Season 5: Redux

By: aspdstra

RATING: T (Possible M later)

PAIRING: C/C

SUMMARY: Season 5 re-imagined, with a different focus and a better outcome. C/C.

DISCLAIMER: No. I wouldn't even go there. So don't you.

A/N: Okay so bear with me... The inspiration for this fic series came from being personally unsatisfied with some major elements of what could've been Smallville's best season (Season 5), and subsequently could've paved the way for better seasons to follow (I stopped watching at the beginning of Season 6). Given my writing track record, no one will be surprised that I felt Clark was always a better character with Chloe by his side, even though the writers never gave the two of them full romantic pay-off. It says a lot that they had the strongest bond on the show and were the best versions of themselves with each other without that romantic part of their relationship being fully explored. Lucky for us fic scribes, we get to fix the TPTB's mistakes. Feel free to ship who you like, but proceed with reading this knowing that my mind is already made up.

Some basic restructuring of Season 4: Lana and Jason never encountered the "uber-witch" storyline and therefore never left Paris, never met his mother and never broke up...oh right, and Jason never died; Clark and Lana never had their "I LOVE YOU" revelation from Commencement; Clark has had most of the season to get over Lana and, in turn, develop feelings for Chloe after Bound (just watch that episode again if you don't find my thinking believable).

Tidbits about Season 5: I will be deliberately borrowing certain dialogue from the actual Season 5 script just because I don't feel like a complete re-write of everything is necessary. Everything wasn't done right but some things were, and those things can stay.

I think that about does it. I'd be thrilled to answer any other questions if there are any later. And yes, I do have Ch. 3 of "Better Than Anyone" queued up for posting as well, swearsies, although both fics are unrelated.

[-]||[-]

"Clark...I think you're so amazing. You save people's lives and take zero credit for it. To me, you're more than just a hero. You're a super hero."

"Chloe —"

"I'm serious, Clark. If more humans were like you, the world would be a better place."

CHAPTER I: Arrival

Considering what Clark expected from Chloe in the way of reactions to his secret, how she had actually responded was above and beyond anything he could've hoped for on his own. The level of understanding from her and, dare he say it, amazement did everything but make him bust at the seams with happiness. Finally, someone else knew, and it ended up being someone he cared very deeply for. You see, a certain pair of Lana-colored glasses had been lifted from his eyes for a while, and after everything he and Chloe had shared over the past year, Clark was mostly looking for an excuse to let her in on the whole truth. When he'd said there were so many occasions on which he had wanted to tell her his secret, he hadn't said that for his health or her benefit. Chloe Sullivan wasn't just anyone — she was his best friend, his support system. She'd been there for him when all the things he'd once relied on were nowhere to be found. And now, thanks to a bit of honesty and taking the plunge, they could be closer than ever. Something he'd been wishing could happen for quite some time.

Still affected by her complimentary words, he grinned to himself and waited before speaking again, making eye contact to emphasize his sincerity. "I meant what I said before, Chloe. You're a great friend...you're my best friend...and I don't know what I'd do or where I'd be without you. I mean, I'd say you're pretty amazing yourself. Just remember that."

Chloe beamed in spite of herself then rolled her eyes to cover the faint glisten of tears, her hands fiddling with her hospital nightgown. "Oh geez. Don't go all Oprah on me now."

He smirked at her predictably cynical response and leaned forward, brushing her hair behind her ear and lightly kissing her forehead then leaning back to sit in his chair, his thumb lingering to caress her cheek. "Too late."

Unbeknownst to him, she'd closed her eyes and savored his display of affection, trying her best to make sure that her face betrayed no emotions that lay beneath the surface. A somewhat unsuccessful campaign, but she made her best effort.

"Actually," he continued after a short silence, "I was hoping I could talk to you about something."

She quirked an expectant eyebrow. "Well it doesn't look like I'm going anywhere, so...there's no time like the present." Initially, she knew she'd used the snarky tone to offset any anticipation she might've acquired from the serious expression on his handsome face. Not so much gravely serious, more like emotionally serious. Kinda scary, but in a good way.

He wasn't exactly sure where he should start, but Chloe's voice inside his head called him a bozo and told him to just start at the beginning, and he grinned at length then opened his mouth. "I —"

"What's that?"

Clark idly shifted his gaze from Chloe to the TV she was watching across the room just in time to catch fire shooting from the sky. They both exchanged a curious look before he got up and moved to turn up the volume, listening to a solemn news reporter documenting the event as having occurred in Smallville, which made their curious looks turn to heavily concerned ones. Without words, Chloe knew what Clark had to do.

"Smallville needs you more than I do, Clark. Go." He hesitated out of obvious concern, which she appreciated, but now wasn't the time. "Go."

Prepared to superspeed away at her insistent tone, he again hesitated and turned back to her. "Chloe, we still need to talk. And I'm coming back for you."

"But Clark, what about —" She started to remind him of the warning Jor-El had given that he return to the Fortress before sunset. Clark may have been superhuman, but he could only be so many places at once. And as far as she could tell, no consequences of Jor-El's had ever been a light reprimand or a simple revoking of shallow teenage privileges.

"I'll make it," he assured her, then followed through on hightailing his way back to Kansas in the blink of an eye.

A look of bewilderment lit up Chloe's face, and she stared wide-eyed and grinning at the spot where Clark used to be. "Whoa."

[-]||[-]

By nature, Chloe Sullivan was an impatient person. If things weren't happening at the speed of light, then they weren't really happening at all. Life in the fast lane, some might call it, though the saying is notoriously ambiguous now that the fast lane isn't really fast anymore. Combine that with the fact that she'd recently let her alien best friend in on the fact that she knew he was, in truth, an alien, and that he'd also made a deal with the spirit of his deceased alien father, who had a record of running low on tolerance, and you had a hazardously nervous Chloe. This version of her was sitting on the hospital bed and switching off between looking out the window almost every second and making a meal of her fingernails. The sun was about to set and Clark wasn't there. She might've been nearly freezing to death at the time, but she'd heard Jor-El loud and clear. He said the consequences would be dire, and if Jor-El thought they would be dire, that meant the rest of them would probably wish for death before even thinking twice. This was not looking good.

Almost on cue, Clark entered the room at normal speed, and Chloe physically jumped out of her bed in anticipation. "Clark, oh my God, where have you been, the sun's about to set! We have to get you out of here! Well...we have to get me out of here so that by getting me out of here you would be getting out of wherever you leave me once we're out of here and then you'd be able to get where you're going after that but we have to leave now."

She went on a frantic search of the room for her clothes, making sure to hold the back of her gown from possibly falling open, but Clark stopped her, holding her by her shoulders and turning her to face him. "Chloe, calm down. Let's just get you home and worry about that other stuff later."

Her expression was somewhat comical but Clark thought it best not to laugh right then. "That other stuff? Calm down?! Clark, are you even hearing yourself right now?! This is a big deal! Jor-El is not an easy-going kind of dad who might scold you or ground you if you disobey him and he will not stop until you and everyone in your life are either hurt or m—"

The word would've been 'miserable' but it was effectively cut off by Clark taking hold of Chloe's face and kissing her into silence. She froze immediately, her only movements being to place her hands around his waist and hold on tight so as not to pass out. The kiss wasn't particularly long but she had no qualms with his methods and let herself be good and kissed until he pulled back, showing that she wasn't the only one a bit flushed from the endeavor.

"Good. So that works," he said with a lilt of amusement in his voice after taking a moment to catch his breath. She had a mind to formulate some sort of quippy response but when she opened her mouth, nothing substantial came out. Curious.

At any rate, he scooped her up in his arms and looked at her intently. "We'll be fine." And they were gone in a blur.

[-]||[-]

"You warm enough?"

Chloe glanced in the direction of Clark's voice, which came from the kitchen as he prepared them each a nice round of hot chocolate. "I think the only way I could be warmer is if I had something hot to drink." He glared playfully from behind the counter but continued preparations nonetheless.

She'd already raided his wardrobe of some nice heavy sweats and one of his famous flannel shirts, not to mention how she was wrapped in a blanket and sitting in front of the fireplace to boot. The point was, amidst all her warming possibilities, she enjoyed bossing Clark around the most.

Entering the living room, he handed Chloe her mug before carefully sitting down beside her on the floor with his own and getting comfortable. "You know some people, wherever they might be, would appreciate my services."

"Oh yeah, I bet," she responded through a sip and a smirk. "Now would this be before or after they found out that you, in fact, could've heated up the hot chocolate with your eyes?"

Touché, Mam'selle Sullivan. By his own admittance, he would've done just that, but it didn't stop him from grinning sourly then taking a hearty gulp from his coffee mug. "Ow!"

Whoops. Did someone forget to mention that the consequence of Clark's disobedience was being completely relinquished of his abilities and turned into a normal human being? Needless to say, the hot chocolate was a bit too hot for him in his new state of existing, and he nursed his briefly scalded tongue in anguish.

Chloe fixed him with a concerned glance out of the corner of her eye yet continued to gingerly sip from her own mug and stare into the firelight. "Gee. Being invulnerable to extreme temperatures would really come in handy right about now."

His reaction was almost audible, the glaring was so loud, but he said nothing and decided to take more care with how fast he drank.

"Come on, Clark. Can we please talk about this?"

After a short pause, he finally looked at her and pretended like he didn't know what she meant. "I'm sorry...which this are you referring to exactly?"

"Well we can start with the 'oh my God, you just gave up your superpowers for me' this, and then hopefully move onto the 'now's a good time to explain why the hell you kissed me' this."

Heh. He had kissed her, hadn't he? He'd kissed her good. Oh sorry. He'd try not to smirk. "That's easy. 'It was worth it,' and 'I did it to shut you up.'" She shot him a warning stare, however mildly intrigued she might've been with his not-so-subtle flirtation, and he quickly changed his behavior. "Chloe...for the longest time, all I've ever wanted was to fit in, to be normal. Now I have the chance. I don't have to hear anything about destinies and earth-shattering choices all left up to me ever again. I can live my life."

"Clark, how can you say that? Your life was about so much more. You had the power to save the people you care about, people in need. Most of us live our entire lives without ever having that privilege."

"And what about the things I want, Chloe? Yeah, I got to save people who aren't even allowed to know about it. I had to lie to all those people, especially the people I care about. I had to hide who I really am. At the end of the day, what does that make me?"

She shrugged a shoulder, yet her expression showed she empathized with his feelings completely. "A hero."

He stared into his mug before setting it down at his side. "Well I'm done with all that now..."

"Clark —"

"I'll kiss you again if I have to."

It was then that Chloe felt she might've been a bit too warm for her own good, but she did her best to hide it well. "That's not as negatively threatening as you'd like to believe."

He stared for a moment before another smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You don't think so, huh?" She shook her head, the message emanating from her eyes doing more than words could. "I don't suppose I might be able to persuade you —"

"Why don't we put the whole forfeiture of superpowers discussion on the shelf for a moment and you tell me what all this is about."

Clark had the nerve to feign ignorance. "I feel the need for another this definition coming on."

Her eyebrow raised in playful warning. "Clark, you're vulnerable now. I don't want to have to take advantage of that and seriously harm you, but..."

"Alright, alright," he interrupted, his teasing grace period having clearly run its course. "What do you want to know?"

She shifted her position a bit so her body was angled to face him, and she earnestly considered what she had to ask him. "I'm getting the feeling you have some kind of thing for me. Do you have a thing for me?"

He grinned. "Yes, I do."

Miraculously, she held off on the marching-band-level victory dance and continued. "What kind of a thing?"

"You want the long or short version?"

"At this point, I'd take either."

His shoulders hunched briefly in a relenting shrug, then he strategized how best to approach the situation and pressed forward. "Short version: I have feelings for you that go beyond friendship." He watched as that slowly sunk in before he spoke again. "Long version: it's taken me a while to figure all that out. And I don't expect you to just accept it and welcome me with open arms given how many times I've made you wait for me. But if you thought you might still feel the same way, even just a little bit, it would at least give me something to look forward to while I pass the time."

Well. As far as explanations went, that one pretty much took the cake.

Chloe didn't know whether to just attack him right there or adhere to that gnawing feeling in her gut that told her she needed some time to think all this through. It might've been what she'd always wanted. In fact, it was what she'd always wanted. But taking into account that what she wanted even more than an admission of his feelings was to make sure what he felt for her was real, time had to be allowed so she could test that. And she figured, from a somewhat shallow standpoint, that it would be nice being the pursued one for a change.

Setting aside her mug and standing up, she pulled him up in front of her and decided to go for a happy medium with the attack-adhere method, rising onto her toes and kissing him soundly on the mouth while her fingers threaded through his hair and his arms slid around her waist. It was more passionate than their last kiss, as their hands traded places with each other and both their tongues met languidly, seeming to communicate all that hadn't been said between them over the years. Mentally, Clark took this as a sign that Chloe was willing to give him a chance, which just made everything that much more meaningful. So meaningful that the two of them nearly forgot what it was like to breathe and mutually pulled apart for the sake of acquiring oxygen.

She took her time savoring the kiss and remaining in Clark's personal space, but she decided to speak first. "I'm a little quicker on the uptake than you are, so you won't have to wait that long...but hopefully that'll last you for a while."

His fingers dancing along her lower back, he gathered enough brain cells to grin and pull her closer to him. "I think it might."