HumbugGirl
15th June 2004, 01:15
Title: Diamonds Don’t Matter
Author: HumbugGirl
Email: humbuggirl@hotmail.com
URL: http://www.livejournal.com/~humbuggirl
Pairing: Chloe/Lex, Lex/Other
Rating: PG13
Summary: It’s time, Chloe just doesn’t realise yet.
Spoilers: None.
Disclaimer: Characters and show don’t belong to me.
Author’s Notes: NS.net weekly challenge answer. Hope this is okay *grin*.
Chloe rolled her shoulders and tipped her head back, directly her gaze towards the ceiling and away from the row upon row of sparkly things which had been threatening to blind her with their brilliance. In truth they had been threatening the same thing for nearly an hour and a half now but despite several extremely well timed and diplomatically subtle hints on Chloe’s part Lex still hadn’t got the clue that maybe, just maybe, she didn’t want to be there at that moment. He might be one of her closest friends since leaving Smallville but that didn’t mean that spending the entire idea looking for a ring for his latest floozy-of-the-month was an appealing one.
Why Lex even wanted to get married again was beyond her. Every single time he even thought about stepping up to the altar someone seemed to decide they wanted to kill him – normally his ‘wife’ actually.
Lowering her eyes once again the blonde woman peered around Lex’s shoulder at the case into which he was studying carefully. Brilliant, shockingly large and dazzlingly bright diamonds looked back at her. She quickly turned away before one could burn out her retina.
Showy, she thought. Every single ring in the damn shop was ‘showy’ and as a consequence Chloe had to wonder whether there would be any real emotion behind any them when they were placed on some woman’s fingers. Doubtless they would be bought by men with more money than sense for women with less brain cells than they had limbs.
Not that she would fit Lex into that bracket of course. No Lex was just… misguided. A very long time ago Chloe had realised that her insanely rich friend didn’t really realise the value of money. Or rather he didn’t realise that money wasn’t as necessarily valuable as he had always told it had been. Of course over the years she had tried to show him the truth of the matter. When Lex had bought her an apartment because she didn’t have anywhere to live when at Met U Chloe had sold it, donated the money to charity and chosen instead to live out of his spare bedroom in Metropolis until she found a place of her own. Hell, she’d even tried to pay him rent while she was living there though the look he had given her at the time had made Chloe regret that decision. He’d looked hurt… and she’d felt bad as a consequence.
Still, that didn’t mean he was forgiven for not remembering all those small lessons that she had taught him over the years now.
“You’re bored,” a smooth voice said. He was still examining the rings before him while a sales assistant hovered nervously near by, moth-like.
“What made you guess that?”
“You’d started to hum the national anthem.”
“Really? Huh.”
This time Lex looked back at her. “Want to get out of here?”
“Does mademoiselle not see anything she would like?” the moth asked.
Chloe started for a second. “Oh it’s not…” she started to say only to be interrupted by Lex.
“I fear she doesn’t. Perhaps you have some more – in the back.”
As Chloe frowned in confusion the moth’s eyebrows shot up and he fluttered away through a door at the back of the store. “Why didn’t you put him right?” Chloe asked when he had gone.
Lex turned around and leaned back against the glass case, letting those probing eyes wander over her. He waved his hand in dismissal and asked, “What would you want?”
“What would I want what?”
“In a ring.”
For the second time in a matter of minutes Chloe found herself startled. “I… I don’t know.”
“Just that it would be nothing here.”
Looking around her Chloe nodded and said, “They’re all rather flashy.”
“And that’s not good?”
“No… well maybe for Estelle.”
“Forget Estelle,” he said surprising her once again. “We’re talking about you.”
“She does have rather a large part in proceedings,” Chloe objected. “What Estelle and I would want probably differs greatly so you shouldn’t really go with what I say. I did say that I wouldn’t be any help with this.”
“Forget her,” he said once again and Chloe saw that his expression had softened. Gone was business-Lex who a few moments ago had been wondering what ring to buy his fiancée and here was friend-Lex who truly valued her opinion. Except there was something about the way he was just stood there, closer than she had realised before, with his hands held just in front of him almost nervously – although that couldn’t be right – that told the blonde woman that there was something here she wasn’t catching onto.
“You broke up,” Chloe said, trying to ignore the odd fluttering in her stomach. It was almost as if she was nervous too though that was not something she particularly wanted to admit.
“Not exactly,” Lex said. He paused for barely a second, glancing away from her and towards the door through which the assistant had gone. “Not yet.”
Chloe’s mouth fell open and she found herself half wondering whether she wasn’t hearing things. Had the silly glimmering, glinting gems around her hypnotised her somehow and this was just some sort of weird… dream? “What? Why? Lex we’re ring shopping in case you hadn’t noticed!”
“Yes I know.”
“But why?! If you’re breaking up with her then why the hell are we here when I could be at home, watching TV or doing work or… something else that doesn’t involve being bored out of my skull?”
This time there were definite signs of nerves. The ordinarily perfectly controlled businessman before her had shifted slightly from one foot to the other and furthermore when he opened his mouth he closed it again after a second. “I realised something the other day,” he said after a moment. “It was almost an epiphany really – it’s the reason that I wanted your input on the ring.”
“O-kay,” Chloe said stringing out the words to buy some time. The feeling of suspected nerves in her stomach had grown, evolving into something else entirely.
“You don’t know what I’m talking about?” Lex asked with a raised eyebrow. For the briefest second the usual controlled and calculating Lex she knew and loved was back in full force.
“No,” she said softly only to have it dawn on her almost immediately after that she was *lying*. She did know what Lex was talking about; it was that same something which was always there but which they *never* talked about. It was the tension; the constant feeling of being on the edge of something which had been with Chloe since the moment she had first met Lex all those years ago in the office of her high school newspaper.
The thought made her frown because, she told herself, it was the something that they *NEVER* talked about.
So why the hell was he bringing it up now?
“I didn’t bring you here to shop for a ring for Estelle,” he said trying a new tactic.
“Didn’t we already establish that?” she asked, falling back on what she hoped was well-timed and well-formed snark to cover the feeling of discomfort and yet… excitement that was still welling in her.
Lex gave her a wry look. “But I did bring *you* ring shopping.”
Blank was a good look, Chloe decided. Because blank meant that you couldn’t be wrong. You couldn’t leap to conclusions, wrap you arms around the man before you and tell him that you *loved* him too if you remained blank.
Lex for his part looked exasperated and then, in typical Lex fashion as she had come to know it over the years, the man she had come to regard as friend, confidant, saviour and now, perhaps, something else stepped forwards, took hold of her shoulders and dropped his face down to hers. Barely the tiniest of moments between them, just long enough for her to pull away if she wanted to, and then he was kissing her. Or she was kissing him though it didn’t really matter which because they came together for the action.
“Chloe Sullivan,” he whispered onto her lips as they parted. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
THE END
Author: HumbugGirl
Email: humbuggirl@hotmail.com
URL: http://www.livejournal.com/~humbuggirl
Pairing: Chloe/Lex, Lex/Other
Rating: PG13
Summary: It’s time, Chloe just doesn’t realise yet.
Spoilers: None.
Disclaimer: Characters and show don’t belong to me.
Author’s Notes: NS.net weekly challenge answer. Hope this is okay *grin*.
Chloe rolled her shoulders and tipped her head back, directly her gaze towards the ceiling and away from the row upon row of sparkly things which had been threatening to blind her with their brilliance. In truth they had been threatening the same thing for nearly an hour and a half now but despite several extremely well timed and diplomatically subtle hints on Chloe’s part Lex still hadn’t got the clue that maybe, just maybe, she didn’t want to be there at that moment. He might be one of her closest friends since leaving Smallville but that didn’t mean that spending the entire idea looking for a ring for his latest floozy-of-the-month was an appealing one.
Why Lex even wanted to get married again was beyond her. Every single time he even thought about stepping up to the altar someone seemed to decide they wanted to kill him – normally his ‘wife’ actually.
Lowering her eyes once again the blonde woman peered around Lex’s shoulder at the case into which he was studying carefully. Brilliant, shockingly large and dazzlingly bright diamonds looked back at her. She quickly turned away before one could burn out her retina.
Showy, she thought. Every single ring in the damn shop was ‘showy’ and as a consequence Chloe had to wonder whether there would be any real emotion behind any them when they were placed on some woman’s fingers. Doubtless they would be bought by men with more money than sense for women with less brain cells than they had limbs.
Not that she would fit Lex into that bracket of course. No Lex was just… misguided. A very long time ago Chloe had realised that her insanely rich friend didn’t really realise the value of money. Or rather he didn’t realise that money wasn’t as necessarily valuable as he had always told it had been. Of course over the years she had tried to show him the truth of the matter. When Lex had bought her an apartment because she didn’t have anywhere to live when at Met U Chloe had sold it, donated the money to charity and chosen instead to live out of his spare bedroom in Metropolis until she found a place of her own. Hell, she’d even tried to pay him rent while she was living there though the look he had given her at the time had made Chloe regret that decision. He’d looked hurt… and she’d felt bad as a consequence.
Still, that didn’t mean he was forgiven for not remembering all those small lessons that she had taught him over the years now.
“You’re bored,” a smooth voice said. He was still examining the rings before him while a sales assistant hovered nervously near by, moth-like.
“What made you guess that?”
“You’d started to hum the national anthem.”
“Really? Huh.”
This time Lex looked back at her. “Want to get out of here?”
“Does mademoiselle not see anything she would like?” the moth asked.
Chloe started for a second. “Oh it’s not…” she started to say only to be interrupted by Lex.
“I fear she doesn’t. Perhaps you have some more – in the back.”
As Chloe frowned in confusion the moth’s eyebrows shot up and he fluttered away through a door at the back of the store. “Why didn’t you put him right?” Chloe asked when he had gone.
Lex turned around and leaned back against the glass case, letting those probing eyes wander over her. He waved his hand in dismissal and asked, “What would you want?”
“What would I want what?”
“In a ring.”
For the second time in a matter of minutes Chloe found herself startled. “I… I don’t know.”
“Just that it would be nothing here.”
Looking around her Chloe nodded and said, “They’re all rather flashy.”
“And that’s not good?”
“No… well maybe for Estelle.”
“Forget Estelle,” he said surprising her once again. “We’re talking about you.”
“She does have rather a large part in proceedings,” Chloe objected. “What Estelle and I would want probably differs greatly so you shouldn’t really go with what I say. I did say that I wouldn’t be any help with this.”
“Forget her,” he said once again and Chloe saw that his expression had softened. Gone was business-Lex who a few moments ago had been wondering what ring to buy his fiancée and here was friend-Lex who truly valued her opinion. Except there was something about the way he was just stood there, closer than she had realised before, with his hands held just in front of him almost nervously – although that couldn’t be right – that told the blonde woman that there was something here she wasn’t catching onto.
“You broke up,” Chloe said, trying to ignore the odd fluttering in her stomach. It was almost as if she was nervous too though that was not something she particularly wanted to admit.
“Not exactly,” Lex said. He paused for barely a second, glancing away from her and towards the door through which the assistant had gone. “Not yet.”
Chloe’s mouth fell open and she found herself half wondering whether she wasn’t hearing things. Had the silly glimmering, glinting gems around her hypnotised her somehow and this was just some sort of weird… dream? “What? Why? Lex we’re ring shopping in case you hadn’t noticed!”
“Yes I know.”
“But why?! If you’re breaking up with her then why the hell are we here when I could be at home, watching TV or doing work or… something else that doesn’t involve being bored out of my skull?”
This time there were definite signs of nerves. The ordinarily perfectly controlled businessman before her had shifted slightly from one foot to the other and furthermore when he opened his mouth he closed it again after a second. “I realised something the other day,” he said after a moment. “It was almost an epiphany really – it’s the reason that I wanted your input on the ring.”
“O-kay,” Chloe said stringing out the words to buy some time. The feeling of suspected nerves in her stomach had grown, evolving into something else entirely.
“You don’t know what I’m talking about?” Lex asked with a raised eyebrow. For the briefest second the usual controlled and calculating Lex she knew and loved was back in full force.
“No,” she said softly only to have it dawn on her almost immediately after that she was *lying*. She did know what Lex was talking about; it was that same something which was always there but which they *never* talked about. It was the tension; the constant feeling of being on the edge of something which had been with Chloe since the moment she had first met Lex all those years ago in the office of her high school newspaper.
The thought made her frown because, she told herself, it was the something that they *NEVER* talked about.
So why the hell was he bringing it up now?
“I didn’t bring you here to shop for a ring for Estelle,” he said trying a new tactic.
“Didn’t we already establish that?” she asked, falling back on what she hoped was well-timed and well-formed snark to cover the feeling of discomfort and yet… excitement that was still welling in her.
Lex gave her a wry look. “But I did bring *you* ring shopping.”
Blank was a good look, Chloe decided. Because blank meant that you couldn’t be wrong. You couldn’t leap to conclusions, wrap you arms around the man before you and tell him that you *loved* him too if you remained blank.
Lex for his part looked exasperated and then, in typical Lex fashion as she had come to know it over the years, the man she had come to regard as friend, confidant, saviour and now, perhaps, something else stepped forwards, took hold of her shoulders and dropped his face down to hers. Barely the tiniest of moments between them, just long enough for her to pull away if she wanted to, and then he was kissing her. Or she was kissing him though it didn’t really matter which because they came together for the action.
“Chloe Sullivan,” he whispered onto her lips as they parted. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
THE END