Density, Chapter 6

Lois, Clark, Chloe, Jimmy
Season 8 (spoilers up through 8.10)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.
Read Chapter 5 here.

Clark had managed to pull himself together by the time the wedding actually started. I walked slowly down the aisle and paused in front of a huge bank of white flowers, then turned and watched as Clark and Chloe walked slowly toward me.

A lump formed in my throat at the sight of them walking down the aisle together, her hand resting on his arm, his hand on hers. I'm not a crier, and I never cry at weddings, but the sight of them together, her in a white lacy dress and him in a tux, and knowing the way he felt about her... well, it made my chest ache.

I still didn't know how Chloe felt about Clark. Given the fact that she had something else hanging out in her brain, it was impossible to know for sure. But I remembered everything I knew about their history together, remembered her looking sorrowful at their senior prom because he'd danced with someone else, remembered them calling each other ten times a day, remembered walking in on them almost kissing once or twice.

And suddenly I couldn't shake the feeling that it should be the two of them getting married.

Clark glanced at me as they approached, and I saw the anxiety deep in his eyes: What can I do to stop this? I shook my head, very slightly, reminding him to chill out. I wasn't going to let whatever was in my cousin's head kill her because Clark was freaking out. Horrible though it seemed to put Chloe through all this, if we had to play this one through to the end, we would.

I thought about what that might mean-- Chloe being forced to have a honeymoon with a guy she didn't love and hadn't really wanted to marry-- and shuddered just a bit. I didn't want to make Chloe suffer through that any more than Clark did.

But as awful as the prospect was, it was better than her being killed.

Wasn't it?

Looking so angelic I half expected to see a halo around her head, Chloe paused next to Jimmy. A bright, happy smile lit up her face, and I wondered if it the joy belonged to her, or to the thing in her head.

I had no way to tell.

Clark hesitated, his hand holding hers on his arm, and for a long, horrible moment I wasn't sure he was going to let her go. But at last he released her, turned, and made his way to the front pew, practically falling into it. I could see the terrible despair in his every movement, and I knew his inability to save the woman he loved from this was killing him.

But that was better than the thing in Chloe's head killing her.

The pastor started to intone the words of the marriage ceremony: Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony...

Oh, God, I thought. Poor Chloe. Poor Smallville. Hell, even poor Jimmy. He was marrying a woman with an extra passenger in her head, and didn't even know it.

This situation was just so horrible, and there wasn't a damn thing either me or Clark could do to stop it.

Or was there?

Suddenly a plan sprung full-blown into my mind, and I thought of one thing I could do that might delay the wedding without tipping off The Thing. Well, okay, it wasn't a plan so much as an idea. A very small idea, really.

But hopefully it would be enough to stop this, at least for a little while.

"Oh, my God," I moaned, loudly and dramatically, doubling over and clutching my stomach. "I feel terrible."

And I staggered and fell, right into Chloe.

Read Chapter 7 here.