that there was this whole other side to them?"

"Ah-ha," Lois said triumphantly. "Smallville's a mass murderer in his spare time. I knew it."

Chloe couldn't help grinning. "Nothing like that, no. But... well..."

Lois put down the box and looked at her, and her expression went unexpectedly serious. "Look, cuz," she said, "you've been in love with Smallville for years now. I don't believe there's anything in the world he could tell you that could change the way you feel about him. Am I right?"

Chloe dropped her gaze away from Lois' frank eyes and studied a glittering red star that had fallen to the floor. "Yeah," she said softly. "You're right."

"I don't know what's going on between you two, or what Boy Blunder told you, but I honestly don't think you can live without him. And I think he feels the same way about you. I doubt any secrets he might have could possibly change that."

Chloe looked up, into her cousin's earnest eyes, and smiled.

"Yeah," she agreed. "You're right. Nothing will ever change that."

*****

"You told Chloe your secret?"

Clark sat backward on a chair, his arms crossed on the chair's back, his chin resting on his arms, in the dorm room Lana shared with Chloe. Chloe was at the Daily Planet this afternoon, working, but that was okay, because he'd really dropped by to see Lana. He'd figured she'd want to know what he'd done, and he was trying to give Chloe some space to think over his proposal anyway.

Lana's tone was shrill, almost indignant, and it made him feel slightly defensive and unsure of himself. He reminded himself firmly he'd made the right decision. He hoped.

"Yeah," he answered, shifting in the chair a bit. "I told her everything."

"Oh, my God. Okay. Um..." Lana looked at him, her dark green eyes wide with shock, as well some other emotion, something he couldn't quite identify. "But you never told her before. So why now?"

"Chloe's not stupid, Lana. She knew I was keeping something from her, and it was starting to really bug her. It was only a matter of time before I lost her."

"But..." The something he couldn't identify flickered in the depths of her eyes. "But you guys are meant for each other. You've been in love with each other for years. Chloe wouldn't walk away from you, even if you never told her the truth."

"I couldn't risk it," he answered simply.

"So how did she take it? I mean, she's the one who coined the term meteor freaks, Clark. I know you've always worried she isn't quite open-minded enough to accept you. So how did she react?"

"I'm not sure yet." He tried to smile, but without a lot of success. "I was hoping she'd call by now, but..."

As if on cue, the hot pink phone on Lana's desk rang. Clark looked at it hopefully, and Lana picked it up. "Hello?" There was a pause, and she smiled ruefully in Clark's direction. "No, this isn't Mr. Foo's Noodle House. Sorry."

Clark sagged with disappointment as she put the phone down. "Clark," she said gently, picking up a pen and twiddling it in her fingers. "Look, if Chloe hasn't called by now... well, I think you have to face the possibility that this might be too much for her to accept."

"She loves me, Lana. I know she loves me."

"Yes, she does. But love isn't always enough. Chloe's had a thing about meteor freaks ever since she figured out the meteors affected her mom somehow. She's not the most accepting person in the world on the subject. I think we both know that."

Clark shifted on his chair again, more uncomfortably than before. They'd had this conversation, or variants of it, a hundred times before, since Lana had learned his secret last year. A girl named Alicia, whom he'd briefly dated after she found out his secret, had come back to town and expressed an interest in him. He'd been dating Chloe, so he'd made it clear he wasn't interested. Angry and vengeful, Alicia had tried to trick him into exposing his abilities by setting the Talon on fire and trapping Chloe inside.

He'd managed to get Chloe out safely without displaying any of his abilities, but Lana had been outside in the alley. She'd seen him superspeeding into the building, and he'd had no choice but to explain everything to her.

Since then, Lana had made it quite clear that she didn't believe Chloe could accept him for what he was. Clark wasn't so sure of that, but Lana and Chloe had been close friends for a long time, so he tended to accept her judgment on the matter. She knew Chloe better than anyone, after all. And there was certainly no doubt that Chloe had a "thing" about meteor freaks. She'd used the Torch, the Smallville High newspaper, to out an awful lot of them over the years.

Clark wasn't a meteor freak, of course, but his presence on the planet was the whole reason meteor freaks existed to begin with, because the first meteor shower had accompanied him to Earth, and the second had occurred because of him, too. He couldn't help but worry that if she knew the whole truth, Chloe might blame him for what had happened to her mom.

Even so, he wanted to be totally honest with Chloe, because she meant far too much to him for him to continue lying to her. He'd wanted to tell Chloe his secret before, numerous times, but Lana had always talked him out of it.

Until today.

"I think maybe you don't give her enough credit," he answered, hoping to God he was right.

"We'll see," she answered, looking dubious. "This is an awful lot to load onto her, Clark."

"I actually loaded some other stuff onto her, too." He lowered his eyes, unsure how she'd react to his other news. "I haven't gotten my answer yet... but I asked her to marry me."

"What?" She dropped the pen she was fiddling with, and her eyes went huge.

At her shock, a wry grin tilted his mouth. "Yeah. I proposed."

"But... but... the two of you are so young."

He shrugged a shoulder. "I might be young, but I know what I want."

She stared at him, that undefinable something in her eyes. For an instant he thought she looked terribly sad. But that was silly, because she was his best friend, and she only wanted him to be happy. She always had.

"You want Chloe," she said at last.

"I want Chloe," he agreed. "She's the most important thing in the world to me, Lana. And I'm willing to risk everything for her. Everything."

Read Chapter 3 here.