A Girl's Best Friend A Girl's Best Friend by QueenC Title: A Girl's Best Friend Author: QueenC Pairing: Clark/Chloe Rating: PG A/N: Pure high school schmoopy fluffy crack. This story was inspired by one of my favorite pop slash stories (which is no longer available online). I loved that story and I hope you love my smallville version of it. Spoilers: Season 1 up to Leech. Summary: Clark wakes up a puppy. The day Clark woke up a puppy was not a good day. The night before he had gone to sleep with a full tummy of his mom's apple pie and dreamt of the girl next door. Oh, and he had been a boy. The next morning he had woken up to the sound of his mother screaming. So he was a little late getting up and around the farm, no need to scream. Then she began throwing laundry at him. He tried to ask her to stop and lift his hands to defend himself, but all that came out was a weak sounding 'bark' and his paws could only reach to cover his long nose. He was a dog. A puppy in fact. And not even a fierce, manly puppy at that. He was a Cocker Spaniel. Clark wasn't sure what upset him more, that he was a dog or that he was cute and fluffy. Adding insult to injury, his father hearing all the ruckus, came running into the bedroom carrying a shotgun and Clark, knowing what would come next, ran out of the house and into the woods. Scared, cold and hungry, Clark had tried Lana's place next door to see if she would take in a stray, cute and cuddly puppy. She swatted at him with a broom and yelled for Nell to call animal control. He tried Lex's place next, but decided better when he saw thru the gates that Lionel Luthor was visiting. Lionel Luthor was the type of man to make a coat out of puppies and though Clark wasn't happy with his current body form of curly fur, he didn't want to be a naked (or a dead) puppy either. Pete's house seemed like the next logical choice. Pete's family had tons of dogs, but on arriving at the Ross household and giving his best 'puppy eyes' and whine, Clark noticed that Gizmo, the family's 5 year old pit bull, kept sniffing at his butt in a more than friendly way. Fearing for his butt and what little bit of dignity he had left, Clark fled the home and wandered the streets for a while before arriving at the front steps of his last resort. Chloe Sullivan, opened the door, took one look at the chocolate colored puppy with the big green eyes and fell in love. ........ "What should I name you?" Chloe had been pondering that question for the past 20 minutes. Clark kept trying to use his Jedi mind powers to implant the idea of 'Clark' into her mind, but it wasn't working. Apparently his was one of the few alien races without mind control or telepathy skills. Bummer. "And where are my keys?" Chloe had been looking around for the keys to her car, and Clark was surprised she was able to find her bed in the mess of her room. For how meticulous and neat she was at the Torch, she was the complete opposite at home. Clark noticed the time on the clock and realized Chloe was going to be late to school if she didn't hurry. Guess I won't be going today. Not unless they will take my answers in Barkanese. Puppy Clark seemed to have the same powers as Boy Clark, so he x-rayed the piles stuff around the room until he found her keys, under a mountain of clothes on her bed. Seriously, where did the girl sleep? "Puppy! No!" She cried as he leapt on her bed and started digging through her 'clean' pile of clothes. He popped back out of the pile with a set of keys in his mouth and wearing a pair her underpants on his head. Chloe laughed at the little puppy and Clark could feel his tail wagging at her amusement. "Well aren't you a smart boy." She scratched his head and Clark wagged more. "How about we name you, 'Sherlock'? Clark tried to tell her "Clark", but it came out as 'Bark'. She took that to mean yes and he was thus named 'Sherlock Sullivan'. ........ "Eat Sherlock. It's good stuff." Clark looked that the kibble Chloe laid before him in a black cappuccino mug. The stuff might look like Coco Puffs, but it smelled like the school meatloaf. I am not eating dog food. He looked up at Chloe and whined. She had ordered a pizza earlier in the evening. It seemed her dad worked late a lot of nights and that Chloe was on a first name basis with the pizza guy at Dominos. I want pizza. Give me pizza. He tried using his mind to speak with her again to no avail. He sighed and fell down in a heap of dark curls and sad eyes in front of the offending food bowl. Chloe sat down beside him and Clark lifted his head and placed it in her lap so she could pet him. He was begining to understand why dogs were all about being petted. It was nice and comforting, and after the crapstastic day he had, it was really nice to have someone scratch behind his ear for him. "I know you're hungry, boy. You didn't eat anything all day. Just try it." Chloe placed the bowl in front of him again and Clark nudged it away with his nose. *No way. You eat it. "It's not that bad." Chloe grabbed a couple of pieces of kibble and popped them in her mouth, grimacing but pretending like it was good. "Yum." He gave her a raised dog eyebrow of disbelief. If its that good, then swallow. She gave up her pretense and spit out the dog food. "Ugh. Ok. You're right. That is nasty." She got up and headed towards the living room. "Hope thin crust is ok with you." ........ Clark never realized before how nice Chloe was to cuddle with. She had tried in vain to get her new puppy to play earlier, but found all the dog wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch tv. "You are one odd puppy, Sherlock." You don't know the half of it. They were watching the X-Files. Clark's parents never let him watch the X-Files, and now he knew why. He hid his face in her lap when the creepy alien guy came on screen. "Get your face out of there." She scolded him. If Clark would have been capable of blushing as a dog, he would have, not thinking beforehand about where he was putting his face. Kill me now. ........ Chloe was moving piles around the room, trying to give him a place to sit and lay. In moving things around, a picture of her, Pete and Boy Clark fell to the ground. Clark barked excitedly. Its me! Chloe this is me. I'm Clark. I've been turned into a puppy. "What is it boy?" She picked up the picture and the puppy and sat on the bed. "Its only a picture." She pointed to the people in the picture. "See, that's me, that's Pete and that's Clark." He barked again. I know it me. Help me, I'm a puppy! "You like Clark huh?" Clark barked again. I'm Clark! Chloe, I'm Clark! "Well I'll let you in on a little secret, I like Clark too." Bark... huh? "I know, I know. You shouldn't get involved with guys who are emotionally unevolved and social retarded, but when it comes to him, I just can't help it." I am not socially retarded. "Not with those dreamy green eyes." I have tons of social skills. "And that big strapping farm boy body..." You try being from a race of aliens with superpowers that might include the ability to turn into a cute and harmless puppy at will and see how 'evolved' you are. "But it's not just because he's nice to look at. He's also really sweet and caring and smart, too" Naturally. "And even though he never notices me outside of 'friend Chloe', when he does pay attention to me, I feel like the luckiest, safest, most beautiful girl in the world." Chloe, you are beautiful. "But he's meant for bigger, better things; than Smallville, than Lana Lang, heck even better than me. Everyday, I feel him growing farther and farther away from me. I could never grow out of you. "He doesn't know it, but I feel it in my bones, Clark Kent is gonna be the kind of guy who will change the world." Clark laid his head on her hand and whined. I wish I had your faith in me. ........ The next day when Clark woke up, he was a boy again. A naked boy. A naked boy, in bed with his pj clad best 'girl' friend. Chloe's alarm went off and he barely had time to speed out of Chloe's room before she awoke enough to notice him there and her dog gone. ........ It had not been fun explaining to his parents what had happened to him the day before. His mother gave him double the chocolate chips in his pancakes that morning in her guilt at pelting him with socks and his father didn't make him muck out the horse stall before the bus came. At school, he flinched when Lana grabbed a broom to help clean up a broken beaker in Chemistry lab. He saw Pete around 3rd period and thought about asking him about 'Gizmo's' sexual orientation, but he didn't think Pete would do well with the thought of his baby, digging the boy dogs over the girl. He wasn't able to get to the Torch and see Chloe until almost the end of the day. And she was crying when he got there. "Chloe? What's wrong? Are you ok?" He ran into the room and hugged her. "It's nothing." She mumbled into his shirt. Still hearing the tears in her voice, he moved back from her a tad and looked down on her tear stained cheeks. "You can tell me?" He told her, holding her hand in his. "It's silly." She tried to pull her hand from his and move away from him, but he wouldn't let go and she didn't try again after that. "Fine. It's my dog. At least I think he was mine, anyways he ran away." She started crying again and Clark stroked her hair to calm her. "I didn't know you had a dog. I didn't even think you were a dog person." "I'm not, but I liked this dog." "Why?" He realized he was petting her and stopped, letting his hand fall down beside her to grab her other hand. "He was a good listener and he made me feel safe." "Really?" Clark was surprised. As a puppy he has been about as intimidating as a Furby. He had made her feel safe? "Yeah, plus he reminded me of someone." Chloe pulled back and looked up at him. Clark couldn't really read the emotion in her eyes, but it made him feel special and safe and ... "Who?" He asked, sliding into a place he'd never ventured before in her bright green eyes. He felt his head falling closer and closer to hers. "You." Chloe's head kept tilting up towards Clark's as if it had it's own gravational pull. She stopped herself right before their lips met, realization dawning on her. "Where were you yesterday?" "Huh?" "You missed school." "I had a bad cough. I was barking all over the place." "Barking huh?" She smirked. Clark kissed her to cut off any other questions she might have. Even though she was a day late, Chloe was far too smart for her own good. She smiled up at him, her face dancing with mirth and wonder. "So are you gonna help me find my lost puppy?" Without his tail to wag, Clark was stuck just smiling back at her. "Woof." If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to QueenC Also, why not join Level Three, the Smallville all-fic list? Back Level Three Records Room