Wherever You Will Go, Chapter 17

Clark/Chloe
Season 6, following my story "Ever the Same"
Rating: Adult. If you're under eighteen, please go elsewhere now.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.
Read the previous chapter here.
Read the story from the beginning here.

"Hell, no."

Clark's voice went deep and stern, the way it always did when he was trying to go alpha male on her. Chloe crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at him, telling him without words that she wouldn't let him intimidate her.

"One of us has to talk to Lex," she said, trying to keep her tone reasonable. "If he's wearing kryptonite bling, you can't do it. Raya can't do it. That leaves me as the only choice."

"You could get killed." Clark scowled at her. "If you're not invulnerable any more, you can't just walk in there on your own. As far as they know, you're Zod. They'll kill you."

"I'll let Lex know I'm not Zod in advance. He may not believe me, but if Lois is working with him, she won't let him kill me before he talks to me."

"What about Lex's people? What if one of them gets trigger happy?" He shook his head. "It's too dangerous, Chlo. It's too big a risk."

"So what should we do?" She let her impatience show in her voice. "Shall we just run away and abandon all these people, let them all fight and die? They're fighting against an alien invader who isn't even here any more, Clark. They have to know he's gone. We have to tell them."

"Chlo..." He shut his eyes for a moment, looking like he was in real pain. "You're pregnant."

"Excuse me?" She stared at him for a moment, while real horror clutched at her lungs, strangling her. Good God, had Zod raped Clark? "Are you telling me that Zod made you--"

"Nothing like that," he interrupted. "The truth is that I couldn't have sex with her if I wanted to. I could tell she wasn't you-- her EM field felt different. And now that we're bonded, I can't have sex with anyone besides you. I can't."

The tightness in her chest loosened a bit, and the corners of her mouth turned up in an involuntary smile. "That's one good reason to mate with a Kryptonian, I guess. You don't have to worry about him sleeping around. But if I'm pregnant--"

"Zod said you were pregnant," he clarified. "I don't know if it's true or not. She claimed to have taken some of my DNA and implanted it into one of your eggs."

Chloe put a hand over her lower abdomen protectively. "Can't you check?"

"I don't think it's a good idea to use x-ray vision on a baby, Chlo. Anyway, it's probably the size of a dust mite right now. I'm an alien, not a microscope."

"Okay." She swallowed. "So I might be carrying around an extra passenger. I have to admit that scares me a little, but I don't think it can change our decisions, Clark. All those thousands of people out there outweigh my life. They even outweigh the life of a baby."

"Yeah." He looked grim. "I guess you're right."

"It seems that Chloesullivan-El is the only person who can stop this," Raya observed.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "I told you, call me Chloe. But you're right. Look, Clark... I need to get to Lex, now, before the shooting starts. I think the only thing holding back a bloodbath right now is that 'Zod' hasn't given the order to shoot. But sooner or later someone's going to start shooting, and then people are going to die. So I have to get hold of Lex, right now."

Clark looked stubborn for an instant longer, shoulders squared and chin held high. Then she saw him glance out the window, at the milling mass of humanity below, and his shoulders dropped a little.

"Okay," he said. "Let's do it."

Read Chapter 18 here.