Wanderings

Title: Wanderings
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Chlark friendship, maybe a smidge more; Clana funnies
Spoilers/Timeline: Immediately following Siren
Disclaimer: I own very little, certainly not these characters. Please don’t sue!
Author’s Notes: Hee. I just wanted to play and this was fun to write. Dialogue heavy. Many thanks to whoever thought up the heartbeat/superhearing thing first. I think it might have been Ellyfanfiction, but I’m late to the party, so I don’t know for sure.

--

Chloe Sullivan is pondering the fabrication of kryptonite-laced brass knuckles when she gets the answer she should have expected.

“Sorry, Watchtower. No can do.”

“What? Who else is going to hack into the files?”

“You’d be surprised. Vic isn’t completely useless.”

“Yeah, but he’s supposed to be on the other side of the facility setting off an alarm on the closed circuit system.”

“Well, he’ll just have to move faster.”

Oh, for Christ’s sake. “Wait a minute…are you scared?”

“Of you? Hell no!”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. And you know perfectly well he’s harmless.”

“Hey, when I get a request from a guy who could bench press the clock tower, I tend to take said request pretty seriously.”

She’s going to kill him. “He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Yeah, well, he looked like he might bend the rules a bit if I put you in harm’s way again.”

“He’s not my father.”

“And he’s definitely not your brother, with the way he flipped out.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Gee, who’s playing dumb now?” She wishes for a cooler power just so she could wipe the smirk she knows is there off Queen’s chiseled features.

“Please. You did hear the first part about him and Lana making peace while angels sang, right?”

“Bitter doesn’t become you.”

Jerk. “Shut up. I just need to watch what I wish for a little closer next time. When he makes sense, he’s annoying. When he’s not annoying, he’s practically brain dead.”

“How did you guys end up best friends, again?”

“Totally not my fault. I was 14 and he obviously needed a handler. I cannot be held responsible for my teenage self’s generous nature.”

“That makes a scary amount of sense.”

“Anyway, the point is that he’s going to be trying twice as hard to bury his head in the sand this time than he did the first three times they ‘reaffirmed their relationship’. I’m pretty much guaranteed not to see him for a month.”

“And that keeps him from killing me how?”

“Well, his focus is Lana. How do you think he missed the broken arm after Bali? That took the better part of a week to heal. It was a total fluke that he noticed a little scrape this time. Like, the massive alignment of cosmic forces kind of fluke.”

“...”

“Arrow?”

“You have a point.”

“Bad pun. Of course I have a point.”

“We could use the backup.”

Yes. “I’m good as backup. I’m like the Swiss army knife of sidekicks. I even double as a field medic.”

“He doesn’t know about that, does he?”

She’s caught, so she doesn’t bother to respond.

“I figured as much. I don’t know if he’d worry more, or less.”

“Yeah, well…What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.”

“If you say so.”

“So, am I in?”

“You’re in. Meet us at the airport in an hour.”

“Yay! I’ll be there in 30 minutes, tops.”

“You were already packed, weren’t you?”

Her mouth twitches into a sideways smile. “Maybe a little.”

--

“Can you believe her?”

Lana rolls over, covering her face with her hands. “No, Clark, I really can’t. Can we go to sleep now?”

“Of course. I just…she never knows when to say when. I mean, God! She thought the knife-wielding ninja, who almost took her head off, was ‘really smokin’ cool’ because she took a nose dive off The Daily Planet!”

“You mentioned that. Three times.”

“’Really smokin’cool?!?’ How the hell am I supposed to keep her safe when she-“

“Clark-”

“-is constantly putting her neck on the line for every hero in Metropolis. Did I tell you about her stunt with the Angel of Vengeance?”

“Yes, also three times tonight. Clark-“

“I still can’t believe Oliver would be so irresponsible, she-“

“CLARK!”

“Yeah?”

He can hear her amused smile. “Stop. Take a breath. I’m sure Chloe is fine.”

“But-“

“No but’s. Chloe is a grown up and if this is the way she wants to live her life, it’s her choice.”

“She doesn’t-“

“Yes, she does. Maybe this is a good thing. Chloe’s got her own life to focus on, and we have ours. Now let’s go to sleep.”

“Wait. How is that a good thing?” What would he do if Chloe didn’t have room for him anymore?

“She’s giving us space to figure things out.”

“But Brainiac-“

“Don’t borrow trouble. When he resurfaces, we’ll deal with him.”

“Chloe’s already-“

“Let Chloe live her own life. She told me how often you were visiting her at work. Are you trying to give Lex an excuse to fire her?”

“What? She didn’t say anything.”

“She wouldn’t.”

“Oh.” Yeah, that would be because she’s a selfless friend and he’s still an inconsiderate ass sometimes.

“Come on, let’s get some sleep.” Her tone is a bit sharper than usual.

“Okay…”

“…”

“I’m glad you didn’t leave.”

“Me too.”

Silence reigns for a moment. He reaches out his senses, focusing on the rhythm he knows will calm the storm of fear and anger. He’s never really admitted to anyone that he’s used her pulse as a lullaby since high school. This time, like many others, knowing she’s alive and okay is all the comfort he needs to drift off.

The background noise is new…

“Chloe’s on an airplane!”

“Huh?”

“I can hear her. Why is she on an airplane?”

He can feel her tense beside him, and her next words are deathly calm. “Better question. Why are you listening to Chloe doing anything when you’re lying in bed with me?”

Oh shit. “It’s…I sort of…It’s a friend thing.”

“A…friend…thing?”

“I can…kinda…hear her most of the time.”

“Her voice?”

“Not…not exactly.”

“Not…exactly.”

“Yeah.”

“Then what, exactly, do you hear?”

“It’s kind of…her heart.”

“Wait. You hear her heart?

“Yeah.”

“All the time?”

“That…that’s about right.”

“No matter where you are, or what you’re doing?”

“Well…yeah. I heard it from the fortress.”

“Can you hear my heart?”

“Of course I can!”

“From anywhere?”

“Um…”

“Around Smallville?”

“If you’re close by.”

“So let me get this straight. You’ve been in love with me since you were seven, but you can only hear me if I’m nearby. You met Chloe at 14, have a purely platonic relationship with her, yet you listen to her heartbeat all the time?”

“Well, when you say it that way, it sounds-“

“I dare you to finish that sentence, Clark Kent.”

“Lana, it’s not like I can control it!”

“Oh, that makes it so much better. I don’t know why I was concerned.”

“Wait. Where are you going?”

“If Chloe’s on a plane, that means there’s an open bed over the Talon. I can’t take this right now.”

---

End