Normal Again

Summary: When Clark is hit with an explosion that leaves
microscopic amounts of blue kryptonite in his system, he
is resigned to living a mortal life—and one day dying a
mortal death.
***
1.
“Ollie’s still in there!”
“I’ll get him.”
Chloe watched as Clark disappeared in a blur that streaked for the warehouse—yet another of Lex Luthor’s labs. He’d barely been gone a few seconds when the building exploded. The shock of it threw Chloe off her feet, sending her to the cold, wet pavement. For a few seconds she thought she was going to be incinerated, or cut by shrapnel, but neither of those things happened. The heat was intense, but it didn’t last long. The flames shot for the sky, orange and red, and angry.
She looked up to see Clark had come back. He sat Oliver, who was wrapped in a blanket, down on his feet.
“Led lined,” Clark said. He was puffing heavily.
“Are you okay? You sound winded.
“I’m fine. I’m just…”
This time Oliver had to come to Clark’s rescue by catching him before he could hit the ground. Beads of blood were popping out all over Clark’s body, from head to toe. His clothes, she realized, had been shredded by something. She reached out for him, but hissed as something cut her fingers.
“What happened?” she asked worriedly.
“I don’t know. We need to get him to Dr. Kenner. She’s trustworthy, and she’s his best hope.”
Wrapping Clark in the blanket. Oliver and Chloe managed to heave Clark over to his truck. Chloe sat in the back with Clark’s head on her lap, wishing she could stroke his hair, but she was afraid it would hurt him. He was glittering blue, and his wounds weren’t healing as fast as they should.
“I think I know what this is,” Chloe said, holding up a crystal that had cut her finger. “It’s blue Kryptonite.”
***
Dr. Kenner confirmed Chloe’s suspicions an hour later in the infirmary, which was in the basement of Queen Industries in Star City.
“When the lab exploded his skin was saturated with shards of this blue Kryptonite. I’ve managed to wash away most of the shards on the outside, so he’s safe to touch, but the deeper fragments are impossible to reach without peeling his skin off. It may even go deeper than that,” Kenner said.
“Thanks, Jenna,” Oliver said.
Taking that as her dismissal, Dr. Kenner left. Chloe watched Clark sleeping. His skin looked normal now, but the monitor above his bed showed an image of the damage he’d sustained in the blast.
“This is my fault,” Chloe said. “I did the recon on that lab, I cleared it of all forms of Kryptonite.”
“Chloe, it’s impossible to get perfect intel. Don’t blame yourself.”
“I can’t help it.”
She reached down and touched his skin, hoping she wasn’t hurting him. “Do you know what this stuff does to him?”
“It weakens him, I’d imagine. Like the green stuff.”
“It makes him human, Ollie. He’s lost all his powers.”
“We’ll find a way to get this out of him. We just need time. Come on, I’ve got a spare bedroom you can use—”
“I’m staying with him,” Chloe said. “I can’t leave.”
Oliver nodded his understanding and then left the bedside, pulling the privacy curtain shut behind him. There was an overstuffed recliner in the corner. Chloe went to it and stretched out, covering herself with a coat. She was tired. It had been a long day full of drama and adrenaline. She watched Clark’s stats. His blood pressure was low, his heart rate slow and even. He was going to live.
But what kind of life would he have? She knew Clark had always wanted to settle down on the farm and live a normal, mortal life with Lana. He’d wanted kids, and love, and a normal human existence—right up until he began to embrace his destiny. He’d just started to do that when…
“I’m sorry, Clark.”
Weariness overtook Chloe, and she slipped into a fitful sleep.

2.
Clark was awake when Chloe’s eyes fluttered open at five the next morning. Being a farmer, Clark was used to getting up with the cows. He was staring at her, and she just knew he blamed her for his situation. She was sure he must hate her…
Until he smiled.
“Morning.”
“Clark, are you okay?”
He nodded. “I’m fine. I’m…normal again.”
“You’ve always been normal.”
“I mean I’m human again, until Dr. Kenner and her team can figure out a way to get this stuff out of me.”
“Clark, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. If I had gotten better intelligence on that lab—”
“And you get on my case whenever I blame myself for something beyond my control. I was half asleep last night when Ollie told you it’s impossible to get perfect intel, and he was right. Even if I’d known the blue k was in there, I still would have had to go in after Ollie.”
“You’re not even a little angry with me?”
“Not even a little.” He raised the bed into a sitting position. “What’s next?
“Well, if you’re given a clean bill of health, we go back to Smallville. You have a day job at the Planet, you know.”
“I’ll have to call in sick today. Dr. Kenner wants to run tests. You know my biggest concern now?”
“Lois?”
“How did you know?”
“If I were you, I’d be worried about her too. She’s very perceptive. She’ll notice something’s different about you, even if she won’t know what it is. Not to mention, the red-blue blur is going to go off the radar for the foreseeable future.”
“Think she’ll connect it to me?”
“Who knows? I doubt it. She’ll have baseless suspicion. Then again, we could be giving her too much credit. She may not notice a thing.”
Chloe’s cell buzzed in her purse. She pulled it and saw that it wasn’t the first call she’d gotten. She’d been getting them all night, from Lois. “Lois?”
“You won’t believe what that bitch has done now.”
Lois’s words were heavily slurred. “Are you drunk?”
“You’re damn right I’m drunk!”
“Lois, what's happened?”
“I’ve been fired, that’s what happenedded,” Lois slurred, messing up her words.
“Fired?”
“What?” Clark asked, sitting up.
“You got fired?”
“Lass night, Test comes downstairs and cans me. Juss like that.” Chloe could hear Lois making several failed attempts to snap her fingers. She gave up and banged a fist on something, hard. “Like that.”
“Where are you now?”
“Home.”
“Hang up, Lois, and sleep it off. I’ll be home in a few hours.”
“Whare ere you? I mean, where are you?”
Lois was yelling, unaware of the volume of her voice. Chloe held the phone away from her ear. “I’m in Star City. I’ll be home today, we’ll talk then.”
“Okay.”
“Good night.”
“Chloe?”
“What?”
“I love you.”
Chloe laughed. “I love you too, Lois.”
Clark was smiling too. It was good to see, considering what she’d let happen to him.
“I don’t say it enough, but iss true. I love you.”
“I know, Lois. Now get some sleep.”
“Aye, aye, cap’n.”
The phone went silent and Chloe turned to Clark. “Coffee?”
“Sounds great.