Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Smallville.

Chapter Eleven

         "Clark!!" Chloe exclaimed. In a flash she was up on his feet, and pulling her up from the ground.

        "Your hands! Oh my goodness, Chloe… they're bleeding and… and there's meteor in them! And your eyes… what happened after Sara… I'm so sorry, I should've tried harder… I'm sorry I couldn't…" Clark began to ramble on and on while he grasped her hands, but all Chloe could think of was how she wanted a good bath, some ointment on her hands and a great sleep- not forgetting how warm Clark's hands felt on hers.

        "It's not your fault, Clark! You were knocked out by the handle of a dagger. I'm surprised you even managed to get up!" Chloe put in, trying to insert her words in between his.

        "What about the dagger? And Sara?" Clark asked.

        "She's dead. A branch fell on her. I threw the dagger back into the portal and it exploded. I guess it's all over now," Chloe looked away, feeling the tears coming back. She did not want to cry- the tears would only make her eyes hurt.

        Sensing her discomfort, Clark took her by the shoulders and led her away. "Come on, let's go to my place and clear you up. Tomorrow's the weekend, I'm sure you can give your dad a call and if it's too late, you can sleep in my room and I'll sleep in the loft. My parents won't mind," Clark said.

        Chloe allowed herself to be led off by her best friend.

*

        I wish I could superspeed her back home right now, but then I'd be giving away my secret. Her hands don't look good… meteor liquid in the wounds. Who knows? It might even seep into her blood stream and cause some terrible effects. What if I can't get close to her anymore, because of the meteor? And her eyes… they look strangely lighter… almost like the meteor green from some angles…

        Clark was so absorbed in her thoughts that he'd hardly notice that they had reached his place.

        "Clark? Uh… we're here so, are you going to just keep walking straight or go up the stairs?" Chloe joked weakly.

        "Oh, right," Clark gave a start, and helped her up the stairs. From inside he could see his parents scrambling up from chairs and rushing to the door.

        "Clark!" his mother exclaimed as she opened the screen door. "What happened?" Her eyes caught sight of Chloe's hands and she brought a hand to her chest.

        "Your typical Wall of Weird mystery, Mrs. Kent," Chloe chuckled weakly.

        "We found out who the murderer is, Mom… it had to do with meteor rocks and all that… time traveling portals if you'd believe me," Clark said, looking meaningfully at his mother, who nodded vigorously. From behind her, his father looked at Chloe's hands and said, "Better get those cleaned up- they look terribly."

        "I'll handle it, Mom, Dad," Clark said to them.

        "Are you sure?" his mother seemed worried.

        "Very," Clark was already leading Chloe in the direction of the loft.

        "We'll talk afterwards!" his father added as they vanished out of sight.

        "Your parents seemed angry," Chloe said to him.

        They were now sitting in the loft. Clark had washed her hands and found out that the wound was not so deep after all. Somehow their time travel through the years must have done something to it… or the meteors could have done something to it. So he washed Chloe's hands with running water and was now applying ointment. The bandages were next to him on the couch.

        "They're just worried, it's okay," Clark said.

        "Sorry to cause so much trouble," Chloe said earnestly.

        "It's not like you to apologize much, Chlo," Clark joked, then seeing her straight face added, "Besides, you're our intrepid girl reporter- you like to cause trouble, believe it or not."

        The gleam vanished from Chloe's green eyes, and she looked down. "Am I that bad?" she asked softly.

        "Oh, c'mon, Chloe…" but there was nothing more he could say. Seeing her look so hurt made him feel guilty somehow. He felt compelled to protect her… to make her happy. But somehow he could never succeed in doing that. Somehow Chloe always seemed unhappy when he was around.

        "You're not that bad. You're not bad at all. In fact, if it weren't for you, many people would've died from all those Wall of Weird mysteries. You've dedicated yourself entirely to them, Chloe, and I think that's really wonderful of you, even if no one else might think that. Even though some people might be jealous of you or think that you're strange, I won't, and I'll always be there for you to support you in whatever you do, because you've brought so much good to Smallville, and into my life as well. You've risked your life so many times to solve those mysteries when you could have just sat back and ignored them. But you wanted to help those people, and you did in the end. And that's what makes you wonderful. You don't cause much trouble," Clark blurted out, and indeed, as he said everything, he felt as though he had stirred up something deep inside himself. He knew he believed those words.

        And there was Chloe's face, staring up at his in a mixture of bemusement and rapture. The moonlight from the loft window fell onto her hair, making it gleam golden. Her smile was infectious- it spread to all corners of her face, and he couldn't help smiling too. Only Chloe could do that to him. And her eyes- when they stared deep into his, he felt as though she could see his soul.

*

        He's staring at me and I'm staring at him. This would be a perfect moment to kiss but he's in love with Lana. I won't push it.

        Chloe let out a deep breath and smiled again.

        "My hands, Clark," she prompted, jolting him out of his stare. Clark flushed (How cute… he's so gorgeous), and brought out the bandages from behind him.

*

        Concentrate on her hands, Clark… her hands… They're pretty smooth… not callous at all. And her nails are perfectly manicured…

Okay then, just concentrate on the bandage.

        But there was something he could not ignore.

"Chloe?" he decided to ask.

        "Yea, Clark?" she answered softly, staring deep into his eyes.

                "You know when you want something so bad, and then when you have it, it kinda makes you wonder why you wanted it in the first place?" He watched as she thought about what he'd just said. He wondered if she knew that he was talking about Lana. Though he didn't exactly have her yet, he was beginning to feel that he didn't want her anymore.