Mistakes - Clark's second chance (Chlark)

[backdrop001]

nice can't wait for more.

[Mari2Anne]

Still hoping you come back to this one day...
... maybe???

[Darkfirelight]

Still hoping you come back to this one day...
... maybe???

Here we go then. A short one to lead into the next chapter. Hope you enjoy, the next chapter WILL be longer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Smallville.

A/N: Ironically I was just trying to dredge up some inspiration to write something when I saw Mari2Anne's message. XD Thanks for the reminder.

Chapter four:

---

Clark's parents may have been understanding toward Chloe's keeping Clark's location a secret, but others were decidedly less understanding. While Pete was upset he at least got that she had to keep it a secret. Lana on the other hand...

The young girl had been obsessed with work while Clark was gone, constantly trying to keep her mind away from her troubles with Clark; she wasn't aware of why, exactly, he had run off o Metropolis, only that he had.

Thus her reaction, considering her feelings for Clark and helplessness in the situation, was understandable.

"I can't believe you kept this a secret! You've known where he was this entire time!" The brunette said scathingly, glaring at the blonde. "What, did you enjoy keeping the rest of us out of the loop?" She yelled.

Chloe shrunk in on herself in spite of herself. While the other girl's anger wasn't entirely unwarranted Chloe was a little mad that she couldn't understand; she had to admit though that she had had the slightest glimmer of satisfaction at knowing something about Clark that the others hadn't, something that made her feel both guilt and shame.

"Lana, I'm sorry. I had no choice-" She tried once more, only to be cut across yet again. While she felt a little peeved at this she understood that the other girl needed to get this off her chest.

"You had a choice! You could have told us, you could have told me!" The tiny girl clarified angrily, voice growing shrill near the end. Chloe understood her own partial selfishness but it didn't stop her from retaliating.

"Told you? Told you!" She started, raising her voice. "Lana, you have no idea how different Clark was acting, I'd almost think he was doing drugs if it weren't for the fact that he's Clark freaking Kent, Smallville's own golden boy!" She shook her head and sighed. "Lana, Clark ran away; he threatened me. He was a completely different person." The aspiring journalist stressed.

Lana kept her glare but seemed to calm, if only a little. "Chloe, it doesn't matter how he was acting, I could have brought him back home."

"Lana, I brought him back home. He's back and he's not going again, alright?"

"I-" The other girl seemed to wilt, eyes downcast. "I know, it's just... I was just so worried."

"I get that, but he's back and he's fine now, okay? He's not going anywhere."

---

Clark knew he had to leave. Metropolis needed a hero and he was there; the fact of the matter was that just because he was back in time didn't make his responsibilities any less. Even between going back to school and apologizing to his friends he'd already prevented a murder and two muggings, stopped a bank robbery and at least five separate shop burglaries, and all in just two days.

Unfortunately he no longer had a league and a billionaire backing him and he had to watch out for his friends and random meteor mutants, and all without the help of his favourite sidekick. While he had contemplated telling her his "secret" he knew that if he did there was no telling what could happen; He needed to wait.

"Clark?"

The Kryptonian turned, pasting on a smile as he greeted his other friend. "Hey Pete, what's up?"

"Just wondering how you're doing?" The shorter youth spoke hesitantly, as though afraid to breach the topic.

"I'm... Fine. I mean, it was touch and go for a while, but now I'm so much better."

"Oh, that's... Good, man." The two stood in silence for a moment. "So, Chloe dragged you back, huh?" Pete smirked, brushing off his former awkwardness with natural confidence.

"Yeah, she's the whole reason I came back. I mean," He flushed slightly at Pete's look. "I realized how much I was hurting other people with my... Behavior."

"Yeah, I've noticed how clingy you are with her." Pete grinned knowingly, brown eyes glinting.

Clark's flush deepened, the boy/man himself looking away. "I'm just... Glad that she didn't give up on me." He defended petulantly.

"Whatever you say, man." Pete shook his head in bemusement. "I'm kinda glad that you didn't do anything you'd regret later, y'know.

"Yeah." He jolted as he heard his mother calling. "Clark, Clark are you out there?"

"I've gotta go." He smiled apologetically at his friend, turning toward the farmhouse. "Hope you and your dad have a good fishing trip." He spoke, referring to the yearly Ross family trip that had dragged him away from working at his mother's law firm in Metropolis.

"Right. See y'round Clark."

Clark's thoughts were rushing past his eyes as he walked, trying to grasp them. Although Pete had shown trouble handling the knowledge of his powers so many times Chloe had never had that problem; she'd always supported and had never betrayed that secret no matter how harshly or foolishly he had behaved. Even when he had shown intense paranoia and walked away from her...

The thought of her grave, grey stone against barren brown earth had his thoughts shifting once more. He'd always trusted her and she'd always been there. How could he even think of keeping this from her? If he couldn't trust Chloe then who could he trust?

As he stepped into his family home he knew that no matter how much he deliberated the fact was that he would be telling her the truth. After all, if he didn't what kind of person would he be?

A hero without a sidekick, that's for sure.

[Mari2Anne]

And most certainly, as has been proven time and again, this hero does NOT do well without his 'sidekick.'

What a wonderful update! I'm happy that he's deciding to tell her. Whether she freaks out or not in this timeline, I'm sure she'll treasure the trust he'll be showing towards her.

So happy you updated! Thank you. I re-read the first three chapters before posting my last comment and truly hoped you'd have time to continue!

[Greenweenie]

Enjoyed the update. Ppms

[Darkfirelight]

I vill update soon e-nuff, von schnookerheisen. -.-

The sun is so beautiful, if only I could be so grossly incandescent. *Sigh*

[trinna]

Sweet can't wait.

[BkWurm1]

Just found and read this.

How very lovely to be able to go back and do thing right this time and not just with Chloe!

So since he came home without Jonathan making his deal with Jor-El, Johnathan's heart is fine and strong = no dead dad. In the long run that also means no Senator Martha Kent but I think they'd all take that trade quite happily.

Poor Chloe is still stuck trying to get out of her deal with Lionel, but Clark should be able to help her I would think. They still need to get Lionel imprisoned so that he digs up that stone of power but chances are Chloe is still going to go poking around the plant and get exposed to that truth gas even if she does already know Clark's secret. Digging up dirt on Lex will always be a lure to her, no matter what.

Hmm, also knowing when and where the meteor infected madness is going to hit, should make dealing with that a lot simpler. Time to tap into his photographic memory.

I wonder if he would go looking for Kara and her ship trapped near Reeves dam. That would keep Lex off her trail. That's not something he has to worry about for a while though.

It occurred to me that since Clark knows, he might be able to save Chloe's editor, the editor that she handed her story to with a certain non de plume. That could really change everything.

So Clark can get the stones of power all taken care of without Lana/Isobelle getting blood on them (he knows where to find each of them) No blood on the stones means no 2nd meteor shower and no Brainiac and thus no threat of Zod. So no Clark stuck in the phantom zone so no escaped phantoms and no Bizzaro. And if the stones are out of reach, Genivieve Tigue will have no reason to mess with her son's life. Lana won't have any reason to dump him. They might not break up at all (especially since Lana won't have her back up boyfriend aka Clark this time around)

So then no Lexana and maybe no cloning project. Actually, certainly no successful cloning project since they needed a zoner's DNA to make it woke.

Doomsday is still waiting to rear his ugly head, but he won't obsess over Chloe since Brainiac was never there to run his program.

Oh and since Clark won't be wasting his time moping over Lana, he'll get his but in gear and stop Lex from finding the orb which means he can stop the Kandorians and Zod from showing up. Oh and keep the fortress from falling on Lex. If Lex is alive, Tess might not be around to force Clark to fight Doomsday.

Still, since they know Davis is out there and the monster is growing stonger, maybe they could get to him, split him off from the beast while there is something good of Davis left and send Doomsday to the phantom zone...though without Brainiac and his henchmen, would they even have access to the zone? Hmm.

It's interesting all the things he can fix, but changing history always comes with unintended issues. I am really looking forward to seeing how Chlark work through their issues and come to a better place, but I also am very curious about how Clark's insider's information changes the course of his life.

Ack! I've gone on and on way too long.

Suffice to say, you've peaked my interest!

[Darkfirelight]

Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated this in a while. Just stumbled across a document and realized that it's for this: It's amazing how much you can tell you've improved when you read back your old work. I will be updating this in the future, but I've noticed the lack of quality in the first through third chapter in particular. So, my question is this: Should I rewrite those first chapters? Any response would be appreciated.

[Chaos2007]

They were short is my only complaint. I would like longer chapters. But no complaints otherwise.

[smneal]

OK I'm in