Party Crasher

1.
There’s plenty of times when I indulge in fantasies in which the intimate moments I often witness between Clark Kent and Lana Lang had actually happened between Clark and me. I even do it with their not-so-intimate moments. Like when Clark crashed Lex and Lana’s engagement party and kidnapped her. I was horrified at the time. I was also green with envy after the red flush of humiliation from Clark’s harsh-but-true words had faded from my face.

 

 

Ever since I got engaged to Jimmy Olsen I had moments where I fantasized Clark came breaking into the engagement party to whisk me away and proclaim his love for me. He’d tell me what a fool he was for not realizing sooner that I was the girl of his dreams. I usually indulged this fantasy with my hand under the sheets as the fantasy turned from romantic to outright filthy.

It’s funny how awesome fantasies don’t always make for good reality. My best friend and lifelong crush, Clark Kent, just crashed my engagement party and it wasn’t the least bit romantic.

 

 

“Clark, what the hell are you doing?” I hissed.

 

 

He was clearly buzzed on red Kryptonite. He had that wild, throw-caution-to-the-wind look about him. He was feeling too good right now to give a damn about the consequences of his actions. I hated how those red meteor rocks affected him. They made him feel like nothing but his own pleasure mattered, and that made him dangerous.

 

 

“Why, I’m coming to wish you a happy engagement,” he said, smirking insincerely.

 

 

“You had to break down the door to do that, CK?” my fiancé asked.

 

 

“Looks like, JO,” Clark replied. He looked at Jimmy like he was a bug and that worried me.

 

 

“Clark, why don’t we go for a walk?”

 

 

Clark’s eyes focused on Lana. She’d flown in from Chicago for my engagement party. Now Clark studied her, cocking his head to the side.

 

 

His voice dripped with sarcasm when he said, “Sure, a nice long walk would be nice, Lana. Maybe we could sit on a park bench and reminisce about old times. Hell, maybe I’ll forgive you like I usually do and we can make up. You could come back to the farm and we could live happily ever after. That is what you want, right?”

 

 

Lana looked down, gulping, and I felt that familiar old spark of jealousy flare up. Lana had tried to talk Clark into reconciling, obviously, and now he was throwing it back in her face. I didn’t feel too sorry for her as she looked down in embarrassment. Last time Clark had shamed me. Now she knew how it felt. 

 

 

I decided to stomp down on those feelings. Lana was a friend. It wasn’t her fault Clark had chosen her over me, and that she’d loved him in return. Love did what it wanted, whether the people experiencing it liked it or not. 

 

 

Besides, I’m marrying Jimmy. It didn’t matter what Lana wanted in regards to Clark.  It was none of my business.

 

“Clark, you did this to Lana and Lex. Don’t do it to me,” I said, trying to reason with him.

 

 

“I think Lana’s right. Some fresh air might do you good,” Oliver Queen said. He stood up and inched closer, trying to put himself between Clark and me. Not that it would do any good. Unless Oliver had some green Kryptonite he wasn’t going to force Clark to do anything.  

 

 

“You know, Ollie, I think you’re right. Let’s get some of that fresh air.”

 

 

“She’s not going anywhere with you,” Jimmy said. He advanced on Clark, ready to fight, having no idea that he stood as much chance of taking Clark in a brawl as he did stopping a locomotive that was barreling at him at a hundred miles per hour.

 

 

Clark swatted Jimmy aside, sending him flying head first into the nearest wall. He sank to the floor unconscious and it felt like the floor had dropped out from under me.

 

 

“Jimmy!” 

 

 

I rushed to his side and knelt down. I put two fingers to his neck to feel for a pulse. Thank God I could feel a strong and steady beat under my fingers. Jimmy wasn’t dead. He was just unconscious. 

 

 

“You could have killed him!” I shouted. 

 

 

“Could have but didn't, so be glad. Anybody else care to stand between me and Chloe?” Clark asked, as he marched toward me. I’ve never seen such a fierce and determined expression in his eyes before. It was scary having a literally unstoppable man coming after you. 

 

 

“Smallville, what kind of drugs are you on?” Lois asked, while Oliver pulled her close to keep her from trying to step in front of Clark as he passed by. Victor, A.C., and Bart Allen were all looking to Oliver for orders on how to protect me from Clark, but Oliver didn't know what to tell them. None of them had any green Kryptonite handy.

 

 

Martha Kent wasn’t to be deterred by any of her son's threats. She planted herself firmly between Clark and me, though I doubted he’d listen to her when he was like this. 

 

 

“Are you going to hit me too?” Martha asked. “Chloe doesn’t want to go with you, Clark.”

 

 

Anyone else would have been in serious trouble right away, but Clark hesitated in front of Martha.

 

 

“Move.”

 

 

Martha’s eyes were hard as steel when she said, “Or what?”

 

 

Clark gripped Martha by her arms and moved her out of his way. Then he grabbed me painfully by the arm and hauled me away from Jimmy. I was going to have an ugly bruise in a few hours. 

 

“Like I said. I’d like a word with you.”

 

 

“Well I don’t want one with you! Get out, Clark! Just...get out!”

 

 

Clark completely ignored my protests and threw me over his shoulder. I had just enough time to see Oliver pull Lois toward him so she wouldn’t be able to see Clark blur away with me.

2.

As soon as my feet hit the snow I pulled away from Clark. My entire body shivered involuntarily. Clark just ran with me all the way from Smallville to the north pole and all I had for protection was a thin, strapless dress and Clark’s own body heat. 

 

 

Now that I was away from him the cold really set in. I could feel my face starting to go numb. 

 

 

“The Fortress, huh? At least you’re original enough not to take me back to the barn like you did with Lana.”

 

 

“I didn’t want my well-meaning mother to interrupt us with a chunk of green Kryptonite.”

 

 

“Did you bring me here just to freeze me to death?”

 

 

“I’ve been tinkering with the place and I’ve learned a new trick. Follow me.”

 

 

“I can’t. I can b-barely breathe.”

 

 

He didn’t have much concern on his face when he scooped me up and strolled through a section of the Fortress I’ve never seen before.

 

 

We rounded a corner and entered a massive chamber. There was a walkway that stretched out over what looked to be about a hundred foot drop. Snow swirled across the floor below us and the wind howled so mournfully that it made me shiver from a different sort of cold.

 

 

The ice, which was shaped in thin columns, crisscrossed high above. They disappeared into blackness. Clark approached the end of the walkway and as soon as he did, crystals began to grow out of the ice toward them. Some crystals were clearer than the ice in which they were ensconced. Clark pulled one long, thin crystal out and placed it into an empty receptacle.

 

 

“I don’t know what this room is,” he said, “but it’s fun.”

 

 

A breeze blew and it was wonderfully warm. I sighed in relief as the frigid chamber warmed with incredible speed. 

 

 

Clark came over to me and stared hard at me. I saw his eyes glow and a blanket of warmth brushed lightly against my skin. It was heaven. 

 

 

“Warm now?” he asked.

 

 

I nodded once I’d thawed. 

 

 

“Thank God,” I sighed. 

 

 

“Thank me instead. I’m the one who warmed you up,” Clark snapped.

 

 

“I hate you when you’re like this.”

 

 

Something in my voice must have gotten through to Clark. I saw the old him, the true face of the Clark Kent I know and love pass across his face. It was a fleeting moment. He turned away from me and moved toward the edge. He put a foot over the edge. Even though I knew he was invincible I still called out to him not to jump.

 

 

Clark smirked and stepped over the edge. Instead of falling he simply floated in mid air. 

 

 

“You’ve learned to fly?”

 

 

“No.”

 

 

He took some loose change from the pocket of his jeans and tossed them into the air. They floated for a few seconds before beginning to slowly sink toward the bottom of the chamber. 

 

 

“Come fly with me.”

 

 

Clark held out his hand. I was tempted for a moment to accept. The temptation didn’t last long. I wasn’t going to indulge Clark. I don’t know what he wanted from me. I had no idea why he brought me here, but I wasn’t going to play his games. 

 

 

“Take me back to Smallville, Clark.”

 

 

“Sure. As soon as you’ve heard what I have to say.”

 

 

I cautiously approached the edge. “You promise?”

 

 

Clark nodded once.

 

 

I looked at the high drop off and felt a twinge of vertigo. I’ve never really been scared of heights but I’m not fond of them either. I put a foot out and eased out. There was no resistance. There was nothing to indicate I wouldn’t just plummet to my death.

 

 

“Have some faith,” Clark said. “Just step out.”

 

 

“I can’t.”

 

 

“Trust me.”

 

 

I put my foot back onto solid ice. “Trust you? Why would I trust you after this little hissy fit tonight? You hurt Jimmy and kidnapped me!” 

 

 

“So I took you from your fucking engagement party,” said Clark nastily. “Is that really enough to undo all your trust in me?”

 

 

“If you were yourself, I’d trust you, Clark, but you’re high on Kryptonite. How did you get dosed?”

 

 

“I did it deliberately.”

 

 

My jaw fell slack. “You dosed yourself on purpose? Why?”

 

 

“Because I wouldn’t have been able to get your attention any other way!”

 

 

Clark’s voice echoed through the chamber with terrible force. It was almost loud enough for me to need to cover her ears, but I didn’t. The pain in his voice was heartbreaking and I couldn’t bring myself to close my ears to it, even symbolically.

 

 

“Why would you think that?”

 

 

Clark said nothing. He merely stared coolly at me.

 

 

“Get rid of the stone. Throw it away, Clark, and we’ll talk. You’ll have my undivided attention.”

 

 

“Call me Kal,” he said, and he reached out and plucked me from the walkway, then released me, where I floated beside him.

 

 

“That’s just like you, isn’t it Kal? You take what you want but you never give, do you?”

 

 

“I want you, red Kryptonite or not. I tried to make you understand that before but you ignored me.”

 

 

I was surprised by the anger that swelled inside me at his words.

“Let’s pretend I’m on red Kryptonite too, shall we, Kal?” I said scathingly. “I'll be brutally honest. You've always known how I felt about you. Every time you looked into my eyes you saw how much I loved you, how much I wanted you, but you ignored it until you could fool yourself into believing it was only friendship. That way you could pine after Lana without a guilty conscience! You’ve broken my heart more times than I can begin to count, Kal. Now that I’ve moved on you suddenly decide you want me and I’m just supposed to dump Jimmy for you on command? Well you can forget it. You never dumped Lana for me, Clark. I’m not throwing away what I’ve worked for at the snap of your fingers.”

 

 

“So you’re prepared to marry a man you don’t even love just to spite me?” Clark asked in disbelief. 

 

 

Tears welled in my eyes. I silently cursed them. “No, Clark. I’m prepared to marry a man who made me feel like a woman, a beautiful woman worthy to be put first. All you’ve ever done was make me feel like I was never good enough for you.” 

 

 

“I never said you weren’t good enough!”

 

 

“Oh you said it all right, Clark, loud and clear, every single time you chose Lana over me, or came to me for advice on your love life, or your problems with her. You willfully hurt me over and over and over again and you never cared!”

 

 

“That's not true and you know it! I couldn't help that I loved Lana. You can't blame me for that!”

 

 

The damn broke and I wanted nothing more than to be away from him. My entire body shook. I couldn’t hear the sound of the wind that blew around us over the sound of my own weeping. 

 

 

“Take me home, Clark. I need to check on Jimmy.”

 

 

Something sailed past me. I watched a red stone disappear into the darkness below. I felt Clark’s hands on my arms. They were big, strong, and warm. 

 

 

“I’m sorry,” Clark whispered.

 

 

I didn’t say anything. I wanted to reach the walkway and the force of my will literally guided me to the solid ice. 

“It’s a training room,” I said thickly.

 

 

“What?”

 

 

“This room. It’s a training room to teach you to fly. You should use it.”

 

 

“You don’t love Jimmy. Not enough to marry him,” he said.

 

 

I ignored him and started back toward the main chamber. Clark stopped me with a hand around my arm. It was still sore where he’d grabbed me earlier. 

 

 

“Kiss me,” he said softly.

 

 

I sighed. “That’s not going to fix anything.”

 

 

“After all our history, Chloe, after everything we’ve been through, all I’m asking for is one kiss.”

 

 

“Why, Clark?”

 

 

“So I can let you go.”

 

 

I debated what to do. I couldn’t understand where this was coming from to be honest. Clark’s sudden interest in me since my engagement to Jimmy confused me. He’d given no indication that he thought of me as more than a friend until tonight.

 

 

Well, maybe that wasn’t quite true. There were times when I caught him staring at me, or looking resentful when Jimmy and I kissed. I’d thought it was simple worry that he and I would grow apart now that Jimmy and I were so close. I’d had no idea that Clark’s feeling ran deeper.

 

 

Part of me loved the revelation. Part of me hated it. Damn him for putting me in this situation. My heart screamed at me to turn Clark down and go back to the life I’d worked so hard to build. I’d long come to accept I’d never be anything more than Clark’s friend. I’d prepared myself for him to marry Lana, have kids, and eventually our friendship would fade to the occasional ‘Hey, what’s up?’ text, or dinner night with him and Lana, me and Jimmy, to catch up on how life was treating all of us as couples and individuals.

 

 

Now Clark wanted me to kiss him so he could let me go. I’d never had a clue he was attached to me in that way to begin with.

 

 

I supposed, as I stood there in the Fortress of Solitude, with Clark staring hopefully at me, his eyes full of confusion, pain, and fear, that the least I could do was give him his damned kiss so we could all just move on. We’d been through a lot together. What harm could it do?

 

 

I couldn’t bring myself to actually speak. I just nodded. 

 

 

Clark came to me and I felt his approach hum throughout my body with every step he took. God, how many times have I dreamed of this? How many times have I thought of Clark Kent walking toward me with the intent to take me in his arms, kiss me, or even make love to me? Now it was happening and I felt like I was stuck in some weird dream. 

 

 

Clark wrapped his hands around my back and pulled me close. He was so warm and solid. He was the strongest man in the world but right now he trembled as though he was the weakest. He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. 

 

 

This was the most awkward kiss of my life. I fought myself not to resist, to just give in so he could take me home and I could check on Jimmy. I was afraid to give in though, because I knew the second I did I’d have to deal with all the old feelings I’d carried inside my heart since the day I met Clark.

 

 

Damn him!

 

 

Clark understood my dilemma on some level because he patiently persisted, pulling back and kissing me again and again until finally I parted my lips and allowed him to deepen the kiss.

 

 

I wasn’t prepared for what happened when he pressed me closer to his body. His breath was warm and he filled my senses completely. His tongue gently explored my mouth and it was exhilarating. I felt something stir deep inside me. It was fire and ice, lust and need, love and fear. 

 

 

Clark's hands reached lower to cup my bottom. He pulled me easily up and I wrapped my legs around him instinctively. I clung to him. He was the ship that kept me afloat in a stormy sea of desire and deep, abiding love. His lips trailed from my mouth to my neck. I became aware he was pressing me to some cold, hard surface, grinding into me and making my body tight inside, in the sweetest places.

 

 

This kiss was getting out of hand. I had to stop it. For God’s sake, I was getting married.

 

 

I pushed Clark away and he looked into my eyes. 

 

 

“Do you ever kiss Jimmy like that?”

 

 

“No,” I said truthfully. “I didn’t know it was possible to feel that way. Not even with you.”

 

 

“Forgive me,” Clark begged. “Please forgive me for every time I hurt you. I just want the chance to make it up to you.”

 

 

I urged him to set me back on my feet and he did. I needed some space from him to think clearly. I couldn’t make an intelligent decision with Clark’s body pushed up against me, the taste of his kiss on my lips. I could even still feel his kisses on my neck.  

 

 

I walked to the edge of the drop off and looked into the darkness. The little red rock that had given Clark the courage to reveal how he really felt was down there, somewhere. I wondered how much of what Clark professed to feel was real or that rock, so I asked him.

 

 

“The rock is gone. I’m telling you how I feel,” Clark insisted.

 

 

He put his hands on my shoulders and kissed my neck.

 

 

I closed my eyes. I’d reached my decision the moment Clark’s lips first closed on mine. I’d just needed time to face it and accept it. 

 

 

I couldn’t imagine going back to Jimmy now. The only man I’d ever really loved, would ever really love, wanted me. How could I pass up a chance at true happiness? 

 

 

“Take me home, Clark,” I said. “I have a wedding to call off.”

We Always Find Each Other

Two days of captivity. Three days of running from the living and fighting off the dead. Now she was on her fourth day, alone, wondering if she would ever see her group again. Michonne tried to take comfort in knowing that at least they were still together. They had each other, even if they had to eventually move on without her.

She had no idea where they had taken her. All she knew was that she had ridden in the trunk of a car for an entire day before being taken into a camp. The men there had meant to rape her and then use her as a serving woman, as they had the other women in the camp.

Their mistake had been to underestimate her and just how capable she was with -- or without -- a sword. She’d killed her kidnappers. She’d spared the women, set them free. None of them had wanted to come with her to find her people. They had other family and friends they wanted to locate so she’d said goodbye and set out on her own.

She’d sat on the front steps of a house after that, her loot bag empty after an unsuccessful run, her heart aching for her people, Rick especially. She loved him but had never told him. 

Now she didn't know where she was. She didn't know which direction the kidnappers had taken her. She was lost and tempted to give in to self-pity. She’d been tempted to quit. Why bother fighting? Why not just lie down, right there, and let the next walker to come along take a bite? She could go into the house after that, lie down, and wait to turn.

Or she could open a vein. She could bleed out and turn.

Either way her struggle would be over. There would be no more days of hunger and thirst. There would be no more cold and lonely nights. No more fear. No more loss. It would just be over. If there was life after death then she would be reunited with her son, her family, her friends. If there wasn’t an afterlife then she would sink into blessed oblivion.

Win-win either way.

She’d ended up killing the next walker to approach. She left her veins closed. She lived. She kept going out of stubbornness and habit. Damn if hope wasn’t near impossible to kill despite its fragility.

One foot in front of the other. That was all she concerned herself with. She kept walking. She kept moving. She went on until she found herself surrounded by another writhing mass of rotted walkers. She drew her sword. She fought.

*~*~*

When Rick found Michonne his heart seemed to literally tear in two inside his chest. She lay there, unmoving, in the center of a group of fallen walkers. Most of them had head wounds but some had been beheaded. Those heads now had jaws that snapped eagerly when they sensed his presence.

Her eyes were closed. She lay perfectly still.

“No…no…” he whispered. He fell forward, his hands gripped the sun warmed grass.

She had gone out fighting but that was little comfort to Rick. He would have to put her down. He would have to end her and he wasn’t sure he could.

“Oh, no…”

He saw movement. He sat up and put his hand to his gun. God, why had he let her leave the camp to go on a solo run? Why hadn’t he insisted he go with her?

Even more importantly, why hadn’t he told her?

His gaze slid slowly up to her face. He prepared himself to look into dead, film-covered eyes. Instead he found they were clear. They were focused on him.

“Rick…” she said, her voice parched, before she passed out.

She was alive. He reached for her hand and felt her wrist. There was a pulse there. Weak but steady. Acting quickly he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder to carry her back to the car.

*~*~*

She wasn’t feverish when Rick carried her into the house he’d set up as base. He undressed her, pulling her dirty, blood-stained clothes from her body, and looked her over from head to toe. No scratches. No bites. She was severely dehydrated, however, and she needed something to eat.

He sat her up and managed to help her drink a few cups of water. After that he covered her in a blanket to help ward off the chill of the evening. He lay next to her for a while, feeling her heart beat under his thumb as he held her hand. He listened to her shallow breathing. The water got into her system and she began to come around.

“I thought you were a dream,” she said.“You found me.”

“I’m real. We always find each other,” he said. He kissed her brow. “I love you. I need you to hear me say it at least once.”

Michonne’s eyes slipped closed and she drifted into sleep again.

*~*~*

In the morning Rick came back from a hunt and grilled the rabbit he’d caught in the back yard. He came in to find Michonne sitting up in bed. She wore his blue shirt while her things soaked in a bucket by the window.

“You should have let me wash your clothes,” he admonished, though not too harshly.

The truth was she was naked and wearing only his shirt. Lori had liked to do that when she was in the mood. She’d known it would turn him on. Michonne was doing it simply because she needed something to wear while her clothes soaked and then dried. Still, she looked good.

“Here,” he said, giving her most of the meat, as well as a roll of stale crackers he’d brought with him from camp. He went to finish her clothes while she ate and watched him.

“We gonna talk about it?” she said.

He knew full well what she meant. “What, that I love you?”

She nodded.

“What is there to talk about?” he shrugged. “Except to ask if that bothers you.”

She shook her head. “No, it doesn’t bother me. I’m just…”

“You don’t feel the same way? That’s okay. You don’t have to. I just wanted you to know.”

That wasn’t the problem. The problem was fear. She was scared to love again. It seemed like every time she allowed herself to care for someone, whether it was platonic or romantic, this world ripped them from her. It was bad enough to be taken from her group, but thinking she would never see Rick again had been especially hard. It had hurt deeper than anyone else because she loved him to.

Now he’d actually said it. Now she knew he felt the same way and all she wanted to do was throw herself into his arms and never let go.

They finished breakfast. Though nights were cool the days were hot. She decided to put her clothes on wet just so they could get on their way home. Rick didn’t speak again. He didn’t press the issue. Instead he packed away their blanket and supplies and headed for the front door.

“Carl and the others are gonna be glad to see--”

Michonne pressed her lips to Rick’s, cutting off the chatter before it could start. She didn’t want the silence filled with words that didn’t mean anything.

“I love you too,” she said, and took his free hand. He nodded once, his beautifully full lips pulling up in a smile.

“Let’s go home,” he said, and led her down the steps toward the car. They would drive back to their camp. They would figure out where to go from there.