The Bottom of the Glass--6/13

[bluesuedeshoes]

Author:  BlueSuede
Title:  The Bottom of the Glass
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst/Romance/Drama
Pairings:  Chloe/Oliver
Summary: Chloe's meteor powers return with reinforcements. Instead of talking to anyone about it, even Oliver, she finds a different refuge.
Warnings: mild OOC on Chloe's part


Chapter 1

Previous (Chapter 5)
Next (Chapter 6)

Chloe, anxiously, had determined that she wanted Lois to know the truth. On her way to see her cousin that evening, though, she began to wonder how wise that decision was.

When Chloe entered the Talon, she silently allowed Lois to chew her out for the last couple of days, knowing full well that she deserved it. In the back of her mind, though, she was beginning to wish she'd taken Oliver up on his offer to come with her for moral support.

When Lois finished her tirade, Chloe worked summoned up her courage. "Lois?"

"Yeah?"

"Erm...h-how was your date with Clark?" She sighed, maybe not quite courage per se...

Lois rolled her eyes. "It was fine, but he seemed really distracted. I swear, every time a car alarm goes off I have to unscrew him from the ceiling," she smiled slightly, though, indicating that the tendency was strangely endearing, "Still, we had a good time. Tried out that new Thai place."

"Clark ate ethnic food?"

"Well," Lois smirked, "he made a valiant effort."

Chloe laughed nervously and then quickly forced herself back to the task at hand. Honesty. Honesty was good. "Lois? I need to talk to you. And it's important."

Lois glanced up from the bag of popcorn she was opening. "I figured. Does this mean I get to hear the truth about your little disappearing act this weekend?" She poured the popcorn into a bowl.

Chloe nodded sheepishly.

"Thank God," Lois said, sitting down on the sofa with the bowl of popcorn. she looked at her cousin expectantly.

Chloe took a deep breath. "I'mmeteorinfected."

Lois frowned. "Say again?"

Chloe sighed. "You know those green meteor rocks? The ones that have caused so many weird mutations?"

A strange look passed over Lois' face. "Yes."

"A few years ago I found out there was a lot of it in my blood. I've been infected."

Lois stared at her, then finally latched onto the first portion of the revelation. "A few years ago?"

Chloe nodded contritely. "I'm sorry I never told you, Lo, but-"

"Why tell me now?"

"My mutation went away about two years ago. Three days ago, it came back"

"Your what came back?"

"Mutation," Chloe reiterated calmly.

Lois had frozen, a piece of popcorn halfway to her mouth. Chloe wished she would put it down. She also wished she had a drink. Whiskey. Whiskey sounded very good at that moment.

"Anyway, I sort of cut myself off the last couple of days from everyone and everything because I was freaking out. I did go see a doctor, though. I promise. We're working on finding a cure."

"Rewind to the 'mutation' part. What exactly do you mean by that?"

Chloe closed her eyes. "The meteor rock in my blood stream has given me a healing power."

The piece of popcorn fell back in the bowl but Lois's hand remained suspended in mid-air. Thick silence filled the air for a solid sixty seconds before she finally managed speech. "W-wha-wait, what?"

"I can heal other people. Just by touching them."

"Like are we talking paper cuts or internal hemorrhaging?"

"Kinda both."

Her hand was still held up as though she were about to eat the no-longer present popcorn and Chloe thought she was going to tackle her if she didn't put it down. "So..." she said awkwardly instead.

"This is...really terrifying, really weird, and really cool all wrapped into one. How on earth did you sit on this secret all th-wait," Lois's eyes widened. "Clark knows, doesn't he?"

The guilty look on Chloe's face answered her question. She grabbed a handful of popcorn and threw it at her. "I can't believe you told Smallville before you told your favorite cousin!"

Chloe shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry?"

"You owe me so much chick time. And you're buying me coffee for a week-no, two!"

Chloe smiled weakly. Lois was taking this strangely well. "Fair enough."

Lois finally leaned back on the couch to survey Chloe. "So...what are you planning to do? I imagine you've already considered the scenario where you sit in MetGen all day long and heal people until you reach the point where you feel guilty for taking time off and then start blaming yourself for every person who dies everywhere and eventually some psycho, grieving homicidal maniac takes revenge on you for the loss of his high school sweetheart?"

Chloe nodded, eyebrow lifted.

"Glad we're past that idiocy. What's the plan then? I assume you have one?"

"The doctor I'm seeing, he specializes in these kind of things, and he's working on a cure so I can be normal again."

Lois frowned. "You sure? I mean, there's a lot of upsides to this you know?"

Chloe walked over to the liquor cabinet they kept and pulled out a bottle of whiskey, pouring herself a glass. She raised the bottle questioningly at Lois, who shook her head. She put the bottle back and raised the glass to her lips, knowing that somewhere in the world, Oliver was scolding her for it. She didn't care, though. The thirst had been itching at her since the drive over. It was just one glass, she told herself.

"Chloe?" Lois persisted after a moment.

"Sure there are upsides." She remembered the young teenage girl in the back alley and the little boy who had fallen from his bike. "But I wouldn't have the first clue how to balance it. You just said there was no point hanging around a hospital all day, but how do I draw the line?" She didn't want to get into the matter of the possible mental ramifications, of her mortal fear of being driven insane. "It's too much power for one person to handle."

Lois was silent a long time before finally nodding. "I guess that's true. Although if you ask me, what better person to bestow such power on than the person who recognizes that it's too much power for her?"

Chloe took another sip of whiskey rather than dignifying the comment with a response. Lois shrugged. "Well, anyway, who is this doctor you're seeing?"

"He works for Oliver. I've worked with him myself a couple of times and he's very trustworthy. If he can't find a cure, no one can."

Lois nodded. "All right. You think he can do it, though? I mean, haven't other people been searching for a cure before this?"

Lois had successfully voiced the one thing Chloe had been determined not to think of. "I guess we'll find out. Like I said, I have faith in this guy. He'll figure something out." Because he had to. He just had to.

"How is Ollie handling this?"

"Well enough. Surprisingly so, actually. I thought he might freak out, but he was upset more about my not telling him right away than he was about what I had to tell him."

Lois narrowed her eyes. "He can join the club. What about Clark?"

Chloe's eyes darted away evasively. "I haven't told him yet. That my powers are back, I mean."

"Why not? You trusted him the first time around."

"Clark never took a particularly pleasant stance on my meteor powers. Although, actually, I suppose he'll be pleased that I'm being sensible this time and looking for a cure."

"What do you mean he took an unpleasant stance?"

"Clark didn't want me to use them at all. He said they could hurt me and I shouldn't risk it."

"How could they hurt you?" she asked sharply.

"Before-well, there's a sort of catch. When I healed someone before, I would take on their injury, including being dead a couple of times-" she conveniently left out that the first time happened because she saved Lois "-and we were starting to get worried that sometime I might not wake up."

Several reactions seemed to pass over Lois's face at once. "Before?" she repeated finally.

"Well, it doesn't happen anymore. I mean, I still feel all the pain of the other person's injury, but it doesn't harm me anymore otherwise. No more reincarnations for me."

Lois was staring at her. "So you're telling me you came back from the dead once?"

"Multiple times, actually," she said, taking a long draught of whiskey at the thought and grimacing as it burnt down her throat.

"This is-this is-"

"Weird?" Chloe supplied sardonically.

"Something like that. I can't believe I didn't know about this," she shook her head.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to worry you. Now that they're back I just decided you deserved the truth. I'm sorry, Lo," she added sincerely.

Lois got up from the couch and walked over to Chloe to hug her. "Hey, all I want is to be sure you're going to be okay. You know I love you, freaky mutations and all."

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Next (Chapter 6)