Chlark Fanfic: No Compromise, Chapter 5

[babydee1]

Beautiful, awesome banner by the awesome and talented ctbn60. Thanks, hun! :-)  

Title:              No Compromise
Author:          BabyDee1
Pairing:          Chlark
Rating:           PG-13
Warnings:     None 
Timeline:      Follows Season 10’s Masquerade with reference to Collateral
Disclaimer:   All known characters belong to the CW & DC comics. 
Summary:     After Chloe resists all Desaad’s temptations, she finally admits to the truth of what’s in her heart. 
Feedback:      …makes me squee. :-) 

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

Chapter 5

“Clark…you and Chloe have battled Luthors, you’ve fought demons from outer space, you’ve battled supernatural hexes…in the world of Clark and Chloe, this is just another day at the office,” Lois asked as he stoically sat down at his desk.  “What’s really going on?” 

His hands shook as he clasped them together and spoke of his greatest pain.  “I don’t know Chloe anymore,” he said bleakly.  “I don’t know what she wants.”

“You’re upset with her, I know; and you don’t trust her anymore.”

He shrugged one listless shoulder.  “That’s about it.” 

“Because she left?”

His jaw hardened.  “Because she didn’t say why.” 

Lois came over and sat down beside him.  “Clark, I get it,” she said softly.  “You’ve known her longer than almost anyone.  From the Torch to summers at the lake, to the Planet, and Watchtower…she’s always been there for you.” 

“Maybe all that history is blinding me from the truth,” he said glumly.  “She’s moved on.  Chloe and I are on different paths now, and…I don’t know where she’s headed.” 

“And as much as you want to trust and believe in her it’s hard because she didn’t confide in you,” Lois surmised.  “Maybe for the first time.” 

“If Chloe really believed in me, she would have told me where she was going and why,” he growled, his expression grim. 

Lois was silent for several seconds, and he almost squirmed under her piercing gaze. 

“All this time,” she finally said hollowly.  “All this time, this has been festering under there and you didn’t say anything?”

He shrugged diffidently, trying to hide his pain with indifference.  “What am I supposed to say?”

“That it stings,” she replied honestly, her own eyes tinged with hurt.  “That’s it’s the hardest thing ever to trust someone enough to let them have their secrets, even when you know they’re doing it for a good reason; they’re trying to protect you.  You know where I’m going with this?” 

Pot meet Kettle, fool, a jeering voice snickered in his head. 

“Yes,” he said shortly.  “And I expected you and Chloe to trust me all those years before I told you my secret.”

“Yes, and now it’s your turn to trust her,” Lois insisted.  “Everything that you see in this world is telling you not to trust her; but I can tell that your heart is saying the opposite.  And if there’s one thing that I know, it’s that Clark Kent’s heart is usually right.” 

***

She stared at him in surprise and disbelief.  “Me?” she echoed.

He simply smiled.  “Why do you think I asked you to accompany me here?” he asked.

“But I…you didn’t know I’d broken up with Oliver,” she pointed out.

“And you didn’t know I’d broken up with Lois, but you let Oliver go anyway and decided to follow your heart,” he said with a soft smile. 

“I just couldn’t do it anymore,” she said brokenly.  “He’s been wonderful to me, he really has; but when Desaad dangled you in front of me, I…”

“Well, you didn’t take the bait, obviously,” he said, brushing a thumb over her smooth, omega-free forehead.  Her body tingled at that simple touch, and she tried vainly to ignore it. 

“No…but I wanted to,” she admitted.  “I came this close to kissing you, Clark.  The only thing that stopped me was…well, Oliver, for one.  I would never cheat on him.  But another determining factor was knowing that you’d never kiss me if you were in your right mind.” 

He gasped in surprise.  “That’s not true, I’ve kissed you before!”

“Only on a mindwhammy,” she countered.  “You just said it, Clark.  You made out with me when I was high on a parasite, and it couldn’t have made much of an impression if you didn’t bother to let me know until now.”

“I was trying to protect you, and…back on topic - I’m sure I’ve kissed you more than once,” he argued, frowning and then suddenly erupting in a wide grin.  “A-ha - Daily Planet basement, Dark Thursday!”

She rolled her eyes.  “I kissed you, moron.”

“But it’s the same thing!”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Huh.  Okay, um…SMC File Room, 9th Grade---”

“Decoy, me to you yet again.”

“Day of the Spring Formal, 8th Grade!” he countered desperately. 

She winced at the memory.  “Close, but no cigar.”

“Not in the ballroom,” he corrected.  “Earlier, by the lockers.”

“That was a reassurance kiss, so it doesn’t count,” she said glumly.  “Give it up, Clark.  I’ve done the math, and you haven’t given me one proper kiss in ten years, but hey…” she shrugged.  “I survived, and I’ll continue to do so.”

“But I’m giving you my Soulmate bracelet,” he said softly, holding out his hand and offering it to her.  “Does that count?”

Chloe stared at the silver bracelet as it caught the light from the sunbeam and glittered temptingly in front of her. 

“How do you know?” she asked, genuinely curious.  “You’ve never slept with me, or got physical with me…heck, we’ve just established that you’ve never really even kissed me.  To make matters worse, I’m not your type---”

“Hey, I don’t have a ‘type’!” 

“Long dark shiny hair, LL monogram,” she continued dryly.  “I, on the other hand, have the wrong colour hair, the wrong length of hair, and the wrong initials.  A trifecta of Fail, as it were.  So tell me, Clark: how do you know that that bracelet belongs to me?” 

“Because even when I left you, even when I returned and did everything I could to keep away from you, you still had my back,” he said.  “I treated you so badly last year, I wouldn’t have been surprised if you’d loaded up the car one day, driven off and just not come back.”

“Believe me, I was tempted,” she murmured.

“But you never did,” he continued.  “Rather, you set up Watchtower and continued to look out for me and everybody else, even when we were less than nice to you.” 

“And yet you gave me a hard time on the roof in the virtual world because I left you and didn’t tell you where I was going?” she said.  “That’s a massive double standard, Clark.”

He hung his head.  “I know,” he admitted softly.  “Lois was right; you’ve always been there for me even when I wasn’t there for you, and I never imagined you’d really just leave and not tell me where or why you were going.  I’ve had you in my life almost everyday since we were thirteen, Chloe.  To suddenly find you gone…” he paused and swallowed, overcome with emotion.

“I tried to put on a brave face for Oliver, but I was dying inside,” he whispered.  “There was a time when you and I used to tell each other everything…”

“That ended when you returned to Metropolis and headed straight for my cousin, Clark,” she replied, her voice hard.  “I didn’t start the Cold War, you did.  You even accused me of kidnapping her!”

“I know, and I’m sorry,” he insisted, contrite.  “I said and did a lot of things to you that were truly horrible, and…even now, I don’t know why I tried so hard to push you away.

“But what I do know is how much you really mean to me,” he went on, taking her hand and holding it to his heart.  “Waller said you were my greatest asset, and she was right.  Maybe subconsciously I wanted you to be upset with me, to be mad enough to leave, just so you’d be safe from all the craziness that seems to follow me around.  But you dug your heels in harder and eventually we were getting back to that great place that we’ve always shared, and then…” 

“Then I put on the Fate Helmet and disappeared,” she whispered. 

“And I had no idea where or why,” he said.  “And when you reappeared and asked me to trust you…”

“You couldn’t,” she said flatly.  “And that just proves that the bracelet isn’t mine, doesn’t it?”

“I was wrong,” he said, staring at her in earnest.  “I should have trusted you, no questions asked.  Even when I refused to take your hand I knew I was making the wrong decision, but I was so…so hurt…in here…” he pressed her hand to his thudding heart.  “I just wanted you to have trusted me…” 

“Ah, so it was payback, huh?” she mused with a smile. 

“I think that was when I knew that my feelings for you ran deeper than I could have ever imagined,” he said, giving her a searching gaze.  “Knowing that you never gave up on me, no matter how cruel I’d been…”   

“Yeah, I can’t seem to help myself,” she said dryly.  “And I suppose I’ve just gone and shown how pathetic I am that I still love you in spite of everything.” 

“It’s not pathetic to love someone unconditionally, Chloe---”

“No?” she drawled, glancing at him.  “It sure feels that way, sometimes; like I’m just a weak, hopeless glutton for punishment of the harshest kind…” she sighed and shook her head.     

“Chloe…when I was trying to get you to wake up after you put on the Fate Helmet, I told you that you were the strongest woman I know,” he said, his face serious.  “And I meant it.  It takes the greatest strength of all to give your heart and soul to someone and get little or nothing in return for it.  That’s you, all over.  It’s one of the things that made be finally open my eyes to what I had; what I almost let slip away from me.” 

“You may think it’s commendable, but I’m still very upset with myself,” she muttered, scowling.  “I tried so hard to let you go, even managed to convince myself that I had…and all you had to say to me was ‘one kiss,’ and it was happening all over again.”  She ran a hand through her hair and sighed, staring glumly at her feet.  “When it comes to you, I just have no sense at all.  None whatsoever.” 

“Love rarely makes sense, Chlo; don’t be too hard on yourself,” he said, brushing an errant lock of hair off her face and giving her a funny little knowing smile.  “Besides…” his arm went around her shoulder again - “…I already knew you loved me.”

Immediately she stiffened.  “Before today?  No way.”

“I’ve known for a while---”

“Shut up.” 

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of---”

“I don’t want to hear this!” she cried, covering her ears and jumping off the ledge.  She strode hurriedly towards the exit but Clark was there in less than a second, blocking her path. 

“I’m not making fun of you, Chloe, just…listen to me!” he said, grabbing her shoulders and turning her to face him.  “I knew you loved me because I saw one of the records of your visit to the Fortress…you went there with Kara, couple of years ago.”  He softened.  “You told Jor-El that you loved me.”   

***

Chapter 6…