HumbugGirl
19th April 2003, 01:13
completed
Title: The Meaning of Home (1/1)
Author: HumbugGirl
Email: humbuggirl@hotmail.com
URL: http://www.geocities.com/peacefulempress/home.html or http://www.geocities.com/oddfiction
Pairing: Lex/Chloe
Rating: 12
Summary: Future fic. Some one has been running.
Spoilers: None really.
Disclaimer: Okay so I haven’t had the chance to come up with a proper disclaimer yet so you’ll have to put up with the basic ‘none of the characters belong to me but to the WB (I think), this is a non-profit piece of work just written for fun with praise directed at the creators of Smallville’ kinda thing.
Author’s Notes: 1) It’s finally happened… I’ve gone soppy. 2) I intended this to be a much longer piece but its not going to happen. I’ve enjoyed writing this much and I’ve come to the very definite conclusion at anymore would risk ruining it. 3) There will be no sequels. Please don’t ask for one. I haven’t the time and besides, this is meant as a stand alone and nothing else. 4) Un-beta’d. Sorry for any mistakes.
Feedback: Please. It would be much appreciated.
Dedication: For everyone who sent me feedback on ‘Another Smallville Freak’, at the time I didn’t get chance to tell you how much I enjoyed receiving it and I hope you’ll take this by way of thanks.
1.
On the television the weather man had said that they were the worst storms to have hit the state in twenty years but Lex thought he could remember worse even during his time in Smallville. He could not deny though that they were certainly violent though and the ferocity of them hitting the walls of the house was almost startling.
Over two weeks the storms had blanketed the land and with them had come a self imposed isolation for Lex. He had hidden himself away from it all, finding sanctuary in the accompanying sense of silence that withdrawing into himself seemed to bring. For two glorious weeks he could let himself be Lex the man and not Lex, a Luthor without worrying what the world outside would think. Rain it seemed always brought with it surprises, whether they were pleasant or not.
In the year that Lex had turned twenty-nine it had brought with it the most delightful of all.
* * * *
October was slipping away into November and with it came a flurry of violent early winter storms. For days snow had flew through the air outside his window, chilling every corner of the cavernous Luthor mansion and leaving Lex huddled in front of a fire in his study. Even when the snow had passed and the rain arrived the house was left cold. In his hand had been clasped a glass of warmed scotch and water from which he had been taking occasional sips to try and make some sense of the heat spread through him. It was slow to happen.
There came a knock at the door and reluctantly Lex bid whoever it was on the other side to enter but half wished that they would go away instead. Moments later there was a butler by his side mumbling something about a young woman in the hall causing Lex to frown. He was not interested in random people.
“She’s seeking shelter for the night sir,” he said. “Her car stopped near to the drive way and apparently the weather is apparently too dangerous to drive further in.”
“Of course,” Lex replied without a second thought. “Show her to a room.”
The older man had hesitated. “You don’t wish to speak to her first, sir?”
With a wave of dismissal he said, “No, I’m a little busy at present,” then he turned back to the small mountain of work before him with an air of reluctance clear and apparent on his features.
Over the years Lex had surprised himself by finding himself slowly, unintentionally embracing his work. While his younger self had resented being thrown into a world of boring office work as had grown older the realisation had come to Lex that with this work came power; much more than what he had enjoyed as merely the Luthor heir. So he had taken to his work but still, on occasion he found himself growing weary of it all. Unfortunately tonight was one such time.
It was past midnight by the time Lex found himself free to retire to bed. Pushing aside the papers and carefully placed his laptop computer on the coffee table before him. Standing up and stretching pushed away Lex’s sense of tiredness and he felt a sense of restlessness come over him. It was all he could do not to groan out aloud; sleep would undoubtedly be difficult to come by. He took the time to gather up the papers and lock them away hoping he might once again feel the call of sleep before long. Softly he padded across the room towards the door with every intention of going to bed. Pulling open the door he started, breath catching in his throat as he was confronted with a face that quite literally knocked the wind out of him. Lex quickly composed himself and checked he had not been mistaken.
The young woman before him was dressed in a fluffy white terrycloth robe that bore the distinctive ‘LL’. It was entirely too large for her and gaped at the neck to reveal a rather pleasing amount of cleavage. Her hair was shoulder length and blonde, thick and with a slight wave to it which was entirely unexpected. Bare feet anxiously scrunched the thick dark carpet drawing Lex’s attention to them. Her toe nails were painted some pale shade, perhaps lilac. Her arms were hanging by her sides but as Lex’s perusal continued he brought her hands together and clasped them tightly. Even in the dim lights of the hallway he could clearly see the sparkle of expressive green eyes staring back at him with something like wonder.
“Hi Lex,” she said quite quietly.
Reacting towards her he cupped the young woman’s cheek and leaned down to kiss the corner of her mouth. “Hello Chloe Sullivan.”
* * * *
It was years since he had last laid eyes on the blonde girl. It was perhaps a further year and a half since anyone else in Smallville had seen her. She appeared to him unchanged from the slight girl he had half thought, half imagined he had glanced wandering around on of the larger museums in Gotham. On closer inspection he decided that perhaps her hair was a little longer and there was a slight nervousness about her eyes that seemed somehow out of place on her familiar features. Other than that though, she was still the same Chloe, as far as he could tell. Of course that Chloe was significantly different from the Chloe who he had first met on his arrival to Smallville.
Lex had been going through the motions of wooing a fellow business man from Europe by holding a specialised tour of art exhibition that he knew the man was interested in. In theory they should have been alone in the closed off section of the museum with the exception of the guide but a flash of gold had told Lex that was not so. Making a note that he would talk to then guide about the invasion of privacy later he decided to forget about the presence for the moment. The figure nagged on his mind though much to Lex’s distaste and when he had next glanced at her he had made excuses to his guest and hurried off to confront the person.
He found her stood before some random work of art, staring up at it with something that was vaguely like interest. As he came to stand beside her, hands tucked in the trouser pockets of his suit she did not even have to look in his direction before speaking. It was as if she knew who he was even before she was certain that he was there. “This wasn’t on purpose,” she said and even though she kept her voice quiet it echoed around them. For the first time in over a year Lex had heard it and the sound seemed to ring in his ears in a way that he couldn’t decide whether it was delicious or not. The sound almost hurt.
She looked good; there was no denying that fact. Beneath the heavy woollen winter coat that she was wearing he could tell there was a rather stylish linen skirt and a shirt of some kind that was purely Chloe. To his eye through she looked a little older and after a few minutes contemplation he decided that the change was in the way she held herself. This wasn’t Chloe the teenager he was with; it was Chloe the woman and there was a confidence about her that had clearly carried over well from her teenaged self that pleased him immensely. While many of the people he had known back in Smallville had begun to act like he was a Luthor rather than a man once again Chloe it seemed had not undergone such a change. He found himself oddly grateful for the fact.
“I didn’t suppose that it was,” he replied still looking up at the painting.
“I honestly didn’t know that you would be here today.”
“I understand. It’s entirely a coincidence.”
“Seriously Lex…”
“I know,” he said.
She let out a long sigh. They stood in silence for a moment longer and then Chloe said, “You’re looking well Lex.”
“Thank you. I was rather thinking the same thing about you. It’s been a while Chloe.”
“That it is,” she answered. Shifting nervously from one foot to the other she added, “Do you want to get some diner?”
He couldn’t help looking at her as surprise spread through him. It only took a second for him to decide. It wasn’t a very hard decision at all considering the facts. “Just let me get rid of Mr Barker and I’ll be right with you.” He moved to walk away and then paused, glancing back at her. “Don’t go anywhere.”
“I won’t.”
Mr Barker’s curiosity over just why he was being called away was easy to placate with a few carefully constructed lies. The man honestly did not seem to mind that he was being deserted by his host which Lex tried to forget as he made his way back through the exhibit towards Chloe. In a surprisingly short amount of time they were both leaving the museum and riding through the streets of Gotham in the back of his stretch limousine the low glow of the lights on the inside surrounding them as they passed through the dark streets. More than once Lex found himself glancing out of the corner of his eye at her and eventually, when they had been driving for so long the blonde suddenly moved forwards and spoke through the barrier to the driver, telling the man an address. As she sat back she looked towards him and arched an eyebrow at her. “My apartment,” she told him.
“We could have gone to a restaurant.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
He chuckled. “You don’t want to be seen with me.”
Giving him a wry look the young woman answered, “It’s not that. We’ve just got to be practical about this. I’m not interested in being noticed and being with you in a public is not the way to go about avoiding attention.”
“That’s true I suppose.”
“Besides, I’m actually a pretty good cook.”
She wasn’t wrong. As they reached her small apartment Chloe showed him through to the kitchen and sat him down on one of the tall breakfast stools placed a glass of half decent wine down in front of him and then began to move about the room confidently throwing together a meal with skill that he hadn’t known she had possessed. It wasn’t anything fancy but it was nice to sit there, his jacket off, tie loosened and sleeves rolled up while watching her as she made it and then eat with her, savouring the knowledge that this was something that she actually wanted.
They finished off the bottle of wine easily, drinking it first with the meal and then sitting at the table while talking. It was almost as if she had never been away at all. When the wine was finished they moved into the small living room, Chloe quickly going about the room to remove her laundry from the couch and disappearing into another room for a moment with it. When she reappeared the laundry had vanished. For a moment she hovered by the door just looking at him and then nervously burst out with, “I missed you; if that’s any consolation.” He remained silent, just watching her in the lamp light. “I know it probably isn’t. Not after…”
“The way you ran out on me Chloe?”
“I didn’t run out exactly. It wasn’t like we were really involved. It was just a fling…”
“Those were my words, not yours and even I wasn’t convinced about it. You know that.”
She took a few steps forwards and stood looking down at him. “No, I didn’t know that and you could have told me.”
Smiling at her he said, “Now where would the fun have been in that?”
Chloe put her hands on her hips. “You always did like games a little too much.”
Reaching forwards he put his hands on top of the blondes and pulled her forwards a step or two until she was stood right in front of him. As he had suspected the white linen skirt hung gracefully from her hips, hugging them slightly in a deliciously revealing way. The purple shirt was equally fitted and the top buttons, though they already started low were unfastened giving him a fascinating glimpse of delicate white lace against her ever so pale flesh. It was teasing and Lex uncomfortably felt the effects of his thoughts rush through his body. When he looked up at Chloe again he found she was smiling down at him knowingly. She brought her hands up and placed them on his shoulders so that he found his own tempting close to her soft flesh beneath the clothing.
“I seem to remember that you weren’t ever entirely opposed to them either,” he murmured then breathed in deeply trying to identify whatever scent it was she was wearing.
“That doesn’t mean I was entirely for them. People always get hurt in games Lex.”
Looking up at her again and away from his perusal of her slight frame he saw that amusement was flickering in her eyes. “Is that what running away was? A game?”
She bit her lip lightly and appeared to think for a moment. “I believe I’d rather think of it as a hasty retreat.”
“You know everyone hated me.”
“I suspected they might. It wasn’t your fault though – not entirely at least. Small towns… they get claustrophobic after a while if you aren’t made to live in them.”
He smiled at her and watched as the blonde’s breath seemed to catch in her throat. It was nice to know he still had that sort of effect on her. “And you were never made for small town life,” Lex replied. “I knew that from the start.”
Chloe playfully slapped him on the shoulder. “Isn’t it a little late to be telling me that now?”
Tightening his hands on her hips and feeling her take another step towards him the man answered, “I don’t think so.”
For a moment he thought she was going to say something and then she seemed to stop and instead leaned down to place a kiss on his lips that made Lex shudder and wrap his arms fully around her waist drawing her down onto his lap. They made love with gentle touches and little whispered encouragements on her couch, not bothering to even move when the sun started to creep over the horizon. Instead Chloe slumped down gratefully into his arms and lay cuddled against his chest and almost immediately drifted off to sleep. Lex followed soon after.
* * * *
Almost the second he had woken the next morning he had known that something was wrong. He was cold for one, the cool air of the apartment brushing his skin where the blanket that had been placed over him had slipped aside. In addition the apartment was too quiet. Chloe was gone from his side on the couch and after a quick inspection of all the rooms with the blanket still wrapped about his bare shoulders he found there she was nowhere to be found. Absently he wandered into the kitchen and checked the notice board he had seen there the night before to see whether she had left but found none. Another cursory inspection confirmed what he had already suspected.
She had cleared out.
Clothes were gone from the bedroom as was anything she might have needed in the way of toiletries. The laptop computer he had seen perched on one side was also gone, as were all her photographs and any other items that she had apparently held dear. Once again moving into the kitchen he noted a stack of papers on the counter top. The top was a hastily scribbled note asking him to ‘take care of things’ for her and underneath he found rental documents for virtually everything that she had left behind. There were one of two things that he didn’t have to return and those he took home with him and put in storage hoping that should he ever come across her again then it would be something easy to use as an excuse for seeing her.
Looking across at the pale young woman who was curled up, this time on his couch, he realised with a startling clarity that he didn’t need excuses to go out of his way to see her. Besides, if he needed excuses then he would soon run out of them because the woman was no less alluring now than she had been back then and he could not imagine that he would ever want to be parted from her again.
When she had last disappeared he had been lost. The physical aspects of her life dealt with in Gotham he had found himself buying the building she had lived in and spending increasing amounts of time in the apartment that had been hers. It seemed that something that was solely hers, some force of life lingered there and by being there himself he was able to connect himself with her. Of course, he had also held some hope that she would return to try and pick up her life in Gotham again and that had lead to him hiring private investigators, not only to keep an eye on the place that had been her home but also to find out as much about how she had been living as possible.
It was a charade that he had kept up for two long years before deciding that she was never coming back. It had broken his heart to give up the investigation and to try and lessen the pain he had held onto the building in which she had lived in although he had not returned there since. Occasionally the urge had hit him to call and she whether she had been around but he always repressed it as the realisation had come to him that Chloe had to make her own decisions. If she wanted to come back then she would always know where to find him. Walking into any LexCorp building in the world would put him a simple phone call away and he always made sure that any staff at the house knew that he should certainly accent any call if she rang there. Nothing had happened though. There had never been any calls and he had not seen her since Gotham all that time ago.
And he still could not come to terms with the fact that she was perched on the couch in his study watching him with steady green eyes like she had always done when they had first become involved together. The sight made him want to pinch himself in order to check that he wasn’t dreaming.
She shifted, revealing an enticing amount of thigh despite the oversized robe. When she noticed his eyes on her freshly exposed skin the blonde woman smiled. “You don’t change Lex, and it’s wonderful to know.” She looked down at the glass in her hands. “I wasn’t sure that you wouldn’t throw me right out again.”
“So you decided to wear as little as possible so I wouldn’t?”
Chloe grinned at him, an old familiar gesture that made him want to laugh purely for the joy of seeing it again. “Did it work?” she asked.
“I think you already guessed the answer to that,” he replied with a little chuckle. “Why would I throw you out?”
“Because I ran away again. I didn’t want to but I couldn’t stop myself.”
He shook his head. How could she honestly believe that he could ever stay angry at her for long? “Where did you go?”
Leaning forwards she placed her glass back on the table and then settled back. “Europe actually, I travelled around for a while; taking in the sights and all that and taking jobs in any of the places that I took a liking to.”
He couldn’t help but smile at her words. It was one of the scenarios he had imagined for her during her absence. An uncomfortable sensation settled over him as he remembered the other part of the fantasy that had inevitably swept over him in his more down moments and he had found himself wondering whether she had taken a lover in all her wanderings. The thought had always angered him as it did now despite the fact he knew she was being irrational. Over the years he certainly hadn’t been celibate and it was unfair to ask the same of her. Silently he refused to ask the question although it had been on the tip of his tongue, dismissing it as unimportant and deciding to be grateful for the fact that she was sat before him. It was more than he could ask for.
“Which was your favourite?”
The question gave her room for pause and after a moment’s contemplation she answered, “There were so many places... I loved Italy – Rimini was beautiful. There was something vivid about it that burned into me. England was everything that I had expected it would be and more. I spent months in London working restaurants and spending my time either wandering the tourist sights or enjoying the night life. I actually ended up spending a lot of time in Scotland and managed to spend winter in Edinburgh although it froze my ass off.” She shrugged. “There really were too many places to pick one.”
He nodded understandingly. “You always said you wanted to see something of the world.”
Chloe grinned back at him. “I’ve more than satisfied my wander-lust for a while at least.”
“Is that what it was?”
“I think so. Can I get another drink?”
“Let me,” he said making to stand but she waved him away.
She stood gracefully and walked around the couch and over in the direction of his drinks cabinet. “I know where you keep it; unless of course you’ve had a change around.” Pulling open the door she turned and peaked at him around it. “Want another?”
“I’m okay still thanks,” Lex replied gesturing to his glass. When she had returned and re-seated herself he asked, “So have you been to see your father yet?”
Chloe shook her head, “I wanted to come here first.”
At her words he felt a shrill of delight run through him and his heart pounded powerfully in his chest. “Won’t Gabe be disappointed?”
“He’ll just have to be.”
In a nervous voice he asked. “Why are you here Chloe?”
Chloe smiled sheepishly at him and replied, “Because I’m ready to be home, Lex and I realised something. ‘Home’ means being with you.”
* * * *
Outside the storm had broken. Now he could see out across the lands of the Luthor estate in Smallville and a certain degree of admiration ran through Lex as he thought how charming it seemed. It had been Chloe’s idea that they plant trees to be seen from this angle and although at first he had been sceptical he had long since realised that she was right. Not he would ever admit that to her of course.
Behind him the door opened and he felt more than heard someone move across the floor. A hand slipped down over his shoulder and down over his chest, moving under the collar of his shirt and moving his way across flesh. “You know I’m starting to think that you’re going to begin living down here soon.”
Lex reached down and took hold of her hand, lifting it and kissing the palm of her hand. The blonde woman came around and straddled his lap smiling down at him. “Well that’s one way,” he said as she placed a kiss on his brow.
“One way what?” Chloe asked.
“Of letting me know you’re still here.”
She turned her head on one side and smiled at him mischievously. “Did you think I was going somewhere?”
He laid a kiss on her lips letting the girl savour it. “No. Not ever again.”
THE END
Title: The Meaning of Home (1/1)
Author: HumbugGirl
Email: humbuggirl@hotmail.com
URL: http://www.geocities.com/peacefulempress/home.html or http://www.geocities.com/oddfiction
Pairing: Lex/Chloe
Rating: 12
Summary: Future fic. Some one has been running.
Spoilers: None really.
Disclaimer: Okay so I haven’t had the chance to come up with a proper disclaimer yet so you’ll have to put up with the basic ‘none of the characters belong to me but to the WB (I think), this is a non-profit piece of work just written for fun with praise directed at the creators of Smallville’ kinda thing.
Author’s Notes: 1) It’s finally happened… I’ve gone soppy. 2) I intended this to be a much longer piece but its not going to happen. I’ve enjoyed writing this much and I’ve come to the very definite conclusion at anymore would risk ruining it. 3) There will be no sequels. Please don’t ask for one. I haven’t the time and besides, this is meant as a stand alone and nothing else. 4) Un-beta’d. Sorry for any mistakes.
Feedback: Please. It would be much appreciated.
Dedication: For everyone who sent me feedback on ‘Another Smallville Freak’, at the time I didn’t get chance to tell you how much I enjoyed receiving it and I hope you’ll take this by way of thanks.
1.
On the television the weather man had said that they were the worst storms to have hit the state in twenty years but Lex thought he could remember worse even during his time in Smallville. He could not deny though that they were certainly violent though and the ferocity of them hitting the walls of the house was almost startling.
Over two weeks the storms had blanketed the land and with them had come a self imposed isolation for Lex. He had hidden himself away from it all, finding sanctuary in the accompanying sense of silence that withdrawing into himself seemed to bring. For two glorious weeks he could let himself be Lex the man and not Lex, a Luthor without worrying what the world outside would think. Rain it seemed always brought with it surprises, whether they were pleasant or not.
In the year that Lex had turned twenty-nine it had brought with it the most delightful of all.
* * * *
October was slipping away into November and with it came a flurry of violent early winter storms. For days snow had flew through the air outside his window, chilling every corner of the cavernous Luthor mansion and leaving Lex huddled in front of a fire in his study. Even when the snow had passed and the rain arrived the house was left cold. In his hand had been clasped a glass of warmed scotch and water from which he had been taking occasional sips to try and make some sense of the heat spread through him. It was slow to happen.
There came a knock at the door and reluctantly Lex bid whoever it was on the other side to enter but half wished that they would go away instead. Moments later there was a butler by his side mumbling something about a young woman in the hall causing Lex to frown. He was not interested in random people.
“She’s seeking shelter for the night sir,” he said. “Her car stopped near to the drive way and apparently the weather is apparently too dangerous to drive further in.”
“Of course,” Lex replied without a second thought. “Show her to a room.”
The older man had hesitated. “You don’t wish to speak to her first, sir?”
With a wave of dismissal he said, “No, I’m a little busy at present,” then he turned back to the small mountain of work before him with an air of reluctance clear and apparent on his features.
Over the years Lex had surprised himself by finding himself slowly, unintentionally embracing his work. While his younger self had resented being thrown into a world of boring office work as had grown older the realisation had come to Lex that with this work came power; much more than what he had enjoyed as merely the Luthor heir. So he had taken to his work but still, on occasion he found himself growing weary of it all. Unfortunately tonight was one such time.
It was past midnight by the time Lex found himself free to retire to bed. Pushing aside the papers and carefully placed his laptop computer on the coffee table before him. Standing up and stretching pushed away Lex’s sense of tiredness and he felt a sense of restlessness come over him. It was all he could do not to groan out aloud; sleep would undoubtedly be difficult to come by. He took the time to gather up the papers and lock them away hoping he might once again feel the call of sleep before long. Softly he padded across the room towards the door with every intention of going to bed. Pulling open the door he started, breath catching in his throat as he was confronted with a face that quite literally knocked the wind out of him. Lex quickly composed himself and checked he had not been mistaken.
The young woman before him was dressed in a fluffy white terrycloth robe that bore the distinctive ‘LL’. It was entirely too large for her and gaped at the neck to reveal a rather pleasing amount of cleavage. Her hair was shoulder length and blonde, thick and with a slight wave to it which was entirely unexpected. Bare feet anxiously scrunched the thick dark carpet drawing Lex’s attention to them. Her toe nails were painted some pale shade, perhaps lilac. Her arms were hanging by her sides but as Lex’s perusal continued he brought her hands together and clasped them tightly. Even in the dim lights of the hallway he could clearly see the sparkle of expressive green eyes staring back at him with something like wonder.
“Hi Lex,” she said quite quietly.
Reacting towards her he cupped the young woman’s cheek and leaned down to kiss the corner of her mouth. “Hello Chloe Sullivan.”
* * * *
It was years since he had last laid eyes on the blonde girl. It was perhaps a further year and a half since anyone else in Smallville had seen her. She appeared to him unchanged from the slight girl he had half thought, half imagined he had glanced wandering around on of the larger museums in Gotham. On closer inspection he decided that perhaps her hair was a little longer and there was a slight nervousness about her eyes that seemed somehow out of place on her familiar features. Other than that though, she was still the same Chloe, as far as he could tell. Of course that Chloe was significantly different from the Chloe who he had first met on his arrival to Smallville.
Lex had been going through the motions of wooing a fellow business man from Europe by holding a specialised tour of art exhibition that he knew the man was interested in. In theory they should have been alone in the closed off section of the museum with the exception of the guide but a flash of gold had told Lex that was not so. Making a note that he would talk to then guide about the invasion of privacy later he decided to forget about the presence for the moment. The figure nagged on his mind though much to Lex’s distaste and when he had next glanced at her he had made excuses to his guest and hurried off to confront the person.
He found her stood before some random work of art, staring up at it with something that was vaguely like interest. As he came to stand beside her, hands tucked in the trouser pockets of his suit she did not even have to look in his direction before speaking. It was as if she knew who he was even before she was certain that he was there. “This wasn’t on purpose,” she said and even though she kept her voice quiet it echoed around them. For the first time in over a year Lex had heard it and the sound seemed to ring in his ears in a way that he couldn’t decide whether it was delicious or not. The sound almost hurt.
She looked good; there was no denying that fact. Beneath the heavy woollen winter coat that she was wearing he could tell there was a rather stylish linen skirt and a shirt of some kind that was purely Chloe. To his eye through she looked a little older and after a few minutes contemplation he decided that the change was in the way she held herself. This wasn’t Chloe the teenager he was with; it was Chloe the woman and there was a confidence about her that had clearly carried over well from her teenaged self that pleased him immensely. While many of the people he had known back in Smallville had begun to act like he was a Luthor rather than a man once again Chloe it seemed had not undergone such a change. He found himself oddly grateful for the fact.
“I didn’t suppose that it was,” he replied still looking up at the painting.
“I honestly didn’t know that you would be here today.”
“I understand. It’s entirely a coincidence.”
“Seriously Lex…”
“I know,” he said.
She let out a long sigh. They stood in silence for a moment longer and then Chloe said, “You’re looking well Lex.”
“Thank you. I was rather thinking the same thing about you. It’s been a while Chloe.”
“That it is,” she answered. Shifting nervously from one foot to the other she added, “Do you want to get some diner?”
He couldn’t help looking at her as surprise spread through him. It only took a second for him to decide. It wasn’t a very hard decision at all considering the facts. “Just let me get rid of Mr Barker and I’ll be right with you.” He moved to walk away and then paused, glancing back at her. “Don’t go anywhere.”
“I won’t.”
Mr Barker’s curiosity over just why he was being called away was easy to placate with a few carefully constructed lies. The man honestly did not seem to mind that he was being deserted by his host which Lex tried to forget as he made his way back through the exhibit towards Chloe. In a surprisingly short amount of time they were both leaving the museum and riding through the streets of Gotham in the back of his stretch limousine the low glow of the lights on the inside surrounding them as they passed through the dark streets. More than once Lex found himself glancing out of the corner of his eye at her and eventually, when they had been driving for so long the blonde suddenly moved forwards and spoke through the barrier to the driver, telling the man an address. As she sat back she looked towards him and arched an eyebrow at her. “My apartment,” she told him.
“We could have gone to a restaurant.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
He chuckled. “You don’t want to be seen with me.”
Giving him a wry look the young woman answered, “It’s not that. We’ve just got to be practical about this. I’m not interested in being noticed and being with you in a public is not the way to go about avoiding attention.”
“That’s true I suppose.”
“Besides, I’m actually a pretty good cook.”
She wasn’t wrong. As they reached her small apartment Chloe showed him through to the kitchen and sat him down on one of the tall breakfast stools placed a glass of half decent wine down in front of him and then began to move about the room confidently throwing together a meal with skill that he hadn’t known she had possessed. It wasn’t anything fancy but it was nice to sit there, his jacket off, tie loosened and sleeves rolled up while watching her as she made it and then eat with her, savouring the knowledge that this was something that she actually wanted.
They finished off the bottle of wine easily, drinking it first with the meal and then sitting at the table while talking. It was almost as if she had never been away at all. When the wine was finished they moved into the small living room, Chloe quickly going about the room to remove her laundry from the couch and disappearing into another room for a moment with it. When she reappeared the laundry had vanished. For a moment she hovered by the door just looking at him and then nervously burst out with, “I missed you; if that’s any consolation.” He remained silent, just watching her in the lamp light. “I know it probably isn’t. Not after…”
“The way you ran out on me Chloe?”
“I didn’t run out exactly. It wasn’t like we were really involved. It was just a fling…”
“Those were my words, not yours and even I wasn’t convinced about it. You know that.”
She took a few steps forwards and stood looking down at him. “No, I didn’t know that and you could have told me.”
Smiling at her he said, “Now where would the fun have been in that?”
Chloe put her hands on her hips. “You always did like games a little too much.”
Reaching forwards he put his hands on top of the blondes and pulled her forwards a step or two until she was stood right in front of him. As he had suspected the white linen skirt hung gracefully from her hips, hugging them slightly in a deliciously revealing way. The purple shirt was equally fitted and the top buttons, though they already started low were unfastened giving him a fascinating glimpse of delicate white lace against her ever so pale flesh. It was teasing and Lex uncomfortably felt the effects of his thoughts rush through his body. When he looked up at Chloe again he found she was smiling down at him knowingly. She brought her hands up and placed them on his shoulders so that he found his own tempting close to her soft flesh beneath the clothing.
“I seem to remember that you weren’t ever entirely opposed to them either,” he murmured then breathed in deeply trying to identify whatever scent it was she was wearing.
“That doesn’t mean I was entirely for them. People always get hurt in games Lex.”
Looking up at her again and away from his perusal of her slight frame he saw that amusement was flickering in her eyes. “Is that what running away was? A game?”
She bit her lip lightly and appeared to think for a moment. “I believe I’d rather think of it as a hasty retreat.”
“You know everyone hated me.”
“I suspected they might. It wasn’t your fault though – not entirely at least. Small towns… they get claustrophobic after a while if you aren’t made to live in them.”
He smiled at her and watched as the blonde’s breath seemed to catch in her throat. It was nice to know he still had that sort of effect on her. “And you were never made for small town life,” Lex replied. “I knew that from the start.”
Chloe playfully slapped him on the shoulder. “Isn’t it a little late to be telling me that now?”
Tightening his hands on her hips and feeling her take another step towards him the man answered, “I don’t think so.”
For a moment he thought she was going to say something and then she seemed to stop and instead leaned down to place a kiss on his lips that made Lex shudder and wrap his arms fully around her waist drawing her down onto his lap. They made love with gentle touches and little whispered encouragements on her couch, not bothering to even move when the sun started to creep over the horizon. Instead Chloe slumped down gratefully into his arms and lay cuddled against his chest and almost immediately drifted off to sleep. Lex followed soon after.
* * * *
Almost the second he had woken the next morning he had known that something was wrong. He was cold for one, the cool air of the apartment brushing his skin where the blanket that had been placed over him had slipped aside. In addition the apartment was too quiet. Chloe was gone from his side on the couch and after a quick inspection of all the rooms with the blanket still wrapped about his bare shoulders he found there she was nowhere to be found. Absently he wandered into the kitchen and checked the notice board he had seen there the night before to see whether she had left but found none. Another cursory inspection confirmed what he had already suspected.
She had cleared out.
Clothes were gone from the bedroom as was anything she might have needed in the way of toiletries. The laptop computer he had seen perched on one side was also gone, as were all her photographs and any other items that she had apparently held dear. Once again moving into the kitchen he noted a stack of papers on the counter top. The top was a hastily scribbled note asking him to ‘take care of things’ for her and underneath he found rental documents for virtually everything that she had left behind. There were one of two things that he didn’t have to return and those he took home with him and put in storage hoping that should he ever come across her again then it would be something easy to use as an excuse for seeing her.
Looking across at the pale young woman who was curled up, this time on his couch, he realised with a startling clarity that he didn’t need excuses to go out of his way to see her. Besides, if he needed excuses then he would soon run out of them because the woman was no less alluring now than she had been back then and he could not imagine that he would ever want to be parted from her again.
When she had last disappeared he had been lost. The physical aspects of her life dealt with in Gotham he had found himself buying the building she had lived in and spending increasing amounts of time in the apartment that had been hers. It seemed that something that was solely hers, some force of life lingered there and by being there himself he was able to connect himself with her. Of course, he had also held some hope that she would return to try and pick up her life in Gotham again and that had lead to him hiring private investigators, not only to keep an eye on the place that had been her home but also to find out as much about how she had been living as possible.
It was a charade that he had kept up for two long years before deciding that she was never coming back. It had broken his heart to give up the investigation and to try and lessen the pain he had held onto the building in which she had lived in although he had not returned there since. Occasionally the urge had hit him to call and she whether she had been around but he always repressed it as the realisation had come to him that Chloe had to make her own decisions. If she wanted to come back then she would always know where to find him. Walking into any LexCorp building in the world would put him a simple phone call away and he always made sure that any staff at the house knew that he should certainly accent any call if she rang there. Nothing had happened though. There had never been any calls and he had not seen her since Gotham all that time ago.
And he still could not come to terms with the fact that she was perched on the couch in his study watching him with steady green eyes like she had always done when they had first become involved together. The sight made him want to pinch himself in order to check that he wasn’t dreaming.
She shifted, revealing an enticing amount of thigh despite the oversized robe. When she noticed his eyes on her freshly exposed skin the blonde woman smiled. “You don’t change Lex, and it’s wonderful to know.” She looked down at the glass in her hands. “I wasn’t sure that you wouldn’t throw me right out again.”
“So you decided to wear as little as possible so I wouldn’t?”
Chloe grinned at him, an old familiar gesture that made him want to laugh purely for the joy of seeing it again. “Did it work?” she asked.
“I think you already guessed the answer to that,” he replied with a little chuckle. “Why would I throw you out?”
“Because I ran away again. I didn’t want to but I couldn’t stop myself.”
He shook his head. How could she honestly believe that he could ever stay angry at her for long? “Where did you go?”
Leaning forwards she placed her glass back on the table and then settled back. “Europe actually, I travelled around for a while; taking in the sights and all that and taking jobs in any of the places that I took a liking to.”
He couldn’t help but smile at her words. It was one of the scenarios he had imagined for her during her absence. An uncomfortable sensation settled over him as he remembered the other part of the fantasy that had inevitably swept over him in his more down moments and he had found himself wondering whether she had taken a lover in all her wanderings. The thought had always angered him as it did now despite the fact he knew she was being irrational. Over the years he certainly hadn’t been celibate and it was unfair to ask the same of her. Silently he refused to ask the question although it had been on the tip of his tongue, dismissing it as unimportant and deciding to be grateful for the fact that she was sat before him. It was more than he could ask for.
“Which was your favourite?”
The question gave her room for pause and after a moment’s contemplation she answered, “There were so many places... I loved Italy – Rimini was beautiful. There was something vivid about it that burned into me. England was everything that I had expected it would be and more. I spent months in London working restaurants and spending my time either wandering the tourist sights or enjoying the night life. I actually ended up spending a lot of time in Scotland and managed to spend winter in Edinburgh although it froze my ass off.” She shrugged. “There really were too many places to pick one.”
He nodded understandingly. “You always said you wanted to see something of the world.”
Chloe grinned back at him. “I’ve more than satisfied my wander-lust for a while at least.”
“Is that what it was?”
“I think so. Can I get another drink?”
“Let me,” he said making to stand but she waved him away.
She stood gracefully and walked around the couch and over in the direction of his drinks cabinet. “I know where you keep it; unless of course you’ve had a change around.” Pulling open the door she turned and peaked at him around it. “Want another?”
“I’m okay still thanks,” Lex replied gesturing to his glass. When she had returned and re-seated herself he asked, “So have you been to see your father yet?”
Chloe shook her head, “I wanted to come here first.”
At her words he felt a shrill of delight run through him and his heart pounded powerfully in his chest. “Won’t Gabe be disappointed?”
“He’ll just have to be.”
In a nervous voice he asked. “Why are you here Chloe?”
Chloe smiled sheepishly at him and replied, “Because I’m ready to be home, Lex and I realised something. ‘Home’ means being with you.”
* * * *
Outside the storm had broken. Now he could see out across the lands of the Luthor estate in Smallville and a certain degree of admiration ran through Lex as he thought how charming it seemed. It had been Chloe’s idea that they plant trees to be seen from this angle and although at first he had been sceptical he had long since realised that she was right. Not he would ever admit that to her of course.
Behind him the door opened and he felt more than heard someone move across the floor. A hand slipped down over his shoulder and down over his chest, moving under the collar of his shirt and moving his way across flesh. “You know I’m starting to think that you’re going to begin living down here soon.”
Lex reached down and took hold of her hand, lifting it and kissing the palm of her hand. The blonde woman came around and straddled his lap smiling down at him. “Well that’s one way,” he said as she placed a kiss on his brow.
“One way what?” Chloe asked.
“Of letting me know you’re still here.”
She turned her head on one side and smiled at him mischievously. “Did you think I was going somewhere?”
He laid a kiss on her lips letting the girl savour it. “No. Not ever again.”
THE END