The Gift, Chapter 5

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 4 here.
Read the story from the beginning here.

Clark went through the door before Chloe had a chance to lock it. She frowned at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What the hell is your problem?"

"I already told you," he answered steadily, closing the door quietly behind him despite his impulse to slam it. "I'm in love with you. And you just shut the door in my face."

"I don't love you." She sounded as if she were making an effort at defiance, but her voice trembled. "I don't love anyone. I'm not ever going to love anyone again, Clark. Everyone I've ever loved has... has left me, and I'm not... I'm not..."

He stared at her for a long moment. "Chloe," he said softly, "I'm still here."

"No, you're not." Her voice quavered more than before. "I never see you any more, you're always with Lois, you don't even call..."

It dawned on him that in his effort to give her space, not to crowd her too much, he'd hurt her very badly. He'd made her feel like he didn't even want her as a friend any more, let alone...

Damn it, he was an idiot. He'd been afraid to come to her for fear of rejection, so he'd made her feel rejected.

What an ass he was.

"I'm sorry," he said, very humbly. "I thought you wanted to be left alone for a while..."

"Oh, sure." Her voice was bitter. "I've just loved watching Lois take my place in your life. Best friend, co-worker, even sidekick to your superhero..."

"Lois is not my sidekick, Chlo. Every time she tries it, she winds up getting kidnapped or thrown off a building or something. If I let her do sidekick stuff for me, I wouldn't have time to help anyone else. I'd be saving her all the time."

"Still. You've been calling her. I mean, as the Blur, but still. Calling her to talk about things."

He looked at her, saw the anger in her eyes, and beneath it grief. Grief not for Jimmy, but for him. He swallowed.

"I didn't think you wanted to talk to me," he said, very softly.

She glared at him.

"You were wrong."

*****

"God, Lois. I missed this. I missed you."

She pressed up against Ollie in the back seat of his limo-- good thing it had dark windows-- and smiled against his throat. "You didn't have to miss me," she whispered. "All you had to do was come to me. I've been here, all this time. Waiting for you."

"I know." His voice was muffled against her hair. "But some of the things I've done-- I've gone so far wrong, Lois, I can't forgive myself, let alone ask you to forgive me..."

"It's all right," she murmured, trying to offer comfort. There was a terrible despair in his voice that cut into her heart. "Whatever you've done, it's all right."

"No." He sounded choked, almost tearful. "I... I killed a man, Lois. I killed Lex Luthor."

She froze in his arms, then drew away, pulling her suit around her to cover her exposed flesh.

"I think," she said, "we need to talk first."

Read Chapter 6 here.