It's a Love Story

Clark/Chloe
All seasons
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: These characters belong to the CW and DC Comics, not to me.
The song is "Love Story" by Taylor Swift

We were both young when I first saw you
I close my eyes and the flashback starts...

We were just kids when we first met. I remember how you smiled at me, friendly but with just a trace of hesitance in your eyes. You were scared at being in a new school, but you weren't going to let anyone know about it.

We spent the whole afternoon together. And when you kissed me... well, I knew I'd never forget it.

By the time we got to high school, I was thinking of you more as a girl, and less as one of the guys. But we were still young, and I didn't really know what I wanted. What kind of girl I wanted.

It took me a long time to figure it out.

I guess I came close to figuring it out that year, when I asked you to the Spring Formal. But not quite close enough.

We went back to being friends, but we were good friends. You made me smile like no one else could. We were together all the time, in class and outside of class, at the Torch. People thought we were dating, but we always insisted we were just friends.

But we were more than just friends, and everyone knew it. Even we knew it. We just didn't want to admit it.

If you see either of us in our old yearbooks, you'll see the other one too. We were always together, shoulder to shoulder, working or studying or just kidding around.

The fact that we were inseparable, even then, probably should have been a clue to me.

But you always said I was clueless.

I guess you were right.

I saved you quite a few times in those years. But once you knew my secret, you saved me, too. You even saved the world more than once.

If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be standing here today. And neither would anyone else.

The little girl I met so long ago grew up to be a hell of a woman.
Like I said, we worked together a lot back then. We spent a lot of our spare time in the Torch. You practically lived there, and I spent as much time as I could there, considering I had a lot of chores to do on the farm, too.

I always said I wasn't that into journalism, that you were the one who had ink in her veins, but I guess I got the reporting bug then, and it never quite went away. You were responsible for that.

You helped make me into the person I am today, and I'm grateful for it.

After high school, you went on to get a job at the Daily Planet, where you'd always wanted to work. It wasn't easy, but you did it. I was so proud of you.

I was even prouder when you got your first front page byline.

Eventually I started working at the Planet, too, but by then you'd left. I hated working there without you. It never seemed right somehow. The Planet and you were bound up inextricably in my mind, to the point where it didn't seem that one could exist without the other.

I loved reporting, but I wanted you back.

I wanted to work with you as my partner.

We were still friends, though. You were the person who made me laugh, even as our lives grew more complicated. Even when things were darkest, you could smile at me, and the world would brighten.

And then, on a day I'll never be able to forget, I walked away from you. I was freaked out by everything that had happened, and terrified by my growing feelings for you, and I panicked, and ran. It was cruel to leave you when you needed someone so badly. I know that, and I'm sorry. All these years later, I still can't think of it without shame.

You cried as I left.

I had to fight not to cry.

Without you, I struggled to become the hero I thought I should be, but in my dark, lonely mood, I made some wrong choices. I wasn't the hero Metropolis needed. I wasn't the hero you deserved.

I wasn't the person I wanted to be.

We were still working together, even if we barely talked, and one day you lost it. You'd been keeping your emotions under wraps for a long time, and they just exploded. You told me off for leaving you, for taking a dark road, for becoming a vigilante instead of a hero. You pretty much ripped me a new one.

I think I needed someone to tell me off. As you yelled at me, I began to realize I wasn't above humanity, no matter what Jor-El told me. I wasn't a superior alien. I was just as capable of making mistakes as any human.

And I'd made a really huge one when I'd turned my back on you.

I grabbed you and kissed you.

You kissed me back, and I knew everything was going to be okay.

After that, I knew we were together for good, that nothing would ever come between us again. But it took another fight, this time with me doing the yelling, for you to see that you'd taken the wrong path, too.

You'd turned your back on journalism, but I thought that was a big mistake on your part. You were a journalist-- you'd always been a journalist-- and you belonged at the Planet, working beside me. I believed that with every fiber of my being.

I told you this, pretty damn loudly, and you got mad and stalked out, slamming the door behind you. I was afraid I'd lost you.

But the next day, I walked into the Planet and found you sitting at a desk next to mine.

Which was just the way it should be.

With your input and my mom's, I designed a new costume. I kept the S on the front, but I got rid of the rest of it. You'd told me black was for vigilantes. So I picked something a little brighter than black.

When you saw my new suit, you giggled, and told me I didn't have to go Technicolor to prove I was a good guy. But the thing is, I like blue and red. They're my colors. They suit me.

The new suit felt right.

Being with you felt right, too. I couldn't imagine how I'd ever survived without you in my arms every night. I finally understood I couldn't make it without you. So I flew you over the city and proposed.

And you said yes.

And so here we are, on the dance floor, swaying together while all our friends and family look on. We're work partners, and life partners, and I'm trying my hardest to be the hero you deserve. I don't think I'm quite there yet.

But with your help, I believe that someday I'll accomplish everything I want to do.

Right now, though, I'm happy to finally be holding you in my arms as my wife. I'm yours, and you're mine.

And that's the way it should be.


Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess
It's a love story
Baby, just say yes

-The End-