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tiff
26th January 2004, 12:03
What If
Author - typicaltiff
Summary - Hindsight's an angsty angsty thing...
Disclaimer - never have and never will own it but definitely wish I did
Rating - PG, even G, I don't know. Didn't use bad words or anything, "damn"'s allowed in G movies...
AN: I haven't written in a while and I'm not sure just how Chlexy this is...my apologies if this sucks, like I said, it's been a while.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An old farmhouse stands alone, garage tacked to its side.
Old man inside keeps telling me he wants to die.
Says, “I don’t got much these days...just some photos and a clock, reminding me how fast the time is passing by.”
Well I don’t even know your name.
Don’t even know your name, but I wanted to tell you things change.
A young girl cries in my ear, her heart tries not to break.
She holds her own, but indecision makes her shake.
She’s got so much left to give, all her thoughts and all her dreams, reminding me how fast the time is passing by.
Well I don’t even know your name.
Don’t even know your name, but I wanted to tell you things change.
Things change.

“Change” by One True Thing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


What now?

One of two thoughts that never seemed far from her mind besides: what if? What if she’d never gone to see Clark kissing Lana, what if she’d not been at the Torch when Lionel came to see her, what if she hadn’t let her emotions rule her judgment both when she agreed to work with Lionel and when she’d let them take over and cause her to threaten the Devil himself…What if Lex remembered?

Chloe shook her head. Dwelling on the past wouldn’t help. She had to focus on the now. And the now dealt with a jobless father, pissed off Kents, a brainwashed Lex, a vengeful Lionel, and a suspicious Pete. Luckily Lana didn’t factor in yet, she was so taken with Adam that she was too busy to concentrate on anything else. She’d been oblivious to Clark and Pete both pointedly ignoring Chloe at school and the Talon, no surprise there.

So what now? She couldn’t go to Lex, who knows what he’d do, he’s unpredictable right now. Maybe with his help she could’ve taken Lionel down, but alone? She sighed and drummed her pen on her desk, reading documents over and over again. At least she knew they’d been on the right track with Morgan Edge and Lionel’s murder of his parents…

Lex was the key. His allegiance would make or break her offence. Never underestimate the Devil…

She glanced at the note she’d found on her desk that afternoon.

Meet me at Joe’s Grill at 5.

Joe’s was just out of town, only travelers stopped there on their way through town. But who was the note from? Would it be safe? She didn’t have Clark or Pete to go with her anymore.

Chloe read the clock. 4:35. She still had time. The note could only have come from either of the Luthors, no one else would have the reason or the means to break into her room and leave a cryptic note.

“Who am I kidding?” she muttered under her breath as she got up, switched off her monitor, grabbed necessities, and headed off. My curiosity’s going to get me killed one day, let’s just hope it’s not this one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chloe braced herself as she walked into Joe’s. Not enough to keep her from gaping when she spotted Lex sitting in a booth wearing a black baseball cap backwards shoving a greasy cheeseburger messily into his mouth. She didn’t know how long she stood there but he looked up, wiped his mouth, and motioned for her to go over.

She smirked slightly and said, “Great disguise, I never would’ve guessed. The burger’s a good prop,” as she sat down. And I thought he looked good in business suits…

“Why thank you Miss Sullivan, I’m honored by the compliment,” he said, offering his own smirk.

“I’m assuming the note was from you.”

“Straight and to the point. I’ve always admired that about you.” He took a gulp of coffee.

“It would be nice if you’d get to the point, Mr. Luthor.” She motioned to the waitress and ordered a cup of coffee.

“My father believes that I’m in his control right now, and I apologize that in order to continue or reinforce this act that I had to fire your father, but I do still need your help, just in an even more discreet manner. He can’t suspect that I remember anything he wanted me to forget.” He stopped as the waitress came with Chloe’s coffee.

“Thank you.” She said, taking a cautious sip. “That’s easier said than done. Without his job, there’s no reason for my dad to keep us in Smallville. Lana could stay here or she could leave with us, but that won’t change the fact that we’re leaving. And I’m not going to try to change his mind, the longer we stay here the closer Lionel gets to acting on his threats. And I can’t exactly fax over documents without him noticing.” She sighed, “My days of spying for the Luthors are over.”

“We can do this.”

“Look, I’m going to test out, get my GED, sign up for as many scholarships as possible, and apply to colleges far from here by the end of the semester. I don’t have time to do your dirty work.”

“Chloe, I promised that I would protect you-“ Lex began, covering her hand with his, offering security, maybe more.

A slightly insane disbelieving laugh escaped her lips. “You can’t. No one can. I’m sorry, but do you not get just how evil and powerful and damn near untouchable your father is? He had you drugged, committed, and used a highly experimental and dangerous method to try to make you forget a specific period of time. Moreover, he killed his parents for insurance money.”

“And he has to be stopped. Who better to do it than us? Of anyone who’s ever tried to bring to light just how out of control he is, we’ve gotten the closest. Why else would he have gone to such extreme measures? Together, we can beat him.”

God, he looks so determined. Like he actually thinks we can do this. I have to do this for his own good. “I’m sorry Lex.” Chloe shook her head and pulled her hand away and holding it to her heart, “I can’t do it. No matter what, he’s going to find out and will probably do something even worse. Just give up and wait for him to die. It has to happen some day.” She finished off her coffee and left $2 on the table.

It’s for his own good…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What now?

One of two thoughts that still never seemed far from her mind besides: what if?

She read over the document for the millionth time. I have to print this, it’s my responsibility. She groaned and ran her hands through her hair. She flashed back to her last meeting with Lex at Joe’s Grill.

It hadn’t been for the best. Lex seemed to have taken her advice and waited. By the time Lionel finally died, it was too late. He succeeded. Lex became him.

What if I’d tried? What if I kept looking and gave Lex the way to take him down? Would he still have become the monster he is today?

She closed her eyes and took a breath, lost in memories she’d never forget. What ifs filled her mind, remembering the man he was before the crimes.

She stared at the send icon. Will exposing him be better than letting him commit the sins of his father?



The End.

*shrug* I thought it would be better left up to you whether or not she did it, and this didn't really come out like I wanted...

vardaquareien
26th January 2004, 13:03
Wow!!! That was wonderful!!! I really like the way you turned around everything and had Lex still wanting to protect Chloe (I havn't seen Whisper yet and probably won't get to for another ten years the way our TV stations are, but I've read everything everyone's said about it!) The way she was sitting there thinking about whether or not she could have saved him by accepting his offer...it was really powerful. Poor Chloe. Imagine having a big "What If" like that hanging over your head for so long!

autumngold
26th January 2004, 18:59
Chloe must hate herself for making the choice she did!! What a great story!! :chlexsign4:

hfce
26th January 2004, 19:34
Oh wow very powerful. :ohmy: Nice work.



Hope :cool:

Béatrice
26th January 2004, 21:51
WOW! This was a great fic. I understand Chloe when she refuses to to help Lex. It's quite sad. :crygreen:
One more time. BRAVO!!! :worship2:

Clannadlvr
27th January 2004, 04:52
Nice way of tying together SV Lex and future Lex...with Chloe as the lynchpin of it all.

good work!

scifichick774
27th January 2004, 06:40
Really nice tie in with canon. Good job.

Jen1388
27th January 2004, 16:46
Loved it! Very very interesting!

You best be writing fics like this more often!!!

gina
28th January 2004, 07:50
Great fic! I feel so bad for Chloe that she feels guilty for what Lex had become. I really like how you expanded off of the last episode. I hope we get some sort of resolution or confrontation like this on the show.

Nicely done! :)

Susie Q
30th January 2004, 19:18
Originally posted by typicaltiff@ Jan 26 2004, 04:03 AM
What if I’d tried? What if I kept looking and gave Lex the way to take him down? Would he still have become the monster he is today?
Damn. That’s a hell of a burden to inflict on one’s self. I really liked the open ending. It makes you wonder if exposing Lex will lift the burden from Chloe’s shoulders or further weigh her down. Fabulous job! http://www.angelfire.com/emo2/emoticons0/images/clap3.gif

starmoon
14th May 2005, 22:39
that was great sad but still great.

darkangel
5th July 2005, 05:34
i liked this fic.