kyizi

revivingophelia asked for this in my request for Five Things.

Disclaimer: Supernatural, Smallville and all related items do not belong to me. Only this Story and its related original ideas and characters are mine. No copyright infringement intended.

Five Times Chloe Sullivan Met a Winchester

Number One: Mightier

Today was so not her lucky day. It wasn’t so much that she’d slept through her alarm, wasn’t even so much that she’d spilled coffee over her first choice of clothes. In fact, it wasn’t even so much that she’d tripped over her own feet and fallen face first into the busy corridor outside her temporary room. She’d been running late, had to walk into the lecture five minutes in, thus drawing her to the attention of everyone and not even that was tipping her over the edge. Forgetting her pen, however, that might just make her cry.

She looked forlornly at the blank, sad looking page in front of her and had to tune out everything that was being said in case the tears just slipped out because she couldn’t commit any of it to paper. Because she’d forgotten her pen. And, really, that was just her luck, right? She’d been accepted into this summer course and had expected that everything would be wonderful. Had hoped that she’d be learning fascinating new things about the world of writing, even if it was creative writing rather than reporting, it was still learning. And really, that was all she’d ever wanted.

But she’d forgotten her pen. On her first day. And she was sitting in her wonderful induction lecture, on her wonderfully exciting course trying not to cry.

"Hey."

The whispered voice jerked her out of her thoughts and she tried very hard to make sure it didn’t look like she’d been about to cry before she turned around. There was a girl directly behind her who appeared to be glaring at her very insistence and, given that she looked a lot less male than the voice that had spoken, Chloe decided to ignore her. Instead, she turned to see a shiny, beautiful biro waving in front of her eyes.

She broke into a grin, her eyes wide and happy, and bit her lip. "Are you sure?"

"Just take the damn pen," the girl behind her growled menacingly, still writing furious notes and Chloe glared at her briefly before turning back to her rescuer.

"Thank you," she mouthed.

"You’re welcome," the guy mouthed back, grinning wildly, and, wow, that was one hell of a smile.

Suddenly realising just how attractive the boy was, the smile froze on her face and she turned sharply back to face the front, ignoring the muttering of the girl behind her and trying really hard to resist the urge to turn back and see if the cute guy was still smiling at her. Which he probably wasn’t.

Chloe shook her head, muttering, "stupid," and didn’t even bother trying to hide her grin. She had notes to take, after all.

Two: Smile

"What the hell was that?" Chloe asked, wide-eyed. The creature jerked once more and fell still and silent before she felt safe to creep a little closer. "No, really, what is it?"

"You wouldn’t believe me if I told you."

She frowned and turned to the man, looking at him as he re-filled his gun with what looked like silver bullets. It was lucky, really, that he’d turned up when he had. She hadn’t even seen the thing coming, let alone had time to think, or scream for help. He was a fair bit older than she was, had the slightest hints of grey in his hair and crinkles around his eyes that might once have been laughter lines. Something about him told her he didn’t laugh much anymore.

"Try me," she said softly and there must have been something in her voice that made him stop and look at her. He studied her briefly, weighing her up in a way that was slightly unnerving, almost as if he could see right through her.

"You’re a strong little thing, aren’t you?"

"I’m not sure whether I’m supposed to be complimented or insulted."

When he smirked, she couldn’t help but smile back at him. It lit up his whole face. "Smart, too."

"Yes, I am. Now can you please tell me what that is, because I can be very persistent and incredibly annoying and I won’t stop until you answer me."

"I have a gun."

She narrowed her eyes. "And if I thought for one moment that you would actually turn it on me I would not still be standing here."

This time he laughed at her. "You know, I think I like you. And I don’t like a lot of people."

She smiled, but couldn’t help but hear the silent ‘not even myself’ that surrounded him. "Well," she said, trying to keep things light (well, as light as they could be with a dead furry thing at their feet). "If you tell me what that was, I might think about liking you, too."

Grinning, he nodded. "Okay, tell you what. You’re a local, you tell me where I can bury this thing and I’ll fill you in."

"I have a better idea. You can tell me on the way."

She leaned down, trying to figure out where the heck she actually dared touch the thing, and was pleasantly warmed by the sounds of his laughter surrounding them. It didn’t take long to dispose of the creature and, really, even if the coffee they had was terrible, she ended up with a great story and, perhaps, something even better.

It was nice to see him smile.

Three: As You Wish

It had horns. She wasn’t sure why that fact, in and of itself, seemed like the weirdest thing she’d ever witnessed, but it had horns. Red devil horns and beady little eyes and it really didn’t look like something that had been born of a meteor shower and she’d seen a lot of crazy things come of that. But this? This was a whole other level of weird. And the chanting? Not so much fun. Especially given that she was tied to a chair.

"This is getting faintly ridiculous," she said to herself, because seriously sure there was a limit to the number of times a person had to play damsel in distress in her life. She twisted her arms within their binding and tried in vain to free herself at the last minute. She’d tried calling for Clark, but she suspected that the large whatever it was (force shield?) surrounding them was blocking her cries for help.

"Look, seriously," she said, hoping her voice didn’t sound as panicked and desperate as she thought it did. "This is really not a good time for me. I have midterms."

Unsurprisingly, the creature didn’t really seem to care. Which sort of pissed her off, because her midterms were really very important to her and she didn’t think her teacher would accept ‘but, sir, I was tied up and chanted at by the devil’ as her excuse for failing, or missing them completely.

"This is so not good," she said, pulling at her ropes and trying not to cry when she felt them tear through her skin. To top it all off, that was the point where the giant swirly thing opened up. And, yeah, she was pretty sure she was actually going to die this time.

"Psst!"

Chloe frowned and looked around. Other than the devil and his slowly growing ‘swirly thing’, she was alone. She shook her head and went to work on her ropes again.

"Pssssst."

"Okay, now that time I know I heard- Where are you?"

"Behind you, you moron."

Chloe glared, even though the person clearly couldn’t see her, and hissed back, "Oh, yes, because I have eyes in the back of my head!"

"In this town, that really wouldn’t surprise me, sweetheart."

"Don’t you sweetheart me!"

"I take it you’re not actually looking to be rescued. Because, really, insulting your would-be knight in shining armour isn’t a good idea if you want to ride away in his hot black wheels."

"Will you just help me?" she growled.

"What, you prefer the white horse thing? Because I gotta tell you, not really my deal."

"I swear to, God, I-" Chloe’s eyes widened when the large creature turned and looked right at her. "Your hot black wheels are fine, just get me out of here!"

"As you wish."

Chloe supposed there were moments in every woman’s life where she actually didn’t mind the damsel in distress thing. She’d never really been one of them (possibly because her quotient for actually being said damsel was ever higher than the rest of the population of women in the entire universe combined), but even she had to admit that being saved from the honest to God DEVIL by a, yeah, okay, very hot guy wasn’t all that bad.

"So, ready for that ride?"

Well, so long as said hot guy kept his mouth shut.

"Seriously, does that ‘I’m so cute, look at me smirk’ thing actually work for you?"

He nodded. "Usually."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Will you get me out of here?" When he just cocked an eyebrow at her, she sighed. "Please?"

"All ya had to do was ask, sweetheart."

It didn’t take long to get rid of the charred remains, as it turned out that for all the devil likes fire and brimstone, he burned fairly easily.

"Not actually the devil, you know," the guy said to her, when they were safely in his car (and really she had to worry at the fact that she was in the car with a strange guy, even if he didn’t give her that kind of vibe).

"Then what the hell was it?"

He eyed her up for a moment, weighing her up in a way that was comfortingly familiar, even if she couldn’t put a finger on why. "You’re from Smallville?"

"I’ve lived here a while, yeah."

"Pretty weird place."

"You have no idea."

When he just cocked his eyebrow and smiled slowly, she ignored the hot curl in her stomach and the slight skitter in her heart and just listened.

It always amazed her just how much more complicated her life could get.

Four: Double Trouble

"We just keep running into each other, don’t we sweetheart?"

Chloe yelped, fumbled with her flashlight and fell headfirst through the window. Somehow, the fact that she had been climbing in didn’t really help with the fall. Landing awkwardly in a pair of strong arms, however, was slightly better than the concrete floor might have been.

"Dean!"

"What? It wasn’t my fault."

"Eh...guys...can I please be rotated about 180 degrees?"

"Oh, sorry!"

Chloe felt the grip in her change and slowly the world righted itself. She took a moment to steady herself and blinked a few times before looking up (and up... what was it with her meeting seriously tall guys all the time?). It took a moment to register why he was frowning at her, but when it hit, she couldn’t help but break into a huge grin.

"It’s you!" she cried and she watched recognition dawn.

"No," the guy behind him said with a frown. "It’s me...remember? Knight in shining armour...ringing any bells?"

"No, no, you gave me a pen!"

The guy laughed and squeezed her arms, grinning down at her. "I did. God, that feels like forever ago."

"It was forever ago. I’m fairly sure I’ve lived a few lifetimes since then." She almost winced when she realised that, technically, that wasn’t far from the truth.

"Wait, excuse me."

Turning her attention, she recognised the cause of her misfortune with the window. "You again."

"Let me get this straight, Sammy here gave you a pen and you greet him like a long lost friend. I save your life from a demon and I get disdain? How is that fair?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Is he always like this?"

"Pretty much."

"Guys!"

Chloe turned back to him. "You just made me fall through a window."

"Accident."

"You took me out for coffee and spent the entire time looking at my cousin’s boobs and chatting up her and my friend."

"I was not!"

Chloe just crossed her arms and looked at him.

"Not intentionally."

"Look, I’d love to stay and chat, but I really did have a reason for being here," Chloe said, shaking her head and turning back to her pen-wielding friend. "It was really nice seeing you again."

"Yeah, look, while we’re all here, why don’t we combine forces."

"I’m listening," she said, well aware that they were ignoring her self-appointed Knight.

"You’re investigating the ghost?"

"Maybe," she said, grinning a little. "What have you got so far?"

"A name."

"I can go one better and give you name, cause of death and the warrant for her arrest by the FBI."

"I think we might have to keep you." He grinned at her. "Come on, I think I know where we’re going, you can fill us in along the way."

Chloe nodded and followed him out of the room, making sure to ignore her Knight. Payback was sweet.

Five: Family

"Yes, Clark, I’m sure. I really have to go now. Good bye!" Chloe sighed and dropped her head back onto the seat as she closed her cell phone. The world was dark around them and it felt like they’d been driving forever. She was tired, cranky and completely aware that she was PMSing.

"He still worried about you?" Sam asked.

"Clark will always worry about me." Just never want me, she thought. Although, that really wasn’t too fair, because she’d been over that for a long time now. She wondered of she’d ever get over the hurt of not being wanted, though.

"So, he still planning to kick our asses?"

"Just yours," she responded, knowing her tone was snippier than she intended it to be. "I asked him to pay particular attention to you, Dean. I know you hate to be overlooked."

"Honey, you can look at my ass anytime."

"I may be tired," she said. "But you were seriously reaching for that one."

"I’ve been driving all night: bite me."

"Well, if you’d let one of us drive-"

"Nobody drives my baby."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Fine. I’m going to take a nap. Wake me when we get to Bobby’s."

She almost fell onto the back seat, but it really wasn’t any surprise that she couldn’t get to sleep. She was happy to lie there and listen the music Dean had on low and happy to just listen to the brothers arguing, happy to listen to the cadence of their voices and the bickering that defined them.

She hadn’t been travelling with them for long, just a few weeks, really, since they’d turned up on her doorstep one morning with a problem that involved more research that Sam himself could handle. With Bobby out on a hunt and Dean unable to find anything but porn, it really wasn’t any surprise that they’d come to her for help. If she was honest, she was glad they had. It wasn’t just that she had liked feeling needed, although she really did, she just genuinely liked having them around. And she’d needed a break from her own life, so when they’d been putting their bags in the car, Dean had almost found himself brained by her bag as she’d launched it at him. She hadn’t said a word, really, just settled into the back seat and smiled at Sam when he turned to grin at her. They hadn’t invited her with words, but the invitation had been there nonetheless and, even though it had surprised them a little that she’d taken them up on it, they’d accepted her into their routine with a lot more ease than she might have given them credit for. They’d wanted her and she couldn’t say that she didn’t like the feeling. It hadn’t really surprised any of them that she hadn’t gone home after the first hunt.

"Chloe, we’re here."

She smiled as she stepped out of the car, grinning even wider when Bobby came down the steps to greet them. She waited her turn and was pleasantly surprised when the man pulled her into a tight hug. It kind of made her miss her father, so she hugged back a little tighter.

"These boys driving you crazy yet?"

"More so every day," she said amidst protests and grinned at them.

They settled in quickly, Chloe taking the room she’d used on the few occasions they’d stayed with the older hunter in the last few weeks. She loved Bobby’s home, loved the books and the clutter, but most of all she loved the feeling of it; like she was home herself.

She wandered into the room she knew the brothers shared, but wasn’t really surprised to see they’d already left; it never took them long to dump their stuff and head to the kitchen for cookies. She shook her head with a smile and prepared to leave, when something caught her eye. Frowning, she walked to the bed, picking up the battered edge of a photo and blinking.

"Our mom and dad."

Chloe jumped, whirling around to find herself face to face with a shirtless Dean.

"Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you." He inclined his head to the door in at the back of the room and Chloe realised he’d been in the bathroom.

"Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry I just...saw it and..."

"It’s okay."

"No, I mean...Dean, I knew your father."

There was a moment’s silence as he blinked at her. "What?"

"He...a couple years ago I was almost attacked by a werewitch -- would have been attacked by one if your dad hadn’t been there to shoot it. He...he told me all about it, told me a few things about what he did and I told him about Smallville. I..." she smiled "He told me about his sons."

"He did?"

The voice came from behind her, startling her. She turned to see Sam in the doorway watching and she nodded, smiling slowly. "Yeah, he did. He was very proud of you. Both of you. Even if he didn’t know how to say it."

Sam nodded and swallowed. "I...you guys want coffee?"

"Yeah," Dean answered. "Be down in five."

Sam left the room quickly and Chloe cursed. "I didn’t mean to upset him."

"You didn’t. You gave him something he needed." Dean nodded. "Dad should’ve told him, but we weren’t exactly your happy, fuzzy feelings kind of family."

Chloe looked back down at the photograph. "Your mother was beautiful."

"Yeah," Dean cleared his throat. "Yeah, she was."

"Do you remember her?"

He shook his head. "Not really. Just...little things."

"Like?"

He shrugged, his mouth twitching. "She used to sing. Badly. She liked to dance. And..." he smiled. "And she made the best cookies in the world.

"She sounds like a really good mom."

"Yeah, yeah, she does." He cleared his throat again, rubbing the back of his neck and looking at her a little like he wasn’t sure why he’d just told her any of that. "I think she’d have liked you," he said after a moment. "It’s hard to get a Winchester to talk. You’re two out of three, from what I hear. I think she’d’ve liked that."

"I’d’ve liked to have met her," Chloe said, almost feeling like she already had in a way. "I like cookies."

End

There will be SGA Five Things to follow, as

loriel_eris spammed me with Five Things ideas. But for now I must sleep...