Chlark Fanfic: Agenda, Chapter 25

[babydee1]

Banner by sylvanelfmistre

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 25
 
 
He wasted no time in tearing into the AI. 
 
“You lied to me, Jor-El!” Clark boomed as he sped into the Fortress. 
 
“I never lied to you, my son,” came the reply from his father as he materialised from within the crystal chamber.  “I simply concealed the truth from you.”
 
“It’s the same thing!” he yelled.  “You took away my chance to be a father, you…you hid my child from me.  My own child!”
 
“I delayed your discovery of her so that you would have a chance to be her father, Kal-El,” he went on in that lofty monotone.  “You know as well as I what the consequences would have been if you hadn’t completed your training here at the Fortress.” 
 
“That doesn’t make it right!” he insisted angrily, his eyes blazing.  “What you and Chloe did to me was wrong.  I had a right to know I had a child out there!”
 
“And my granddaughter has the right to an existence,” Jor-El replied stoically.  “But you already know all this, and I sense there is more to your visit at this time.  What do you ask of me, Kal-El?”
 
“Tell me you’re sorry,” he grated.  His eyes stung and itched with heat, and he knew how furious Chloe must have felt when she’d threatened to melt the Fortress.  “Admit that you were wrong to keep Gabriella from me.” 
 
“Then I apologise for hiding the truth from you, son, and for causing you so much pain,” Jor-El replied.  “But to ask for an admission of error when you know the truth of my decision and the wisdom behind it is to ask me to lie; and I will not do that.”
 
“You were wrong!” Clark yelled emphatically at the calm, robed figure.  “Say it!”
 
“If the truth had not been kept from you, your daughter would never have survived,” was the simply reply.  “Nor would have humanity.”    
 
 Damn it, it stung to admit it, but the AI was right.  “Fucking arrogant prick,” Clark swore under his breath. 
 
“That is no way to address your father, Kal-El.” 
 
“Jonathan Kent was my father,” he responded swiftly, wanting to cause as much pain as he himself was feeling.  “All you are to me is a bundle of sentient megabytes; nothing more.” 
 
“And yet your child freely accepts and addresses me as her grandfather,” Jor-El pointed out. 
 
“Don’t flatter yourself,” he mocked.  “She’s had precious little male parental influence in her life; she doesn’t know any better.” 
 
“She knows that I mean her no harm, and she is eager to learn her Kryptonian heritage,” Jor-El replied patiently.  “You have a beautiful child, Kal-El.”
 
Clark’s entire demeanour softened, as it always did when his daughter was praised.  “I know,” he whispered.  “And so do you, all this time, and you never let me know…” his voice broke.  “How could you hide her from me?” 
 
His father paused.  “You know that I would never have caused you pain if there had been any other way,” he finally replied quietly.  “Sometimes, being a parent means making a difficult, painful decision for the betterment of one’s offspring.  I had to do that, as did you.  Your sacrifice gave her life.”
 
“Exactly, my sacrifice,” he growled.  “It would have been nice to know that I was making it.” 
 
“If you had remained in Smallville after the death of your friend, you would have known you’d conceived a child, yes; but Zod would have robbed you of the chance to even see her born,” Jor-El replied.  “You were right to commence your training when you did, because it enabled you defeat the Kandorians and protect your planet, and your child, from enslavement and worse.”
 
“But if you’d told me I was going to have that child…” he whispered brokenly. 
 
Jor-El took a deep breath and stepped towards him.  “I know all about sacrifice, Kal-El,” he said softly.  “You have to trust that the decisions I made for you, albeit painful, are what has given you the chance to have a life and a family and yet still be the hero of mankind.  Would you rather have returned home and risked losing your family and the entire earth to a hostile alien invasion?”   
 
Clark avoided his father’s gaze and stared stonily at the ground.  When no answer was forthcoming, Jor-El sighed and turned and headed for the chamber. 
 
“Return to your child, Kal-El, and to your mate,” the AI said as the clear, crystal panel slid down into place.  “You have an opportunity to experience all that you have you have been denied.”
 
“Not all of it,” Clark muttered as he turned his back to leave.  He would never get back those thirteen years of Gabriella’s life, no matter how many home videos he watched, or however many photos he looked at. 
 
Jor-El gave him a knowing smile as he disappeared from sight.  “There is healing for your hurt.  Trust me, my son.” 
 
***
 
Chloe was roused by a gentle knock at the front door.  She sat up and rubbed her eyes, surprised to see that she’d napped all afternoon and it was now gone 5.00pm. 
 
“That’ll be Dad,” Gabby chirped as she got up to open the door. 
 
Chloe’s heart tightened painfully as a feeling of déjà vu stole over her.  The last time Clark had knocked on that door, he was picking her up for a date.  Now they could barely stand each other. 
 
With a regretful sigh she got out of bed and went into the den, where Clark was standing with Gabby who had welcomed him with a warm hug. 
 
“Hey kiddo,” he said softly as he dropped a kiss on his daughter’s head. 
 
“Hi Daddy,” she replied, smiling up at him.  “You okay?” 
 
He gave her a fatherly smile.  “I’ll be fine.  Listen, I need to talk to your mother; think you could give us some privacy for a little while?”
 
“Actually, I, um…I kind of made plans for the weekend,” she said, clasping her hands together.  “It’s been more than three whole months since I left Gotham, and…well, I kinda miss my old school friends.  So I had a word with Brucie, and he’s more than happy to put me up for a few days while I visit all my old haunts and play catch-up with my besties, Chris and Dana.  Is that okay with you guys?” 
 
“Um…” Chloe glanced at Clark, who gave her a surreptitious nod. 
 
“That’ll be fine, honey,” she replied, smiling when Gabby’s face lit up.  “As long as he’s putting you up for a few days, and not putting up with you, that is.  Will you behave?” 
 
Gabby giggled.  “I’ll be good as gold.”
 
“You promise?”
 
She nodded.  “Cross my heart.”
 
“Then you have our permission to go.  Is Bruce coming to pick you up?”
 
She made a face.  “And waste all that gas?  Nah…I’ll just run it.”
 
“Oh.  Alright, just let us know as soon as you get there, okay?” Chloe said, feeling slightly nervous as her daughter slipped on a brand new trainers for the quick road trip.  “How long will it take you to get there?” 
 
Gabby snorted.  “It’s about a two-minute journey at a leisurely pace, but I want to swing by the Fortress first and say bye to Grandfather.  I’ll call or text you when I get to Wayne Manor.”
 
Clark nodded.  “Alright.  You’ll take care on the roads, won’t you?”
 
“I always do,” she said, kissing Chloe’s cheek before going to plant a peck on her father’s jaw.  “You taught me well.  I’ll be back on Tuesday, okay?”
 
“But what about school?” Chloe and Clark asked in unison with matching perplexed looks on their faces. 
 
Gabby groaned and picked up her rucksack.  “You guys!  Mid-term break this week!” she said, exasperated as she headed for the door.  “What is it with you two, anyway…?”
 
She stepped outside and closed the door, and suddenly Chloe was alone with Clark. 
 
“She does that a lot,” she said absently.
 
Clark blinked.  “Does…what?”
 
“Visits Jor-El,” she said.  “I really don’t get it.” 
 
Clark folded his arms.  “I take it you don’t approve of her choice of company,” he observed. 
 
Chloe sighed.  “I can’t lie and say I’m happy about her sitting and learning at Jor-El’s feet, but it would be wrong of me to stop her,” she said, her voice a touch hard.  “She’s taken a shine to him, and…I don’t know, he seems to care for her...as much as a computer manifestation of a grandparent can, anyway.” 
 
“Jor-El’s changed a lot since your last encounter with him,” he offered. 
 
“Oh, I know that he’s a different version or whatever from the one you and I grew up with, I understand that,” she said warily.  “But I can’t accept him that easily.  There’s been too much water under the bridge for that.” 
 
“Maybe you should pay him a visit,” he suggested.  “Go with an open mind, give the New & Improved Edition a try? 
 
She shook her head.  “I’m not interested,” she replied tersely.  “Jor-El and I have nothing in common.”
 
“You both kept Gabby from me for thirteen years,” he said softly, making her wince. 
 
“Clark…” she stopped and swallowed.  “Please let me explain…”
 
“You already have,” he said.  “And I’m not here to point fingers or to fight with you; God knows the last time was more than traumatic enough.”
 
She nodded.  “I don’t want us to fight either,” she whispered.  “And I’m so, so sorry for every horrible thing I said to you, Clark.  I care about you, so much, and just knowing how much I’ve hurt you…” her voice broke.  “It’s killing me.” 
 
“So we agree that fighting is redundant?”
 
She wiped a stray tear from her cheek.  “Totally.”
 
“Good, so no yelling,” he said with a wintry smile.  “But we still need to talk, about a lot of things…not the least of which are your underlying issues for not telling me about Gabby.”
 
“But…I already explained,” she said with a frown.
 
“Yes, but as sincere as you were, I realise now that there was a whole lot more going on that shaped your decision,” he replied.  “Things that even you must be completely unaware of.” 
 
“What are you talking about?” she asked, baffled.  “I already told you everything---”
 
“Yeah, about keeping Gabby’s identity a secret to shield her from Superman’s enemies, and also to give you time to become the man you needed to be…that’s part of it, to be sure.  But not all of it.” 
 
“I swear, I’m not hiding anything else from you,” she said desperately. 
 
“I believe you,” he hastened to reassure her.  “Like I said, this is something that’s stemmed from your subconscious.” 
 
“Clark, I really don’t understand,” she said, clearly puzzled.
 
He sighed and extended a hand to her.  “Let’s sit down.”
 
She placed her small hand in his, and he led her to the dining table.  Once they had taken their seats, she looked at him expectantly. 
 
“You mentioned earlier that you were uncomfortable with Gabby visiting Jor-El at the Fortress and getting to know him,” he began.  “Why do you think that is?” 
 
She gaped.  “After what he did to me, to both of us?” she exclaimed when she could form words.  “How can you even ask me that?” 
 
“It’s important,” he replied.  “I know it seems out of left field, but I am going somewhere with this.  Why does it upset you that Gabby’s reaching out to her grandfather?” 
 
“Because this isn’t something she needs,” she replied with conviction.  “No offence to your Kryptonian pride, but things are complicated enough in her life without brining a hi-tech computerised, semi-dead grandfather into it.”
 
“And what about her living, breathing grandfather?” 
 
Chloe blinked in shock.  “My Dad?” she asked incredulously.  “What’s he got to do with this?”
 
Clark smiled.  “A lot more than you think.  This is all about him, actually---” 
 
“No.  You’re wrong,” she said, shaking her head forcefully.  “Gabby and I have managed fine without him.  He had a chance to be a part of her life, but he never took it, and frankly, I don’t care.  We’re better off away from him, I can certainly do without him, and Gabriella definitely doesn’t even think about him.” 
 
“You sure about that?” he said softly.  “I think she does.”
 
“Why?”
 
“Because…” he sighed.  “Chloe…she’s reminded of him every single time you call her name.” 
 
*** 

Chapter 26...

Comments

[laurelnola.livejournal.com]

"He wasted no time in tearing into the AI.
“You lied to me, Jor-El!” Clark boomed as he sped into the Fortress.

Ha! Thought so.


"“That doesn’t make it right!” he insisted angrily, his eyes blazing. “What you and Chloe did to me was wrong. I had a right to know I had a child out there!”


See, Clark really does have a major point in this one. Because there's every possibility that finding out he was going to be a father might have massively shifted his ass into gear and given him a REASON to complete his training and save the world. He'd never thought he could even have a child with a human, and Gabby's very existence would have shown him that having a link to humanity didn't make him weaker, it made him stronger- and she was the physical proof that part of him was always meant to be human. She, along with Chloe, would have made him want to be more than just her father, but her protector and hero, and he might have done his training with a much lighter heart than the one he ended up with . Soooo... now I'm back on thinking Chloe and Jor-El were very ass-hatted about their decision. But eh, as long as everyone ends up in a happy place, it's all good!


“Jonathan Kent was my father,” he responded swiftly, wanting to cause as much pain as he himself was feeling. “All you are to me is a bundle of sentient megabytes; nothing more.”

Ah, Jonathan. How I miss him. And you know what? If Jonathan had been around for everything that happened, HE would have driven his tractor across the Yukon and rolled right over that crystal console, telling Jor-El to enjoy Hell on the way down. Gotta love him.


"“There is healing for your hurt. Trust me, my son.”

Oh, right. Because you've proved so trustworthy in the past. *kicks at Jor-El*

"“Gabby and I have managed fine without him. He had a chance to be a part of her life, but he never took it, and frankly, I don’t care. We’re better off away from him, I can certainly do without him, and Gabriella definitely doesn’t even think about him.”

What? GABE'S been an absentee dick, too?! Goddammit, why are all the men in Chloe's life a bunch of wankers?!!


*sighs heavily and races off to next chapter*

[babydee1.livejournal.com]

"What? GABE'S been an absentee dick, too?! Goddammit, why are all the men in Chloe's life a bunch of wankers?!!"

And now you know why she tried to keep her daughter away from them!!! :-D