Chlark Fanfic: Agenda, Chapter 16

[babydee1]

Runner by go_clo. 

Title:              Agenda
Author:          babydee1
Pairing:          Chlark
Rating:           NC-17 (mostly PG-13)
Warnings:     None  
Timeline:      Futurefic; follows Season 8’s Injustice & Failsday Doomsday 
Disclaimer:   All known characters belong to the CW & DC comics. 
Summary:     More than a decade after the Doomsday Rampage, Clark makes a shocking discovery that changes his life forever. 
Feedback:      …makes me squee. :-)  
 
Written for the 2011 smallvillebbang long Fanfic challenge.  Many thanks to twinsarein for all her tireless organisation and support!
 
Beta’ed by legendarytobes & The Fallen Sky at KSite.
Art by sylvanelfmistre & go_clo.
 
 
Read previous chapter here.
Read story from the beginning here.
 

Chapter 16
 
 
As soon as she’d gotten home, Chloe had checked on Gabby who was, to her credit, in her room and in bed even though she was wide awake.
 
“Mom?” she said, sitting up.  “What are you doing home so early?”
 
“Disaster called, and your dad had to answer,” she said, picking up a vest from the floor and folding it onto a chair.
 
“Oh, no!  I’m so sorry, Mom,” she said in dismay.  “I know you were both really looking forward to this date.”
 
“Meh, it’s an occupational hazard,” she said lightly.  “One of the many things to expect when there’s a Kryptonian in your life.”
 
“Did you at least have a good time of what little of the date there was?” she pressed. 
 
“We did, actually.   There was a lot of catching up we had to do, and a lot of things that had been left unsaid between us, but we did great.  Until he had to leave, of course.” 
 
“Are you sure you’re okay?” her daughter asked uncertainly. 
 
Chloe nodded.  Absolutely.  When you’re on a date with a superhero and the world needs saving, Date Night pales in comparison.”  She ruffled her daughter’s hair.  “Sleep tight, baby.” 
 
“’Night, Mom.” 
 
Chloe dropped a quick kiss on Gabby’s forehead and left the room for her own.  Quickly she showered and changed into her sleepwear, a light blue nightdress she’d bought ages ago but never worn, and settled down on the couch with a book to wait for Clark’s return. 
 
Minutes turned to hours, and the words on the pages began to swim in Chloe’s eyes.  She yawned and put the book down and lay down on the couch, thinking before she fell asleep that that was probably one hell of a tsunami. 
 
***
 
Warm fingers brushed the hair from her forehead, and Chloe stirred.
 
“Hey, sleepyhead,” he said beside her. 
 
She rubbed her eyes and opened them, staring straight into Clark’s earnest green ones.  “Hey,” she said, and smiled.  “You saved the world?”
 
“The West Coast, at least,” he said, still stroking her hair.  “We had to do some major restructuring of the tectonic plates beneath that side of the Pacific, but with any luck, that side of the continent will never have to worry about the threat of an earthquake or tsunami ever again.”
 
She sat up and nodded, glancing at the clock.  “And you did all that in just four hours, too.  Nice one.”
 
“Hungry one, more like,” he said with a grimace.  “I could eat a horse, but I’ll settle for a crustacean.  Where is it?”
 
She averted her eyes.  “Where’s what?”
 
Clark made a sad face.  “Chloe, please tell me you got them to doggy-bag the lobsters.”
 
Her face fell.  “I’m so sorry, Clark - I did get the lobsters to go, but then I gave them to a couple of homeless guys at the shelter.”
 
“Nnnnnooooo!”
 
“I didn’t want to eat without you,” she hurriedly explained.  “You’d gone to such trouble to book that fancy restaurant, but then the call came through and I didn’t know when you’d be back, and I didn’t want them to be ruined, so---”
 
“Alright, alright,” he said, deadpanned.  “We’re in the superhero business, and part of our job is making people happy.  And you did make a couple of people really happy.”
 
“Yeah, but not you, though,” she said wistfully.  “You had to cut your date short.  I’m sorry about that.”
 
He tweaked her nose.  “No need to apologise, it wasn’t your fault.  But yeah; sucks to be super sometimes.”
 
She smiled and patted his arm.  “How can I make it up to you?”
 
“Hey, I’m supposed to be the one making it up to you for abandoning you in the restaurant,” he pointed out. 
 
She nodded.  “Good point.  Um…actually, there is something I’d like to do.” 
 
“Name it.”
 
Her face reddened profusely, and she gnawed on her bottom lip.  “Well…I’ve never been…I mean, I always wanted…I knew you could do it, deep down, but I never got to---”
 
“Chloe,” he said, tilting her face upward with his finger.  “Just tell me.  What do you want?”
 
She took a deep breath.  “Could…could you take me flying?”
 
Clark’s face lip up in a huge grin.  “Nothing would bring be greater pleasure.” 
 
***
 
Soaring through the sky with Clark was indescribable. 
 
He’d scooped her up in his arms and carried her outside, lifting off gently from the balcony and floating up into the air at a leisurely pace.  The world grew smaller and smaller as Clark ascended as high as he could with his human passenger, until the landscape resembled a velvet blanket studded with twinkling lights.
 
“It’s beautiful,” she said breathlessly.  “I wish I could have seen the look on your face the first time you did this.”
 
“I was thinking of you,” he said, his voice rife with emotion.  “Thank you so much for believing in me.” 
 
His arms tightened around her as he gazed at her intently.  A warm rush of emotions travelled through her, making her shiver. 
 
“Are you cold?”
 
She shook her head.  “No, I’m fine.” 
 
“Do you want to see what we fixed today?”
 
“Sure.”
 
“Okay.  Hold on.”  She clutched him tight as he circled in the air a little and then suddenly put on a burst of superspeed, whizzing through the sky until he got to his destination and slowed. 
 
Chloe looked down at the California coast and frowned.  “It doesn’t look any different than usual,” she observed.
 
“Not on the surface, no,” he replied.  “We were able to redirect the tsunami into the open sea before it made landfall.  The real changes are far beneath the ocean.”
 
“What did you do?”
 
He grinned.  “Reconnected the tectonic plates and sealed the faultline shut.”
 
“Permanently?”
 
“Pretty much.  The West Coast is going to me a much safer, happier place from now on.” 
 
“So no more earthquakes, or tsunamis…Clark, that’s amazing!” Then she had a sudden thought.  “But the faultline served a purpose, and in the absence of all outlet, all that pressure---”
 
“…has been redirected to a dormant volcano in the middle of the Pacific, far away from civilisation.”  He grinned.  “I did my homework.”
 
“You truly are amazing, Clark Kent.” 
 
He waggled his eyebrows at her.  “Call me Superman.”
 
She rolled her eyes.  “You truly are amazing, Superman.  But you’ve been amazing since the day I met you, and you weren’t Superman then.” 
 
Clark stared at her with eyes that were loaded with emotion.  “Ready to go home?” he asked quietly. 
 
She nodded, and he lifted her high into the air and headed back to Metropolis.
 
***
 
By the time they arrived back on the balcony Chloe was dozing, lulled by the gentle breeze of the journey.  Clark set her down gently in her bed and leaned over to kiss her on the forehead. 
 
“Goodnight, Chloe,” he whispered. 
 
She smiled.  “I had a great time tonight.  We should do this again sometime.” 
 
“I agree.  I still have to make inroads into that lobster, for starters.”
 
Chloe chuckled and closed her eyes.  Clark left her room and quickly changed out of his Superman costume, then had a quick shower and prepared for bed. 
 
He was opened the hallway cupboard and was in the process of pulling his pillows out when he stopped.  With firm determination, he shoved the pillows back and shut the cupboard door.  Then he went back through the living room, walking straight past the couch that had been his bed for the past three months, and went into the hallway, stopping when he got to Chloe’s room. 
 
He knocked gently on the door, hoping she was still awake.
 
She was.  “Clark?  Is that you?” 
 
“Yeah,” he answered thickly.  “Can I come in?”
 
“Sure.” 
 
He pushed the door open and hovered in the doorway, suddenly feeling a lot less confident than he had a few minutes ago. 
 
“Is everything okay?” she asked, sitting up in bed and switching on the bedside lamp. 
 
“Everything’s fine.”
 
“Gabby…?”
 
“Sleeping, she’s sleeping.  I just, uh…” he swallowed and bit the bullet.  “I wondered if I could stay here tonight.” 
 
Her eyes widened and a smile lifted the corners of her mouth and eyes.
 
“I thought you’d never ask.” 
 
He let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding as she shifted slightly on the bed and patted the space on the bed beside her. 
 
That was all the invitation he needed.  Quietly he closed the bedroom door behind him and took his robe off, leaving him in his pyjama bottoms and nothing else.  Chloe’s eyes widened appreciatively as he approached her and sat on the bed, the edge dipping with his weight. 
 
Chloe turned off the bedside lamp as he got into bed beside her.  Their arms went around each other as they had a hundred other times before, and a warm peace suffused him.
 
He was finally home. 
 
Chloe rested her head on his heart and let out a deep, satisfied sigh. 
 
“Goodnight, Clark,” she murmured sleepily. 
 
He stroked her hair and smiled as she drifted off to sleep.
 
“It is now.” 
 
***
 
The bothersome buzzing was back again. 
 
Gabby sat up in bed and pressed a hand against her temple, trying to drown out the droning noise that just wouldn’t let up.  She’d been feeling it and hearing it for months now, but in the last four weeks or so it had become so intense it was a major distraction.  It wasn’t painful by any means, just…extremely annoying. 
 
She dropped her hand and sighed, turning her head to the left and the right as she rotated her neck.  As she made an arc with her head, she noticed that the annoying noise dissipated somewhat at the same point in the rotation.  Slowly she rolled her head until she managed to isolate the relief spot. 
 
Peace at last.  She smiled and started to lay back again when the buzzing returned. 
 
“Darn it!” she whispered, flinging the sheets off and angrily climbing out of bed.  She rubbed her temples and gravitated towards the window.   A sudden yearning stole over her as she stared out over the horizon which was tinged pink by the approaching dawn.  Something was waiting for her, somewhere out there…she could feel it, like an invisible cord drawing her forth.   
 
Quickly she scribbled something down on a small notepad and tore the top page off when she was done.  Then she threw some clothes on, made her way down the hall to her mother’s room and carefully pushed the door open the door. 
 
She was fast asleep, and not alone.  Her arms were wrapped around her father’s waist almost possessively, while his own arms enveloped her so completely she could barely see the top of her mom’s blonde head.  Fortunately she was fully clothed, and they didn’t appear to have done more than just cuddling. 
 
Gabby heaved a gentle sigh of relief.  Yes, she wanted them together, but the trauma of seeing more than what she was already seeing didn’t bear thinking about. 
 
Quietly he tiptoed towards the dresser and left the note on top.  She was stealthily picking her way out of the room when she heard her father’s voice.
 
“Hey.” 
 
She turned around and smiled.  “Morning, Dad.”
 
“What are you doing up so early?” he mumbled sleepily. 
 
“Just going for quick run,” she replied, retrieving the note from the dresser and handing it to him.  “Wanna stretch my legs a little.”
 
He nodded and lay back, closing his eyes and clutching the note in his hand.  “Off you go, then.  Mind out for cars and obstacles, okay?”
 
“Will do, Dad,” she replied, passing her hair through an elastic band into a tidy ponytail and headed for the front door. 
 
Once downstairs, she set off at a leisurely pace, keeping a sharp eye on her surroundings before upping the velocity.  She sped along on an unknown yet determined course, following all roads north until she ran through the states of Kansas, Nebraska, South and North Dakota…into Canada and beyond, a streak of lighting on a mission unknown. 
 
She ran until the buzzing stopped.  Following her father’s instructions, she consciously slowed and then stopped, her dark ponytail swishing around her face at the sudden inertia.  She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, more out of habit than exhaustion, then opened her eyes and glanced around. 
 
Ice and snow surrounded her as far as the eye could see.  She blinked, wondering exactly where she was and how far she had run.  She just about remembered seeing maple leaves as she sped through Canada, and then there was a brief section where she skimmed the surface of a lake or some body of water… 
 
She turned around in a 360-degree arc, and that’s when she spotted it.  A castle of ice, rising tall and proud out of the icy wasteland, completely unmissable. 
 
The buzzing in her ears was now down to a gentle, soothing hum.  Gabby felt an invisible tug towards the ice palace and she stepped through the snow until she got to the looming, crystal entrance. 
 
She knew where she was.  Her Father had spoken of his Fortress of Solitude often, and how it had been his home for a decade whilst he was being trained by Jor-El, his biological father. 
 
As soon as she passed through the doors, the humming disappeared completely, replaced by the whirr of what appeared to be an illuminated crystal chamber surrounded by some sort of…forcefield?  The light within the chamber glowed bright, and her eyes widened as a humanlike figure appeared within the enclosure, dressed in what looked to be silvery-white robes with a familiar shaped crest across the chest. 
 
The robed figure reached out and touched the walls of the chamber, and the forcefield shimmered and disappeared.  Slowly he stepped out of the circle, his appearance shifting and changing until he was as solid and real as she. 
 
Jor-El.  It had to be.  His flowing dark locks were as familiar to her as her own – and those piercing green eyes were so reminiscent of her father’s. 
 
Gabby gulped.  She’d heard a lot of grim stories about what Jor-El did to her parents when they were children.  Something told her he wasn’t the sort to play the doting grand-dad. 
 
“Are you…my Grandfather?” she whispered. 
 
He stared at her for a long, long time.  And then his eyes lit up and he smiled. 
 
“Indeed I am,” he said.  “Welcome home, Kyana Kal-El.”
 
***

To be continued in Part II (Chapter 17)...
-----

Comments

[laurelnola.livejournal.com]

“It’s beautiful,” she said breathlessly. “I wish I could have seen the look on your face the first time you did this.”
“I was thinking of you,” he said, his voice rife with emotion. “Thank you so much for believing in me.”

Of course he was! Because he LURVES her!!! *squees*



His arms tightened around her as he gazed at her intently. A warm rush of emotions travelled through her, making her shiver.
“Are you cold?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”


What a great callback to Superman: the Movie, when Supes takes Lois flying and she says she should be freezing, but she's not. Yay!


“Goodnight, Clark,” she murmured sleepily.
He stroked her hair and smiled as she drifted off to sleep.
“It is now.”

Eee! They're together at last! *swoons happily*



"“Are you…my Grandfather?” she whispered.
He stared at her for a long, long time. And then his eyes lit up and he smiled.
“Indeed I am,” he said. “Welcome home, Kyana Kal-El.”

Wha-zuuuuhhhh? Run for it, Gabby! This Jor-El is a giant AI dick! Run, girl!!