Episode Nineteen: Anywhere You Go …

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Smallville was a bit busier tonight than usual. While she stood motionless on the sidewalk of Main Street, Chloe hardly noticed the extra swell of people due to the holiday. With a satisfied smile, she breathed in through her nose then released with a refreshing sigh. She didn't realize how wonderful late October air could be, especially in her hometown. She had spent almost five full days in Metropolis Memorial Hospital after her kidnap and captivity by werewolves. So anything other than disinfectant-cleaned hospital rooms made her feel like she was standing in a rose garden. Even the manure-filtered air of Smallville seemed far more inviting than usual. Other than a short walk the day before to consume as much fresh air as the city of Metropolis could supply, Chloe had not ventured out for anything - or anyone, for that matter. Endless days lying helpless in a hospital bed had temporarily conformed her body into Jell-O, making it difficult for her to move easily, and she was sure it would take her just as long to feel normal again.

So when she came home the day before, she didn't want to do anything but sleep.

And go to Lois's Halloween costume party.

Throughout her restoration period, in between sleep and visitors, she deliberated endlessly on the horrific events of the past week. Each event played into the next like a movie script, starting with her friend's murder. From there it bellowed to different situations, scenarios, and suspects, all conjuring up to one nasty truth.

Captured by werewolves.

Such unforgiving truth made her question her own sanity, no matter how often she enjoyed a good story of the mystical and paranormal. When Mrs. Kent visited her a day after her admittance into the hospital, Chloe could hardly discuss what happened to her due to the shock value alone. More than once she awoke from nightmares, as her mind played out what could have transpired if Clark had not come to her rescue. The events of the past few days felt more like a dream, and only the throbbing pain at her side reminded her that every lasting memory had come true.

When Chloe fell asleep each night in the bumpy hospital bed, she envisioned herself waking up the next morning in her own apartment. Sometimes she imagined waking up on her couch after spending the entire night trying to write her latest article. Other times she imagined waking up in her own bed with Clark Kent's strong arms around her, and with the feeling of his sweet breath on her neck.

Naturally, she asked Mrs. Kent the status of Clark's health during her visit. Although he slept almost all the time, she insisted he was okay. Because his beating from the werewolf was far more brutal the second time around, the severity of his injuries grew proportionately and the need for serious recuperation grew just as well. His body was definitely healing, but the process was taking a bit longer than usual. Every time Mrs. Kent changed her son's bandages, she took a good look at each wound to ensure he was improving. Thankfully, his body was slowly and continuously mending back into place. Shreds of kryptonite were still in his system, and until his body forced the intruding toxin out completely, his injuries would remain.

A few days after Chloe spoke with Mrs. Kent, she heard from Lois that Clark had finally shown his face after spending the entire weekend in his room. Mrs. Kent warded off Lois' concern for Clark by insisting her son was merely exhausted from his excursions on Wednesday night. Lois seemed satisfied by the impromptu explanation, and didn't ask for anything more to explain her friend's odd behavior. Due to the heavy pressure and planning of her upcoming costume party, she really didn't have the time to investigate the lie any further if she wanted to. She did, however, make time for her cousin by visiting her every day in the hospital, and bringing daily douses of coffee and gossip to help her through.

But Lois and Mrs. Kent were not her only visitors. Zachary had been minimally injured and was released from the hospital three days before Chloe. He visited her the day he left to thank her for saving him, and working so hard to find Abigail's killer. Though her death was tragic, Chloe and Clark's investigation ensured no one else would have to suffer. They had found and eliminated the werewolf, and because of Chloe's efforts she also earned herself a front page Daily Planet exclusive once she was able to write. When Zachary finally left, Chloe knew she would probably never see him again.

Jimmy had also visited her. He earned his right to leave over the weekend, and was forced to stay an extra day longer than Zachary because his system rejected the meteor rock far more harshly. He suffered from flu-like symptoms during most of his stay in the hospital, and the doctors let him leave once he stopped throwing up his breakfast every morning. Though he looked far better now than he did the night they spent in the emergency room together, he still looked pale and in desperate need of sleep. He apologized endlessly for kidnapping her, stabbing her, and trying to rape her. However, just as Zachary, he remembered nothing from his experience as a werewolf, and was forced to use Chloe's version of the events to fill in the gaps. She knew there was no way he could have stopped himself from doing those horrific things. He had been far too consumed by the disease to be even remotely effective. But he apologized like a guilty party anyway.

Clark was the only one who didn't visit her, but he did have a good excuse. Even so, she expected him to show up at her apartment when she came home on Monday, just so they could heal together under one roof. She longed to spend the night in his arms, and kiss away his wounds. She thought of the scenario constantly while in the hospital, and all but expected to open her apartment door and find him waiting for her on her couch, or even in her bed. She still couldn't move very well, just as she was sure he would have trouble doing the same. Nevertheless, they could have used the time together for the conversation they had both wanted to have in the past week - or, more accurately, the past few months, but were too afraid.

However, he never came. And she spent the night lying in her bed, wishing he were there beside her. Wondering why it felt like he was avoiding her.

Chloe walked gingerly down Main Street of Smallville, towards the flashing lights of the Talon awaiting her in the distance. The injury to her side was not nearly as fatal as it could have been, though it still throbbed with pain throughout the day. Thankfully, when Jimmy stabbed her in the left side with his claws he narrowly missed all of her vital organs. The doctors took a number of X-rays and cat-scans to ensure nothing had been severely injured or broken, and nothing bad came up on the tests. His claws had not gone deep enough into her body to be permanently destructive, though it would take a little time for her muscles to heal. Good prognosis or not, the pain subsided only partially over the past few days. Painkillers helped her feel semi-normal, rather than a woman who had just been kidnapped and stabbed.

Thoughts on her recent days of pain slipped from her mind as she stepped up onto the sidewalk and surveyed the outside of her favorite coffee shop. It had been decorated appropriately for the holiday. Orange and black streamers were hung loosely from the marquee, along with gray, stringy cobwebs with huge, fake spiders in every corner. Flying bats dropped down from above whenever prompted by movement, scaring guests who didn't see the special effect when they first arrived. The harsh chill in the air forced the party to stay mostly inside, though a few guests ventured out to be alone. Two lovebirds dressed as Romeo and Juliet stood less than twenty-feet away from the entrance while they kissed heatedly, and continuously. Music, mixed with Halloween ghostly sound effects, blared from inside the building and out into the street. The party was mostly harmless, but Chloe was sure sooner or later someone in this quaint town of Smallville would call the police to report the violation of the city noise ordinance.

On her approach to the entrance, none of the guests loitering on the outside gave her even a glance of curiosity, or suspicion. Actually, as Chloe stepped inside the main entrance and gazed at the moving mass of people inside, she realized she knew less than half of the guests. The room was full to capacity, and she discovered another reason why the police might pop-in - violation of fire safety laws. Chloe only hoped Smallville residents were throwing their own Halloween parties, or were too preoccupied with other holiday festivities to care about a party that might get out of control if given the right stimuli. People accidentally bumped her continuously as she struggled to walk through the crowd, heading towards the main counter to find Lois. One man in particular, dressed as a werewolf of all things, pushed her squarely in the middle of her shoulder blades as he shimmied past her. Her side flamed with pain from the after shocks of the rude push, and she had to clench her teeth to stifle her cry and her curse.

Her walk through fire had not been in vain, however. Lois, dressed in a black cat costume with tail and all, was standing at the counter talking with a few guests, all of whom Chloe could notch in her unfamiliar people category. Any other social event, Chloe would be happy to meet new people. But when the three guests ventured off a few seconds later and left Lois alone at the counter, Chloe felt a twinge of relief. Tonight she could hardly will herself out of her comfy bed to go to the party, let alone conjure up enough fake smiles to make it through a night jammed with meaningless conversations. More than likely, she would not remember any of these people tomorrow morning, and they wouldn't remember her. Chloe was primarily here for two people, and she had no wish to lengthen the list.

"Chloe," Lois greeted with a warm smile, her gaze finally drawn to her cousin as she stepped forward.

Chloe smiled weakly in return. "I thought you said this was going to be a small affair."

Lois shrugged and handed her cousin a glass of punch from the counter, of which Chloe denied with a wave of her hand. "Well, I have this new boyfriend who happens to know more people in Metropolis than I've known in my entire lifetime. These are just his close friends."

"Hmm ... I thought this was your party?"

"Considering he's paying for a few of the expenses, it can be his, too."

"I'm surprised he didn't change the location to the Metropolis Sharks football stadium. I heard its available tonight," Chloe retorted lightly, curving her lips to a half smile.

Lois huffed lightly, and then promptly changed the subject. "Care to tell me what doctor gave you the permission slip to be social tonight? I distinctly remember him ordering you to keep your ass nice and cozy in your apartment and stay there for at least a week."

"I've already been in bed for a week," Chloe replied, though she intended to heed her doctor's advice once she found what she came here for. Though her mind wanted to go back to the Planet, work, and kiss farm boys until she couldn't breath, her body could not handle more than a few hours out of bed. "I just needed to stare at something more than the bad paint job on my apartment walls."

"Like cute photographers?" Lois teased. Chloe looked to her irritably, and Lois feigned ignorance. "That's right. You broke it off, though you never told me why."

"I told you why," she protested, reaching to the dish of candy corn on the counter and grabbing one. "I didn't love him."

"It just came as a surprise," Lois replied. "I thought you were happy with him."

"I was."

"Then why the sudden 180? You were with him for a few months, and you did have sex with him. Did Jimmy's hairy side really look that bad?"

Chloe pursed her lips. "It had nothing to do with werewolves. Or that he tried to rape me."

"And kill you."

After a moment of silence and careful consideration of how much she wanted to reveal, Chloe finally admitted, "I guess maybe the experience reminded me of how screwed up my version of love and happiness really was. I was with Jimmy because I had feelings for him, and because he was my first. I thought it would lead to more. After our summer together, and after the recent months of feeling unexplained apprehension towards the physical intimacy in our relationship, I finally realized why nothing between us would ever grow stronger than mild infatuation."

Lois looked to Chloe earnestly. "Okay, I'll bite. Why?"

Chloe's eyes glazed over for a moment, and when she finally spoke, she said casually, "Because my heart belongs to someone else."

Lois waited for her cousin to add to her declaration, but she remained silent, lost in her thoughts. She remembered when Chloe told her about her love affair with Jimmy Olsen. By first impression, Lois wondered whether the relationship had the strength to last long. Her reservations stemmed from various reasons, though she always believed it was healthy for Chloe to extend her life further than Smallville and those who resided within - further than her past here, and further than the boy who repeatedly broke her heart. Her fling with Jimmy did accomplish many good things, but it also made Chloe blind to reality. She liked Jimmy: so much so that she lost her virginity to him, and slept with him afterwards on more than one occasion. They parted their first time around due to Jimmy's apparent lack of interest, but it didn't stop Chloe from hooking up with him again a few years later. She tried the relationship the second time because of the tickle of wonder in the back of her throat - had she and Jimmy parted prematurely? Had something meaningful seriously resided there?

Now gazing upon her cousin, Lois smiled with a glimmer of pride. Chloe had grown from the naive girl she remembered, turning into a woman who loved someone, lost someone, and was painfully aware of her mistakes and shortcomings. And after all of it, Chloe stepped back into the light with a new maturity, and with the same love that has ceased to leave her. She understood her feelings better now, and with an experienced, seasoned view of someone who knew what it meant to be in love.

And for the first time, Lois sensed Chloe was not standing in the new light alone.

"I'm sure Jimmy didn't give you up easily," Lois finally replied, choosing to keep her thoughts to herself.

"Actually, he called me quite a few times yesterday, and asked if I'd be willing to give him a second chance."

"And you said no?"

Chloe smirked. "Yeah ... I told him it wouldn't be fair to either of us. Because I knew I would never love him the way he loved me."

Lois took her glass of punch off the counter and took a sip. "Since you're not sleeping with him anymore, can I tell you something?"

"Okay," she said.

Lois swallowed uneasily and lowered her eyes. She had wanted to say this ever since Chloe and Jimmy hooked up, and only because she could not ignore her dire need to look after her dear cousin. They were practically sisters, after all. With Jimmy's presence finally lifted from the air, it gave Lois the freedom to say everything she suppressed for far too long.

Everything could be summed up in only a few words.

"You were too good for him."

Chloe squinted her eyes in mild surprise. "Really?" she asked disbelieving.

Lois nodded. "You could have done much better. I knew he wasn'tthe one for you from the moment you met him."

"How could you tell?"

Lois shrugged and looked out across the sea of people, dressed as ghosts, witches, vampires, and aliens. She bypassed the words, 'Because I've watched a sweet guy love you from a distance for months, with the fire you've waited for,' and said instead, "He was a nice guy and all, but he followed you around like a lost, little puppy. He didn't challenge you, or excite you. You seemed happy with him, but it always seemed like something was missing in your relationship with him. I always felt you settled for him, because you couldn't have what you really wanted. And like you said, you didn't love him."

Chloe looked to her curiously, but then decided not to press the issue. Thoughts of Jimmy slipped from her mind easily, like a good dream lost in the shine of a new day. She would always think of him fondly, but never with the same intensity of a girlfriend and lover. Those days were gone now, no matter how hard Jimmy tried to fight it or wish for its return. Her heart felt drained and ready to be recharged by the one she's waited her entire life to love.

Aside from the search for her wayward lover and best friend, her curiosity also brought her here tonight. Something inside of her purse beamed with intensity, waiting to be addressed and burning a metaphysical hole in the material as she spoke with Lois. She rested her hand on the outside of her purse, and felt it's momentary pulse fall into rhythm with her soul.

"So who're you supposed to be, anyway?" Lois suddenly asked, absorbing Chloe's dress and drastically changing the subject from boyfriends to the here and now.

Chloe gave herself a once over. Having no energy to find anything more suitable, she chose to wear a pair of comfortable jeans and a nice, low-cut maroon sweater, with her winter coat to help ward off the chill. With a little smile, she looked to Lois wearily. "A woman who just survived a werewolf attack and didn't feel like dressing up as Frankenstein's bride this year?"

Lois laughed. "Okay, I deserved that. So why are you here, if not to have a little Halloween fun?"

Chloe slipped a hand into her purse to grab the item, though kept both her hand and the object hidden until she explained. Rubbing her thumb along the object's smooth, worn surface, she asked quietly, leaning in close, "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Always."

"Promise me you won't tell anyone? I mean, anyone?" Chloe asked, desperate for her cousin to say yes. Needing to tell someone about this.

"Of course," Lois promised, lowering her voice and feeling strangely worried. "What's going on?"

Chloe fingered the object in her purse nervously, wondering if she was doing the right thing. But forever, she would always wonder. And she knew it. "Before the weekend of the festival, I started receiving letters," she finally murmured quietly.

Lois stepped closer, interest piqued. "Letters?"

Chloe bit her lip. "Yeah ... love letters."

"From who? Jimmy?"

"No, not Jimmy. I don't think so, anyway. He's the flowers and chocolate, overbearing type, not the poetry writing, subtle type."

Lois smirked knowingly. "I don't know. Men can surprise you, especially when they're trying to get you into bed."

"This is different," Chloe pressed. "All of the letters are signed Secret Admirer at the bottom, so I thought it was the werewolf playing some freaky, twisted, Shakespearian game with me. The way it was written, the words he used, the mysterious way he revealed his feelings for me. He asked to meet me in the park the night I was attacked."

"Wait, hold on," Lois interrupted, putting up her hands. "So that's why you were in the park that night? To meet some guy you didn't even know and who probably wanted to gut you like a dead fish?"

"Well, I wanted the exclusive," she explained, smiling as if it explained everything.

Lois rolled her eyes. "Okay, whatever. Go on," she insisted, gesturing to her with a hand.

"Well, after I was hunted in the park, the letters stopped coming. I figured something had frightened him off, or maybe the window of opportunity that permitted him to use me next to fulfill his disgusting fetish had vanished," Chloe explained, her words closing with a note of amusement. "Obviously, a day later, while tied spread-eagled in a basement, I realized werewolves didn't give up so easily. But on the fourth day I was in the hospital, after the werewolf was killed, a nurse gave me a note, saying it was left for me at the nurses' station. She couldn't give me the man's identity, because he used the hospital grapevine to send the letter to me."

"So if it's not the werewolf, who do you think it is?"

Chloe pulled the note from her purse, and handed it to Lois. "I don't know. But he's quite the romantic."

Lois glanced to Chloe curiously, then opened the envelope with Chloe's name on the front and slipped the small piece of paper inside out from its pocket. The back of the small, white piece of paper was completely blank. The other side, however, had words stretched lazily into stanzas, written by hand in a way Lois did not immediately recognize. The white paper held the slightest fragrance, as if it had been touched up with the scent of lavender - Chloe's favorite aroma, Lois recalled. At the edge, outlining the words in a picture frame of color were flowers, purple, red, and white. When she drew her thumb along one of the flowers, she realized they were actually drawn on the paper rather than previously etched during the manufacture of the card. Whoever had sent this card had put a lot of time into it, and she hadn't even read the poem yet.

The card read as follows:

Dear Ms. Sullivan,

I awake from my sleep, and you're there
Next to me, ghostly, beautiful, angelic
You comfort me when I feel pain
You are my star when I fade into darkness
I gaze upon you like the single rose
Blossoming towards the sun on a spring's day
Giving me hope in a world of unforgiving sacrifice

You are the music in my soul,
A rhythm forever burned into the symphony of my existence
In you, I find reason to live
I find my purpose, to ensure you live for eternity
And to love you until my last breath

For this is my vow, for now and evermore

I hope we can meet again, under the stars of Halloween night
Look for me at Lois Lane's costume party
I'll be dressed as the Phantom of the Opera

I pray you will come, find me ...

Your Secret Admirer

Lois remained silent as she read through the poem. Chloe tried to predict what her cousin might say, but after thirty seconds of muted silence, interrupted by the noises from the party still thriving around them, she feared no response would come. Did she misinterpret the poem? Maybe the man behind the words really did want to harm her, and maybe she really did have reason to form a posse to search for his whereabouts before it was too late. Something inside of her, however, refused to believe the latter. The tone of the words spoke of a sincerity she didn't see when she read the first set of poems, while she felt hunted by werewolves. Now, under a different impression, Chloe caught the glimpse of a love as pure as a baby's first cry, and as breathtaking as the reflection of snow-capped mountains upon a crystalline lake.

For reasons she couldn't fully explain, Chloe needed to know the author. It was an urgency she just could not fight.

"So?" Chloe asked nervously, gazing from the letter to Lois, and back again. "What does it say to you?"

Lois carefully placed the card back into the envelope, and then handed it to her cousin. She shrugged casually, but could not hide the gentle smile forming on her lips. "He's definitely trying to get you into bed."

Chloe let out an irritated sigh. "That's all you have to say? I expected at least traffic signals, like red or green as to whether I should do something about this guy."

Lois smirked knowingly. "I'm not going to tell you what to do," she replied. "But I am going to tell you that I did see a Phantom of the Opera haunt through here less than half an hour ago."

"What?" Chloe asked in a hushed whisper, her eyes growing wide, uncertain if she could believe her cousin. "Where is he?"

"I don't know," Lois admitted, gazing across the sea of people once more. "But he's dressed in a black cape and a white mask. I know it's a costume party, but he shouldn't be too difficult to find."

Chloe ignored her cousin's sarcasm as she turned and started back through the crowd. She didn't see anything on her way through when she first arrived, but she was primarily looking for Lois. Not to mention the immediate vastness of the party had been a bit overwhelming on first entry. Now with a revised view of her surroundings, Chloe searched through the people with an acute eye. However, no guest looked even remotely like the Phantom of the Opera, dressed with the expected black cape, tuxedo, and white mask. Obviously the werewolf case had received quite the popular publicity, because most of the guests were adorned as scary monsters, demons, and aliens.

When she reached the other side of the crowd, closer to the entrance in whence she came, Chloe felt a twinge of disappointment that she neglected to find her admirer.

But her disappointment would be short lived.

Time
Where did you go?
Why did you leave me here alone?

For as she turned to span the center of the crowd once more, a clear outline of a tall, dark man finally came into clear view through the waves of people. He stood motionless next to the table of refreshments near the center of the room, with his back turned to her so she could not see his face. He wore a long, black cape that flowed gracefully to the floor, and a top hat on his head to keep his identity well hidden. She had hoped the color of the man's hair might give her a clue as to who he might be, but the hat made it impossible to decipher any physical characteristics. Given no warning as to what she could expect, Chloe took a deep breath and walked to him with a cautious stride in her step. Though no one spoke with him, people hovered around him like a magnet, making it difficult for her to reach him easily.

After she pushed through the people, Chloe soon found herself standing behind him. Her breath quickened in her lungs, strained by her nerves. But she wouldn't let her apprehension stop her from seeing the man's face.

Wait
Don't go so fast
I'm missing the moments as they pass

With a touch to his arm, she gestured for him to turn. And slowly he followed her insistence and faced her head on.

The right side of his face was covered with a white mask ...

And Chloe didn't hesitate to remove it, and reveal her heart's deepest desire.

"Clark," she breathed softly, pleasantly shocked by his presence. "You ...?"

Now I've looked in the mirror
And the world's getting clearer
So wait for me this time

He swallowed hard and reached for her hand. Face riddled with regret, he insisted quietly, "I am so sorry I didn't get to that park sooner. I tried, but the nurse I was interviewing in the Medical Center wouldn't stop rattling on about her recent divorce."

Chloe's head started to spin as she desperately tried to remember everything that went on in the past week. The letters, the emails ... the park. Suddenly his heroic appearance to save her life that night was completely explained. He hadn't miraculously shown up, nor did he hear her scream all the way from Smallville. He was there that night because he was the admirer all along, and he was heading for the park to begin with. Clark had actually been late that night, just like always. She, on the other hand, had gone there early because she wanted to catch an exclusive glimpse of the werewolf whom she believed had been stalking her. It never occurred to her that Clark's pinpoint appearance stemmed directly from the love letters.

A thousand questions started to form in her mind as she absorbed more and more of this revelation, all drawing back to one word.

"Why?" she whispered, searching his eyes. They looked different now, shaded with a flavor or adoration she refused to see before. "Clark ... why didn't you just tell me?"

I'm down
I'm down to my knees
I'm begging for all your sympathy

Clark cleared his throat nervously, even though he knew she would ask him this question. The speech he had practiced in his room over and over again formed at the back of his throat all on it's own when the question left Chloe's lips, urging him to squash his hindering concerns once and for all. Through the words he has written in the love letters over the past week, she knew of his feelings now. But the time to explain them, and why they formed had finally come. He entwined their fingers delicately, craving her touch to give him courage to say everything he's wanted to for months.

And with an intake of breath, he began.

But you (I'm just an illusion)
You don't seem to care (I wish that I could)
You humble people everywhere (I don't mean to hurt you)

"I couldn't tell you," he replied, his voice fighting the crowd noise around them. "I wanted to. When we ... kissed at the Planet, I really thought we shared a moment. It aroused something inside of me that I didn't understand. Feelings I thought I had buried back in high school came storming back like a freight train, and I had no idea how to deal with it. When I came back from the Phantom Zone, I came looking for you at the Planet because I wanted to try it with you. I wanted to see if a relationship between us would work. But I didn't say anything because you seemed so ... smitten with Jimmy at the time, and I thought the opportunity had passed."

Chloe remembered the moment vividly. Clark had just come back from his time in the Phantom Zone, and after having just saved the world for the hundredth time. He had come to see her and make sure she was okay, and like good friends seeing each other after an unbearable time apart, they had hugged tightly. With a terrible sting in her heart, Chloe recalled the conversation between the two of them over in her mind. Clark was trying to tell her something before she interrupted him, because she believed she sensed what he was about to say. Due to the number of angst-ful moments they've had in the past, she was sure he wanted to keep their friendship on the platonic level; no matter the expectations their passionate kiss seemed to carry. She spared him from having to dribble over his words as he seemingly struggled to find a way to let her down easily.

Now I've looked in the mirror
And the world's getting clearer
I'll take what you give me
Please know that I'm learning
So wait for me this time

Yet it was not the reason why he had come to see her that day at all. Now, as Chloe searched back, she realized he had come because he truly wanted to try it with her. Not because he felt obligated, or because of those dreaded expectations she herself fell victim to. No, he wanted it. He wanted her.

"Oh, Clark," she said softly, tightening her grip on his hand. How could she have been so stupid? Why did Jimmy's sudden appearance at the time make her so blind?

Clark drew her closer to him, and she stepped easily into his embrace.

"For awhile, I thought you were right. I thought the moment we shared was just some 'end of the world' thing, and what I felt was merely a foggy result of it. But the fact is, my feelings haven't gone away, no matter how hard I've tried to fight them. Since our kiss I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. You're the first thought when I wake up, and the last before I fall asleep. And you're in all my dreams."

I should've known better
I shouldn't have wasted those days

Chloe lowered her head and closed her eyes. She never imagined she would ever hear this from Clark. Words from the love letters began to filter back into her mind like a wonderful reminder, reassuring her that his intentions here were genuine.

You are the music in my soul / A rhythm forever burned into the symphony of my existence / In you, I find reason to live / I find my purpose, to ensure you live for eternity / And to love you until my last breath.

Everything in this moment felt more like a fairy tale, and she considered maybe the entire episode had been a dream. Maybe this was her mind's way of telling her how she longed for Clark just as much as he seemed to long for her.

And afternoons and mornings
I threw them all away

"The dance we shared at the Fall Festival only made me want you more. I tried to tell you how I felt then, but you didn't seem to want to hear it. So I didn't want to push, not until you were ready."

Now
This is my time
And I'm going to make this moment mine (I shouldn't have wasted those days)

When his hand caressed her face, tilting her head up so he could look deep into her eyes, the tears streaming down her cheeks promised her that his love was most definitely real.

"It was the reason why I asked to see you in the park that night. I wanted you to know how much you truly meant to me."

I'll take what you give me
Please know that I'm learning

Clark ran his thumb gently across her cheekbone, and held her stare. She didn't say a word, but the reflection of her heart within the blue of her beautiful eyes was enough to convince him to keep going. "I love you," he whispered. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her even tighter against him. "I need you, Chloe. I need you."

I've looked in the mirror
And my world's getting clearer
So wait for me this time.

Before she had the chance to respond, he tilted her chin closer, lowered his lips, and kissed her. It was not the most passionate kiss she had ever received, nor the most powerful. But in the tender caress of his lips, Chloe felt everything around them fade away. Her knees buckled when their tongues softly touched. Her entire body tingled pleasurably every second his fingertips tickled the back of her neck. And for the first time in months she remembered why she fell in love with a farm boy from Kansas.

When he finally pulled away, Chloe encircled his waist with her arms and placed her head gently on his chest. She smiled when she heard a strong beat thumping in her ear, because for the first time in her life she could claim this heart as hers.

This time

Fade song …

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epilogue to come soon