Breakable

Title: Breakable
Rating: PG
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: Chlark
Spoilers/Timeline: Post-Arctic
Disclaimer: I own very little, certainly not these characters. Please don’t sue!
Author’s Notes: I’ve been madly busy, but really wanted to post something for Chlark 24/7. It’s barely a one-shot, but still, it’s something. Lyrics are from Breakable by Ingrid Michaelson.

--
Have you ever thought about what protects our hearts?
Just a cage of rib bones and other various parts.
So it's fairly simple to cut right through the mess,
And to stop the muscle that makes us confess.
--

She stands at the weathered old fence, face to the wind and a smile that hurts to look at for the suffering she’s endured.

He never knew what to do with that – the lingering echoes of her pain under his skin. He wonders if she knows she left a shard of herself when she broke his hope in the woods one fine spring day. He never had the heart to work that last sliver out. Sometimes, it’s all he has.

The smile is just so…peaceful. Serene in a way he’s only just realized he never wanted to see Chloe Sullivan. The acceptance in that Mona Lisa smile is the opposite of everything she’s always stood for to Clark.

She just spent six months in prison, enduring conditions so horrific that she literally died to escape. She was innocent of the shameful crimes they accused her of. All she ever did was help.

He misses the Chloe who would rail against that injustice.

“Stop staring, Clark.” She doesn’t turn.

He ducks his head, but doesn’t hesitate to answer. “I can’t.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“You’re right.”

The smile turns curious, and he’s never felt so relieved. She leans casually on the fence, twirling a blade of grass and regarding him with amusement.

“Someone missed me.”

“Chloe, I was dead. When I came back you were dead.” He continues off her blank expression. “Obviously, we don’t do so well working alone.”

“Like I could have helped you.” She shakes her head.

“You have. You did.” He’s never been more serious. “Brainiac…you helped me beat him again. It was you.”

And for some reason, that's what starts it. Her lip trembles, and a myriad of emotions flash across her face just before it crumples in what Clark can only describe as…grief.

She’s in his arms before he knows what he’s doing, and he can feel her sobs in his bones. He’s rocking her and whispering words of comfort and care into her hair.

It’s been a week since they found her, and the eerie acceptance scared him. It was distance, and that had never been a good thing with Chloe.

“Shhh…” He chants. “Shhh… It’s okay. We’re gonna get through this. We love you, Chloe, and you’re going to be just fine.”

She raises her head and looks him in the eye. For the first time in a long time, he knows the girl he sees there. He barely has time to process the recognition, though, because she’s stroking his cheek and her lips are inches from his own. He jolts at the familiar urge coursing through him.

Her eyebrows draw together and she glances at his mouth before dragging her gaze back up to his eyes.

“I’m not okay, Clark.” Her chin quivers. “I’m not going to be okay.”

“Chloe.” He crushes her against him, unable to resist meeting her lips with his own.

She’s his life raft. She can’t sink.

He’s always needed her too much for that.

--
And we are so fragile,
And our cracking bones make noise,
And we are just,
Breakable, breakable, breakable girls and boys.
--

End