The Gift, Chapter 4

Clark/Chloe, Clark/Lois (Chlark wins in the end), Oliver/Lois
Season 9
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.
Read Chapter 3 here.
Read the story from the beginning here.

"Um, so here's the thing." Clark thought he sounded awkward and stupid, but he wasn't Ollie Queen, and he didn't do smooth and suave and debonair well. "See, I sort of love you."

She stood there, leaning on the doorjamb, and studied him for a long, silent moment. She looked so pretty, her golden hair tumbling loose around her face, her slim body clad in old jeans and a red sweatshirt with a smiling snowman on the front. He ached to take her into his arms and hold her, but he figured they'd better talk first. If he tried to hug her right now, she'd probably whack him with a chunk of kryptonite.

"Sort of," she repeated. "You sort of love me."

"Well... not so much sort of as totally."

"Oh. I see. You love me. And yet you were out on a date with Lois earlier this evening..."

"It was Lois who made me realize I love you," he said.

She nodded thoughtfully. "Of course she did. By dumping you?"

"No, no. It was kind of a mutual breakup thing."

"So I'm the rebound girl?"

"No," he said, a little desperately, because she seemed determined to think the worst of this situation and of him-- and, he had to admit, with very good reason. "She was the rebound girl. I was in love with you, Chlo, I've been in love with you for a long time... but after everything that happened with Jimmy I was afraid to... and besides, things have been so complicated, and with Lois it was so much simpler..."

"Because she didn't know your secret."

"Basically, yeah. Although she did figure out I'm the Blur tonight. It doesn't matter, not really. She won't tell anyone. But the thing is, with her there was none of this... stuff."

"Stuff."

"All the things we've been through together," he said, more desperately than before. "Davis and Jimmy and Zod and Brainiac. All the history, Chlo... it just kind of weighs us down sometimes. You know what I mean? Like we can't just be two people having fun any more, like we always have to be talking about the fate of the world..."

"Yes," she said softly. "I know what you mean."

"So being with Lois... it was kind of like being with you back in high school, when you didn't know I had powers and we weren't always trying to stop the world from ending. I could be with her and just... talk. Have fun."

She sighed. "I get it, Clark. Really. Lois is more fun."

"But Lois isn't you," he said hastily, because he was totally screwing this up, and he knew it. "Being with Lois is like pretending I'm back in those days with you, when everything was easier. But she's not you. It's not real. It's like I'm avoiding reality. Playing a game."

"Clark..." She let out a long breath. "I hate to say this, but you're a grade A asshole."

He winced a little, even though her words echoed his own, earlier comments. "I wasn't trying to hurt her, okay? I mean, let's be honest, I'm not the most self-aware person in the world. I didn't know why I was going out with her. I just knew I liked it, and that it was easy and simple and uncomplicated."

"Well, if you enjoy it that much..."

"She's my friend, okay? I like her, yeah. I really do. But it's not like what I have with you, which is so much more, um..."

"Uncomfortable."

"Complex. Complexity isn't a bad thing. It's just a little... heavy... sometimes."

"So," she said, frowning at him. "If we get together, do you really think all that complexity is going away?"

He thought about what Lois had told him. A world with a red sky, pools of blood, and himself fighting on Zod's side. A world he couldn't allow to happen.

"No," he answered. "It can't go away, Chloe. Things can never go back to the way they were between us in high school. I wouldn't want them to. You and I--- we fight evil together. That's what we do, what we're supposed to do. We're not supposed to be fighting separately."

"I don't know." She shrugged a shoulder with elaborate unconcern. "You seem to have been doing just fine without me."

He thought of Lois' visions, and shivered. "I don't think so," he said. "I need you, Chloe. And I'd like to think... I'd like to think you need me."

She stared at him for a long moment.

"I don't need anyone," she said at last, coldly, and shut the door in his face.

*****

"I've missed you, Lois."

Lois looked at the blond man across the table. She knew he'd been going through a rough patch lately. He'd been depressed and angry and self-destructive. She'd tried to reach out to him, but he'd pretty much turned his back on her.

"I called you, Ollie," she said tersely. "You hung up on me."

"Uh, yeah..."

"And when I tried to talk to you, you got really snotty."

"I know. I'm sorry." He looked at her across the table, with the sorrowful expression she'd never been able to say no to. "I've been pretty angry with myself, Lois. Some of the things I've done... well, I guess I was taking it out on you. I'm still..." He lowered his gaze. "I know I don't deserve you."

"Of course you don't," she said breezily. "Still, I'm willing to let you try to make it up to me."

He lifted his gaze, and stared at her with a heartrending expression of hope. "How would I do that?"

"For starters, you can buy me another drink." She lifted the glass, studied it, and then shook her head.

"On second thought," she said, "let's just go make love."

Read Chapter 5 here.