Beginnings

Clark/Chloe futurefic
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.
Cap from Smallville Dedication.
Inspired by the F3 prompt of "Beginnings."

He hadn't meant to fall in love with Chloe Sullivan. It had just happened.

Looking back on it, though, he couldn't quite figure out when it had happened. Maybe, he thought, it had been the night they'd been watching TV together, and he'd started tickling her for some comment she'd made, and they'd suddenly found themselves kissing, and kissing had led to...

Well, he'd been inclined to date it from there. Certainly on the surface, that seemed to be the night he'd fallen in love with her.

But when he thought about it a little more, he couldn't help remembering a dark, fear-filled night when she'd whispered, "I don't know if I'll ever see you again," flung her arms around him, and kissed him.

Yeah, he decided, thinking about it. It had probably been that night, actually. Despite everything that had come afterward, despite the other lovers and the years that had intervened, he thought that was probably the night when Chloe had first burrowed her way into his heart for keeps.

But then he thought about it a little more, remembering taking her to a dance, the wind blowing wildly as they ran into the high school together, dancing together on a balloon-covered floor, and the two of them leaning in for a kiss...

Could have been then, he decided. Definitely, it could have been. In fact, it probably had been. He'd let her push him away, and he'd become obsessed with Lana Lang, but deep down, there had always been Chloe...

But then again, there had been the day they met. Even after all these years, he remembered her so clearly, a perky little blonde with a great big smile. She'd stood on tiptoe and kissed him, and he hadn't resisted. And he'd liked it. He'd liked it a lot. He hadn't ever been able to forget it.

On that very first day, he realized, with that very first kiss, she'd somehow become part of him, a part that he could never quite leave behind.

Thinking about it, he wasn't sure when he'd fallen in love with Chloe Sullivan. He couldn't quite pinpoint the day or the hour, or even the year. All he knew was that something had been seeded in him on the very day they met, something that had lain dormant for years, and then flowered into what he felt for her now.

He wasn't sure when he'd fallen in love with her.

But that kiss in his loft so long ago-- that had been the beginning.

And every kiss after that had been another beginning, a moment that had brought them closer and closer together, until at last they shared this beginning.

He looked at her and smiled, then glanced over at the man who stood in front of them.

"I do," he said.

-The End-