Straight Into My Heart, Chapter 2

Clark/Chloe
Season 7, MHE to "Persona"
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 Chapter 1 here.

Chloe's arms twined around his neck, and Clark got that warm feeling inside, the same feeling he'd gotten when they'd hugged earlier in the day. Only this was, well, warmer, because his mouth was against hers.

He liked the feel of her mouth against his. He'd only kissed her a handful of times, but he'd always liked it better than he really ought to, considering they'd never really dated.

He kissed her a little harder, a little more aggressively. And then his tongue was sliding over her lips, caressing, exploring, and her lips parted, and his tongue slid in and touched hers, and--

"Whoa there, big boy."

Suddenly she was pushing at his shoulders, albeit none too hard. Not that it mattered-- as strong as he was, she couldn't push him around any more than she could push a Mack truck along. The pushing was clearly intended more as a polite hint than an actual effort to move him, and he took it as such, lifting his head and looking at her quizzically.

"Um," she said. "You appear to be kissing me."

He quirked an eyebrow. "I guess those amazing observational skills are what make you such a great reporter."

"Knock it off." She smacked his shoulder, very lightly. "The point I'm trying to make is that you're supposed to be at home with Lana, and instead you're standing here, sticking your tongue down my throat."

"I was not."

"You would have been in another minute or so. I just didn't let you get to the tonsillectomy stage."

"Yeah, well, about that--"

"Not right now," she said, frowning at him like a kindergarten teacher scowling at a kid eating paste. "Not until you tell me exactly why you decided it would be a good idea to come over here and snog me."

Her eyes were honest and straightforward, and he dropped his gaze. "Actually," he answered, "I came over here to talk. I didn't decide to kiss you until you opened the door."

"Oh, okay," she said, nodding very seriously. "I guess my sexy lingerie just blew you away."

He didn't bother to try to explain how a too-big t-shirt could be sexier than lacy nightgowns, at least on her. It didn't make a lot of sense outside his head, anyway. All he knew was that on her, the oversized t-shirt was enough to make his hormones all jump up and down and demand action.

Thought it was equally possible his hormones were just overactive from a month of being on ice. He wasn't really sure what he'd been thinking when he grabbed her.

Hell, he didn't know what was going on in his head, so he didn't know how he was going to explain it to her.

She seemed to read his dismayed expression, because she let go of him and stepped back. "Come on," she said gently, grabbing him by the upper arm and steering him into the apartment. "Talk to me, Clark."

He let himself be led over to the couch. He sat down, and she settled down next to him, the usual distance away-- close enough to talk easily, but not quite close enough for him to put an arm around her.

It dawned on him that he wanted to put an arm around her.

She looked at him, brushing her hair back out of her eyes in an absent gesture. "So why aren't you at home with Lana, Clark?"

"I don't want to be with Lana," he said. He thought he sounded a little sullen, but he couldn't help it.

"Because she was with your evil twin."

He bowed his head and spoke to the floor. "She didn't even realize it wasn't me, Chlo."

"I think maybe she did," Chloe said quietly.

He nodded glumly. He'd already come to much the same conclusion. "She didn't want to admit it was me, then. The phantom told her everything she wanted to hear, and she didn't question it."

"Maybe that's how most people would react," Chloe suggested. "I mean, don't you think you might fall for it if Lana started telling you everything you'd ever wanted to hear?"

"Maybe," he admitted. "But I'd like to think I wouldn't, uh..."

She looked at him a long moment. "She had sex with the evil guy, didn't she?"

He nodded, still looking at the floor.

"Well, ick. I guess I can understand why you're creeped out by that."

"I'm not creeped out, exactly. I'm just... I don't know, it's hard to explain. She had sex with him. She had a great time with him. We never have that much fun together, and we definitely haven't, uh..."

"Well," she said, "at least this clarifies one thing. If BizarroClark can have sex with a human woman while fully powered, so can you."

He put his face into his hands and spoke in a whisper.

"I think I always knew I could make love to her, Chlo. I just didn't want to."

"Yeah, right." She snorted. "Which is why when she got superpowers, the two of you did it all afternoon."

He jerked his head up and glared at her. "I thought maybe it would fix things," he snapped. "Something was missing, and I thought if we did that, then maybe..." His voice trailed off, and he sighed. "But all it did was make things worse."

"Yeah," she said, sounding sorrowful. "Take it from me, sex doesn't fix a relationship that's broken. It's like painting over a crack in a wall-- it might look good for a while, but eventually the crack shows right through the paint, and gets even bigger."

She sounded like she was speaking from experience, and the thought of her having sex with her ex-boyfriend Jimmy sent a stab of jealousy through him. He ignored it.

"You're right," he said. "And there are a hell of a lot of cracks in my relationship with Lana. I've been trying to ignore them... but ignoring them doesn't make them go away. I think I just made everything worse."

"Maybe you should be telling this to Lana, instead of me."

He sighed, and straightened up. "I came to talk to you because I can always talk to you, Chlo. You always help me figure things out."

"That's what I'm here for," she answered, and he thought her voice sounded slightly brittle.

He looked at her, looked at the rumpled hair and the crease on her cheek, and he couldn't stop himself from smiling.

"I missed you, Chlo."

She reached out and took his hand, in a familiar, friendly gesture. "I missed you, too. A lot." She looked up at him, and her eyebrows drew down in her customary expression of curiosity. "How exactly did Jor-El keep you imprisoned? One of those columns of light?"

"No," he said grimly. "A column of ice. I was aware of everything, but I couldn't move. I couldn't sleep or eat or do anything but think. It sucked."

She nodded, very seriously. "I can imagine. Thinking for that long could cause you serious injury."

He reached out and tugged her hair. "Stop it. It's not funny, honest. Imagine being forced to do nothing but think for a month, and ask yourself if you'd like it."

The glint of humor in her eyes died away. "Yeah," she said softly. "I guess that would be pretty horrible."

"And it might have gone on a lot longer, if Jor-El hadn't realized the phantom was on the loose." He shivered. "God, Chlo, I hated being stuck there. I was afraid someone I loved was going to get hurt, or killed, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do to protect any of you."

She squeezed his hand. "It's okay, Clark," she said, very softly. "You're here now."

He turned toward her, put his arms around her, and pulled her against his chest. She didn't seem to mind. She cuddled up against him, and the desire to kiss her ignited inside him again.

This time he decided to be a little more subtle about it. He brushed kisses over her ear, and she trembled.

"Hey," she said, her voice muffled against his throat. "What is this all about? Are you trying to get back at Lana for having sex with the phantom?"

He lifted his head and blinked, shocked. "Of course not. I just... I just wanted to kiss you, Chlo."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "If it was bad for Lana to sleep with your double unknowingly," she told him, "then it's a whole lot worse for you to be messing around with another girl deliberately."

"Yeah," he said softly. "You're right. But..."

"But what?"

"I really missed you, Chlo." He lowered his head and kissed her, full on the mouth, then drew back a little and looked straight into her eyes.

"While I was trapped in the ice," he told her, "you're what I thought about. Not Lana. You."

Her eyes went wide, and she stared at him for a long moment.

And then she drew his head down and kissed him.

Read Chapter 3 here.