Charmed Life (Bart/Chloe) PG Smallville/Charmed crossover

[phoenixnz]

Title: Charmed Life
Author: Phoenixnz
Fandom: Smallville, Charmed
Characters: Chloe, Bart, Clark, Lois, Lex, Lana, Piper, Paige, Phoebe Halliwell, Leo, assorted demons
Pairing: Bart/Chloe
Rating: PG (any chapter over that will be in the adult section)
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine, but I wish they were
Feedback: Is love

Summary: Paige Halliwell has a new charge as a whitelighter. But the Charmed Ones and the Source are not the only ones after the newly discovered witch's power.


Part One:

“Paige?” The young brunette was standing at the easel, looking at the pages of the Book of Shadows. She smiled with fondness at some of the stories of the demons they’d vanquished.

“Up here Phoebe.”

She turned, smiling toward the door of the attic as Phoebe appeared, having climbed the steps.

“Hey,” she said.

Phoebe grinned, lifting her hand to steady herself on the banister. Her gold wedding ring flashed in the beam of afternoon sun which shone through the stained glass window.

“So?” Paige danced over to her sister and hugged her. “How was the second honeymoon?”

“Oh, it was great,” Phoebe said. “Coop ... well, you know Coop. He just couldn’t help himself. Kept trying to unite couples.”

“Well, he is a Cupid,” Paige grinned.

“How’s Henry?”

“Busy as always.”

“So what’cha doing?”

“I was just looking through the Book. Thinking about all the demons we vanquished over the years.”

“Yeah, I know. At least we don’t have to worry about The Source any more.”

Paige frowned. “Phoebe,” she admonished her sister. “You know that’s a jinx, don’t you?”

Phoebe looked startled. “Oops,” she said. “It is, isn’t it?”

“Never mind,” Paige said. “I’m sure The Source, if he still exists, has given up on The Power of Three.”

Truer words were never spoken, thought Balhain, as he eavesdropped on the sister’s conversation. The Source might have given up on trying to gain The Power, but there were others he could collect. And one was just about to make itself known.

Balhain knew that there were some witches who never discovered their power until adolescence, or even later. The Charmed Ones were legendary. Their grandmother Penny Halliwell had bound the girls’ powers when they were young, and they had received their powers when Penny had died. All three girls had been in their twenties then.

After years of trying to steal the powers, the demon world had decided to focus their attentions elsewhere. For the time being, anyway. Reason being that if they managed to steal powers of other witches, particularly those who were unaware of their abilities, or turn the unwitting witches over to their side, they might actually have a chance of winning the battle between good and evil. Might. If it hadn’t been for the damned Elders. They always had a way of interfering in plans.

Balhain shimmered out of the Halliwell house unseen by the two sisters. And thanked his lucky stars that he hadn’t had his ass handed to him on a silver platter. He’d lost too many demon friends, if they could be called that, to the vanquish of the Power of Three.

He made his way through the Underworld, noticing the lit torches which announced his master was in residence. He entered the rocky chamber and knelt at the feet of his demon lord.

“Well, my servant?”

“Master, the sisters are not aware.”

“Good. Then go to Kansas, my friend. Take M’kesh with you. He is young, but he should be useful. Be cautious. This young woman has great power. Yet, her powers are also saturated with another’s. I do not believe she will come willingly.”

“I will not let you down, master,” Balhain said.

The Source laughed softly. “See that you don’t, Balhain. For you know the consequences if you do.”

Back at Halliwell Manor, Piper was just putting Chris to bed when Phoebe and Paige came down from the attic.

“Hey guys, what’s up?”

“Nothing much.” A brief wave of dizziness seemed to come over Phoebe and she swayed. Paige grabbed her before she could fall.

“Phoebe, there something you want to tell us?” her older sister asked.

“Umm,” Phoebe said, her face lighting up in a grin.

“No, really?” Paige said, looking at her.

“Yup.”

“Oh my god, yay, another Halliwell baby.” Paige’s face lit up with joy, tinged with a little sadness. But she was so happy for her sister, she couldn’t let her own thoughts colour that.

“Oh honey,” Piper said, going to hug her baby sister. “It’ll happen for you and Henry. It just takes time, that’s all.”

Paige let her sisters squeeze her and she laughed. “Okay, okay, need to breathe here.”

“You know what this occasion calls for don’t you?” Piper said her eyes twinkling. The other two looked at her, then at each other, and their faces lit up with grins.

“Grams’ secret recipe fudge,” they said at the same time, laughing as the three of them ran full tilt down the stairs.

They’d only just made it to the big kitchen when Paige looked up at the ceiling.

“Oh no.” She sighed. “Save me some fudge you two.”

Then she orbed out, her body enclosed in a wave of white light and vanishing upward.

Paige bumped into Leo.

“What’s up?” she asked. “The Elders just summoned me.”

“Yeah, you’ve got a new charge,” the blonde whitelighter said. “In Kansas.”

“Kansas?” Paige asked, her voice rising high enough for it to echo. Other whitelighters turned to look at her and Leo shushed her.

“Yes, Kansas,” he said, in a loud whisper. “And the girl has no idea what she is. But you’ll need to be doubly careful. The Elders say there’s another mysterious power at work there. They’re not exactly sure what it is, but from what they can tell, she’s deep in it.”

He led her to a quiet area and began to brief her on the new charge.

***

Chloe sighed, staring at her computer without even seeing what was on the screen. It seemed like all the excitement had gone out of her life since Oliver and the team had left for Corto Maltese. Not that life in Smallville lacked any excitement with meteor freaks running around left, right and centre. But even they seemed suspiciously quiet these days. Maybe that had everything to do with Lex and his 33.1 project, she thought. Damn Lex and his experiments on mutations.

She remembered a line from a movie she’d loved as a little kid. ‘We don’t like what we don’t understand. In fact it scares us.’ Yeah, that was Lex to a tee. Of course, a Luthor would never admit to being afraid of anything. But she had realised a long time ago that Lex’s fears of his own mutation, as well as the constant attacks on him, had led him down this path.

Now, because of him, anyone with any differences tended to lay low, afraid they’d be carted off to Belle Reve. Or they’d vanish into thin air, never to be seen again. She sighed again, her elbow on the desk, chin in her hand. She was supposed to be writing about a new city bylaw but she just couldn’t seem to get inspired.

Chloe decided it was time for a caffeine fix. She stood up, grabbing her jacket from the back of the chair and went out into the cool February day, walking slowly along the icy pavement to the nearest Starbucks. Just as she was coming back out with a double non-fat full foamed mochaccino, she saw two men watching her.

“Chloe Sullivan,” one of them said.

“Did you want something?” she asked, holding the cup in her hand and staring curiously at the man. There was something odd about him. His eyes sort of glowed and he had a beard that almost reminded her of drawings she’d seen of the devil. It was shaped almost in a vee below his chin. Was he some kind of mutant?

“We need you to come with us,” the man intoned.

Chloe really didn’t like the way he talked. It was just weird. She shuddered.

“I don’t think so,” she said.

Balhain moved to take her arm. “Well, I do,” he said. “I think you’ll like it,” he added, his eyes glinting, reminding her again of that glow. “There is very little time.”

“Get off me,” she said struggling as he began to pull her toward the alley around the corner from the coffee shop.

Suddenly the other man lifted his hand and Chloe’s eyes widened. The lid of a trash can seemed to fall of its own accord, startling the three of them. Chloe stomped on the foot of the man holding her and began to run, flinging her coffee cup at the second man.

There was a flash behind her and something exploded beside her. She heard the first man yell.

“No, M’kesh, our master needs her alive!”

Chloe kept running, looking behind her to see how much distance she had managed to get between herself and her pursuers. Consequently she didn’t see the man until she hit what felt like a wall of iron. It was almost like running into Clark, she thought.

Balhain smiled down at her, having shimmered ahead of her. Chloe looked up at him in terror as M’kesh caught up, grabbing her from behind, while Balhain lifted his hand. It began to glow. She froze, paralysed by fright.

Suddenly another voice came out of nowhere.

“Dagger,” the woman called.

Balhain looked up, startled as the dagger flew into his chest. He staggered back.

“No!” he screamed, his body suddenly engulfed by flames. Chloe struggled out of the grip of M’kesh, backing away. M’kesh looked to where Balhain had been, then back at the dark-haired woman. Before either of the two women could react, he shimmered out and disappeared.



A/N: Once again, this was an idea requested by Chlollie which I'm just running with.

[run away]

Great start!
Very well written as always!
Let me know when you post another chapter!

[Chlollie]

So can't wait for more.

[Chlollie]

I love the way you are writing the sisters. And Phoebe is going to have a baby. I had always wanted to see Phoebe have a child in the Charmed Series, but it never happened. She is my favorite character from Charmed. Update Soon Please!!

[phoenixnz]

I love the way you are writing the sisters. And Phoebe is going to have a baby. I had always wanted to see Phoebe have a child in the Charmed Series, but it never happened. She is my favorite character from Charmed. Update Soon Please!!

I really loved the relationship between the sisters when they were loving. I used to be so envious - I always wanted a sister.

Anyway, here's your update.


Part Two

Well, that wasn’t weird at all, Chloe thought. She stared at the older woman, wondering who she was and what this was all about.

“So,” Chloe began, speechless for probably the first time in her life.

“Ah, yeah, why don’t we go get a coffee or something. We should ... uh ... talk.”

Chloe stood still, not sure if she should trust this woman. She looked harmless enough, except for the fact that she had just seen this woman conjure a dagger out of thin air and throw it at a man’s chest. Never mind the fact that the man had somehow spontaneously combusted. And there wasn’t any evidence to suggest the man had been there. No ashes, nothing.

Then again, the woman had said the magic word. Coffee.

“Okay,” she said. “Since I had to throw away the coffee I just bought, I guess I could use another.”

She followed the brunette to the Starbucks and they bought coffees and sat down at a table.

“I’m Paige,” the brunette said.

“Chloe.”

“I know.” Paige took the jar of sugar and absently poured some into her coffee, stirring slowly, staring into the cup. Okay, Chloe thought. Was she going to explain, or not?

“Um, so, uh, how do you know me?”

Paige looked up at her. “Well, it’s kind of a long story.” She glanced around her at the crowded shop and Chloe had the distinct impression that this was something that shouldn’t be discussed in public.

“So, who were those guys?” Chloe asked. “The ones chasing me.”

“Well, the one I got, he was Balhain. The other one, I think he’s new. I’ve never seen him before.”

“I think the other guy called him M’kesh. Weird name. Must be from another country or something.”

“Or something,” Paige said. Chloe frowned at that, but said nothing.

The two women drank their coffees in awkward silence. Chloe felt her phone vibrate and she dug it out of her pocket.

“Hey Chloelicious,” the text said. “What say you, me, enchiladas in Mexico?”

Chloe giggled. Bart. She’d met him in her senior year of high school and had thought he was kind of cute. And funny. She hadn’t known then he had the ability to speed, even faster than Clark, which was saying something. Just over a week ago, he’d been captured by Lex in order to be studied like some lab rat.

Chloe had learned all this when Clark had come to her, telling her that Bart had stopped a man from shooting her and they’d discovered he was working for Oliver Queen.

Now that was a name she would never have thought to connect with Green Arrow, the so-called bandit dubbed with that moniker by her cousin Lois Lane, who was currently working for the Inquisitor. Lois, with her innate curiosity, had decided to go after the hooded archer with a fetish for green leather when he’d stolen a necklace in front of her at some kind of fundraiser Oliver had taken her to.

Now, of course, Chloe knew that Green Arrow was stealing items already obtained by illegal means. Not only that, but Oliver Queen had put a team together to investigate Lex Luthor’s experiments with meteor freaks. And Bart was one of them. After the team had got Bart out of the facility and had blown up the building, he had come over to her apartment to thank her for her part in it and they had talked all night.

She had realised that beneath the brash exterior beat the heart of a lonely young man who had left home when his parents had changed toward him. As he’d said, who’d want a freak for a son. Bart had no idea how he had got his abilities, just that he’d been hit by some flash of light and when he’d woken up, he’d discovered his metabolism had increased so much that he could run fast and needed to eat tons of food just to keep up.

Chloe remembered Jodi Melville in her freshman year at Smallville High. Jodi had wanted to lose weight, not that there was anything wrong with the way she looked, and she had made smoothies using vegetables grown in soil tainted by meteor rocks. Jodi had lost weight so quickly she needed carbohydrate-laden food, and a lot of it. She had solved the problem by sucking the fat out of first a deer, then a boy who had made fun of her.

During the night they’d talked, Chloe had asked Bart if he’d been in Smallville at any time before they’d met and he’d told her no. Meteor mutations was the only thing she knew of that caused such changes in people, and this was the first time she’d heard of something outside of Smallville happening to someone else.

She’d been disappointed the next day when Oliver had ordered the team to suit up and prepare for a trip to Corto Maltese. But he was essentially the leader of the group and he chose the missions. Right now, Bart was taking a couple of days needed R and R after a successful hit on the island facility. Which was why he’d sent her the text offering to run her down to Mexico for dinner.

Chloe finished her coffee and got up.

“I really should get back to work.”

Paige got up too, touching her arm. “Look, I really do need to talk to you. Is there some place we can go where we can talk without anyone listening in?”

“I have to get back to work. I’ve already been gone too long as it is.”

“This is important, Chloe.”

Chloe sighed, biting her lip. “Okay. Look, I’ll tell my boss I’m not feeling well and we can go back to my apartment.”

Paige looked at the girl, then nodded. She figured it was better than nothing and while she wanted to orb them there, she knew it would make the other girl uncomfortable. She walked with Chloe back to the Daily Planet, and waited outside for her. A few minutes later, Chloe came back out.

“Where’s your car?” she asked Chloe.

“It’s down here,” Chloe said, leading the way to her Yaris. “Um, I live in Smallville. It’s kind of a long drive.”

“That’s okay,” Paige said. “We could probably talk along the way anyway.”

Chloe nodded. She took her keys out of her bag and opened the car door, leaning in and unlocking the passenger side for Paige.

“So, what exactly is this all about?” Chloe asked, glancing at the woman in the corner of her eye while she pulled out into the city traffic and headed toward the highway in the direction of home.

“Okay, here goes,” Paige said. “I’m a witch. And from what I’ve been told, so are you. You just didn’t know about it until now.”

Chloe fought the urge to giggle. “A witch,” she said sceptically. “You know, they used to lock people up for saying stuff like that.”

Paige sighed. For a girl who used to write stories on the weird and unexplained back in Smallville, Chloe certainly seemed quick to dismiss the idea.

“You don’t think magick exists?” she said.

“Well, I was apparently possessed by a witch, but I think that might have something more to do with meteor rocks. Paige, have you ever visited Smallville? Like in the last year or so? Or maybe in 1989?”

“Actually, this is my first time in this part of Kansas. Normally we stick pretty close to home.”

“We?”

“My sisters and I. Uh, I have two older sisters, Piper and Phoebe. Together, we’re known as The Charmed Ones.”

Chloe still looked sceptical. Paige knew it was going to take some convincing.

“Okay, so who were those guys?”

“They were demons.”

“Demons? Look, I like Buffy as much as the next person but come on, demons?”

“You think they can’t exist? Look, every world has a number of different dimensions. And trust me, demons can and do exist.”

“Other dimensions. Are you talking about alternate realities?”

“No, not quite. Look, what I can tell you is this. There are two main dimensions outside our own. One fights for good, the other fights for evil. Now in the good one, there are the Elders, the powers-that-be, if you were. They have people called whitelighters who are assigned charges, mostly witches or future whitelighters and they act as guardians, helping to keep them safe from the demons.”

“Why? What happens when a demon gets one of these charges?”

“Well, it depends on what they do with them. I mean, mostly they kill the witches to get their powers. Other times, they try to seduce the witch to their side”

Chloe groaned inwardly. This was sounding more and more like a bad Star Wars reference. Witches? Good and evil?

“Okay, so now I’m expecting a green-skinned alien named Yoda to come out of nowhere and tell me he means me no harm.”

Paige rolled her eyes. “There is no Yoda, okay? This is not fantasy, it’s not science fiction. This is what we are. You and I. And I have to protect you from the demons or the balance of good and evil will tip in their favour. Do you get it?”

Chloe wanted to yell and scream, but she was driving and she couldn’t. Instead she pulled over to the side of the road and got out. This was just unbelievable. She began pacing up and down while Paige got out of the car and stood beside it, watching her. She didn’t get it. She didn’t want to get it.

“There’s no such thing as witches, there’s no such thing as witches,” Chloe said to herself, repeating the mantra over and over again until she managed to calm down.

[Chlollie]

This chapter was great. I so can't wait for more. UPDATE!

[phoenixnz]

Part Three

“Chloe,” Paige called. “We need to go.”

Chloe nodded. “Yeah, go. Right.”

Silently, she got back in the car and drove back out on the highway. Paige kept looking at her, concerned.

“Look, I know this is a lot to take in ...”

Chloe lifted a hand as if to say, don’t talk to me right now. She continued driving toward Smallville. Paige remained silent the rest of the way. Chloe was obviously trying to get her head around this situation.

Chloe’s phone buzzed and she glanced at it. Another text from Bart. Damn, she’d forgotten to text an answer. She fired off a text, hoping no other driver saw her texting while driving. She told him something had come up, but if he wanted, she could order pizza or something and they could just relax at her place. She desperately wanted something quasi-normal around her to distract her from the thoughts she was having in her head and Bart was fun to talk to.

She made it to Smallville intact. Paige had made no effort to try to talk to her again and Chloe didn’t say anything until they got to the apartment above the Talon.

Once inside, she turned on Paige.

“Look, I don’t know what kind of game this is, but you’ve got the wrong girl. I’m not a witch, okay? This is crazy.”

Paige looked at her.

“Chloe, have you ever done anything that was, I don’t know, a little bit crazy, or weird? Something that any ordinary person wouldn’t be able to do?”

You mean like Justin and his ability to move things with his mind? Chloe thought. Or a girl who could morph into any person she wanted? Or how about a guy who could run like the wind, or leap tall buildings in a single bound? But that had happened to other people. Not to her. And most of that was due to the meteor rocks scattered around Smallville.

“Magick does not exist. It’s an illusion. It’s not real.”

Paige sighed. “Chloe, listen to me, I know you’re scared. That’s why you’re denying this. But you have to know that the demon world knows about you. And they will come after you. I’m trying to help you. That’s why I was sent here.”

“I don’t believe you. And I’d really appreciate it if you’d leave now. Please? Just go. I can’t deal with this right now. I’ve got a good job, and a boyfriend – well, a potential boyfriend, and I really don’t need this.”

Paige opened her mouth as if to argue, but then cocked her head. She seemed to be listening.

“Okay, Chloe. But, look ...” She looked around for something to write on and grabbed a pen, writing down a phone number. “This is my cell, okay? If you see M’kesh, or anyone that looks suspicious, call me and I’ll come.”

Paige left her then, going down the back stairs they had come up. She waited until she was out on the street and in the alley before she orbed out.

***

Paige returned to Halliwell Manor after speaking first with the Elders. Phoebe and Piper both came down the stairs after seeing to the two boys.

“What happened?”

“Well, she didn’t believe me. I don’t know what I’m going to do. If they go after her, she’s vulnerable.”

“Didn’t the Elders offer any suggestions?”

Paige shook her head. “They just told me to convince her. And in the meantime to keep an eye on her and make sure she’s safe.” She looked pensive. “I wonder though. They did mention something about her being ‘saturated’ with power. I don’t think they meant her own power, but somebody else’s. Like there’s another force there.”

“Did you sense anything?” Phoebe asked. “I mean, maybe if I came with you the next time, I might be able to see something.”

“But honey, you can only see her future.”

“It’s better than nothing, sweetie,” Piper said.

“I don’t know,” Paige said thoughtfully. “Maybe we need to do a little research on Chloe. Find out where her power comes from.”

Piper smirked. “Yeah, I’m sure I know someone who can help answer that question.” She lifted her head and called sharply. “Leo!”

The three sisters waited for a few moments. When nothing happened, Piper tried it again, putting more irritation into her voice. “Leo!” When there was still no response she began muttering. “Husbands. Never around when you want them.”

The other two just grinned knowingly at each other. Piper’s face was like a thundercloud.

“God help me, Leo Wyatt, if you are not down here in five seconds I’m going to freeze your ass until the next millennium.”

Suddenly, sparkling light descended and Leo appeared.

“You didn’t have to threaten that, Piper,” he said. “I heard you. I just couldn’t get away.”

She just glared at him, and he sighed before going on. “Look, I know there’s a problem with Paige’s charge, but there’s nothing I can do. They already told you Paige.”

The youngest sister sighed heavily. “Sometimes the Elders drive me insane,” she muttered. Phoebe smiled and put an arm around her sister’s shoulder.

“Come on, let’s go trawl the ‘Net and see what we can find out.”

***

Chloe curled up on the sofa, watching Bart demolish yet another pizza. She sometimes could not get over how much he ate, but she supposed he used up a lot of energy. He grabbed the cup of soda and gulped it down. She suppressed a giggle at the way he looked sucking on the straw. And that didn’t give her bad thoughts, she said to herself.

Bart grinned at her. It was uncanny, sometimes, just how much he seemed to be able to read her thoughts. And they were nowhere near that close yet.

Chloe sighed as she began to go over the events of that afternoon, yet again. It was driving her crazy and she had no idea what to do. Should she tell Bart? She so needed to talk to someone, and who knows? He might actually be able to offer a different perspective.

“Everything okay, babes?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s just,” she picked at a hangnail on her index finger. “Something really weird happened to me today and I’m not sure what to make of it.” She began telling him about the two guys who chased her in the city and Paige and the things the woman had said to her.

“I mean, it sounds crazy, right?”

“Yeah, there’s no such thing as witches.”

“That’s what I said. So why is it bothering me?”

“These two guys, do you think they were, you know, like meteor freaks?”

Chloe shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe. They did seem like they had some kind of meteor ability. But it’s not anything I’ve seen before. And Paige said something like, she and her sisters were The Charmed Ones. I have no idea what that means.”

“Maybe we should look it up. See what we can find out?”

Chloe stared at him, then smacked her forehead with her hand. “God, why didn’t I think of that,” she said. She went to the table and grabbed her laptop, putting it on the coffee table in front of her. As she waited for the computer to boot up, she looked at Bart, then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

“What was that for?” he asked.

“Hmm, for being you. And for helping me clear my head.”

“No problemo,” he said, cupping her chin with his hand and pulling her forward a little, tentatively touching her mouth with his. Chloe found herself responding to his soft kiss. As she opened her mouth, he became a little bolder, slipping his tongue in. She moaned gently, not wanting to break the moment. But when she did break away, she stared at him. They were like two people caught in a spell.

The computer beeped and the spell was broken. Chloe turned with a little sigh and began to bring up the search engine. She typed in the phrase The Charmed Ones and waited the few seconds it took to bring up the various sites connected to the key phrase.

The results brought up the usual standard nonsense, but one stood out. Chloe clicked on the link to powerofthree.digitalwave.com. It was a site dedicated to the legend of the Charmed Ones. The story of three sisters who would become the most powerful witches in the history of magick, who would hold the balance of light and dark in their hands.

As Chloe read, her reporter’s instincts kicked in. There were links to newspaper articles on the sisters and blogs dedicated to each of the Halliwells. But Chloe still thought of it as a lot of kahooey, and so far, she hadn’t seen anything that would change her mind.

[Chlollie]

That was such a great chapter. I am so looking forward to more, can't wait. Hope soon. Can't wait to see more of the sisters, and Chloe.

[Chlollie]

Update soon!

[phoenixnz]

Part Four

Phoebe and Paige sat on the computer for the rest of the day, trying to find out what they could about Chloe. They had seen some of the articles she had written in her high school days. But so far, nothing to suggest how they could convince her.

Piper came in and told them dinner was ready. Paige sighed. Henry had called, telling her he had to work late again, and Coop, was off playing Cupid. Well, Paige thought, at least they had Leo and the two boys to keep them company.

They sat at the table, passing dishes around. Wyatt reached for something and when he didn’t get it, used his powers.

“Wyatt,” his mother said. “What have we said about using your powers?”

“Don’t show off,” he said in that babyish voice he still had.

“That’s right,” Piper said. “Powers are no excuse to be lazy.”

The four-year-old looked at his mother as if he wanted to roll his eyes. But it was an act he hadn’t quite got down yet.

“Don’t give me that look Wyatt Halliwell,” she said sternly.

Paige and Phoebe looked at each other and cracked up laughing. Piper glared at her sisters, then had to remind Phoebe just what she was in for.

“You wait,” she said. “You just see what it’s like when your child’s that age.”

Phoebe just grinned.

Leo grabbed the bowl of salad and put some on his plate, then helped three-year-old Chris get his own dinner before looking at the two younger sisters.

“Any luck with getting more information about Chloe?”

Paige spoke up. “Well, we found out that she was the editor of her school paper in Smallville.”

“Yeah, and apparently, they had problems with people developing different abilities,” Phoebe said.

“That’s funny. I’m sure the Elders would have mentioned if there’d been any magickal activity there,” Leo mused.

Paige shook her head. “I don’t think it’s magickal. One of Chloe’s articles suggested it might be because of these weird meteor rocks.”

Piper looked at her sister. “Meteor rocks? How could they cause people to develop powers?”

Paige shrugged. The research she and Phoebe had done hadn’t really given them any answers. But they’d found another article in which Chloe had investigated the involvement of a big corporation run by billionaire Lex Luthor in experiments with the meteor rock. The article had been carefully written so as not to imply that Luthor was actually doing the experiments.

“I think maybe we need to go to Smallville and check this out. I’m sure there’ll be more demons going after Chloe.”

“You’re right, Paige,” Phoebe said. “We should go talk to people about Chloe and see what we can find out that way.”

“You’ll come with, won’t you Piper?”

“I need to be here for the boys,” she said.

“I think I can handle them,” Leo said. “Go. Just in case you need the Power of Three.”

Piper nodded at her husband, then looked at her sisters. “First thing tomorrow, then.”

***

Bart stood at the door of the apartment, preparing to leave. “You sure?” he said. “I could stick around.”

Chloe smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m sure. Look, Lois is going to be home any minute, and you know, she’s still a little depressed about breaking up with Ollie.”

Bart smiled. He knew how close the cousins were, and at least if Lois was in the apartment as well, then Chloe would be okay.

“If you need anything ...”

“Don’t worry,” Chloe answered with a smirk, then quoted from the show they had both loved as kids, although they laughed at it now. “If the apocalypse comes, I’ll beep you.”

“Ha ha,” he said, going out the door.

He had left just in time. Lois came in and dumped her bag on the table, sighing. Yep, Chloe thought. Still depressed. Lois flopped down on the couch, her head against the armrest. Chloe sat down next to her.

“You okay cuz?” she asked.

“Yeah, great,” Lois said. “Considering I am now footloose and fancy free.”

Trouble was, she didn’t look like she was ready to kick her heels up. In fact, she had the look of a puppy that had been kicked when it was down. It was time for the usual emergency pick-me-up.

“Come on,” Chloe said. “There’s a tub of Rocky Road with your name on it.”

Lois moaned. “You know that stuff will go straight to my hips.”

Chloe rolled her eyes at her cousin. They might be close but there were times when she envied her cousin’s figure and height.

“Your hips can handle it,” she said, heading for the freezer. She detoured when she heard a knock on the door, going to open it.

Clark grinned at her. “Hey,” he said.

“Welcome to the deep dark pit of despair,” Lois called out. “Come in if you dare.”

Clark looked at Chloe, cocking an eyebrow. “Still depressed?”

“Even the suggestion of a tub of Rocky Road can’t pull her out of it. Maybe you’ll have more luck.”

Clark went to the couch and sat down. Lois stretched out, putting her feet in his lap, kicking her shoes off as if demanding he rub her feet.

“No Rocky Road?” he asked.

“Goes straight to my hips,” Lois said.

“I think they’d survive.”

“Are you kidding, Smallville?” Lois said. “Look at me, I’m a frump.”

“You are not a frump.”

“Then why did Ollie dump me?”

Chloe came back over with the promised tub of ice-cream.

“I thought it was the other way around?” she said.

“Come on, Chlo, he passed up a vacation in Monte Carlo for a business trip. What does that say?”

Chloe didn’t want to speculate, considering she knew the real reason why Oliver left. As did Clark. And while she wanted to comfort her cousin, she couldn’t find any excuse that would sound plausible enough.

Clark spoke up for her. “All it says to me is that Oliver is an idiot. Any guy who puts business before a beautiful woman has to be.”

Lois peered at him under the arm across her forehead.

“You think I’m beautiful?” she said.

“Uh, Lois ...” he began, trying to backpedal. Lois huffed impatiently.

“Don’t backpedal, Smallville. Answer the question.”

“Well, ah,” he said, blushing. “You’re, um, attractive, I guess.”

“Attractive, you guess? Is that the best you can do? If you’re trying to cheer me up, you’re not doing a very good job of it.”

“Come on Lois, you know I think you’re gorgeous.”

Lois stared at him. “Who are you and what have you done with Clark Kent?”

Clark rolled his eyes at the cliché. Lois began babbling on some other subject and he tuned out. Ever since he’d heard Lana had agreed to marry Lex, he’d decided he needed to move on. And if he had to admit it to himself, he’d been kind of jealous of Oliver for dating Lois. He remembered something Oliver had said, about the two of them hiding real feelings under snarky comments and sarcasm. Who would have thunk it? he grinned to himself. That he would actually have feelings for the woman who had been driving him nuts for over two years.

He looked at Chloe, who was grinning at him. He smiled sheepishly. Sometimes his best friend could see right through him. It was disconcerting, to say the least.

“So, Chloe,” he said, absently massaging Lois’ feet. “How was your day?”

[Chlollie]

You stopped there. Please post more soon! Can't wait for some Chloe and the sisters. Wonder if they will talk to Lex, it would be a bad idea to do.

[phoenixnz]

Oh I doubt they'll talk to Lex about Chloe. Or if they do, I'm sure Phoebe will pick up on how much of a snake he is.

[Chlollie]

Oh I doubt they'll talk to Lex about Chloe. Or if they do, I'm sure Phoebe will pick up on how much of a snake he is.

She will have a premonition of all the stuff he has been doing. Wondering who they will talk to maybe, Oliver? Lois? They will probably get suspicious of them, for wanting to know about Chloe. And I'm wondering if Chloe will tell Clark and Lois about what happened to her, or will she will lie to them.

I so can't wait for more, hope tomorrow.

[phoenixnz]

Part Five

Chloe didn’t know why she hadn’t mentioned the incident yesterday to Lois or Clark. Well, Lois she could understand. With her cousin still getting over the break-up with Oliver, anything else might upset her. Even though it would probably have been good for her to have something else to focus on. Other than the depressing state of her love life. And Clark – well, he had been moody since Lana had agreed to marry Lex.

She’d watched the two of them last night, bickering as usual. At least that hadn’t changed, she thought with a brief snicker as she parked her car in the city and walked the rest of the way to work. If she didn’t know better, she would think they hid an attraction beneath the bickering.

It had been that way between Lois and Clark from the beginning. Chloe remembered that first week of senior year when Clark had joined the football team. She had watched as Lois had dunked Clark at the pep rally, then seen the way Lois bounded up to him, a big grin on her face as she mussed his hair. Chloe sighed. She’d still had a huge crush on Clark then, and it had been almost painful to watch the two of them together. Now she just looked back on it and laughed. It was funny how her feelings had changed.

Now she had growing feelings for someone else. A someone named Bart Allen, who could run like the wind. He’d taken her to Florida, then to Mexico a couple of times and it had been fun. She could be silly with him, more than she could with Clark, or even Lois. Plus he thought she was beautiful. ‘Muy Caliente’ he’d said when he’d first blown back into town. She’d laughed it off, until she realised that he was saying she was ‘hot’. Funny – it was not a word used to describe her before. She’d always had to compete with the prettier girls in school. Which was probably why she’d never really had a boyfriend back then. Oh, she’d had moments. Justin, Jimmy Olsen during her summer internship. But the one with Justin had ended really badly when she’d found out he was a meteor freak with a serious psychological problem, and Jimmy – well, he was cute and all, but there was no fire.

She walked into the Daily Planet to find Lois waiting for her, armed with coffee.

“Okay, spill,” her taller cousin said.

“Spill what?” she asked.

“You and the hottie I saw you with.”

“What? When?”

Lois canted her head. “Come on, Chlo. He was at the apartment. You guys had pizza. A lot of pizza. So spill. I need some smoochies to live vicariously off.”

Chloe put her bag down on her desk and took the coffee cup from her cousin.

“There were no smoochies Lois. We’re just friends.”

“Right,” Lois smirked. “And I’m the Queen of Egypt.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. Details miss.”

“There’s nothing to tell.”

“Right. So you’ve been talking online to Clark and two o’clock in the morning and texting him every half hour. Come on Chlo, it’s me, your cousin.”

“Lois, I’m sorry, but there’s not much to tell. Bart and I are just friends.” She stopped, rolling her eyes at the sceptical look on her cousin’s face.

“Okay, maybe he did kiss me, and maybe we did make out a little, but geez, it’s only been a couple of weeks.”

“Two weeks in which you’ve been surprisingly absent. Come on, Chloe, I asked you to go clubbing with me last Friday and you said you had a headache. I mean, what kind of excuse is that?”

“So I had a date with Bart.” She wasn’t going to tell her that the date had been a trip to Florida. She didn’t think her cousin was ready to hear about the Speedy Gonzales aspect of Bart’s life.

Lois shook her head and tsked. “It’s not good to keep secrets from you cousin, Chlo.” She leaned back in the chair, putting her feet up on the desk. “So, tell me more,” she said, grinning. “And when I say I want details, I mean gore, okay?”

***

The sisters materialised in the alley behind the Talon, thanking their lucky stars there was no one around. Phoebe looked a little green.

“Oh, honey, you okay?” Paige asked, rubbing her sister’s arm.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t have orbed,” Paige said, still trying to help soothe her sister’s queasiness.

“It’s okay, really,” Phoebe said. “Come on. We better get to work.”

Paige led the way to the coffee shop. They looked around at the faux Egyptian decor.

“Ugh,” Piper said. “Call out the decorator police,” she muttered. “This is awful.”

“Oh, it’s not that bad,” Paige said. Piper cocked an eyebrow and glared at her youngest sister.

“Not that bad? It’s gaudy and, ugh, I mean, really, whoever designed this had terrible taste.”

The three of them didn’t notice the young brunette frowning as she glared at them. Lana Lang didn’t appreciate someone criticising the way she had designed the decor of the coffee shop she had fought so hard to save. She was going to say something to them when Lex walked in.

“Everything okay?” he asked. “You look a little upset.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Probably just hormones,” she said.

“You sure? Maybe you should sit down, rest for a bit,” he said, guiding her to a table. “I’ll get you something to drink. Herbal tea?”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

Lex smiled and went to the counter to get her the tea. He’d come in to check the accounts and knew he would be here a while. Lana had decided she wanted to look around the stores, talk to some old friends and he indulged her, just to placate her.

Piper and Paige had sat down at a table nearby, still discussing the decor while Phoebe, bored, had gone to get coffees for them and tea for herself. As she turned, she bumped into the bald man and gasped, reacting as if she had been burned. He gave her an odd look and she looked quickly away from him, walking hurriedly over to her sisters.

Piper saw her face and looked concerned.

“Honey, what is it?”

Phoebe nodded her head in the direction of the bald man. “See that guy? I just had a premonition.”

“How bad?”

“I saw him standing watching another man kill someone. A woman.”

“Can you describe her?” Paige asked, getting a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“Blonde, about five five, curvy.”

“Sounds like Chloe,” Paige breathed.

“There’s more,” Phoebe said. “I saw him fighting with someone. And get this. The guy he was fighting was wearing blue tights.”

Piper’s face screwed up as if she was trying not to laugh. “Tights?”

Phoebe snickered. “Yuh-huh. The guy was really cute though.”

“Phoebe, you’re a married woman.” Piper said, pretending to be shocked.

“So? I can still appreciate the male form,” she said with a grin, sipping her herbal tea.

“Mm me too, and one fine specimen just walked in,” Paige said. “Hubba hubba.”

“Oh grow up you two,” Piper admonished them, looking around at the man who had just walked in. Her jaw practically dropped on the floor. He was more than just a fine specimen. He was gorgeous! Damn, she thought. If ever there was a man she’d want to cheat on her husband with ...

Phoebe finally took a good look at the young man and grabbed her sister’s arms excitedly.

“That’s him,” she said, trying to keep her voice to a whisper. “That’s the guy in my premonition!”

“The one in the cape?” Paige asked.

“Yup.”

For some strange reason, the tall young man turned to look at the three sisters, frowning. They each busied themselves with their drinks, blushing at being caught staring.

***

Clark glanced at the three women sitting at the table. He’d never seen them before. And they were acting a little strange. His super-hearing had picked up on their conversation as soon as he’d walked in the door and he’d blushed at their obvious appreciation. But then one of them had said something about a premonition, while a second had said something about a cape and he frowned. Who were these women?

He was tempted to go over and talk to them, but he had other things to do and had only stopped for a coffee. He went over to the counter where Lex was discussing accounts with the manager and ordered a coffee from the assistant.

Lex turned and looked at him, regarding him coolly.

“Clark? Not busy on the farm?”

“Stopped by to get some supplies at the hardware store,” he said, keeping his tone polite. After all, his parents had taught him manners. He couldn’t help it if his former best friend was a manipulative jerk.

“I hear Lionel was there for dinner the other week,” Lex said, his blue-grey eyes staring at him sharply.

“Oh yeah, we had pot roast,” Clark said. “Apparently he just loves the way my mom makes pot roast.”

That was an out and out lie and Clark knew that Lex knew that. Lionel had warned him that Lex believed he’d been at the Ridge Facility when the team had gone in to destroy it. The elder Luthor had told him the story he’d spun Lex to get him off the scent, but he’d surmised that Lex would still keep digging anyway.

Clark still had doubts about Lionel’s loyalty. There were times when he wondered if Lionel was only pretending to be on his side so he could try to develop a relationship with his mother. But Jonathan Kent had been gone only a year and he hoped his mother wasn’t ready for anything else. Besides, Lionel Luthor would be the last man he’d want as a potential suitor for his mother, let alone a stepfather.

Lex seemed to be on the same wavelength.

“I wonder if the pot roast is the true attraction,” he said. “Considering he’s used to dining in the finest restaurants.”

Clark refused to take the bait. He wasn’t going to cause a scene in the Talon. He had better things to do. He paid for his coffee and said goodbye politely, stopping briefly to say hi to Lana and ask after her aunt before leaving. He was well aware of the different pairs of eyes on him as he walked out the door.

[Chlollie]

Great update. I wonder when the premonition will happen. God those hormones. Wonder what will happen next? Will the sister run into Chloe again? I hope to read more of the wonderful fanfic soon. Update soon.