Eveything Changes but Some Things Don't

Chapter 11

“Gahh, ever since he’d admitted to himself how he really felt about Chloe every moment, every save, every mission, every quirky comment; every word spoken really that they’d shared was haunting him with their truth hidden behind his mind’s label of just friends,” he thought as he crushed yet another cup doing the dishes.

“Every word she or he had said, every look, every smile, every tear, every hug, just everything was coming back to him and making him see the truth and he was so angry at himself for being so stupid. And now she was God knew where with Davis…to protect him, she said. Argghhhh! Great another cup goes; I’ll have to go buy some to replace the ones I’ve destroyed.”

“How could I be so stupid? It was right there in front of me for so many years. I’m supposedly the last member of a long line of superiorly intelligent Kryptonian people and yet I could figure out that I loved my best friend, probably from the first moment I met her.” He growled at himself as he finished up the dishes and dried his hands.

“Every time I thought I’d lost her I would lose it, my powers would go out of control to the point I couldn’t concentrate, hell that one phantom made me believe losing Chloe drove me to an asylum. Every time I needed someone to talk to it was her I ran to. Every time she needed a shoulder, a hero I was there. Hell, when I first got my super hearing her heart beat was the one I focused in on, hers was the clearest thing to me and to this day she’s the only heart beat I can hear without even focusing, it’s instinctual. How more blatantly obvious did it have to be? And I couldn’t see it…oh who am I fooling, I saw it, but couldn’t bring myself to accept it. I wanted to believe I loved Lana and I do, but not the way I love Chloe.”

Just then Shelby barked as if to agree with him and then looked over at his empty bowls.

Clark looked down at his loyal golden retriever and smiled, “Okay boy I know I’m being stupid and I need to stop moping. I’ll stop right now by getting your food and water,” and he did just that.

Well until he had to get ready for work. Then he need his chores, got ready for work and left for Metropolis. God, he hadn’t felt like this since his father’s death, this sense of being on autopilot, so full of self-blame and anger.

It was just another day full of chores, of typing an article, researching another, stopping the bad guys, searching for Chloe, and so on. He’d never get this way if Chloe was around she made the most mundane things fun just by her presence.

“You going home to take care of the farm, Smallville?” Clark heard Lois asked as if from a distance and not just across from him.

“Yeah in a few minutes. You going home?”

“Yeah I need to try and get some sleep, even though I highly doubt that’ll happen,” Lois said as she grabbed her jacket and purse and walked out the doors.

“Clark was shutting his computer down for the night when his super hearing picked up on a struggle of some kind not far away, he quickly changed into his signature red jean jacket, blue T and jeans and then sped away to help.

When he got to the disturbance he found it already handled. There was a woman maybe in her 50’s or 60’s being helped up by a younger woman and across from them against a wall was a knocked out mugger. As the young woman sent the older woman on her way he just stood there surprised. Not that someone else had helped the woman, he was glad someone came to her aid. It showed him that not all good was gone from humanity, but he was surprised at how such a small woman as the one standing in the alleyway could take down the man he was watching for movement. Apparently the man was alive but definitely not going to be waking up for a while.

“You okay? Should I call the authorities?” he asked to the young woman’s back. She wore a long white jacket that tied at the waist and blue jeans and boots he could see, but that’s all he could see at the moment.

“Yeah that would probably be a good thing. Get that creep off the streets. And I’m fine, thanks for the concern…Dad,” the young woman said as she turned around to face Clark finally.

It wasn’t what she said that made him step back and take a huge gulp of air; though that was a surprise it was her looks. This was the girl from his dream/vision thing.

“Okay, now he was totally and completely lost. He couldn’t handle Chloe running off with Davis to protect him and now a future daughter, she had to be a future daughter because hello he had no relationship to speak of right now, but so help him if ever got Chloe back he would, and the young woman looking at with calm eyes was maybe in her early twenties. Apparently she was wearing a red T with her jeans though,” he thought stepping back again.

“He had to admit his future daughter was beautiful. Slim but tough, small in the height department and pale compared to his tanned complexion she must have her mother’s height and complexion. She had long dark brown hair and eyes you could get lost in, eyes he could get lost in, eyes he did get lost in…Oh God, she had Chloe’s eyes. Her piercing, intelligent, always smiling and determined green-hazel eyes! It couldn’t be! But here was the proof, right in front of him. He and Chloe had a child, would have a child. Here she stood in front of him with her mother’s determined but laughing eyes,” he thought to himself in shock.

“Not that I don’t like getting checked out every once in a while, but from my dad…that’s just creepy,” the girl said with a cool but laughing tone to her voice.

“No! I wasn’t…” Clark spluttered thinking sarcastically, “oh yeah this is how I wanted a meeting with my future daughter to always go.”

“Geez, Dad chill. I know you weren’t checkin’ me out,” she laughed as she stepped forward.

“God, that’s Chloe’s laugh…maybe a little deeper but definitely Chloe’s,” he thought as the young woman’s laugh washed over him.

Clark shook himself mentally and took a breath to calm himself.

“So, um…what’s your name?” Clark asked hoping to sound collected even though he was far from it.

“Which one? My Superhero…or my real?” The girl replied with a smirk and a tilt of her head that Clark knew so well it made his heart ache.

“Real,” he replied softly.

“Ariel. You thought it funny to have a Kryptonian and Earth name together. One that no one would suspect, except for maybe your enemies. Seeing as you go by Kal-el of Kryptonian or…well we’ll save that for you to see,” Ariel stated with a smirk and eyes that were laughing at him.

“Ariel…its nice.” He smiled honestly liking it.

“Thanks. Now, even though it would be oh so much fun…,” she began in a falsely happy kid voice and ended on a serious and not playing around one, “can we skip the pleasantries, I came back for a reason and this…isn’t it.”

“Okay, so…what is?” he asked as she passed him “with a determination he could probably guess she got from either him or Chloe or both – oh would that be scary combo,” he thought and he was forced to turn around to face her.

The look in Ariel’s eyes made Clark wish he hadn’t asked but knew it was too late now.

“First, here Rokk sent this…to replace the one you had to destroy,” she stated dismissively as she handed him a new Legion ring.

“Okay, thanks.”

“Yeah whatever. Now, down to business,” she said getting back her serious tone.

“Right. So what did you come back for?”

“Well, dad…history says you die the day after tomorrow fighting Doomsday and I personally… have a problem with that. See if you die that means I won’t be and I have a serious problem with that; not to mention all the good you, the Justice League, mom and I do in the future would be for nothing. See the problem here?” Ariel stated with a snarkiness she definitely got from her mother, he could never muster that kind of snark even on Red K and acting like his Kryptonian self, Kal.

He admired her attitude when dealing with such a serious issue, but he felt his stomach drop to the ground with a thud as her words hit him and all he could keep thinking was, “He died…in 2 two days he would be dead!”

“I die!?”

“Yeah, you do. So, can we head somewhere to talk more freely. As you can see we don’t have much time to dally,” Ariel stated showing him her fading in and out left hand that held her Legion ring.

“Oh my…okay yeah sure. Um, let’s head back to the farm. We can talk there.”

“Okay,” and she sped off heading towards Smallville and the Kent farm with Clark right behind her.

AN: Next chapters will have a bit more of Season 8 finale episode scenes in them with my own twists so keep reading, rating, reviewing and enjoy.