Chlollie Fanfic: Beauty in the Breakdown IX, 'Fessing Up, Chapter 5

[babydee1]

Back with more Chlollie!  It's a fairly short chapter, even by my standards, but I think it covers a lot of very important ground. 

Enjoy!  Fantastic banner by alxnhnt22.  You rock, babes! 

Title:              Beauty in the Breakdown IX – ‘Fessing Up 
Author:          BabyDee 
Pairing:          Chlollie 
Rating:           PG-13 (for adult themes) 
Warnings:     A Re-telling of Chlollie post-Warrior 
Timeline:      Season 9 
Disclaimer:   All characters belong to the CW & DC comics.  
Series Summary:     With Oliver by her side, Chloe learns to let go, find peace, and fall in love. 
Story Summary:  Chloe upped and got married. Lois is not amused. :) 
Feedback:      …Always.  :)

Read previous chapter here. 
Read story from the beginning here.

Chapter 5

Oliver saw the blood drain from Clark’s face at his stern words.

The younger man swallowed and flattened his hands on his thighs; to stop his fingers from trembling, Oliver noticed.  Clark suddenly looked as sick as if he’d ingested a rogue chunk of kryptonite.  Clearly, he’d never intended to tell Chloe about the midewipe at all. 

“Well?” Oliver pressed as he remained silent.  “When are you going to tell my wife the truth about the memories that you stripped from her?”

Clark shrugged and tried – unsuccessfully – to look nonplussed.  “She got them all back, so what difference does it make now?” he retorted.   

“A lot,” Oliver replied harshly.  “And I can’t believe how much of a coward you’re being about this.”

“I’m not being a coward, I just don’t know what you hope to achieve by dredging up something hurtful that’s bound to cause Chloe pain!” Clark shot back defensively. 

“Yeah, something hurtful that you did to her!”

“I did it to protect her!”

“Like she ran away with Davis to protect you,” Oliver replied swiftly.  “Yet the second that all went wrong, you laid the blame at her feet and left her to grieve on her own.”

“And you didn’t?” Clark challenged.  “Admit it, Oliver; you walked away from her, same as I did.”

“Maybe so, but the difference is that Chloe and I have made peace with whatever issues we may have had,” he said.  “But you haven’t; not really, and this is one of the reasons why.  Come on, Clark, you can’t deny that you two haven’t been the same since the whole Doomsday debacle.”

There was a brief pause.  “I know we’re not as close as we once were…but we’re okay,” Clark said, almost pleading.  “Yes, we had it rough for a while, but things have levelled out now, and we’re on speaking terms again.  Why risk upsetting her over something that’s no longer a problem?”

“Because Chloe needs to know the truth,” Oliver insisted.  “Clark, did you know she was having doubts about marrying Jimmy?”

Clark shook his head.  “No.  I thought her decision was sudden, but she seemed happy and she never told me she was having second thoughts.”

“That’s because she couldn’t, not really.  She had Brainiac in her head from the time she ‘accepted’ Jimmy’s proposal, and he was the one pulling the strings like a sick puppet-master,” Oliver said.  “As a result, she said and did a lot of things that didn’t make sense because they weren’t her decisions to begin with.”

Clark turned even paler than before.  “So it was Brainiac,” he whispered in shock.  “She never meant to marry Jimmy at all.”

“No, Clark, she didn’t,” he replied.  “But without the full facts of her life to fall back on for information she was a sitting duck, made worse when you played potshot pool with her memories.” 

Clark shook his head in denial.  “No, I only removed her knowledge of my secret – that’s all I took out,” he said.

“And you think that’s not enough to make a significant difference?” Oliver questioned.  “The brain is a network, Clark.  Disconnect one wire, and the knock-on effect is a lot wider than you can begin to imagine.” 

“It was just my secret,” Clark mumbled despondently.  “Nothing else, I swear.”

“You have to understand that so much of her life is intertwined with the knowledge of your secret,” Oliver explained patiently.  “When you ripped that out, you left her a shell of her former self. By the time all her memories were eventually restored, she was left with a convalescing husband she didn’t love, and no real clue as to how it had all happened.” 

“Oh God,” Clark said, staring aghast.  “I thought she loved him, I thought…I only wanted her to be happy.”  He rested his head in his hands.  “God, I really screwed up.”

Oliver silently stared at Clark, feeling almost sorry for him.  As much as the younger man irritated him with his holier-than-thou ways and tunnel-vision take on life, he had acted in what he’d thought was Chloe’s best interest.  But even the best intentions could breed horrible results, and Oliver was determined to get the truth of Clark’s dark secret out into the open once and for all.  He’d gotten away with hiding it for far too long as it was. 

“You need to tell her, Clark,” he said gravely.  “Today.  And if you don’t, I will.”

Clark’s head immediately shot up.  “I can’t,” he whispered desperately, his eyes full of fear.  “I can’t tell her what I did.  Please don’t make me, Ollie.”

“Why not?” he queried.  “What’s the real problem here, Clark?”

“What if…” Clark gulped.  “What if she doesn’t forgive me?”

“She will.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

Oliver smiled mirthlessly and shook his head.  “You were best friends with her for years, and yet you know nothing about her,” he said, his voice full of reproach.  “Chloe will forgive you because that’s what she does.  She doesn’t know how to hold a grudge, least of all against you.  She still believes in you.”

“But that’s exactly my problem,” Clark argued.  “Before I asked Jor-El to take her memories, she specifically said she wouldn’t give up knowing me for the world. If she knows I betrayed that trust…” he turned his face away, looking visibly shaken.  “How could she ever forgive me after that?” 

Oliver got to his feet and picked up the keys to the truck from the table. 

“She’ll forgive you,” he maintained with firm resolution, tossing the keys at Clark, which he instinctively caught.  “And if you think for one second that she won’t, then you never really knew her at all.”

Clark swallowed hard and stared at the keys in his hands as if they might bite him. 

“Come on,” Oliver said, heading for the front door.  “Time to head back.” 

***

To be continued…