Title: Windows
Author: bl4ackr053
Pairings: Chloe/Lana (brief mention of Lana/OC and Chloe/OC)
Genre: Angst/Futurefic (AU)
Rating: R, just to be on the safe side (language)
Spoilers: None
Notes: Chloe and Lana are in college, so this does make it a future fic, which also makes it AU. Feedback is very welcome.
Summary: Broken deals and unkept promises don't tend to be the best thing for a complicated relationship.
Disclaimer: Don't own them. If we did the show would be gaining ratings instead of losing them.

Windows

It wasn't supposed to end this way. Chloe knew that, but she also knew that this wasn't the perfect world that existed in her head.

"I'm such an idiot," Chloe mumbled, hugging her jacket closer to herself.

Rain poured down from the dark skies above; some of it bounced off the denim, but most soaked through. The sound of a car engine came up from behind Chloe, and she watched as a taxi drove by, already occupied with a couple making out in the back.

God! That was exactly what she didn't need to see right now.

How stupid could she be? Thinking that she actually had a decent relationship going, with the ever picture perfect Lana Lang. It was her fault for thinking that Smallville's princess had changed. The only thing that changed was the person she used as a warm armrest. In high school it was Clark Kent; now in college at the University of Gotham, Chloe filled the position.

She glanced into the dark glass window beside her.

Yeah, there's no way she'd actually want me for anything else, Chloe thought.

Heels clicked on the pavement behind her.

"That was fast. Did he only come for a blowjob? Or did he only have time for a quickie?" Chloe asked, back towards the pursuer, voice full of venom.

"Chloe, you know it isn't like that," Lana said, almost pleading.

The blonde turned around to face the brunette. "No, it's exactly like that. I'm only there for when he skips out on your dates. You said you'd dump him because you were tired of him 'forgetting' about you. It's been a week Lana."

"I'll do it tomorrow."

"Oh shut up, I am so fucking tired of your BS promises."

Lana reached out and placed her hand on Chloe's should as the blonde began to turn and walk away.

"Get your hand off me," Chloe said icily.

"At least let me give you a ride to wherever you're going," Lana offered. "It's one in the morning and pouring rain."

"I'll get to my apartment by myself if it kills me. Now get the fuck away from me."

Chloe continued to walk down the sidewalk in her waterlogged clothes, tears streaming from her eyes. In the glass window, the two girls went in opposite directions.

The apartment was dark with the exception of the single beam of moonlight illuminating Chloe's bed. She automatically walked over to her answering machine before remembering that the last time she was here, over a month ago, she had her phone set so that it forwarded calls to her cell. A heavy sigh escaped her lips, followed by a series of sneezes.

"Great job Chloe...you just got yourself sick from walking fifteen blocks in the rain without an umbrella," the blonde said to herself.

She sighed once more before heading towards her bathroom to take a well needed hot shower.

Steam poured out from the door as Chloe walked into her bedroom, towel wrapped around her body. A figure sat on the edge of her bed, basking in the moonlight. Chloe sneezed and it vanished. She went over to her bureau and fished out a pair of barely used cat pajamas. After changing and hanging the towel back on the rack, the tired girl collapsed onto her bed. She lay there for a while, hands behind her head and eyes wide-open boring twin holes into the ceiling above. Cold air drifted across her exposed forearms and mid drift. It brought the scent of rain along with it.

Wait, she never opened the window.

Chloe propped herself up on her elbows and looked through her doorway into the living room. The same figure she had seen on the bed sat at the edge of the couch, staring straight at her.

"Lana..." Chloe muttered.

The said person stood up and began to move towards the blonde.

"I told you already; leave me the fuck alone."

Smallville's princess held out a piece of metal, dangling from her finger. "I forgot to give this to you."

"That's nice, now Get. Out."

Lana ignored the words. Instead, she opted to lean against the doorway and tossed the keys on top of Chloe's stomach.

"What do you want from me Lang?"

"An explanation."

"For what?!" Chloe pushed herself all the way up and crossed her legs.

"For tonight."

"Excuse me?"

"I hear you come home and drop your stuff off, and then I hear the front door slam shut. I explain to Alan that he needs to leave, which of course makes him pretty pissed off at me. I go outside in the pouring rain because the car's still in the garage, and you're pissed off at me because I'm going out with Alan."

"What's so hard to understand about that?"

"When you were simultaneously dating Jase as the same time as me I didn't complain to you about it and run off."

"We made a deal Lana. If we wanted to keep the relationship a secret it'd be best if we saw other people too. And to make sure that our relationship came first we agreed that if one of us complained about the other's boyfriend we'd break it off with them ASAP. You didn't seem to mind me and Jase so I kept seeing him."

"But didn't you see how miserable I was?"

"God! This is all about you isn't it? Well, I'm sorry that my thoughts and actions don't fit into that perfect world of yours."

Lana stared at Chloe with a completely blank face, not responding otherwise.

"And you don't even realize it, great, wonderful. Look, I gave you you're explanation. Now can you get out of here?"

She slumped back down on to her bed and turned so that she see out the open window. A few minutes later she heard the shuffling of clothes and the soft beeps of a phone.

"Hi, Alan it's me; we have to talk."

"I'll make this short. It's over between us. I want something else in a relationship, and I don't think you can give it to me."

There was a click followed by the sound of Lana's cell turning off.

"Chloe?" her voice tentatively asked.

"Good job Lana, you broke up with him, that still doesn't change things between us," Chloe mumbled.

The other side of the bed sank slightly as Lana sat down to face Chloe, who in turn rolled over to avoid seeing her.

"What can I do to change what's between us?" Lana asked slowly, trying to hold back her rampaging thoughts and emotions.

Chloe sighed and shut her eyes. Tears leaked out from underneath them and dropped onto the sheets.

"Spend the night, and we'll figure it out in the morning," Chloe said, knowing she'd regret it.

She could feel the mattress shift as Lana lay down beside her on the small double bed. Her back tingled with the warmth from the other girl, and more tears slid down her cold skin.

Chloe groaned as she awoke, sun shining brightly on her face. She rolled over and sat up looking around. The room was empty with the exception of herself. Chloe wondered if the previous night was just some fucked up hallucination. She stood and changed into a pair of dark blue jeans and a black sleeveless shirt.

The bathroom door behind her clicked and opened. Lana walked out, hair wrapped up in one of Chloe's towels wearing the same thing as the previous night. Her eyes glanced at Chloe before settling on what was going on in the apartment building across the street.

"Chloe, do you remember where my extra set of clothes is?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Bottom left drawer," Chloe replied stiffly.

While Lana searched for the extra clothes that Chloe knew by heart, a pair of khakis and a red three quarter sleeve shirt, the blonde moved into the living room.

The more space between us the better, she unconsciously thought.

"So..." Lana's voice broke Chloe's scattered thoughts.

The other girl looked up and saw Lana leaning against the bedroom doorway, much like the night before. The clothes looked exactly how she remembered them. Chloe suppressed a memory of what happened the last time Lana had worn them.

"So what?" she asked.

"About last night, or rather early this morning, you said we'd figure this thing out..." Lana trailed off unsure as to what to say next.

"You have to sort your priorities out Lana."

"I ended it last night. You heard me tell him it was over."

"Yeah, but look at what happened in order to get you to do that."

"It won't happen again."

"That's a bunch of bullshit and you know it. Look, I'm not going to be your 'Clark' and only be there when you need me, observing from afar at all the other times. This has to be a real relationship in that we listen and talk with each other-"

"Real relationship?! You call dating other guys while still going out with someone else a 'real relationship'?"

"It's the closest we can get to since neither of us want to be discovered."

Lana sighed and moved towards the couch, managing to gracefully plop herself down onto it. Chloe reluctantly joined her sitting at the opposite end.

"Do we try again?" Lana asked after a stretch of silence.

"You broke the deal," Chloe replied with an even tone.

Lana turned towards Chloe, who was staring out the living room's picture window, "What does that mean?"

"I need to know that this won't happen again. I can't stand by and watch as our lives go through the same circles they went through in high school."

"Chloe, I promise you it'll be diff-"

"No Lana, don't make anymore deals or promises that'll end up broken. Only tell me something you can guarantee." Chloe switched her gaze to Lana, searching for something.

"I don't know what I can and can't guarantee."

Chloe shrugged as if to say whatever and then resumed staring out the window.

After a few moments of silence, Lana stood and gathered her things. Out of the corner of her eye, Chloe watched the other girl take one last look at her before shutting the door behind her. The blonde let out a breath she didn't realize that she had been holding.