The Smallville Ghost

Chronology: mid to late season six, although some canon chronology is mixed up for story reasons

Note: obviously influenced by the episodes "Spell", "Transference," and "Spirit," but also by a book by Gillian Bradshaw entitled "The Wrong Reflection". Don't miss it.

Disclaimers: the usual.

Clark looked over at Chloe, sitting on the couch in his barn loft. The setting sun streamed in through the large window. Her feet were in the sunbeam; the light gave a golden tone to her bare feet. Her shoes, kicked off an hour ago, lay sprawled on the floor a few feet away, leaning drunkenly.

Chloe slumped, her eyes closed, mouth slightly open, giving just a hint of a snore. She'd come over to talk with Clark – nothing special, just getting together as friends, although partly to check on him since she hadn't heard from him since he'd gotten the news of Lana's engagement. They'd talked a long time, Clark letting out some of his anger and frustration. Finally he'd worn down, and had gone to the house to get some coffee. He had gone at regular human speed, wanting to give Chloe a little break from his angst.

When he came back, Chloe was drowsing on the couch. Clark felt a little guilty – he'd been talking so much about himself he hadn't recognized that Chloe was very tired. You know she works too many late nights, he chided himself. Caffeine could only keep a human awake for so long, and obviously Chloe had reached her limit.

Clark set the coffeepot down quietly on the desk, and sat himself down in a chair opposite Chloe. He studied her quietly, giving a small smile when she squirmed a little bit in her sleep, adjusting her position. Chloe looked tired too; there were dark circles under her eyes, and she seemed thinner than normal. Clark knew that she had to get back to Metropolis tonight; right then and there he resolved he would speed her back later so that she could get a nap now. He'd worry about her car later on. Maybe he could drive it back during the night?

She moved a little bit again; Clark, prompted by that same obscure feeling of guilt, slipped into super-speed. Carefully he picked her up, then laid her down so that she rested horizontally on the couch and could stretch out. Hopefully the speed would keep her from waking when he changed her position. Chloe gave another little sound, then snuggled into the side of the couch and relaxed.

Clark sat back in his chair, looked at Chloe, stared out the window at the setting sun. He'd seen many a sunset with Lana from this same vantage point. As ever, the thought of Lana sent a pang through him. How could she agree to marry Lex? It was an old familiar thought by now; he'd only asked himself that about a million times in the past two weeks.

He'd spent the last two hours ranting about this to Chloe. Now, strangely enough, Clark felt more peaceful. Getting it all off his chest had helped him gain some perspective.

Chloe figured that Lana had fallen into the Luthor pit and, like herself in a similar situation, didn't know how to get out.

"She probably really does love Lex", Chloe had said judiciously. "I think she loves you more, but she is a loving person. And there's the baby to think of. And Lex hasn't betrayed her yet, at least that she knows of."

Then Clark had offered to get some coffee, and Chloe had agreed, no, demanded it, with the all the fervor of a caffeine junkie needing her next fix. And then, when Clark returned from the house, Chloe was sleeping.

Clark listened to her steady breathing, relaxed in his own chair. It was a rare slow time on the farm, with most of the beef cattle recently gone to market and the crops in. He didn't have too much to do on the farm right now. Actually, the remaining work would probably keep three farmhands busy, but super-speed allowed him to get the work done and have time for other things, like meetings with friends.

His own eyelids quivered. He hadn't been sleeping well lately, either, constantly brooding about Lana and wondering what pressure was used to coerce her, and what he could do about it. Talking with Chloe today had helped him put it into perspective a little bit; he felt a little easier. Drowsiness stole over him. Clark welcomed it. He relaxed and slipped into slumber.

Noise from Chloe awakened him. She was stretching on the couch. Clark opened his eyes, smiled at her. She sat up slowly, almost falling over. Her hands reached up to feel her face, ran through her hair. Then she looked down at herself, and ran a hand over her stomach. Shelby sat up too, sniffed her, then got down and moved away. His ears flattened to his head, and his neck fur bristled. Clark raised an eyebrow in surprise – this wasn't like Shelby. Shelby liked Chloe; she was always giving him treats.

She still hadn't looked back at Clark. He sat still in his chair, watching her. Chloe stood up. Clark frowned. She looked wobbly. Was there something wrong with her? She definitely seemed unsteady on her feet. She took one step; it was exaggerated and slow. Clark could see her look down at her feet, then look around. When she caught sight of her shoes, she gave a small "ah" of satisfaction, and reached for them.

Chloe almost fell over, misjudging the distance to grasp her shoes. Clark straightened up and said, "Are you OK?"

She jumped at least three inches. Obviously his presence startled her. Clark caught a glimpse of the expression on her face before she turned away from him. It was fear.

"I'm fine", she said dismissively. Chloe reached for her shoes again, and again misjudged the distance.

"Are you sure?" Clark persisted. He was getting more worried about her – she just didn't look right. Were all the late nights and sleep deprivation catching up to her? And why was that fearful look on her face?

"I told you, I'm fine!" she said harshly. Clark cocked a metaphorical ear. Chloe definitely didn't sound like herself.

Not like herself…Clark had a sudden bad thought. He was halfway in a dream state himself, not yet fully awake from his nap. And before he'd gone to sleep, he and Chloe had been talking about meteor powers. He remembered some painful moments from his past….He wouldn't have done it if he had been fully awake. But it seemed, in his half-asleep state, to be the right thing to say.

"Who am I?" he asked Chloe. He looked back in Shelby in surprise for a moment as Shelby growled. Clark waited for her to joke back at him, or say his name, or call him one of her pet names, like the Man of Steel, or the Intergalactic Traveler.

Instead, a worm of doubt coiled in him as she looked away, pretending that she hadn't heard the question. Clark got up, put a hand on her arm. "Who am I?" he asked again. He stood so that he was facing her.

"You're, ah, you're, well, you're you!" Chloe replied, still not looking him in the eyes. It was weird. Her entire attitude and posture had changed. Clark still had a bit of dream haze in his mind. He wanted to be sure.

He asked her. "Who are you?" Chloe continued to avoid his gaze. Clark felt a tinge of worry. This wasn't right. Casting aside good manners, he invaded her personal space with a vengeance. He put one hand under her chin, and tilted her head up.

"Who are you?" he asked again. He wanted to hear her snark at him, tell him to put his hand down, he was hurting her neck. Then Clark looked into her eyes and knew. The question needed to be asked, because the person he saw staring out of Chloe's eyes was not Chloe Sullivan.

"Tell me who you are!" Clark demanded roughly, taking his hand from Chloe's chin and holding both her arms. She grimaced at his grip and abashedly, he loosened it a little bit. He'd grabbed her too hard in his nervousness; that was going to leave bruises.

Suddenly, her eyes changed. It was like a curtain being pulled up. Shelby moved closer; his hackles went down and he stopped growling. Chloe's posture changed subtly.

"Clark, why are you grabbing me?" Chloe asked. It was Chloe now, he could tell. "Not that I really mind it, but why are you keeping me prisoner out of the blue like this? Was the request for coffee that offensive?"

Clark let her go, dropped his arms to his sides. "Chloe, you're not going to believe this…"

"I've given up on incredulity in Smallville now. I believe whatever people tell me. If it's weird, I believe it." She gave him a tiny grin.

"I think you were possessed."

Despite her protestations, Chloe had one tiny expression of disbelief. Then exasperation crossed her face. "Not again!" She stamped her foot. "First it was Dawn Stiles at the prom, then that murdered girl with the kryptonite bracelet…"

"Yeah, what is it about you and ghosts?" Clark asked, interestedly.

"Not just ghosts, mind-altering stuff in general. For someone who doesn't drink or do drugs, I get a lot of crap that way." Chloe gave a half-exasperated smile. "My memory gets wiped out from Mr. Persuasive in the forest that time, and then the next time it's a Kryptonian parasite making me change into Daredevil Girl – and I don't remember that either. It's taking blackouts to a whole new level."

"And don't forget when you were possessed by the evil witch."

"Who had the uncomfortable taste in clothing." Chloe grimaced.

Clark smiled. "Oh, I don't know. I kind of liked the way you looked then. That black leather…"

"Clark!" At first there was indignation; then Chloe stopped for a moment. Then she said, interestedly, "Really?"

Clark shuffled his feet, looked away. "Um…yeah." Another moment of silence. He looked back at Chloe. Clark had told her in the past that she really didn't know how much she meant to him. Was this a time to pursue that topic? Clark could actually see her choosing to drop this subject and go back to the (admittedly more urgent) weird events that just happened.

"Clark, tell me what happened here!" she demanded.

"There's not much to tell, Chloe. I brought back the coffee and you were sleeping on the couch." He deliberately didn't tell her about moving her to a more comfortable position. "I took a little nap too, and then you woke me when you got up. Except Shelby was growling, and you were stumbling, and you just looked…different, so I asked you who I was. And you didn't know." Clark's voice turned more serious. "Then I looked into your eyes….and it wasn't you."

Chloe sat silent for just a moment, then rallied. "I guess that old "eyes being the window to the soul" thing is true."

"Shelby knew right away", Clark offered. "I don't know how he does that. When I was possessed by that Zoner, he knew it too."

"God, Clark, what is it with us and being possessed? Or mind-controlled?" Chloe ranted. "Does this only happen to us? Is it because we live in Smallville?"

Clark ignored her rhetorical questions. "What I'm more worried about is, why did it happen, who was it, is it going to happen again?" He sat down, a worried expression on his face. "Why you?"

Chloe looked worried too. Clark could tell that this was pushing some of her buttons again. "Maybe there really is something wrong with me", she said in a low voice. "I mean, that other ghost possessed me so easily and I didn't know what I did while she was in my body."

"Do you remember anything about this episode?" Clark asked her.

She sat down on the couch. "No. The last thing I remember was sitting on the couch waiting for you to bring the coffee. I felt tired, and I remember my eyes closing. Then the next thing I knew, you had the grip of doom on my arms."

Clark cast a quick glance at her arms. He could see the bruising starting already. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"That's OK, Clark. You probably saved me from a worse fate." Chloe shivered.

"So what can we do?" he asked Chloe.

"I really don't know", she replied. "Call in the Ghostbusters or something?"

"Very funny", Clark said sourly. "No, really, Chloe, we do need to find out more. If you're at risk –"

"How do we find out more?" she demanded.

Clark sat back, sighing. "I have no idea."

"Well, I have one", Chloe said.

"What?"

"It happened while I was sleeping on your couch in your loft in your barn. So maybe if I take another nap…" Chloe winked at him.