The Curse (NC-17)

[scifichick774]

Title: The Curse
Author: scifichick774
Rating: NC-17 eventually, but it will take a while to get there
Category: Humor/Friendship/Romance/Smut/Supernatural (sort of)
Spoilers: Up through the end of season 2 to be safe.
Summary: Lex becomes the victim of a curse, and because of it develops a strange addiction to Chloe.
Disclaimer: If they were mine, Dr. Bryce would never have been on the show and Lucas would have been a permanent addition. So – you know – they’re not mine and I’m making no money whatsoever.
Feedback: YES!! REVIEW!! Geez, that sounded incredibly needy.
Archival: Sure – just let me know where.
Author’s Note: Response to Imp’s challenge. And, as it says in my disclaimer, ‘she who shall not be named’ has never existed in this SV fic and Lucas stuck around. The time frame – eh – somewhere during Chloe’s senior year in high school. Oh – and many thanks to Sabby for letting me use her name in the fic. *smile*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Sabrina, the teenage witch,” Lucas sang teasingly. His girlfriend rolled her eyes.

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?” she asked.

“Nope,” he responded cheerfully.

“Remind me why I’m dating you again?”

“I’m great in bed,” Lucas answered without missing a beat. Sabrina smiled.

“True.”

“So, when are you going to do something cool?” he asked, perusing the book shelves in front of him.

“I already told you that I don’t have powers, Lucas,” she explained as she watched him take an old and somewhat dusty book off of one of the magic store’s shelves and flip through it.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, completely sloughing off her statement. “But you can do spells and stuff, right?”

“I guess. Why? Did you have one in mind?”

He smiled impishly at her.

“Can you turn Lex into a toad?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’d need some of his hair, of which he has none, so ---”

“Bummer,” Lucas said, turning his attention back to the book. His face seemed to light up when he found one that interested him. “What about this one?” he asked, pointing his finger down to the page. Sabrina squinted her eyes a little to read the scrolling script on the page. She shook her head.

“That’s not a spell, it’s a curse.”

“So? What’s the difference?”

“There’s a big difference,” she argued. “With a spell, you ---”

“So, can you do it?” Lucas interrupted, his impatience winning out. She sighed.

“I suppose Lex is the one you want me to curse?”

“Obviously.”

“What do you have against him anyway? He’s your brother!” his girlfriend exclaimed.

“Yes,” Lucas agreed. “My brother who always gets his way because he’s the favorite.” Sabrina arched an eyebrow.

“You want me to curse him just because he’s your dad’s favorite?” she asked with a twinge of disbelief.

“Not *you*,” he said, wrapping an arm around her back and pulling her closer, “*us*. Think of it as a bonding experience.”

“I don’t know,” she teased. “What do I get out of it?” She shivered when she felt Lucas’s tongue dart out to help suckle her earlobe into his mouth. She closed her eyes and hummed in delight. “You’re sure you want to do this?”

“Ye-ah,” he strung out, drawing himself away from her. “And don’t get me wrong – I like the guy, but when your own father tries to kill you ---”

“You were holding Lex at *gunpoint*, Lu-cas.”

“It was *staged*, Sa-bri-na,” Lucas argued, mimicking her way of annunciating names when she was trying to make a point. His girlfriend watched as the emotions on his face went from frustrated and somewhat angry to mischievous in the blink of an eye. “So, can you do it?” She took the book away from him and took a closer look at what the curse would require.

“You’re absolutely sure you want me to?”

“Sabby,” he half-whined her nickname and shot her his best puppy-dog look. “Come on. You know you want to. It’ll be fun.”

“You use that excuse every time.”

“Because it always works.”

“It doesn’t look too hard,” she finally answered, her eyes focused on the page in front of her. “But if it works, then ---”

“Then?”

“I don’t see a lift for the curse in here,” she answered. “I don’t know if I could ever undo it.”

“Who’s asking you to?”

“You’re evil,” she joked.

“I’m aware of that.”

“Okay, fine,” she said, giving up when it became clear that he wasn’t just going to let the subject drop. She closed the book and shoved it toward him. “But since it’s your idea, you’re paying for the book.”

An hour or so later, they were back at her parents’ house and Lucas was listening intently to what they needed to do. Sabrina was having trouble believing that he was getting so into it, but then, it did mean placing a curse on his brother, so she shouldn’t have been that surprised.

“We need to pick someone who he can’t be anymore than friendly acquaintances with, but who he’ll see on a somewhat regular basis for the first week while the curse ingrains itself into his system,” she said.

“We could get one of his ex-girlfriends,” Lucas suggested. “It’s not like he ever gets to know any of them.” She shook her head.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but he hasn’t dated anyone in Smallville. Besides, if you want this to work it needs to be someone who, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t agree to go out with him.”

“Damn. Where am I supposed to find someone who ---?” he trailed off as an impish spark lit up in his eyes. “What about Chloe?”

“Sullivan?”

“Yeah. She fits the criteria you’ve told me about,” he said, holding out his hand to start counting the reasons on his fingers. “First of all, they’re not even sort-of friends. They’re both just friends of Kent.”

“But he won’t see ---”

“Second,” he interrupted, sticking out another finger as he counted and giving her a delicious smile that she seemed to lose herself in. “She just took a part-time job as one of my dad’s personal assistants – so Lex will see her plenty.”

“Don’t get me wrong because Chloe’s really smart, but why would your dad hire her over all the other people out there that were probably clamoring for that position?” Lucas shrugged.

“Eye candy?” he offered. Sabrina snickered.

“How do you know she wouldn’t agree to go out with Lex?” she asked, bringing the conversation back to the original topic. “I mean – he’s *Lex*,” she said, as if that explained everything. Lucas shot her a look.

“Please. No matter how much she denies it, she still has a major crush on Clark,” he said. “I don’t even think she notices other guys.”

“Not that there’s a wide selection here in town,” Sabrina mumbled.

“Yeah, you got lucky,” Lucas said, smiling broadly at her. She laughed and nodded.

“Okay. Chloe sounds like a good choice.”

“Good,” Lucas said and rubbed his hands together. “So, what do we need to do?”



TBC…

[xmag]

You sure know how to pick your challenges, this one seems to be... fantastic. I can't help but pity Lex, when you say addiction, like in "a chloe drug addict ?", he has to have his fix of seeing her ? can't wait to read that !!!

[sabby]

You know that I love it, and that I want more ASAP

hugs,

Sabby

[bluemoongirl23]

Oh, goodie. Another one from Kris. Lucas and sabby together...Lex don't stand a chance. Hee.

Blue

[drina]

can't wait for the addiction to happen. :devil: lex going around like a lovesick goon. haha

[dsapiro]

This looks like a fun one, update soon! :yay:

[Sway]

oooooooooooooooh. thank god for Lucas. he'll make life interesting...

great work, can't wait for the Chlex...

:blinkkiss: Sway

[beanie1816]

Intresting! Very Intresting. Huh a curse. More like a blessing in my book. lol. I love Chlex its just so good and you are one of the best writers so you go girl! And i wanna update soon please!

:wub:
Megs

[scifichick774]

A/N: Wow! Such an overwhelmingly positive response already. *smile* Thank you so much! And Blaire, I know I promised you The Deal first, but my muse – eh – you know how it is. This part takes place the next day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lucas grumbled as he threw himself onto the large, plush couch in the den. To say that the day hadn’t been going well so far would be an understatement. Lionel had belittled him for not dedicating his life to work as he and Lex had; the new maid had slipped and spilled coffee all over him, leaving behind a light-grade burn; and his girlfriend had informed him that they couldn’t set the curse they chose into motion until Chloe showed up, because apparently the book said that the two needed to be in the same room when the words were spoken.

Which, of course, meant that Sabrina would have to come over to the house – otherwise they wouldn’t know when Chloe and Lex were in the same room or not, and it wasn’t as if he could ask for Lionel to give him a call and tell him. He had originally been pleasantly surprised when Lionel hadn’t objected to him dating her, but then Lex had to go and make a teasing comment about their dad having a thing for redheads, and Lucas had been cautious about having them in the same vicinity together ever since.

“Hey! I thought I’d find you in here,” Sabrina said as she walked into the room. Lucas looked up at her from his reclined position on the couch, but didn’t move to sit up.

“You’re a genius,” he said dryly and flung his arm over his eyes.

“Throwing yourself a pity party?” she asked unsympathetically and sat down on the arm of the couch as she focused her gaze on him.

“Yeah, you wanna come?” he asked snidely. Sabrina couldn’t help the grin that quirked at the corners of her lips. She leant down to hover slightly over him, her hair splashing against his face, forcing him to open his eyes.

“Depends what you mean by ‘come’,” she answered suggestively. A leering smile replaced the frown on Lucas’s lips and he wrapped his arms around her, turning them over in one swift movement so that he was now hovering over her.

“Knew I liked you for a reason,” he said and leaned down to kiss her. She ran her hands lightly over his abs and Lucas pulled back with a whimper.

“What’s wrong?”

“Stupid maid spilled coffee on me,” he mumbled and then got up from the couch to retrieve some pain medication from one of the cabinets in the room.

“You keep aspirin in the den?” Sabrina asked as she rose to a sitting position. Lucas arched an eyebrow at her and let one half of his mouth lift.

“Aspirin – yeah,” he said in a voice that let her know that it wasn’t aspirin. Sabrina rolled her eyes.

“Should I even ask why you have some prescription – or possibly illegal – pain meds stashed away in the den?”

“Probably not,” Lucas answered and then shrugged. “Besides, they’re not mine.”

“You just conveniently knew where they were.”

“Of course,” he said with a teasing smile. “I’m smart like that.”

“Meaning you stumbled across them snooping around the house when you first moved in,” she countered.

“You make it sound so sordid,” he replied with mock hurt.

“Lucas, Sabrina,” Lex greeted with no emotion as he walked into the room. Lucas frowned.

“Doesn’t anyone knock anymore?” he asked. Sabrina gave him a consoling smile.

“The door wasn’t closed, hon.”

“Still…”

“Calm down, I’ll be gone in a minute,” Lex said, searching for something in the small desk that sat in the far end of the room.

“Out of my hair?” Lucas asked with a sneer. Teasing Lex about his loss of hair had become a favorite past-time for him, and even though it wasn’t especially funny, it still served to cheer him up. Lex and Sabrina both shot him looks and he just shrugged. “Why do even keep stuff in here anyway? Isn’t that what your office is for?”

“This room is more relaxing,” Lex responded. “And I don’t generally keep things in here, but I was working on the McMillan account last night and ---”

“So,” Lucas said, folding his arms across his chest and taking a few steps toward his brother, “you came to a ‘relaxing’ room so you could work? Sounds twisted if you ask me.”

“No one was asking you,” Lex said without missing a beat.

Sabrina sighed and leaned back against the couch. The pissing contests between Lucas and his brother were getting really old, really fast.

“Ah,” Lex said, lifting a folder out of one of the files in the desk; “got it.” He started walking toward the door and turned around briefly to smirk at Lucas. “I’ll just get out of your hair now.” Lucas forced a tight grin onto his lips, but glared at Lex’s retreating form.

“Soon,” Lucas said under his breath. He walked over and sat next to Sabrina on the couch. “Tell me this curse thing is going to work,” he said almost pleadingly. She frowned and started rubbing small circles on his back.

“It should, but just like with real addictions, it will take time for him to develop the addiction to her.”

“Tell me how it works again,” Lucas said, definitely more as a statement rather than a request. Sabrina smiled wryly at him, but shoved down any comment she was going to make about this being the zillionth time she’d described it to him.

“The curse makes him *slowly* develop an addiction to her, working its way through his senses until he basically can’t function without being around her,” she answered. Lucas grinned and closed his eyes.

“I can almost see it now,” he said. “Chloe, I just can’t live without you,” he said dramatically. “Eww – get the hell away from me.” He snickered and Sabrina laughed.

“When have you ever known Chloe to say ‘eww’?”

“She’s a chick,” he answered. Sabrina slapped the back of his head hard enough to push him forward. “Ouch,” he said, rubbing the spot with his hand. “Woman, I meant woman.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You think she’s here yet?” Lucas asked. Sabrina glanced up at the clock.

“Give it another ten minutes,” she said. “Did you remember to get something of his?”

“Like I’d forget that,” he quipped. Lucas smiled mischievously at her and rose to walk over to the bookshelf. After searching for what he was looking for, he plucked a large book off the shelf and opened it, revealing a ‘Warrior Angel’ comic book lying in between its pages. Sabrina leaned forward as he held it up for her to see.

“I think a more current possession would be ---”

“It *is* current,” Lucas interrupted. “He collects them.” He flung the plastic bag-encased comic at her and she caught it between her hands.

“*Lex Luthor* collects comic books?” she asked in disbelief as she stared down at the colorful cover.

“Don’t ask,” Lucas said and stared down at her. “So, did you ---”

“In the purse,” Sabrina answered, still in awe at the fact that such a powerful young man could have such an almost geeky hobby. Lucas snatched her bulky, oversized purse off the floor and opened it, revealing a small stuffed animal inside, next to the book they bought at the store the previous day. Lucas arched an eyebrow as he took the small, green bear out and held it in front of him.

“She collects ‘beanie babies’?” Lucas asked in surprise. Sabrina shook her head.

“She doesn’t collect them – it’s just that one. One of her relatives back in Ireland – a second cousin or something – got it for her as a lucky charm slash birthday present.”

“Huh. And you know this how?” he asked. Sabrina cringed and Lucas raised his eyebrow again. “Sab-by?”

“Lana, okay?”

“Lana?” he asked with surprise and disgust.

“Well, I couldn’t just go and ask Chloe – she would have been too suspicious,” Sabrina said in defense.

“But Lana wasn’t?” he asked. She shot him a look and he chuckled. “So, you asked the pink princess.”

“It’s not a moment that I’d care to relive, thank you very much.”

“I understand,” he said in a not quite condescending, but definitely teasing way. He offered her his hand to help her off the couch and she took it, unfazed by his attempts to toy with her just seconds ago. “I thought we could go to the security room. They have a camera inside dad’s office.”

“What about Lex’s – you know – just in case?” she asked, putting the stuffed bear and comic into her purse and hefting it over her shoulder.

“Don’t know – probably,” Lucas said with a light shrug of his shoulders.

They made their way through the maze of hallways until they reached the main security room. Sabrina smiled at the guards, but Lucas simply pushed his way past them as if they barely existed. His eyes scanned over the monitors until he found the one he was looking for. He pointed to it for his girlfriend’s benefit and then glanced at the guards. He couldn’t just tell them to leave because if something happened – other than what he and Sabrina had planned – then he would be in more trouble than he was now. A thought occurred to him and he gave them an almost evil smile.

“You guys believe in witchcraft?” he asked. Sabrina looked at him questioningly, but he ignored it. The guards snorted in amusement.

“You’re joking, right?” one of them asked. Lucas’s smile stayed planted firmly on his lips.

“Well, Sabby and I were curious and wanted to try something – you know, kind of an experiment to see if it would even work. Is that gonna bother you?” he asked, already suspecting what their answers would be.

“Nah, go ahead.”

“Whatever.”

Lucas nodded and motioned for Sabrina to come sit down. She dug the book and other items out of her purse and flipped to the page she had bookmarked. The monitors showed Chloe walking through one of the halls and about to enter Lionel’s office, where another monitor showed Lionel and Lex involved in some sort of argument with each other.

“Show-time.”




TBC…

[xmag]

quote from the fic :

"“The curse makes him *slowly* develop an addiction to her, working its way through his senses until he basically can’t function without being around her,” she answered. Lucas grinned and closed his eyes.

“I can almost see it now,” he said. “Chloe, I just can’t live without you,” he said dramatically. “Eww – get the hell away from me.” He snickered and Sabrina laughed."

-------------

Ok, picture me dying of laughter here, at visualizing this scene of Lucas imitating Lex!!! But i understand him, that's just too funny, Lex behaving this way and saying this, and Chloe's answer.
Although, Lucas might be wrong about Chloe's answer, she could answer, "get the hell on top of me" !!

[roslyn]

'he chuckled. “So, you asked the pink princess.”

There is only one word to describe that sentence...hysterical! i was laughing so hard i had tears. :biggrin:

update more soon i love this fic! and Lucas, is hysterical.

[Sway]

oooooooh. that was good. can't wait for it to begin!!

:blinkkiss: Sway

[beanie1816]

Once again you proove your brillance! Where do you come up with these brillant ideas? I love you so much for your amazing writing.
Update soon please.


:wub:
Megs

[scifichick774]

Chloe reached out her hand to open the door, but paused when she heard Lex yelling from the other side of it.

“Ugh! Why is she stopping?” Lucas asked in frustration as he and Sabby viewed her on the monitor. Sabrina snorted.

“Because she knows better than to interrupt an argument between your brother and your dad?” she offered.

“Whatever,” Lucas grumbled.

The yelling ceased and Chloe took a deep breath before lightly knocking on the door.

“What?!” Lex snapped in frustration toward the door. Chloe pushed the door open slightly and gave Lionel a hesitant grin, which he returned as a wide smile.

“Chloe,” he said, practically gushing her name as he rose from his chair behind his desk.

“Mr. Luthor,” she greeted, his demeanor putting her a little more at ease, but not making her feel completely comfortable. “I ---” she stopped talking for a moment while she glanced at Lex and then back at Lionel. “I found something interesting on the Yakimoto deal,” she said, stepping toward his desk and handing him a folder.

“Did you?” he asked, his smile almost lecherous as he allowed his fingers to brush over hers when he took the folder from her. The action was innocent enough for Chloe not to pay any attention to it, but Lex noticed and arched an eyebrow. Surely his dad didn’t think he could get away with trying to seduce the Sullivan girl? Clark and Gabe would kill Lionel if they found out.

‘Say, now there’s a thought,’ Lex mused to himself. “Miss Sullivan,” he greeted, walking toward her and giving her a polite, yet terse expression. She gave him a glimpse of a smile.

“Mr. Luthor,” she acknowledged with a curt nod of her head. It was hard to see Lex around as he was one of Clark’s best friends and she and Clark still weren’t getting along well, but the least she could do was be professional around him.

“Lex,” he corrected with a small smirk as if he was reading her mind.

“Lex,” she repeated with no enthusiasm whatsoever. After a moment of silence, his lips curled into a tiny smile.

“I’m sorry. I think I’m still getting used to the fact that my dad hired a *reporter*,” he paused and looked pointedly at Lionel, who didn’t seem to be paying any attention to him at all, “as his personal assistant.” Chloe felt her mouth spread in a smile and she nodded.

“I won’t go into specifics, but several non-disclosure agreements were involved,” she answered.

“Thinking outside the box has proved invaluable,” Lionel responded without looking up from the papers in his hands. “Chloe has only been here a week and she has already thwarted a saboteur’s attempts, not to mention made me a substantially larger profit on the Callaghan account.”

Lex’s eyebrows rose in surprise. He had, of course, known about the spy for a rival company within their own company being caught; and about the increased orders from the Callaghan Corporation, but he hadn’t heard about Chloe being the one responsible. Not to mention the fact that it was incredibly rare for his father to dole out praise about anyone.

“I had nothing to do with the Callaghan thing,” Chloe protested. Lionel smirked and raised his eyes to look at her briefly.

“Of course you did,” he said and then looked down at the papers again. “By the way, do say hello to young Sean when you see him next.”

Lex watched as Chloe’s cheeks turned a bright red hue and she tried to cover her face with her hand.

“Sean?” he asked. “What about him?”

“It seems he’s developed a bit of a crush on Miss Sullivan,” Lionel answered, his smirk turning into a teasing smile. Lex’s lips slid into a smile as well as he looked back at Chloe.

“Really?” he asked as he appeared pensive about the situation. “Are you going to go out with him?”

Chloe glared at Lionel before turning her attention to Lex again.

“He hasn’t asked me,” she said. “And he doesn’t even have a crush on me. Your dad just caught me zoning ---”

“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” Lionel teased. Chloe cleared her throat and shot him another disturbed glare.

“And since I was looking in Mr. Callaghan’s direction, he assumed that I liked him and has been teasing me about it ever since,” she continued. Lex’s smile grew and he glanced back at his dad.

“And *his* reaction to this?”

Lionel let out a small chuckle and glanced up at his son.

“He was --- ‘zoning’ you called it?”

Lex bit his lip to keep from laughing and the blush on Chloe’s face became more pronounced.

“God. What was I thinking when I took this job?” she mumbled to herself.

“If it helps, I could put in a word for you,” Lex said. Chloe narrowed her eyes at him and Lex smiled impishly back at her. Lionel scoffed.

“His father has him based overseas. It would never work out,” he said. Chloe let out a breath of relief. Lionel was putting an end to the teasing – for now at least.

It may not have been quite so embarrassing if she actually hadn’t found the man attractive, but to have Lionel Luthor, her new boss, catch her basically staring at the guy and then tease her endlessly about it – it was mortifying.

Lex, however, found the idea of Chloe liking someone besides Clark quite refreshing. He wondered if he would be violating some sort of ‘friends’ code’ if he told Clark that Chloe liked Sean. It would certainly put an end to Clark’s ranting about not being able to go out with Lana because Chloe was jealous and Lana said she couldn’t do that to her ‘best friend’. Lex didn’t know when Chloe and Lana had become ‘best friends’, but he did know that Clark and Chloe’s friendship had been on rocky ground for a while, and this new development might change that.

“My, my,” Lionel’s voice sounded, causing Chloe and Lex to shake themselves out of their respective thoughts and look over at him. He had his eyes fixed on the paperwork inside the folder, but raised them to look at Chloe. “Well done, Chloe. Very well done.” Chloe smiled a genuine smile back at him.

“I thought you’d like that,” she said. Lionel nodded and ignored the questioning look that Lex was throwing him.

“Indeed,” he responded. “Are you sure I can’t talk you into coming to work for me full-time?”

“Pretty sure,” Chloe said with a light chuckle. “It took enough effort trying to convince my dad that you weren’t the devil and that it would be okay to work for you part-time. I don’t think he’d look favorably on me dropping out of high school during my senior year to increase my hours here.”

“Hmm – a valid argument,” Lionel conceded with a smile curling the corners of his mouth.

“Come on, come on,” Lucas said impatiently, glaring at the monitor while resting his hands on the back of the chair that Sabrina was sitting in. She chanted the last few words out of the book and took a deep breath.

“Okay,” she said. “It’s done.”

“But nothing happened,” Lucas complained. Sabrina swiveled around in her chair and shot him a look.

“I told you ---”

“Yeah, yeah; I know. *Slowly*,” he said using his fingers to make air quotation marks. He let out a huff as he stared back at the monitor. “This curse sucks.”

“You’re the one who chose it,” she reminded him.

“Are you *sure* you can’t turn him into a toad?” he asked almost pleadingly.

“*Hair*.”

“Would baby hair work? Maybe I could find some home,” he mused aloud. “He’s gotta have a baby book or something, right?” Sabrina rolled her eyes.

“You’re impossible.”

Lucas squinted his eyes when something interesting finally seemed to be happening on the screen.

“I should get going,” Lex said, glancing at the clock on his wall. “I have that conference call with the Dayton office in ten minutes.” Lionel nodded and made a shooing motion with his hand which Chloe tried not to snicker at. “Dad…Chloe.”

“Lex,” Chloe said. Lex stopped mid-turn when he was suddenly overcome with a feeling of complete euphoria. He blinked his eyes a couple of times and shook his head, but he couldn’t release the tremendous feeling of well-being. It was almost as if…no. He had dabbled in drugs back in his wilder years, but hadn’t done anything for quite a while now. And he was very sure that if anything were to resurface, it would be the need rather than the effects. “Are you okay?” Chloe asked, noticing that Lex was swaying a little on his feet and seemed to be in his own world. She and Lionel shared a look and he took a few steps toward Lex.

“Son?”

“Yes!” Lucas yelled, pulling his elbow backward and then smiling brightly at Sabrina. “You – are – a – goddess!” He pulled her out of the chair and swung her around in his arms. She laughed for a second, but then shook her head as he set her feet down.

“Don’t get too excited,” she said. “That was just the initial reaction. Each reaction from now on isn’t going to be as substantial, and it’s going to take time – a lot of time - for the addiction to develop. Do you understand?” He leaned closer to her and brushed his lips against hers, ignoring the guards who were looking at him and his girlfriend like they needed to be committed.

“I understand.”




TBC…

[dsapiro]

Heehee, yay, Lex is gonna be addicted to Chloe. And she wont mind one bit, whatever Lucas thinks. Update soon! :yay: :worship2:

[AlwaysPretending]

LMAO Oh God, they are going to be in so much trouble.

ANd the "they" could mean either Lex and Chloe or Sabrina and Lucas!!

More!

Kerry

[roslyn]

Loved it like always! ;)

I can't WAIT to see what's going to happen next!

Lucas is going to be in so much trouble, it's going to be hysterical. I can't wait for more, update soon!

:wub: Roslyn

[bluemoongirl23]

Ok, Lucas, say it with me, The Curse does NOT suck. However, I'm feeling not good about Sabby saying it's going to take 'a lot' of time. I needs me some instant gratification.

Blue

[NightGlow]

I LUV THIS PLOT!
And I esp. adore Lucas. I also profusely wish to replace Helen with him but, oh well. At least I can always count on *these* writers to format the show correctly.
As for this fic--
I smell a work of genius... ;)

[drina]

The addiction has started...good :eyebrows: and the way u say the the process will be a slwo one means hopefully this fic will be a very long, satisfying one? GOd i hope so. :worship2:

[sydsvaughn]

So love where this is heading and I cannot wait to see who this "addiction" plays out. Great job so far, update again soon!

Sara

[xmag]

And so it begins ! yeah ! is it me or is Lionel a little too friendly with Chloe ? will it be an obstacle to Lex's addiction ? and why does it have to take so long for Lex to be addicted ? that's not fair.
Apart from that, good part, this fic is fastly becoming my favorite one. So update soon, please.

[scifichick774]

Chapter 4
~*~*~*~*~

Chloe placed one hand on Lex’s back and the other on his arm as he started to sway again. She looked to Lionel, hoping that he would have some advice about what was happening or what to do. Lionel stepped closer and cursed under his breath when he saw Lex’s fully dilated pupils. His son had been perfectly coherent just moments ago; what could he have taken in that short period of time to make him completely drugged out?

“You take the call,” Chloe said to Lionel. He looked at her quizzically. “I’ll get him to his room or something, but he’s obviously in no shape to do that conference call. You’re going to have to take his place.” Lionel grinned in pleasant surprise at Chloe’s ability to think on her feet. He nodded and began to walk back to his desk as he watched Chloe struggle to move Lex out of the room.

‘She’s only been working for me for a week and I’m already going to have to give her a raise,’ he thought to himself as she closed the door to his office with her foot.

“Okay, Lex,” Chloe said to him as if she were speaking to a child, “I need you to walk with me. Can you do that?”

“Mmm,” he hummed and started to sway a little bit more.

“Lex,” she chided in aggravation. He turned around and smiled goofily down at her.

“Pret-ty,” he strung out and reached out to touch her face. Chloe dodged his hand, causing Lex to lose his balance and fall to the floor. He was silent for a second and then he burst out in laughter. Chloe put her hands on her hips and shook her head.

“What the hell did you take?” she mumbled under her breath. When it was apparent that he wasn’t going to get up from his position on the floor, Chloe leaned down and grabbed his ankles to try and drag him. “Stupid – heavy – moron,” she grumbled, only moving him centimeters with each hard pull.

“What happened here?” Lucas asked in a cheerful voice as he came walking up behind her. Chloe dropped Lex’s ankles and turned to look at Lucas pleadingly.

“I don’t know,” she said. “He was fine one minute and the next he was – well – like that,” she motioned to where Lex was now on his back staring up at the ceiling with utter fascination. “Can you help me get him to his room?” Lucas smirked at her and scratched at his shirt.

“Hmm – a threesome with my own brother – it’s a little too kinky for me, Sullivan,” he teased. Chloe glared at him.

“*Why* is Sabrina dating you again?” she asked. Lucas gave her a cocky smile.

“I’m great in bed,” he answered. Chloe rolled her eyes.

“Whatever. Just help me move him.”

He smiled at her again and leaned down to grab Lex’s ankles. Lex raised his head to look at his brother and then he furrowed his brow seemingly in confusion.

“You’re not pretty,” he slurred. Lucas arched an eyebrow at Chloe, who just shook her head and waved her hand back and forth in front of her.

“Don’t ask,” she warned. She leaned down over Lex’s head to his hands, which unfortunately for her were laced together on top of his stomach. Lex’s eyebrows rose when Chloe’s breasts seemed to be hovering above him. He raised his head again and… Chloe yelped and jumped away from him, covering her breasts with her arms. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Luthor?!”

He smiled up at her, but Lex’s eyelids started to grow heavy and slowly slid closed. His breathing evened out almost immediately and he let out a small snore before turning onto his side, fast asleep. Chloe stared down at him in disbelief.

“Well. That was…interesting,” Lucas said. Chloe let out a breath and then reached for his hands again.

“Come on. Just help me get him into bed.”

“You want me to set you up with my brother?” Lucas asked teasingly.

“No-oo,” she strung out. “I want you to help me drag his sorry ass over to his bedroom so I can leave him there and go back to work.”

“Oh,” Lucas said. “Well that doesn’t sound nearly as blackmail worthy.”

“Are you going to help me or not?” Chloe snapped in frustration.

“Yeah, yeah,” he answered, bending down to pick up his brother’s ankles again.

The two moved Lex to his room and Lucas was able to heft him up onto the bed. Chloe took off Lex’s shoes and pulled the blankets up over him.

“You wanna kiss his forehead too?” Lucas asked somewhat snidely. Chloe sighed.

“I was just making sure he’s comfortable.”

“He’s stoned and asleep,” Lucas replied. “He’s as comfortable as it gets.”

They left the room and Chloe made a beeline for Lionel’s office while Lucas wandered off in another direction. She opened the door slowly as to not disrupt his conference call and he grinned at her, motioning with his hand for her to come in.

“No, that’s all for now,” Lionel said into the phone. “Let me know when the new reports come in.” He hung up the phone without a goodbye and took in Chloe’s somewhat frazzled appearance. She had a distinctive wet mark on her blouse over one of her breasts, although it seemed to be drying; Lionel decided it would only irritate her to bring it up. For all he knew, his son had sexually harassed her in his drugged state and she was trying to push it aside; which Lionel was more than willing to let her do because he didn’t want to lose her as an employee. “Did you dump him somewhere in the hallway?” Chloe let out a sour chuckle and she went to sit down on the other side of the desk from him.

“It was incredibly tempting, but no,” she answered, pausing thoughtfully before she spoke again. “What do you think happened to him?”

“Who knows? He could be on anything,” Lionel said dismissively. Chloe shook her head.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “He pretty much sobered up when you forced him to come to Smallville – and even if he hadn’t, drugs act almost immediately, don’t they?”

“It depends on how he took them,” Lionel said. “He could have taken something orally and ---”

“And it would have taken a while for it to hit his bloodstream,” Chloe finished for him. Lionel nodded. “I just don’t get why he would do something like that. Despite his ‘bad boy’ image, he’s always been a pretty responsible guy – at least from what Clark’s told me.” Lionel leaned back in his chair and observed her pensively. Finally he gave her a small grin with his fingers pressed up against it.

“Outward appearances can be deceiving,” he said. Chloe nodded in agreement.

“Good point,” she agreed and then started to stand up. “Do you want me to set up a visit to a rehab center or something for him?” Lionel shook his head ever so slightly.

“I don’t think that will be necessary – at least not yet. If this behavior continues, then we can set something up.”

“Okay,” Chloe said and then took a deep breath before placing a wide, fake smile on her face. “So – how was the conference call? Anything you need me to do?” Lionel let out a small chuckle.

“You’re entirely too efficient for your own good,” he said. Her smile faded into a smaller, yet real one.

“You can blame it on my ‘study hour’ at school,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Full access to a computer, but nothing to actually study for.” Lionel half-smirked at her.

“I’ll have to remember that,” he said. Chloe tilted her head to the side.

“You really don’t have anything for me to do?”

“I didn’t say that.” Lionel sorted through some paperwork on his desk and when he found the item he was searching for he handed it to Chloe. She skimmed over the materials of the folder quickly and then nodded.

“Okay. Shouldn’t be a problem, but give me an hour or so,” she said.

“Take as much time as you need dear, there’s no rush.”

She smiled at him and was about to leave the room when she stopped and turned around to face him.

“Oh – before I forget – if you hire a nurse to look after Lex, you’re probably going to want to request a male one,” she said. Lionel arched a questioning eyebrow at her and a slight blush rose to her cheeks. “He was --- kinda grabby.” Both of Lionel’s eyebrows rose with her statement.

“Did he hurt you? Do you need me to assign one of the guards to you?” he asked in a protective manner. Chloe laughed, the tension gone, and shook her head.

“I can take care of myself. I just thought you should know,” she said. Lionel nodded, but didn’t seem completely satisfied by her answer. She left the room, closing the door behind her.

Lionel pursed his lips and then picked up his phone, dialing the security room of the house.

“Security,” a gruff greeting came through the phone. “How can I help you, Mr. Luthor?”

“I need you to assign one of your men as Miss Sullivan’s temporary bodyguard,” Lionel said.

“Sir? Has there been a threat that we should be aware of?”

“Possibly.”




TBC…

[bluemoongirl23]

oh. lordy. Things are really going to get interesting when one of the body guards tries to come between Lex and his addiction. Hee, can't wait.

Blue

[hfce]

Oh lord. I smell trouble :biggrin:


Hope :chlexsign2:

[Queen Of Tact]

Loved it..... Poor Lex he's going to have a lot of questions when he gets up.....

Hey Sabby is there something u aren't telling me about with u and Lucas :blinkkiss: LOL

CC

[Sway]

:worship2: oh yeah, thats it. i can't wait for him to wake up... should be verrrrrrrry interesting.

:blinkkiss: Sway

[xmag]

That sucks, that really, really sucks, everybody is going to believe that Lex went back to his old habits. While the poor guy is a victim here.
And his father is going to be a problem, i just FEEL it. Will he stand between Lex and his addiction, or will he encourage it ? i mean, after all, Chloe is cute, clever, and Lionel Luthor just loves intelligence, so Chloe could be the one for his son.
Hmm, i wonder which way you will choose as an author. If Lionel realizes something is wrong with his son (and not because of drugs) and that it explains Lex's attitude toward Chloe, will he use it to control his son and his future, by pushing him to pursue her ?

[drina]

Haha, Lex in his drug-addicted state is soooo funny. :hehe:

It's fun to see the always composed Lex being brought down by his 'addiction' ;)

And the way the fic is building up, seems like it's gonna be a wild ride! I'm all set though... :popdevil:

[roslyn]

LMAO, Lex was so funny in his *supposed* stoned state. and Lucas was even funnier.

I can't wait to see what kind of trouble Lex is going to get into with the guards.

And what's with Lionel being all protective and calling her 'dear'? Bad mental pictures! :huh:

Great chapter, and update really soon!

:wub: Roslyn

[scifichick774]

A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews. They mean a lot to me. *smile*

Chapter 5
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next morning, Lex woke up and groggily rubbed his eyes with one hand, frowning in confusion when he realized that he still had his clothes on from the previous day. His head started throbbing with a fury and when he sat up he was overcome by an immense wave of nausea.

“Oh, God,” he moaned and rushed out of his bed toward the bathroom to throw up, not making it all the way there before it actually happened.

“Charming,” Lucas said sarcastically, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. He leaned against the open bedroom’s door frame and folded his arms across his chest. Lex stepped around the spew of vomit on the floor and went to the bathroom to splash his face with cold water and rinse out his mouth. Lucas followed him and couldn’t hide the enormously pleased smile that graced his lips. Lex turned around and shot what he thought was a scathing look at his brother. Lucas cringed, but not because of Lex’s expression. “Lookin’ a little green around the gills there, bro. Whatever it was that you took yesterday must’ve given you a hell of a hangover.”

“What do you want, Lucas?” Lex sickly rasped out, immediately regretting speaking at all as his own words echoed loudly through his already pounding head and he felt like he needed to throw up again.

“Dad wants to *talk* to you,” Lucas answered casually and then smirked at his older brother. “Three guesses as to why.”

Lex furrowed his brow, searching his brain for a possible reason to warrant a special lecture from his father first thing in the morning. His mind flitted through images and feelings from the day before and his eyes grew wide as if he were actually watching the scenes replay themselves right in front of him.

“Shit,” he said under his breath.

“Yep,” Lucas answered cheerfully. “It sucks to be you.”

Lex pushed past him and went over to his closet, searching for a change of clothes.

“Do we know what happened yet?” he asked. Lucas arched an inquiring eyebrow at him.

“Uh – ye-ah,” he strung out. “You took something, got doped out, attacked Chloe when she was trying to take you to your room, *and* you told me that I wasn’t pretty.” He made a mock hurt face and Lex ignored him, shaking his head.

“I didn’t take anything,” Lex said more to himself than to Lucas. His brother started laughing, unable to control the sheer evil joy that spread through his body with knowing that he was responsible for Lex’s predicament. Lex gave him a strange look and Lucas calmed down by clearing his throat.

“Sorry, but that didn’t come out quite as convincing as you’ll need it to if you’re going to say that to dad,” Lucas said. Lex seemed to be in his own world of thoughts again and didn’t immediately respond to what Lucas said. He changed his shirt and kicked off his pants before reaching for another pair.

“Is Chloe alright?” he finally asked. Lucas grinned.

“She’ll live,” he answered somewhat cryptically. “And live well.” Lex nodded.

“I’m sure the settlement will be quite hefty in her favor,” he said. Lucas creased his brow, but released it when he realized that he and Lex were talking about different things.

“She’s not pressing charges,” he told him. Lex looked at him with surprise.

“She’s not?”

“Nah. If anything, I think she felt sorry for you.”

“Great,” Lex mumbled sarcastically.

“Hey, it’s better than getting sued,” Lucas pointed out. “*That* would have really pissed dad off - and as it is ---”

“Where is he?” Lex interrupted.

“Dining room.”

Lex gave the younger man a curt nod and turned on his heel to leave the bedroom, never turning around to see the wide, wicked smile that had placed itself on his brother’s lips. He walked down the maze of hallways and stairs and sucked in a deep breath before entering the dining room where he saw his father seated.

“Dad,” he greeted, trying not to let any hesitation or emotion about what happened seep into his voice. Lionel looked up from his paper for a millisecond and then motioned to the chair across from him. Lex walked over and took a seat while Lionel folded the paper back up and laid it on the table. The expression in his dad’s eyes was easy to read and Lex inwardly winced.

“I was rather hoping that we wouldn’t need to have this conversation again in my lifetime,” Lionel started.

“It’s not what you think,” Lex argued.

“Oh?” Lionel asked. “And what is it that I think?” Lex sighed.

“You think I’m doing drugs – that for some reason I’ve reverted back to my old habits,” he replied. Lionel’s cool stare accompanied by an awkward pause made Lex squirm a little in his chair, though he did his best to hide it. “It’s not true. I didn’t take anything.”

“Then how do you explain your behavior yesterday?”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Dad.”

“If you’re going to bother to lie, then the least you could have done was come up with an excuse,” Lionel said dryly. Lionel picked up his fork and turned his attention to the plate in front of him.

“Believe what you want, but I’m not lying to you,” Lex stated with a tremendous amount of regained backbone. He was sick of never being good enough in his father’s eyes, and if his dad wasn’t going to believe him even when he was telling the truth, then maybe it wasn’t worth it.

“You’re extremely fortunate that Miss Sullivan is so forgiving,” Lionel said. “I, however, am not. I’ve requested that one of the security guards be with her at all times when she’s on the property – just in case you try to pull anything like that again.” Lex closed his eyes for a second and pinched the bridge of his nose. His headache was only getting worse and now he was being told that he wasn’t trusted to be anywhere near Chloe, the only person who he might have a chance in hell of convincing that he wasn’t taking drugs.

“You!” a female voice yelled accusingly. A strange tingle swept through Lex’s body. It was like what happened the previous day, only on a much, much smaller scale. He and Lionel both turned their heads and rose from their seats when they saw Chloe storming into the dining room, followed by a large man who Lex knew to usually be on the night watch for their security detail.

“Chloe, I ---”

“You gave Sean my number?!” Chloe asked, cutting Lex off and focusing her somewhat angry glare at Lionel. Lex looked surprised, but Lionel grinned at her.

“I didn’t think you’d mind,” Lionel answered.

“But ---”

“Chloe,” Lionel said in a placating voice, “He called and asked for it – and you like him. I didn’t see a problem.”

“You didn’t see a problem?” Chloe asked in disbelief. “He ---”

“You like him, yes?”

“That’s not the point,” she protested.

“Of course it is.”

“It’s not,” Chloe volleyed with a smile. Lionel could see that there was no real anger behind her words, but he humored her anyway.

Lex looked back and forth between them with a strange expression on his face, his body having a completely inappropriate response to their banter. He didn’t feel stoned as he had the previous day, but he was beginning to feel lightly intoxicated as they continued to argue. He shook his head to try and clear it, focusing on the people across from him instead.

“What are you two bickering about?” Lex asked. Chloe and Lionel both stopped talking and turned to face him. He watched as Chloe’s face went from somewhat amused to worried and concerned.

“Lex --- how are you feeling?” she asked. Lex kept his expression neutral as he nodded once.

“Better – thanks,” he answered, not even realizing that she had dodged his question. Chloe nodded and gave him a small smile. He was surprised to see her turn to face his father without asking him anymore about it or bringing up the fact that he basically owed her one for not going to the media with the story about how he latched onto her breast through her shirt with his mouth while he was stoned on something he didn’t knowingly take.

“So?” Chloe asked Lionel. Lionel smirked at her.

“I apologize,” he said, although his tone indicated the opposite. Chloe grinned victoriously and Lex blanched at the fact that his father, the man who never said he was sorry for anything, had just given Chloe Sullivan an apology. “Will you be going out with him?” Chloe’s grin spread into a smile and she let out a small, uncharacteristic giggle. Lex’s eyebrows rose and his mouth dropped open a little in shock. His dad was apologizing to Chloe and she was giggling? If those weren’t signs of the apocalypse right there, then he didn’t know what was.

“Yeah,” she answered. Lionel gave her a pleased smirk and Chloe shook her head a little, catching sight of the security guard who was standing off to her side. “By the way ---” she paused and motioned to the guard with her head, “What’s *that* about?”

“He’s just there for your protection,” Lionel said with a small shrug of his shoulders. Chloe gave him a pointed look.

“I distinctly remember telling you that I could take care of myself,” she said. Lionel grinned and Chloe rolled her eyes. “Fine. But if he tries to follow me home, then I’m getting one of Lana’s stalkers to dump his body in the woods.” Lex and Lionel both chuckled at her statement and she shook her head again before flashing a smile at Lionel. “I’ll see you later.”

“You’re not staying?” he asked.

“As much as I’d love to, the halls of Smallville High beckon – or at least the principal does,” she said. “I’ll be by after school though.” After Lionel nodded, Chloe walked over to Lex and gave him a sympathetic grin. “I know we’re not friends, but if anyone knows how much life can suck, it’s me. So – if you need to talk or whatever --- off the record, okay?” Lex felt one corner of his mouth lift ever so slightly with her words. Even if she did believe that he was taking drugs, and even after what he had done to her, she wasn’t condemning or judging him.

“Thanks.”

“No problem,” she said with a small smile and then turned around quickly to walk out of the dining room, waving goodbye with her hand high in the air as she left.

Lex grinned almost goofily as the tingle in his body evened out and he felt completely content. Lionel sat back down and steepled his fingers together as he eyed his son suspiciously.

‘Interesting.’




TBC…

[drina]

Lionel seems to be noticing something...let's hope the game is not over that soon :devil:

[Michelle]

I know Lucas will be responsible for them getting together, but *damn* he is an asshole! He didn't intend this to help Chloe and Lex, he just wanted to fuck up Lex's life for no reason. Well, HAH! He's just made the "stupid" mistake of getting Lex together with the one person who can make him happy! So nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh! But I like this, you can tell by their relationship now that this is gonna be one loooong fic, nice job!

Michelle.

[bluemoongirl23]

*snort* See, I'm just waiting until Chloe finds out what Lucas has done, way down the line. I cannot wait for that rant. And Lionel being the first to notice. I wonder if he'll be helpful or try to keep Chloe as far from Lex as possible.

Blue

[sydsvaughn]

Hummm.. wonder what Lionel has in store. And you gotta love Lex in this one! I can't wait to see how this progresses and I have to tell you, I actually like how you're writing Chloe and Lionel's interaction. Great job and post more soon!

Sara

[NightGlow]

I hear you, Michelle! I can't stand Lucas either. I am, however, relishing the irony that his malignance is going to blow up in his face!
And as for the image of Lex latching onto Chloe's breast... :goof: Priceless!
Oddly enough, I rather like Lionel in this fic as of yet. But that doesn't mean I trust him. Who knows what's flitting around in that mind of his?

[Sway]

nice work!! smack Lucas for me tho...

:blinkkiss: Sway

[scifichick774]

A/N: Yes, I’m aware that I should be updating TCMMOMM first so I can get to work on Beloved, but I kind of made a blackmail deal with Sabby and…well, I’m sure you can figure out the rest.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“I don’t know, I just think it would be weird,” Lana said, carrying her books against her chest as she walked down the school’s hallway with Chloe.

“It’s just a job, Lana. Just like your job at the Talon – except I don’t bring him coffee, his secretary does that,” Chloe said with a smile.

“Yeah, but working for *Lionel Luthor*,” Lana said and shook her head. “I don’t think *I* could do it.” Chloe barely resisted snorting.

‘I don’t think you could do it either,’ she thought. Lana was nice, and amazingly enough her friend now, but Chloe had to admit that she still looked down a little at her when it came to general intellect. She knew it was wrong, but on some level, there was a part of her that clung to it, screaming, ‘Mine!’ Lana could have the beauty and the adoration of everyone in the small little town they lived in, but intelligence was the thing that Chloe had over her and she knew it would serve her well once she could leave Smallville. She shook her head slightly as Lana rambled on about how creeped out Chloe must be working for a man like Lionel.

“I just ---” Lana trailed off and gave an overly dramatic shudder of her body. “I don’t know how you can do it.” Chloe let a small laugh escape her lips. She hadn’t intended on telling Lana about Sean, but it’s not like she could share the information with Pete or Clark.

“Let’s just say it has its advantages,” Chloe said. Lana’s eyebrows rose high and Chloe burst out in laughter. “Wow! Someone’s mind is in the gutter.”

“I ---”

“I met a guy – Sean – at one of Mr. Luthor’s meetings – and he called last night to ask me out,” Chloe explained. Lana’s eyes grew wide with excitement and a large smile beamed across her face.

“Chloe! Why didn’t you tell me?!” she screamed happily.

“Well, you know,” Chloe started, “you got back so late because you had to close last night, and there’s the whole ongoing weirdness that is our friend – or sort of friend, Clark.”

“Yeah, well,” Lana said and then her lips stopped moving as they straightened into thin lines, “Clark can be a jerk.” Chloe looked surprised by Lana’s comment and Lana immediately looked regretful. “Don’t get me wrong, because usually he’s great, but he has no right to be acting all possessive with either one of us and then turning both of us down at the same time.” Chloe nodded in agreement and then held her head up high, only catching a glimpse of an evil smile that had crept across Lana’s mouth. “Can I be the one to tell him?”

Both girls erupted in laughter and straggled into class, bumping against each other as the laughter racked through their bodies. Pete and Clark looked over from their assigned table and Pete smiled back at Clark.

“Looks like your girls are getting along,” he quipped. Clark gave him an uneasy grin, but it fell as he watched Chloe and Lana sit at the table across from them. “You seem to be in a good mood this morning, ladies,” Pete said with a wide smile. Chloe and Lana both smiled over at him, Lana’s smile a bit more devious.

“There’s a reason – you wanna hear it?” she asked, leaning toward him. Chloe couldn’t help but roll her eyes when she saw Clark shift uncomfortably in his chair. Pete leaned toward her.

“Hell yes,” he said in almost a whisper because he knew the teacher would be coming in soon.

“Chloe’s got a date *and* he’s *not* a meteor-freak,” Lana said, matching his volume. Pete’s eyebrows shot up and a teasing smile rose to his lips as he stared over at Chloe.

“Way to go, Chlo!” he said a little too loudly. Chloe covered her face with some embarrassment, but couldn’t hide keep her mirth from lightly shaking her body.

“Thanks, Pete,” she said. Clark cleared his throat nervously and Lana bit her lip to refrain from immediately laughing at his reaction.

“So, um…not a meteor-freak, huh?” Clark asked. “Where’d you meet him?”

“Metropolis,” Chloe answered. Pete snorted.

“I guess working for the devil has its advantages,” he said with a modicum of teasing lining his voice. Pete had initially had a really difficult time accepting that Chloe would take a job working for Lionel Luthor, but when she explained that she desperately needed the money for college and no other place in town would pay nearly as well, he had caved and just left a threat hanging in the air that if the bastard ever hurt her he would pay.

“I don’t know, Chloe,” Clark said, hesitation evident in his voice and Chloe braced herself for what she was sure to be another Kent lecture. “A guy that works with Lex’s dad? Isn’t that kind of --- gross?” Chloe rolled her eyes at Clark’s automatic assumption that the man would be significantly older than she was.

“Number one, he doesn’t work with Mr. Luthor - his family basically owns the Callaghan Corporation,” Chloe rebutted. Pete’s smile grew bigger.

“Ooh, I smell money,” Pete said and rubbed his fingers together, earning a small giggle out of Lana and a slight glare from Clark.

“And second, he’s like Lex’s age, not some eighty-year old perv who hits on high-school students for the hell of it,” Chloe finished.

“Oh,” was all Clark said and squirmed a little. Despite the fact that Chloe and he weren’t on the best of terms, he still felt a need to protect her. He felt that he had failed miserably when she took the job working for Lex’s dad, and now she was going to go out with some guy who, in his mind, was probably just another spoiled rich kid who wanted to use her. The teacher called for the class’s attention and he made a mental note to ask Lex about the guy Chloe had a date with later.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lucas knocked on the open door to his father’s office a couple of times and nodded his head at his dad as he looked up from his desk.

“You wanted to see me?” Lucas asked.

“Close the door,” Lionel replied. Lucas arched an eyebrow, but did as he was ordered and then came to sit down in one of the chairs across from his father.

“What’s up?”

Lionel leaned back in his chair and Lucas shifted a little under his intense stare.

“As you’re aware, you’re brother has been acting…out of character recently,” he said. Lucas snorted, trying to hide his amusement with the situation.

“You could say that.”

“Hmm,” Lionel sounded in agreement and then leaned forward. “He claims not to have taken anything.”

‘Shit,’ Lucas thought, his father’s eyes practically boring a hole through him. ‘He knows something.’ Lucas hid his reaction well and acted uninterested and indignant. “You think he’s telling the truth?”

“Difficult to say – although he does have a…history.”

“No offense, Dad, but why don’t you just get to the point already?” Lucas asked. Lionel let out a humorless chuckle and gave a half roll of his eyes.

“Alright,” he said and then paused for a second before continuing. “We have some important contracts coming up, ones that I can’t afford for Lex to screw up by reverting back to his old behaviors. I’d like you to become his shadow so to speak – make sure he stays out of trouble.” Lucas inwardly cringed and then repositioned himself in his chair.

“I don’t know,” he responded, “Have you done a blood test or anything? Maybe Lex wasn’t lying.” Lionel sloughed off the comment with a wave of his hand.

“The only thing a blood test would show is what exactly it is that he took. What I need is someone to make sure he doesn’t do it again,” Lionel said, giving a pointed look at his younger son. Lucas frowned.

“And you want me to be that ‘someone’,” he said. Lionel nodded. ‘Crap. If I say no then it’ll look suspicious, but if I say yes, then I’ll be blamed once Lex starts acting all doped up again.’ “Have you talked to Lex about this? Somehow I get the feeling that he won’t be thrilled with me tagging along everywhere he goes.” Lionel smirked.

“It’s not as if he has a choice. Besides, I’ve told him that you’ll be there to make sure that nobody tries to slip anything into his drinks or food.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure he believed that,” Lucas said sarcastically. Lionel shrugged.

“If he wasn’t lying, then the situation is more serious than I originally thought. You’ll need to keep an eye out for anyone that might be trying to do harm to your brother as well.”

“Lucky me.”

“Don’t worry, son. You’ll still have plenty of time to spend with your girlfriend,” he replied. “The house is already being searched for any sort of ‘stash’ he may have here, so the only times you’ll need to accompany him are when he leaves the house.”

“Oh, is that all?” Lucas said with heavy sarcasm.

“You can delegate some of the responsibility to the security staff as you feel necessary.”

“Yeah, but I’ll still be the one who gets blamed if he screws up again,” Lucas mumbled.

“It won’t be forever – two months at the most, much less if you can do your job properly,” Lionel said. “If he hasn’t sobered up in that time, then I’ll send him to seek professional help.”

“I still don’t understand why you want *me* to do it,” Lucas complained.

Lionel paused again and looked Lucas directly in the eyes, his cold glare void of any emotion other than the underlying threat carried in them.

“You’re friends with Chloe, yes?”

“Acquaintances – but I like her, she seems nice enough.”

“I don’t need to remind you how your brother behaved around her in his ‘state’ the other day, do I?”

“So, this is about Chloe?” Lucas asked, inwardly coming to the realization that Lionel wasn’t connecting *him* to anything, but was more concerned about how Lex was acting around his new part-time personal assistant. ‘Eww,’ he thought, getting a mental image of Lionel fawning over Chloe. Lionel arched an eyebrow when Lucas shuddered, but didn’t say anything about it.

“I haven’t asked you to do much since you were accepted back into the fold, but I *need* you to do this,” he said. Lucas frowned and rested his head on his hand, propped up by his elbow. “Think of it as your chance to prove yourself. If you succeed in this, then I’ll know that I can trust you more responsibility.”

“Fine,” Lucas said through gritted teeth. Lionel leaned back and grinned smugly.

“Good. I’m glad we understand each other.”

“Where is he now?” Lucas asked.

“I believe he’s complaining about security going through his office with their drug dogs,” Lionel replied with a small laugh. Lucas groaned and placed a fake smile on his face.

‘Thanks, Dad,’ he thought sarcastically.

It was going to be a long couple of months if he couldn’t get Sabrina to reverse that curse.




TBC…

[bluemoongirl23]

Hee. Getting a mental image of Lucas trying to keep Lex off of Chloe makes me laugh. It's a good thing. I can't wait till the curse takes a real hold on him.

Blue

[drina]

HAHA, guess Lucas' plan has backfired on time BIG TIME. I imagine Lucas gettting the way of Lex when Lex tries to get to Chloe and Lex laying a few on him... ;) accidentally of course

[NightGlow]

Reverse the curse?
:huh: :huh: :huh:
Perish the thought! Stupid Lucas!
Hell, I'm looking into a way to speed it up. A curse to help a curse proceed... hmm...
This whole "blackmailing" thing seems to have worked out OK. Maybe I should ask Sabby for pointers.
But then again... I don't want Beloved to be neglected either!!! :crygreen:
Ahhh, decisions, decisions...

[xmag]

Hmm, still don't know what Lionel is up to. If he wants Chloe to be protected or if he has a personal interest in her (ok, can i say, yerk, i like Lionel, but with a more... mature woman).
Na, nah, nah, nah, Lucas, there are always consequences for our actions, see what you got yourself into ? no more quality time with your girlfriend !!
unless he deserts Lex and let him and Chloe having their personal quality time.

i love, love, love this fic to death.

[hfce]

I am so glad it has back fired on Lucas. He deserves that jackass. Maybe he will appreciate it is not nice to fool with mother nature. :lol: Good job more please....


Hope :biggrin:

[dsapiro]

I like Lionel in this, as long as he is being more fatherly. Heehee, poor Luccas, but that is what you get!

[Ville]

I seriously love this story. Great plot!

[sabby]

Hope! No calling my Lucas a jackass! Or you'll have to face my wrath! After all without him Chloe and Lex would probably never get it together here!

Still love it, still waiting for an update and; I know, Beloved comes first *g*

hugs,
Sabby

[hurlingturtles]

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Lucus is great, cracks me up! I'm so glad Lex is cursed at last. Write another part fast!!

[hfce]

Originally posted by sabby@May 5 2003, 04:54 PM
Hope! No calling my Lucas a jackass! Or you'll have to face my wrath! After all without him Chloe and Lex would probably never get it together here!

Still love it, still waiting for an update and; I know, Beloved comes first *g*

hugs,
Sabby
:lol: I am sorry Sabby forgive me but he is. :lol: But he is a funny jackass. :lol: That is all I can give you. :blinkkiss:


Hope

[TwirlWriter]

MORE!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please update soon this is a wonderful plot! :worship2: :chlexsign3:

[scifichick774]

A/N: Thanks for all of the feedback you guys. This part takes place the following weekend.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lex looked angry and irritated, pushing the food on his plate around with his fork as the beautiful brunette woman slid her hand seductively up and down his arm. Lucas rolled his eyes.

“This is entertaining,” he said quietly, but with heavy sarcasm. Sabrina snickered.

“It *was* - for the first half hour or so, but now ---”

“Kind of pathetic,” he filled in for her. She nodded in agreement. Lex shot a warning glare at the two of them, but his date seemed completely oblivious to their comments.

“Le-x,” she drew out and then leaned closer to lick his earlobe. Lex grimaced and moved his head away. “What do you say we skip the rest of dinner and go straight for dessert?”

“Okay, now I’m just gonna be sick,” Lucas said. Sabrina snorted in amusement and rested her elbows on the table as she faced Lex’s date.

“You just don’t get it do you?” Sabrina asked. The woman didn’t even turn in to look at her and Sabrina shook her head lightly.

Under normal circumstances, the black-haired model would have gotten Lex into bed in no time flat, but these weren’t normal circumstances. First of all, Lucas had been forced to tag along on Lex’s date because his father was insistent that he keep tabs on him; and Sabrina was sure that having her and Lucas there killed whatever mood might have been able to take place.

Second, there was the curse. Lex had been fidgety and cross the entire helicopter ride to Metropolis and Lucas had told her that he’d been that way since the previous night and it was only getting worse. Sabrina told him that she wasn’t surprised and that it just meant that the addiction to Chloe was starting to root itself into his body. Subconsciously, Lex was starting to crave the sound of Chloe’s voice to have any feeling of contentment, which meant that the beautiful woman next to him didn’t have a chance; regardless of whether either one of them realized it.

A familiar laugh came wafting through the air and Lex’s head snapped at the sound. Lucas and Sabrina followed his gaze over to where Chloe and Sean were just being seated on the other side of the restaurant’s balcony. A slight tingle moved through Lex’s body when he heard Chloe’s laugh, so slight that he wrote it off to the familiarity of Chloe’s laugh. He cleared his throat and pushed his chair away from the table.

“If you’ll excuse me,” he said, as a statement not a question. Lucas couldn’t help but smirk. Even though he didn’t want to be blamed for Lex acting stoned again, he was pleased that he had chosen such a potent spell.

“You go too,” Sabrina said to Lucas. “Say hi to Chloe for me.” Lucas nodded and then glanced over at Lex’s date, whose name he hadn’t been able to remember despite several mentions of it. Sabrina plastered a large fake smile on her face and spoke in a morbidly sweet tone. “I’ll keep Linda company.” Lucas nodded and followed Lex’s trail over to the other side of the balcony where Chloe and Sean were sitting.

“Lydia,” the woman corrected cattily and glared at Sabrina, who merely gave her a shrug and an eye roll in return.

“Whatever,” she said and then brought her glass up to her lips. “It’s not like you’ll be sticking around long enough for me to remember.”

“And what’s *that* supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” Sabrina lied. Lydia looked over to where Lex and Lucas were now talking to a blonde woman and her date.

“Who’s the blonde?” she asked. Sabrina inwardly snickered at the jealous tone in Lydia’s voice.

“Chloe Sullivan.”

“And the guy? He looks so familiar, but I can’t place him.”

“Sean Callaghan,” Sabrina said, watching the woman for her reaction over the rim of her glass. Lydia’s eyes widened almost comically and Sabrina choked on a little bit of the wine that was sliding down her throat.

“Hmm,” Lydia said thoughtfully as she observed how Sean was smiling at Chloe. “Now all I have to do is get Lex to look at me like that.” The words were said under her breath and Sabrina could tell that the woman was just thinking aloud, but she found herself unable to refrain from commenting.

“Oh, please,” Sabrina said. “Lex has been practically ignoring you all night. Do you really think all your not-so-subtle touches and blatant innuendos are going to make him want you as the next Mrs. Luthor?” Lydia cast a bitchy glare at Sabrina.

“I happen to be a model. I can get a date with any man I want,” she said, venom lining her voice. Sabrina looked over at Chloe and turned back to Lydia with a smirk on her face.

“Sure. You just can’t get them to stay at the table.”

~*~*~*~*~

Lex smiled down at Chloe. She had been a surprising source of comfort over the last week and she was quickly becoming someone who he considered to be a friend rather than just a friendly acquaintance. She had listened to him when he told her that he wasn’t doing drugs and even came up with some possible theories as to what was happening to him. Some of them were a little far out there, but at least she was trying. Then there was the fact that he felt calmer just by talking to her. For such a spirited woman, Chloe could be amazingly soothing.

Lex was also happy to see that she and Sean Callaghan seemed to be hitting it off. She had told him that they talked on the phone several times after he originally called to ask her out and Lex had to admit that they made a striking couple when he saw them sitting next to each other. There was the added bonus that he knew Sean, and he knew that he would never hurt Chloe. She had her heart broken by Clark so many times that she certainly deserved some happiness.

“We should get back,” Lex said almost absently. “I just wanted to say hi.” Both Chloe and Sean smiled at him and Lucas.

“No problem,” Sean said.

“Yeah,” Chloe agreed. “It was good to see you.”

Lex and Lucas started walking back to their own table and Lucas couldn’t help but notice how much more relaxed his brother now was. Not stoned or out of it, but calm and collected.

‘Can’t have that,’ he thought mischievously. “Well, that was awkward,” he said to Lex. Lex glanced over at him as they walked.

“It seemed fine to me,” he replied and then gave Lucas a sly grin. “You’re just not used to interacting politely with people.” Lucas rolled his eyes.

“Whatever,” he said. “But I *know* I can’t be the only one who noticed.” Lex looked at him questioningly.

“Noticed what?”

“You’re joking, right?” Lucas asked in mock disbelief, inwardly congratulating himself on the convincing acting job he was doing. Lex still looked confused and Lucas just shook his head. “Never mind, man. Forget I mentioned it.”

“Lucas,” Lex said almost warningly and stopped walking. “What exactly are you implying?”

“Nothing,” Lucas lied with a tiny smirk. “Just that for a guy who’s been in a pissy mood for the last twenty-four hours, you sure seem to have lightened up a lot after talking to sis.” Lex arched an eyebrow.

“Sis?” he asked.

“Part of the reason dad ordered me to be your keeper was because he was worried about Chloe and the reaction you had toward her,” Lucas explained. “You tell me – can you think of another reason he would be so worried about an employee?”

“Chloe isn’t our sister, Lucas.”

“Well, the only other thing I can think of is that the old man likes her – and that’s just gross.”

Lex frowned. Leave it to his brother to bring up the main concern he had since Chloe started working for his dad, let alone to bring up another possibility that he hadn’t ever even considered. The content feeling Lex had swimming through his body just moments before was now gone, replaced by his concern over being more disturbed at Chloe possibly being his sister than he was by his father lusting after her.

~*~*~*~*~

“So, how do you like working for Lex’s dad?” Sean asked. Chloe let out a light chuckle and smiled at him.

“It’s surprisingly not that bad,” she answered. “He’s a little over protective and keeps trying to talk me into going into business rather than journalism, but we get along pretty well.”

“That’s great. It must be nice to like your job,” he said. Chloe gave him a sympathetic look.

“Things still bad?”

“Not *bad* exactly, but I hate living abroad,” he answered, adjusting his thin wire glasses as he did so.

“See, I’ve always liked traveling – at least the little of it that I’ve done.”

“Traveling, yes,” he said. “Living there, no. Now if my dad had me somewhere tropical, nice and warm, then maybe. But I live in Dublin, which is apparently Seattle’s twin.” Chloe laughed.

“Well, if he ever transfers you somewhere tropical, let me know and I’ll come visit you,” she teased. He smiled back at her.

“You realize that I’m going to have to resort to begging him every day for a transfer now?”

“You weren’t before?” she asked. Sean gave a mock thoughtful look.

“Good point.”

They ate part of their dinner, lightly conversing over various topics, until Sean glanced over and noticed that Lex, Lucas, and their dates were no longer sitting at the table across the balcony. It had been a surprise when Lex had come over to their table, quickly followed by his brother, who Sean barely knew. And even though Chloe worked for his dad, Lex didn’t seem like the kind of guy to leave a date behind for even a little while to cross the room to say hello to someone. Call it the rich kid syndrome, but from what Sean had observed, Lex made people come to him. Of course, he didn’t know the man that well.

“So, how long have you known Lex?” he asked. Chloe looked up from her plate.

“Oh. Um…technically, I guess it’s been a few years now,” she answered.

“Technically?”

“He was really more of an acquaintance than anything else until recently. My friend Clark is pretty good friends with him though,” she said, glossing over the fact that she and Clark weren’t exactly on speaking terms at the moment. “You?”

“Hmm…most of my life actually, just because our fathers are business associates,” he said. Chloe nodded.

“Friends?”

“Not really,” he said. “But I don’t dislike the guy. We just don’t have a lot in common.”

“Apart from the whole ‘rich and good-looking’ thing,” Chloe pointed out. Sean smiled and leaned toward her.

“You think I’m good-looking?”

“Well, yeah,” she admitted, a small blush rising to her cheeks. He grinned and leaned even closer to her, brushing his lips against her own as they gently kissed.

Lex stared up at the couple from down below, where they had been stopped from exiting the restaurant by a couple of Lydia’s friends. He had convinced himself that he would be unhappy about Chloe being his sister because it would turn her life upside down and he didn’t want that for her. She deserved to be happy, and that meant *not* being a Luthor. And if Lucas had been right about the second thing rather than the first, then Lex was just going to have to make sure that Chloe’s relationship with Sean blossomed quickly.



TBC…

[dsapiro]

Its interesting that Lex wants to help her relationship with Sean, but he seems like a really nice guy.

[hurlingturtles]

Sean does seem nice but I want Lex to be more possessive of her!! It's sweet that he just wants her to be happy, though. Should be interesting to see how things develop! Keep writing!

[scifichick774]

A/N: Sorry I couldn’t get this out to you sooner – real life and all that. Hope you enjoy this one. *smile*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day, Lex strolled into the Talon, not surprised to see that Lana was the only one there given the hour.

“Lana,” he greeted simply. Lana smiled over at him from the counter as she prepared the first batch of coffee for the day.

“Hey Lex,” she said. “The coffee should be ready in a few minutes if you want to wait.”

“Actually, I came to take a look at the books,” he paused and gave her a light, but forced, grin, “but coffee sounds good.”

Lana smiled again and scurried quickly into her office to get the books for him. Lex walked over to stand next to the counter, hands in his jacket pockets as he glanced around the main room. He didn’t know why he had been so prone to such volatile mood swings lately, but he didn’t like it; and now it seemed that his body’s anxiety was worse than ever. He had his hands in his pockets to hide the fact that they had been shaking for the last two hours.

“Chloe said she ran into you last night on her date with Sean,” Lana said in a friendly manner as she came out of the office and placed two large accounting books on the counter in front of him. Lex nodded.

“They make a cute couple,” he said almost absently. Lana smiled brightly and nodded vigorously in agreement as she went to get him a cup of the freshly brewed coffee.

“I know,” she said. “He came to pick her up last night. When she told me that he looked like Danny I didn’t believe her, but I definitely do now.” Lex looked at her questioningly.

“Danny?”

“Oh – he’s ---”

“Okay, Lana,” Chloe’s voice came from the hallway that led to the attached movie theater. “I’ve been thinking about it and I have it narrowed down to --- Lex?”

Lex was already staring intently in her direction, having heard her voice coming down the hall. His hands stopped shaking and he grinned at her.

“You have it narrowed down to me?” he teased. “I’m flattered.” Chloe rolled her eyes, but smiled at him.

“Funny,” she said sarcastically and then turned to Lana, holding up a film reel in each hand. “*They Live* or *The Lodger*?” She said each of the titles in a creepy voice and Lana let out a small laugh.

“I don’t know,” Lana answered, already pouring a cup of coffee for Chloe since she knew she would want one. “What’s ‘The Lodger’ about?”

“Hitchcock,” Lex said. “Nice choice, but I think it might be over the heads of the Talon’s usual clientele.” Chloe smiled over at him as she placed the film reels on the counter.

“Can’t blame a girl for trying,” she said, quickly snagging the cup of coffee that Lana had poured for her. She took a sip, closing her eyes as she let the hot, bitter liquid slide down her throat. Lex found that he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her.

His heart started pounding against his chest and the blood was pumped furiously through his veins. When she lowered the cup, she flashed a brilliant smile at Lana, completely unaware of the trance that Lex now seemed to be in.

“Nothing like the first cup of coffee in the morning,” she said cheerfully. Lana giggled.

“I’m glad you approve,” she said. Lana’s mouth fell into a frown as she looked around in back of the counter. “Shoot. Cindy was supposed to restock last night.”

“You need help?” Chloe asked. Lana shook her head.

“I can do it – thanks though.” She gave Chloe and Lex both a small smile. “Be right back.”

Chloe looked over at Lex and grinned at him as she finally sat down, not noticing anything out of the ordinary.

“So, how did your date go last night?” she asked him.

Lex’s head was swimming. He didn’t just feel content, he felt positively high; and words started coming out of his mouth before his mind had a chance to censor them.

“You can’t be my sister,” he said, slurring a couple of his words. Chloe’s smile fell and she furrowed her brow.

“What?”

“You can’t be my sister,” he repeated surely, as if his word was law. “I don’t want the one woman who cares about me, not my money, to be related to me.” Chloe’s mouth dropped open a little and she realized that he must be having another ‘episode’; only this time it seemed that he was able to form coherent sentences and apparently thought that they were related for some reason.

“Lots of people care about you, Lex,” she said comfortingly. She only smiled half-heartedly because she was worried about what was happening to him. “Mrs. Kent cares about you and she’s a woman.”

“She’s too old for me,” he brushed off with a wave of his hand. Chloe’s mouth opened and then shut again.

“Where is Lucas?”

“Girlfriend,” Lex answered simply.

“Asshole,” Chloe muttered under her breath. “He’s supposed to be taking care of you.”

“Have you,” Lex said almost giddily and leaned forward to try and kiss her. Unfortunately, there was another stool between them and he ended up falling against it and then lobbing onto the floor. Chloe sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

“We’re gonna have to get you a helmet,” she said, trying to make light of the situation. Then she took in his appearance and her smile immediately fell. His skin was flushed and there were tiny droplets of sweat covering his brow.

“God, Lex,” she started in a deeply concerned voice. “Are you alright?” She stepped closer and then leaned down, pressing the back of her hand against his forehead before pulling back with a frown. “Lana!”

“Yeah?” the girl’s voice came from one of the storage closets.

“I need help,” Chloe said. Lana came out of the closet with a couple of bags of to-go cups in her hands and a confused look on her face. Her eyes widened when she saw Lex on the floor and Chloe hunched at his side.

“He’s burning up. Can you get me a cold, wet washcloth or something?” Chloe asked. Lana bit her lip with worry and nodded.

“Sure,” she said and went off to fetch one.

“Just hold on, okay Lex?” Chloe said, searching the room with her eyes for a more comfortable place than the floor. She spotted a couch against the far wall and looked back at him. “Do you think you can make it to the couch?” Lex just stared at her, his system on a tweaked high from the sound of her voice combined with the very sight of her at his side. “Lex?” Chloe grumbled and helped him sit up, putting his arm over her shoulders and her arm around his waist as she stood him up and led him over to the couch.

She was thrilled beyond belief when she actually got him there and hadn’t had to drag him along the floor. She gently pushed him into a laying down position and gave Lana a grateful look as the girl came over with a clean, cold, wet rag. Chloe started running it over his head, face, and neck; all the while telling him that it was going to be okay.

“Shit,” Chloe said under her breath.

“He seemed fine when he first came in,” Lana said. “I don’t know what could have happened.” Chloe frowned.

“Me either,” she said and then paused for a second before shaking her head. She needed to tell Lana something or the girl would never shut up about it. “That’s not entirely true. Lex is really sick; but you can’t tell anybody, okay?” Lana nodded.

“Do you want me to call an ambulance?” she asked. Chloe frowned and after giving it some thought she shook her head.

“No. Call Sabrina – her number’s in my purse. Lucas is probably over at her house and he’ll know what to do,” she said. Lana nodded and swiftly made her way over to the telephone, leaving Chloe to think that Lex was incredibly lucky that this was happening when no other patrons happened to be in the Talon. Lex let out a small moan and Chloe kept caressing his head and face with the washcloth. “It’s okay Lex. It’s going to be okay.”

Fifteen minutes later, Lucas came rushing into the Talon and spotted Chloe, Lex, and Lana over by the couch. Chloe caught sight of him and stood up to charge over and tell him off.

“What happened?” Lucas asked.

“What do you think happened?” she hissed. She glanced over at Lana who seemed to be staring over at them as if they had all the answers. “Where the hell were you?” she asked quietly, yet menacingly, through gritted teeth. “You were supposed to be making sure this didn’t happen again.”

“Well, you were supposed to be in Metropolis with Callaghan,” he said. Chloe glared at him.

“It was only our first date, Lucas. And even if it wasn’t, my location has nothing to do with what we’re talking about. *You’re* the one who’s supposed to be looking after him, not me.”

‘Oh, crap,’ he thought. “Fine,” he said, trying to push her comments aside. He started to walk over to where Lex was lying down and Chloe followed him. “Hey, Lex,” he greeted somewhat somberly, silently cursing the fact that his dad had assigned him to ‘Lex duty’, because if he hadn’t then he’d be having a great laugh. Lex turned his head to the side and looked at his brother.

“Chloe’s not my sister,” he said, heavily slurring his words. Lana looked at Chloe and Lex with utter confusion.

“No, she’s not your sister,” Lucas said almost condescendingly and then looked at Chloe. “Guess he’s having a reaction to the new meds they put him on, huh?” Chloe narrowed her eyes a little and then nodded.

“Looks that way,” she agreed.

If her reporter instincts told her anything, it was that Lucas knew something about what was really happening to Lex. And she was going to find out what it was.




TBC…

[dsapiro]

How is she gonna get Lucas to tell her? What will she do when she finds out? Update soon!!

[sabby]

Uhoh, poor Lex! Maybe the curse wasn't such a good idea after all. Remind me to slap Lucas upside the head a couple of times for good measure.

And update soon, please

hugs,
Sabby

[drina]

Now, that Chloe has sniffed out something suspicious, Lucas, you better watch out!

First I thought it was fun that Lex will be getting addicted, but now, I feel so sad for him...

ANd i want LUCAS TO SUFFER!! Burn, Lucas, BURN

[sydsvaughn]

Chloe's on the trail... so Lucas better watch out!

Love where this is going although poor Lex, he's not getting a lot of "action" is he? :)

Great chapter and I cannot wait for more!

Sara

[bluemoongirl23]

Ok, Lucas telling Lex that Chloe is his sister? So wrong! I loved it! And can't wait for how pissed she's gonna be when she finds out. Oh, and I love Sabrina!

Blue

[hfce]

More more :yay:


Hope :chlexsign2:

[hurlingturtles]

interesting. so is lex overdosing? hmmm. that presents some probs unless he builds up a tolerance. i feel so bad for lex! need more, need more

[NightGlow]

Aww! I feel so incredibly bad for Lex. I mean, whatever happened to the whole gradual thing? Did Sabrina ever count on things getting this out of hand?

Oh well... let's hope Chloe can uncover the mystery!

(And use it to her full advantage! :wub: :blinkkiss: )

Come on! Hell, we all were thinking it! :devil:

[AlwaysPretending]

I finally caught up with all of the chapters I missed out on (had to save it to my hard drive though in order to do it!) yesterday and felt ready to feedback but what is this?

A new chapter?

Yay!!!!

Oh dear, the way Lex seems to be reacting to the curse - not good! I suppose Lucas thought the same way I did - that Lex would be all over Chloe, not getting sick!

This is a great fic :)

Kerry

[Sway]

ooooh poor Lex. Cant wait til Chloe figures out whats going on, should be amusing...

[scifichick774]

A/N: Sorry for the delay on this one, but as most of you know, I’ve been really ill. Hopefully these two chapters will help you forgive me. *smile*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Chloe groaned and ran her hands through her hair in frustration. It had been a busy and downright exhausting week, and between school, work, and phone calls from Sean, she had very little free time to research Lucas’s involvement in Lex’s condition. There had been two positive things that had happened though; the first being that she had been working with Lex almost every day because of his father’s absence on a business trip, and he seemed to be doing fine.

The second was that she had run into Lucas’s girlfriend, Sabrina, and she was more convinced than ever that Lucas was responsible for whatever was happening to Lex because of the way the young woman had been acting. She just had no way of proving it.

Lex leaned against the door frame with a grin on his lips as he silently watched her. He hadn’t felt anything but happiness and contentment since his apparent overdose the previous weekend, and he credited that fact to Chloe.

Clark knew from Lana that something was wrong with him, but he had only stopped by a couple of times, and had quickly discarded any discussion about Lex’s health in favor of questioning him about Sean and Lionel, or moping over his troubles with Lana and Chloe. Whereas, Chloe had taken every opportunity to make sure that he was doing alright, even when she wasn’t officially working. Lex was learning what a real friend was and learning fast.

Unfortunately for him, he was starting to have conflicting emotions where Chloe was concerned. While he was happy that she was getting along so well with Sean, he couldn’t help the twinge of jealousy that seemed to spring from nowhere whenever she would mention Sean’s name. He knew that they were completely irrational, seeing as how he had convinced himself that his feelings for her didn’t extend beyond friendship, but he didn’t like having to share her time. Maybe it was because over the past week he had felt better emotionally than he had in a long time, possibly ever, and even better when he was around her.

‘Sure she’s just your friend?’ a little voice echoed inside of his head. He quickly pushed the voice away and took a few steps into the room. “You look unhappy,” he said in a casual tone. “The Denholm Labs account?” Chloe turned her head and smiled up at him, sending a flutter through his heart.

“Nah. I got that taken care of yesterday,” she answered.

“All of it?” Lex asked with surprise. Chloe nodded. “So, what’s wrong?”

“Long story,” she mumbled.

“Try me,” he said, placing his palms together as he sat next to her on the oversized couch. Chloe looked hesitant and Lex shot her a look. “You’ve let me dump how much stuff on you since you’ve been working here? I don’t mind returning the favor, Chloe. And I actually think you’ll find me to be a pretty good listener.” Chloe’s expression softened and she sighed as she leaned back against the couch.

“Sorry,” she said. “But I have to talk to Lucas later and I’m not really looking forward to it.” It was half-true anyway. She wasn’t hopeful about how the confrontation would go, but if she could get any information that might help Lex, then it would be worth it.

“Few people look forward to conversations with my brother,” he said, a hint of humor lining his voice. “What do you need to talk with him about?”

“You actually,” she admitted, her eyes closed as she sank into the comfort of the plush couch cushions surrounding her.

“Me?” Lex asked, grinning when he saw that her eyes had closed and her breathing was slowing down.

“Mmm-hmm,” she answered, barely still awake.

“Care to elaborate?” he asked.

“Not really.”

“Chloe,” he said warningly. Chloe opened one eye and looked at him before raising herself up to a full sitting position.

“Promise you won’t be mad?”

“That sounds a little ominous.”

“How can something be *a little* ominous?” she asked. Lex sighed and Chloe relented. “You won’t like it.”

“What? Are you working with him to overthrow Luthor Corp? Because if you are, then I want in,” he joked. Chloe chuckled.

“First of all, you’d like that. And second, it’s nothing quite so underhanded,” she said and then made a mock-pensive face. “At least I don’t think so.”

“What is it then?”

Chloe bit her lip and Lex’s eyes were drawn to the movement, but she didn’t notice.

“I think he may have something to do with why you’ve been getting so sick and acting strange lately – or at the very least, he knows something about it,” Chloe said.

“I see. And what do you think he’s doing?”

Chloe shook her head.

“I have no idea; and I definitely don’t have any proof – just a nagging suspicion,” Chloe said.

“Ah – the infamous Chloe Sullivan instinct,” Lex said. “Well, you’re probably right then. Let me know what you find out?”

“Sure, if there’s anything to tell,” she agreed. Lex noticed that she made no move to get up from the couch and he smiled at her. Chloe rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay. I’m going.” She stood up and gave him a mock glare. “If this turns out to be true, then you *so* owe me.”

“What will I owe you?” Lex asked, and if Chloe hadn’t known better then she could have sworn it was in a somewhat suggestive tone. She placed a large smile on her lips.

“I’m sure I can come up with something,” she said.

“If you want an interview, then ---”

“Can’t,” she interrupted. “Part of the documents I signed when I started working for your dad said that I couldn’t interview any of you for at least five years after the ending of my employ.” Lex’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“And you agreed to that?”

“Yeah, well,” she mumbled. “I needed the job, okay? It has hours that fit into my schedule and it pays way better than if I took a waitressing job somewhere.”

“I don’t know – you’d look pretty fetching in one of those cute little waitress outfits,” Lex teased and winked at her.

“Funny,” she replied sarcastically. “And *fetching*? You’ve been spending too much time around my dad.”

“True,” Lex conceded.

“Okay, I’m off,” she said, taking a few steps toward the door. “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck.”

He watched her hand wave in the air from behind and smiled to himself at the thought of her verbally attacking his brother. He sat there for a moment before turning his head at the sound of a phone ringing.

‘Chloe’s cell phone,’ he thought when he saw it lying on the coffee table in front of him. He started to reach out for it when he remembered that it probably had voice messaging. ‘Still though…’ He clasped his hand around the phone and pushed the button to turn it on.

“Chloe’s phone, Lex speaking.”

A chortle of laughter came from the other end of the line.

“Since when are you answering Chloe’s phone?”

“Since she left it here while she went to bitch out Lucas,” Lex answered deadpan, still trying to place the male voice on the other side.

“Ah. Well, in that case, could you let her know I called?”

“I could if I knew who you were.”

“Ouch. She’s seeing somebody else?”

“Sean,” Lex stated, the young man’s last comment placing his connection to Chloe for him.

“I’m the someone else? Interesting…”

“No – no. I just didn’t recognize your voice. Sorry.”

“No problem. So, can you tell her I called?”

“Sure,” Lex replied. They said their short goodbyes and Lex clicked off Chloe’s cell phone. He stared at it in his outstretched hand, wondering why he was even contemplating whether or not to give Chloe the message.

Sean was her boyfriend, or if not then he soon would be, and he was a genuinely nice guy. Not to mention the fact that Lex had been wholly in favor of the relationship not two weeks ago. And it’s not as if he would have to share her time for much longer since Sean was being sent back to Dublin soon. Lex set the phone back on the coffee table and grinned to himself.

‘I’m selfish, not jealous,’ he thought. ‘And my problem is going to be remedied very soon.’




TBC…

[scifichick774]

A/N: If this sucks, please forgive me. I believe you know the reason why.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Chloe was upset that she had to resort to asking the security guards to find Lucas on their cameras. Not because she didn’t want to walk around the entire mansion looking for him, although that was part of it, but he should have been in the den or his ‘office’ – a term which she used very loosely because he never actually did any work. As it was, the guards located him at the indoor pool with his girlfriend.

Chloe shuddered.

‘Couldn’t they have taken it up to his bedroom or something?’ she thought. ‘Geez. It’s going to take me forever to get that image out of my head.’

She reached the pool room and took a deep breath before opening the door. She could hear the water splashing onto the cement and had no doubt that Lucas and Sabrina were still involved in their ‘activities’.

‘Which is fine,’ she reminded herself. ‘Just as long as I don’t have to see it.’

The moaning and splashing noises from the other side of the door ceased and Chloe shook her head lightly before pulling down on the door handle. She cleared her throat loudly; happy to see that they were only kissing now and that the water covered much of their bodies. Lucas looked up at her and frowned.

“What do you want?”

“To talk to you, believe it or not,” she answered, walking over to where the towels were kept to get a couple for them.

“I believe it. You want to lecture me about not keeping up on ‘Lex duty’ because dad’s not here,” Lucas said, making no move to push away from Sabrina. “You’re almost as bad as him, you know.”

“Uh-huh,” Chloe said, tossing the towels down by the side of the pool. “Listen, I *know* you know what’s going on with Lex. So, why don’t you make this easy on yourself and just tell me so I can fix it?”

“You know I know? I feel like I’m in an old movie.”

“Lucas!”

“What makes you think I know anything?” he asked. “Wouldn’t I have tried to help him if I did?”

“Not if you had anything to do with it,” she countered. Lucas made a face like he was seriously hurt by her comment.

“I can’t believe that you would even think that,” he said. Both Chloe and Sabrina rolled their eyes and Lucas shrugged. “So, what if I did? It’s not like you can prove it.”

“I don’t want to prove it, I just want you to stop doing it,” Chloe said. Lucas pushed himself out of the pool, smirking at Chloe as she averted her eyes. He grabbed one of the towels and wrapped it around his waist.

“Technically, *I’m* not doing anything,” he said. “*You* are.”

“What?!” Chloe yelled. “How dare you imply that I would do anything to him? I ---” she trailed off as she saw her stuffed bear’s head sticking out of Sabrina’s bag. Her eyes darted over to Sabrina, who had just finished covering herself up. “Why do you have Joey?”

“Who?”

“Joey,” Chloe repeated and made her way over to grab the bear out of the bag. She held it up and pointed to the nipped ear. “One of those stupid kittens Lana was trying to take care of chewed part of his ear off. I’ve been looking for him forever. Why did you have him in your bag?” Sabrina and Lucas exchanged a look and Chloe immediately glared at Lucas.

“Well, that would be where the ‘you doing something to him’ part would come in,” he said.

“What?”

Lucas let out a humorless chuckle and ran his hand around the back of his neck, displaying the firm muscles of his upper body. Sabrina let out a contented sigh, but Chloe didn’t even seem to notice. Lucas frowned a little when he realized that his distraction wasn’t going to work.

“You won’t believe me,” Lucas said, trying to worm his way out of saying anything. Chloe’s fierce stare made the younger Luthor squirm and he grumbled something that she couldn’t understand.

“Okay – now try it in a pitch that *humans* can hear.”

“It’s a curse, okay?”

“Not okay,” Chloe said. “Explain.”

“It was just for fun,” Lucas said. “And hey – who knew it would actually work?”

“Lucas,” Chloe said impatiently.

“Fine,” he grumbled. “It sort of makes him addicted to you. But it’s supposed to be really slow. I don’t know why he wigged out last week.”

“Actually, I have a theory about that,” Sabrina chimed in. Chloe looked at her expectantly and she gave her an apologetic look. “Your interaction with him after the initial placement of the curse was sporadic. That’s why he was going through really bad mood swings and stuff for a while. Since you saw him a lot more over this last week – and even called him when you weren’t here – it helped build up his tolerance levels. So, hypothetically, if you keep spending a lot of time with him, then we shouldn’t see any more withdrawal or overdose behavior.”

“I have an even better idea,” Chloe said. “Why don’t you just fix it? Now!”

“We can’t,” Lucas and Sabrina said at the same time.

“Why not?”

“We haven’t been able to find a counter-curse, but we’re still looking,” Sabrina said. “Besides, it’s not *that* bad spending time with him, is it? I mean, you two seem to get along pretty well. In fact, if I didn’t know that the curse was involved ---”

“Ugh. Don’t start with the matchmaking again, Sabby,” Lucas interrupted.

“What? They’re cute together. Just friends – for now – but cute,” she said.

“She’s sleeping with that Sean guy,” he argued.

“So? It’s not like he’s going to be here forever,” Sabrina pointed out. “And have you noticed how Lex has been getting a little bent out of shape any time she talks about Sean?”

“Hello? Curse,” Lucas said.

“It’s only supposed to make him addicted to her, not make him like her,” Sabrina said.

“You’re missing the point,” Lucas said, becoming exasperated with the argument. “We chose her because there was no way she would ever agree to go out with him. Remember?”

“Well, yeah, but ---”

“But nothing. She’s with Sean, so you need to let the whole setting Chloe and Lex up thing go.”

“I guess,” Sabrina said somewhat dejectedly.

Chloe looked back and forth between them like they had lost their minds. She shook her head lightly to try and snap herself out of whatever parallel world it felt like she was trapped in and then let out a sigh.

“I don’t know what you two are talking about and I don’t want to know. I just want to get Lex better,” she said.

“But ---”

Chloe held up a hand to stop any further comments.

“Just go look for a ‘counter-curse’ and I’ll take of Lex until you find one,” she said.

“Really?” Lucas asked with a twinge of glee in his voice. Chloe glared at him.

“You *have* to find a counter-curse. I can’t spend the rest of my life hanging around all the time with a guy who’s just my friend,” she said and then mumbled under her breath, “I’d never get a date again.”

“But if you and Lex ---”

“Sabby,” Lucas warned.

“Just – find – it,” Chloe said, pausing between each word as she looked at Lucas. “Because if you don’t, then I’m going to be the biggest nark in the world and tell your dad about what you’ve done.”

“What about Lex?” Lucas asked hesitantly. Chloe let the corners of her lips rise in an evil smirk.

“Oh – I’m already telling him.”



TBC…

[Queen Of Tact]

lol.... Chloe is going to tell Lex... Poor Lucas is goign to get his ass kicked.... *sorry Sabby it looks like ur man isn't going to be up for ur little fun time*

Ok, now you only have to get rid of the other guy...

CC

[drina]

HAHA, can't wait to see Lucas' butt get kicked. Please let Lex give Lucas one good one :worship2:

[bluemoongirl23]

*grinning* This is fantastic! I especially love the way that Sabby and Lucas were talking about Chloe and Lex as if she weren't standing right there. Oh, and Lex's reaction should be priceless.

Blue

[hurlingturtles]

oooooo, Lucus is in trouble! lol I wonder how Chloe is gonna "take care" of Lex. I'm hopefully envisioning some glorious smut action! :devil:

[DawnieAngel]

aww I totally love this, but one thing bugs me! You've made Sean so nice! And he makes Chloe so happy so It's kinda hard to want the relationship to finish before it starts so she can be with Lex...kinda hard but not impossible hehee, write more soon!
Dawnie

[scifichick774]

A/N: Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me not to write all the smutty scenes in my head regarding this fic? I hope you’re happy Imp.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Lucas’s chase after Chloe was short-lived when he realized that Lex would probably pummel him into the ground after he found out about the curse, not to mention the fact that he was clothed only in the towel that was wrapped around his waist and that made it look like he had been in a compromising position with Chloe. Despite his previous argument with Sabrina, he had noticed the way his brother had been acting around Chloe lately – and he wasn’t about to press his luck by showing up in front of him, chasing Chloe in just a towel.

Chloe didn’t care why Lucas had stopped following her, she was just happy that he had. Explaining to Lex that his brother and his wicca girlfriend had placed a curse on him was going to be hard enough without having Lucas right there to try and bullshit his way out of it. And then there was the added feature of having to tell Lex that she was going to be on ‘Lex duty’ until Lucas could find a counter-curse. She wasn’t looking forward to that at all.

‘Hey Lex, neither one of us will be able to have a date for a while unless it’s a double date, because you’ll go into withdrawal symptoms if you’re not around me,’ she thought. ‘Yeah. That’ll go over well.’

She paused and sucked in a deep breath when she got to the room she had left him in. Her hand reached out to turn the knob, but it started turning from the other side. Chloe blinked and looked up to see the door opening and Lex coming through the doorway. He practically ran into her before he looked where he was going and stopped. Lex smiled down at her.

“Good. You’re still alive. I was beginning to get worried.”

Chloe let out a nervous laugh and ran her hand around the back of her neck.

“Yeah, well, I might not be after I tell you what I found out,” she said. Lex’s eyebrows rose questioningly and he folded his arms across his chest.

“So he *does* have something to do with it?”

“You could definitely say that,” she answered and turned her head to look down the hallway. “Um, maybe you should sit down,” she said and motioned to the couch in the room with her head. Lex narrowed his eyes slightly but turned around to walk back into the room.

“Don’t keep me in suspense, Chloe,” he said as he sat down, giving her a tiny smirk. Chloe smiled at him.

“Hey – you called me by first name. Good for you.”

“You’re stalling.”

“Yep.”

Lex leaned back and crossed a leg so that his ankle was resting on the opposite knee.

“Maybe *you* should sit down,” he said. Chloe let out a breath and went to sit next to him, making sure to keep a good cushion’s worth of room between them.

“Here’s the thing ---”

“He’s been drugging my food? Or perhaps the decanter bottles ---”

“He put a curse on you,” Chloe blurted out. Lex looked at her with amused surprise, mixed with confusion.

“What?”

“You know his girlfriend, Sabrina?”

“Yes.”

“She’s a witch – er – wicca. Whatever,” Chloe said with a flip of her hand.

“He put a curse on me,” Lex repeated calmly and with disbelief.

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“And what does this curse involve exactly?” Lex asked. Chloe winced and then ran her teeth over her lower lip.

“I – uh – I didn’t catch all of it, but the gist of it is that you were supposed to develop an addiction.”

“To?” Lex asked; his mind flitting through the different things that he could have been exposed to previously that would have caused his behavior. He hadn’t had any substantial cravings since then though. ‘Well, except for Chloe,’ he thought. He took in her nervous look and his eyes widened. “You?”

“Apparently,” she confirmed. “But don’t worry. I told Lucas that I’d keep you company until they found a cure or whatever, so you won’t have to go through anymore withdrawal episodes.”

Lex’s mouth opened to speak, but snapped shut just as quickly when he realized what Chloe was saying. She was basically taking over the position that his father had assigned to Lucas – which meant that she would be spending more of her free time with him to make sure that he didn’t get sick.

‘This could definitely work to my advantage,’ he thought.

“Look, I know this is going to be awkward, and I’m sorry,” Chloe said, misreading the expression on Lex’s face. “But I don’t see another way right now. Your idiot brother put the curse on you without having a counter-curse, and I guess they’re having trouble finding one. And I can’t just let you go through those mood swings, fevers, and shakes, just because ---”

“Chloe,” Lex interrupted, “it’s okay.” Chloe shook her head.

“It’s really not,” she said. “You’re lucky he’s still alive. I just about killed him when I found out.”

“You should have.”

“Ah – well, then you would never be cured, would you?” she pointed out. “And I’m pretty sure that would significantly hamper your social life.”

‘Not necessarily, but I’d better not tell her that,’ he thought. Instead, he nodded once and gave her a small grin. “Speaking of social lives, Sean called.”

“What?”

“You left your cell phone here,” Lex said and motioned to where it sat on the table. Chloe groaned.

“Crap.”

“I thought you two were hitting it off?”

“We are,” Chloe said. “*That’s* the problem.”

“Why is that a ---”

“Lex – think about it. If the situation was reversed – and you actually had someone you were interested in for more than one date – how would she react if you told her that you had to spend all your free time with me because I was addicted to you?”

“Are you implying that I’m not interested in the women I date?” Lex asked, slightly changing the topic. Chloe stared at him.

“Du-h,” she strung out. “But that’s not what I was talking about. And --- why aren’t you angry?”

“About?”

“The curse,” Chloe said, “Lucas and all of that.”

“Oh – right,” he said. ‘Shit. Think of something.’ “I am. But as you pointed out, killing him would really work more to his advantage than to mine. He would get the satisfaction of knowing that I would be sent away to prison for his murder *and* go through a horrible withdrawal period because I would still be addicted to you.” Chloe let out a half-chuckle. “What?” he asked with a grin.

“First of all,” Chloe said, holding out her finger to start ticking of reasons, “You’re a Luthor. And no matter how angry your dad would be for killing your younger brother, he would never let you be sent to prison. It would reflect too poorly on him.”

“Good point.”

“Second,” she said with a broad smile, “What’s your schedule like for the next couple of months? Because I think you may have just stumbled onto our answer.”

“What do you mean?”

“You said ‘withdrawal period’,” she said, turning her entire body sideways on the couch so she was facing him. “Implying that no matter how bad it is for that time, you would eventually get over your addiction. Don’t you see? All I have to do is take Sean up on his offer to go over to Dublin with him for our school term’s break. No phone calls, no contact – you could break the addiction.”

“I could be wrong, but I doubt that ‘curse addictions’ work like regular addictions, Chloe,” he said, completely unsettled by her even suggesting that she would leave him to writhe in agony while she spent time in another man’s bed.

“Maybe.”

“And even with regular addictions, depending on what it is, it can take months – even years – to completely break an addiction. And some people never can.”

“Like recovering alcoholics just have to not drink,” Chloe said in understanding. Lex nodded and took a leap by placing his hand on top of hers.

“Curse or no curse, you’ve become my friend,” he said sincerely. Chloe looked surprised and barely managed a meager smile. “I don’t want to just cut you out of my life because it might or might not work.” Chloe let out a small sigh and nodded in agreement.

“Okay – back to ‘plan A’ then,” she said. “I just hope Sean doesn’t freak out.”

“At least you haven’t been dating him that long,” Lex said. Chloe glared at him and he held up a hand slightly as he quickly covered his previous statement. “I mean, it would be much worse if he didn’t take it well and you had already been dating for a few months.” A small frown crossed her lips.

“I guess you’re right,” she conceded and glanced over at her phone. “I – um ---”

Lex stood up and nodded at her.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” he said with an understanding look. “I need to have a talk with my brother anyway.” Chloe grinned at him.

“Let me know if you need help getting rid of the body.”

Lex let out a genuine laugh, taking Chloe a little by surprise.

“I think I can handle it. He can’t weigh that much.”

“You’d be surprised,” Chloe said. “You probably weigh the same as he does and I couldn’t even drag you by myself.” Lex’s brow furrowed and he sat back down on the couch as he stared intently at her.

“What? When was this?”

“The first time you acted completely stoned in front of your dad and me,” she answered. “I told him that I’d get you to your room while he took the conference call.”

“And did you?”

“Get you to your room?” she asked. He nodded. “Yeah, but not until after you passed out – and even then I had to have Lucas help me.” She shook her head at the memory. “God, he’s such a jerk.”

“Why?”

“He kept teasing me about setting me up with you and then when I tucked you in, he asked if I was going to give you a kiss on the forehead,” she said and then rolled her eyes. “Don’t even get me started on his conversation with Sabby when I was down there just now.”

“What happened?”

“They ---” she stopped talking when she realized that she was about to say that Sabrina had apparently gotten a matchmaking idea in her head involving the two of them. ‘Yeah, cuz’ *that* wouldn’t make him completely wig out,’ she thought sarcastically. “Nothing.”




TBC…

[Michelle]

Yay! more Chlex time!!! Oh Chloe, when will you realise it's a *good* thing Lex has an addiction to you? sigh, oh well...gotta say i'm loving this fic now, I love their banter....seriously, like, it's not to childish but not too wordy, you know? Anyway, keep up the good work and update soon! :worship2:

[hfce]

Oh I loved it. I am glad Lex knows now. It will be very interesting to see how this works out.


Hope :biggrin:

[creativegirl]

AHHH!

No ending there! want smoochies :( please?

Bexter

[Queen Of Tact]

new ch, loved it..... One big question.... Are we goign to get a good smutty chlexy goodness ch soon? LOL
U know I just had to ask....


CC

[drina]

great way to 'force' them to spend time together. lol

and although i would love smut, right now, only lex seems to be in the right frame of mind for it....chloe needs more persuasion...maybe seeing lex half-naked would do the trick :drool:

[Sway]

hopefully Sean doesn't take the news well and she realises what a jerk he is and then we'll get to the smoochies... possibly... dare i say it... SMUT!?!?

[sydsvaughn]

Oh Lex, Lex, Lex, you better come up with a plan to get Sean out of Chloe's life. Friends, hah! You want the woman, you know it, now go get her!

Sorry, little bit of the devil coming out in me. Anyhow, great chapter and I so cannot wait to see Lex "deal" with Lucas. This is wonderful!!

Sara

[bluemoongirl23]

Chloe's conversation with Sean ought to be interesting. But, the main event has got to be the Luthor boy showdown. Hope Sabrina causes trouble during that one, she's ever so much fun.

Blue

[scifichick774]

A/N: Sorry it took so long folks, but my muse has been keeping company with my darker fics this week.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lex found Lucas playing video games in the den, the sound turned up unreasonably high on the surround sound stereo system. One click of the main power button, and the television in front of Lucas went dead, as did the sound effects that accompanied the game.

“Hey! I was ---” Lucas trailed off when he turned around to see his brother standing there.

“Hard at work finding a cure already I see,” Lex quipped dryly. Lucas shot him a half-smirk.

“She didn’t say I had to start today,” he replied. Lex raised an eyebrow and barely nodded in response. “So – you here to give me another lecture or to just try and beat me up? Cuz’ I’ve gotta say – I’m pretty sure I can take you if it’s the second.”

“Actually, I just want to know why.”

“Why I put the curse on you?” Lucas asked. Lex shook his head slightly and Lucas furrowed his brow.

“Why Chloe?”

Lucas sighed and brought his legs up, stretching his body out on the couch like he was going to take a nap.

“It’s kind of a long story. I don’t want to bore you with the details.”

“Lucas,” Lex warned. Lucas rolled his eyes and waved his hand once in the air.

“Fine,” he said, but didn’t move to change his position. “Sabby said we needed to pick someone who you weren’t more than friendly acquaintances with, who you’d see on a fairly regular basis, but who wouldn’t normally agree to go out with you. I’m summarizing of course.”

“Of course,” Lex said shortly. “So, why Chloe?” Lucas shot his brother a small glare and then smiled cockily as he held his fingers up to count.

“First - you weren’t more than friendly acquaintances with her when we put the curse on you,” he said. “Who knew she would actually lower herself to becoming your friend?”

“Lucas.”

Lucas’s smile grew larger and a second finger went up.

“Second – she just started working for dad not that long ago, and since you’re his favorite whipping boy, you’d be seeing her often,” he said.

“And?”

“O-oh,” Lucas strung out mockingly, “you just want to know about the last part don’t you?” He let out a small chuckle and shook his head. “Well, if you hadn’t noticed, you’re not exactly her type, Lex.” Lex opened his mouth to protest and Lucas held up his hand for him to stop. “Let’s look at the evidence, shall we? Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne ---”

“She didn’t like Bruce, he liked her,” Lex corrected.

“You’re missing the point,” Lucas said. “She goes for nice, hero-complexed, tall, dark, and broody guys.”

“Then how do you explain Sean?” Lex countered. Lucas shrugged.

“Anomaly?” he offered lamely. “Well, he meets the nice, tall, and dark criteria; but to be honest, I don’t know. He kind of threw me for a loop. Maybe her taste is changing to smart, rich, sci-fi actor look-alikes? Which is probably a good thing if you think about it. She and Sean make a cute couple, don’t you think?” He asked the last part almost teasingly, the sparkle in his eyes letting Lex know that he knew of his growing feelings for her. Lex circled around the couch and made his way to the decanter set on the other side of the room.

“She’s on the phone with him now,” Lex said, pouring himself a small glass of amber-colored liquid. He brought the glass to his lips and took a sip before continuing. “She’s trying to explain what you did and why she suddenly has to spend a great deal of her free time with me. Tell me: how do you think he’ll react to that news?” Lucas snorted.

“Oh, come off it already! I’ve seen the way you’ve been acting around her. You can’t wait for them to break up,” Lucas said and then went into an overly dramatic speaking voice. “She’ll be all distraught over losing the man who could have been the one true love of her life, and you’ll spend your mandatory time together trying to convince her that she was too good for him anyway and that she should fall in love with you instead.” He let out an amused chuckle and looked at his brother again. “But you want to know what the best part of it is?”

“Can’t wait,” Lex said sarcastically.

“The best part is that the curse worked *and* you’ve fallen for her.”

“What?”

“You see, the curse was only supposed to make you become addicted to her – physically speaking. But then she went and got all concerned for you and you started to like her – all your own doing by the way, the curse had nothing to do with that. It’s just a wonderful layer of frosting; because no matter how much you might start to need her or like her, she doesn’t like you as anything more than a friend.” Lucas burst out in laughter and Lex’s grip around his glass tightened. “And, and,” he said through his laughter, “she never will. Because she’ll only think that you like her because of the curse.” He started laughing again and Lex set the glass down before he broke it. “Man, this worked out so much better than I ever could have hoped.”

“Hey! There you are!” Chloe’s voice came from the doorway. Lex and Lucas both looked over at her and she beamed a smile back at Lex. “You’ll never guess what happened.”

“What?” Lucas asked cheerfully. Chloe looked disdainfully at him and then at Lex.

“You didn’t kill him?”

“Not yet.”

“You want me to give you a few minutes?” she asked with grin on her lips. Lex grinned back at her and shook his head.

“What happened?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Oh! I told Sean about everything and, amazingly enough, he believed me,” Chloe said with a broad smile. Lucas’s jaw dropped open in shock.

“You’re joking,” he said. She shook her head and directed her attention back to Lex.

“Not only that, but he’s completely cool with it. He even said that he had been thinking about asking you to keep an eye out for me while he was back in Dublin, so it all kind of works out. Isn’t that great?”

Lucas and Lex just stared at her for a second, until Lucas’s body started to shake with heavy laughter. Chloe tilted her head to the side as she looked at him with confusion.

“What’s so funny?” she asked. “And why aren’t you looking for a counter-curse?” Lucas’s laugh tapered off into a forced cough, but the bright smile remained plastered on his face.

“Don’t even know what I’d be looking for without Sabby, and she had to go to work,” he answered.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. So, you want me to take Lex duty tonight so you can spend some quality time with Sean before he’s shipped out?” Lucas asked, not braving to look back over to see what he was sure would be a furious expression on his brother’s face.

“Nope,” Chloe said. “His schedule changed and he’s actually heading out tonight.” She looked over at Lex and smiled. “I’m all yours.”

Lucas snickered and rose from the couch, circling around to her side and stopping before he reached the door.

“Careful,” he half-whispered, “you’ll give him ideas.” He winked at her and left the room chuckling to himself.

Chloe turned back around and looked at Lex.

“Is he okay? *Mentally*?”

Lex smiled at her.

“Nothing that a little shock therapy won’t cure,” he joked and started crossing the room over to her. “So, you’re all mine, huh?” Chloe laughed at his suggestive tone and then smirked.

“Unless you already have a date – in which case I’ll be letting you suffer through withdrawal symptoms for the evening.”

“Actually, I was just going to catch up on my exercise – the treadmill, a few laps in the pool ---” he trailed off when he saw Chloe cringe. “What?”

“Uh – you might want to skip the pool,” she said and he raised a questioning eyebrow at her. “That’s where I found Lucas and Sabrina earlier and they were --- not swimming.” Lex’s mouth opened in understanding and then he nodded.

“I’ll have it drained and cleaned right away,” he said and then let a light smirk cover his lips. “In the meantime, why don’t you go home and get your suit?”




TBC…

[bluemoongirl23]

Oh. OH. Wet Lex. Hee. Chloe doesn't stand a chance!

Blue

[petriebird18]

Hmmm, Lex and Chloe in the pool together, maybe they could mimic what Lucas and Sabrina were doing before, only better :eyebrows: Now you just have to get rid of that boyfriend, what's his name? ;) I love it, update soon!
~Deidre~
:chlexsign3:

[TwirlWriter]

Oh this is soooo GOOD! Please MORE!!! Please Please Please update soon! :worship2:

[Tandy]

UPDATE!!!!!

Oh, wow! I've missed so much! Wonderful fic! Sorry I haven't reviewed, I've been suck into the world of HP fiction! Oh, you just have to update soon please!!!!
Tandy

[drina]

LUCAS IS SO MEAN!!!! I wanna :hammer: him so badly...

Kris, I hope that you have something nefarious planned for Lucas.... :devil:

[hurlingturtles]

lucus, lucus, lucus. you devious little bastard you. and chloe's taking far too long to realize that sean's not for her when she could have lex. need smut...need smut... doing a great job, by the way.

[dsapiro]

No one can resist a wet Lex...

[Blu_FireFly81]

This fic is so catchy and so original it killing me that you have a whole lot of talent for chlex and I got talent for anime, I love your work, keep it up and update soon! Please? :blush:

[tiff]

I'd volunteer for Lex duty... :chlexsign1:

[S.Ann Smith]

hmmmmm Lex and Chloe in the pool.... hehehehe... Oh the possibilities

[scifichick774]

A/N: Ah, swimming…or, almost anyway. *wink*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lana clutched the oversized bowl of popcorn closer to her and smiled nervously as Chloe came in the front door.

“Hey. I wasn’t expecting to see you home until a lot later,” she said. Chloe arched her eyebrow ever so slightly when she noticed the almost panicked note lining Lana’s voice.

“Just came to get --- something,” Chloe said, not really wanting to go into an explanation of why she needed to get a swimsuit to go back over to Lex’s house when it was almost dinner time. “So, what’s up? Movie night?”

“Um – yeah,” Lana said, giving her another nervous smile.

“Lana, are you okay?” Chloe asked. “You look kind of ---”

“Hey! Are we gonna watch the movie or not?!”

Chloe’s head turned in the direction the male voice had come from and then tilted her head back at Lana. Lana bit her lower lip and held out one of her hands to protest, lop-siding the bowl and spilling some of the popcorn.

“It’s not what you think,” Lana said quickly, balancing the bowl in her arms once again. Chloe snickered.

“Uh-huh. And that’s why you’re blushing.”

“I am not,” Lana said, trying to force down the color that had risen to her cheeks. She pursed her lips as Chloe started to giggle. “Didn’t you say you were just picking something up?”

“I did,” Chloe agreed and with a nod of her head, taking no action to move from her current position.

“You didn’t burn the popcorn did you?!”

“She’ll be in a second, Pete!” Chloe called back to the other room.

“Oh – hey Chlo!”

Chloe rolled her eyes at her friend’s loud greeting from the other room, knowing that he wasn’t about to move from whatever comfortable position he had gotten in since he was yelling back and forth. Lana’s head flopped down in defeat and Chloe smiled.

“You like him,” she teased. Lana shook her head and looked up at Chloe.

“It’s not like that. We’re just friends. We ---”

“You like him,” Chloe repeated with a smile that could only be considered giddy. “Does he know?” Lana’s expression fell a little.

“You’re entirely too smart for your own good,” she grumbled under her breath, but her eyes widened as panic set in again. “You’re not going to tell him, are you?” Chloe let the laughter bubble up from her throat and barely managed to shake her head.

“S-sorry,” Chloe said in an unapologetic tone through her laughter. “But you sound like you’re in junior high. If you like him, just tell him.”

“Oh yeah, because it’s always that easy,” Lana said sarcastically. Chloe laughter calmed down and shot her a sympathetic look.

“So, what’s the plan?” she asked in a now somewhat hushed voice. “Movie night for a few weeks and then make your move?”

“Something like that,” Lana admitted. “You’re not mad are you?”

Chloe blinked.

“Why would I be mad?”

“I just ---” she paused and took a breath, “--- I know he’s one of your best friends and I don’t want this to come between us like the Clark thing almost did.” Chloe let out a sour half-chuckle and ran her hand through her hair to sweep it out of her face.

“First of all, that was completely different,” she said. “Clark is – was – you know,” she stammered and then shook her head lightly. “Even though he and I aren’t getting along right now, and may never get along again, I would still try to be happy for you if Clark’s the one you really want. You know that, right?” The corners of Lana’s mouth curled up in a sad grin and she set the popcorn down so she could give Chloe a hug. When she pulled away, her smile had grown.

“I don’t, you know? Want him, I mean,” Lana said, quickly adding, “But don’t tell Pete that. I’m pretty sure he only agreed to come over because he’s trying to patch things up between me and Clark.” Chloe smiled and shrugged.

“Hey – whatever works - right?”

“Right,” Lana said and smiled back conspiratorially as she picked up the popcorn again. “So, how late are you going to be out? Or should I expect you home at all?” she teased. Chloe knew that Lana was assuming that she’d be out with Sean and saw no reason to correct her, as it would only lead to an inquiry that she wouldn’t be able to come up with any answers for – at least none that she could tell Lana.

“I’m not sure,” Chloe replied and started toward the stairs. “Did my dad call?” Lana nodded and gave Chloe an apologetic look.

“It sounds like he’s going to be stuck there for another couple of days. The weather’s just awful and they aren’t letting any planes take off.”

“Okay,” Chloe sighed and began to climb the stairs before turning her head and smiling down at Lana. “I’ll call and let you know if I’m going to be too late.”

~*~*~*~*~

By the time Chloe made it back to the Luthor estate, she was having second thoughts about the very idea of her and Lex in the pool together. She could just as well sit on the sidelines in the clothes she had on and still feed his addiction, couldn’t she? Why had he asked – neigh, *told* - her to go home and get her swimsuit?

‘He was just trying to be nice,’ Chloe thought to herself. ‘He didn’t want me to feel uncomfortable – and it is really warm and humid in the pool room.’ A second voice inside her head popped up. ‘Yeah, just keep telling yourself that.’ She sighed and closed her eyes for a second, already knowing the path in front of her by heart.

The truth was that she had enjoyed becoming friends with Lex, and had even entertained the idea of becoming more than friends with him. She pushed the thoughts aside because she knew that she wasn’t the kind of woman that Lex Luthor dated and she didn’t want to risk throwing another friendship into peril because of any feelings she might be developing for the man. It wouldn’t be fair to her because she’d have her heart broken again; it wouldn’t be fair to Lex because he wouldn’t understand how she had twisted a perfectly innocent friendship into something more – and God only knows how much Lex needed real friends; and it wouldn’t be fair to Sean, because he was a nice, good-looking guy who actually liked her back.

Still though, every minute she spent talking to him on the phone, or going out with him, she couldn’t help but think that their chemistry was more along the lines of friendship than anything else. He was handsome and she was attracted to him, but she didn’t see anything truly serious happening between them. It was more like they were kindred spirits than soul mates. Not that she believed in either one of them.

Chloe was shaken from her thoughts when she felt someone grab her elbow. She turned her head and smiled at Lex, who stood before her in a black t-shirt and exercise shorts, sweat beading off of his skin from the workout he had just finished. He grinned back at her and they started to walk toward the pool room.

“I was beginning to wonder if you’d changed your mind about coming back over tonight,” he said, trying to keep his tone teasing so she wouldn’t notice the fear he was admitting to her. Chloe chuckled.

“Well, it *was* awfully tempting to stay at home and do a movie night with Lana and Pete, but ---”

“Lana and Pete?”

“Lana – you know – long dark hair, you’re co-owners of the Talon; Pete ---”

“I know who Lana and Pete are,” Lex interrupted. “I was just surprised to hear they were hanging out together – sans Clark that is.”

“Ah,” Chloe said in understanding. “Well, that’s a long story. But the gist of it is that Pete’s trying to get Lana to reconcile with Clark and Lana likes him so she’s taking advantage.” Lex raised an amused eyebrow at her.

“Lana likes Pete?” he asked, a tinge of disbelief evident in his voice. Chloe cringed.

“I didn’t just tell you that,” she said.

“My lips are sealed,” he responded with a smirk. “Did you remember to bring a suit or did your heart-to-heart conversation with Lana make you forget about it?” Chloe rolled her eyes and started to dig through a large pocket in her bag.

“I never forget,” she said proudly as she plucked out a dark olive-green bikini and held it up with a smile. Lex felt his mouth go dry at the very small pieces of fabric she was holding in her hand.

“Green?” he managed to rasp out, hoping that his voice didn’t give away how turned on he was by just imagining her in the scant swimsuit. Apparently it didn’t, or she simply didn’t notice, because she smiled and let out a lilting laugh that only seemed to spiral him closer to going over the edge and pushing her against the wall to have his way with her right then and there.

“It was this or my pale pink bikini – and when that one gets wet, it’s basically see-through,” she said, her obvious humor with the situation still coming through. Lex’s body almost shut down with her words and he barely pulled off saying his next sentence without his voice cracking in desperation.

“That would have been fine.”

Chloe blinked and then threw her head back in a wave of laughter.

“Always the playboy, huh? Well, you’re lucky that I know that’s the curse talking, otherwise I might have thought you were serious and taken you up on it,” she said with a wink. She continued on through the door to the pool room, the sound of the water pouring into the pool covering the groan that escaped Lex’s lips.

They headed off to their separate changing rooms, Chloe emerging before Lex because his shower took longer. She grinned at the man checking the chlorine levels for the pool and he smiled back at her. Damned if she could remember his name though. She had been pretty good about learning the servants’ names but she still had trouble with the ones she didn’t see on a daily basis. She settled for giving him a simple ‘thank-you’ when he told her that the pool was all set to go.

She watched him disappear from the room before she ventured forward and dipped her toes in to test the temperature of the water. Despite the fact that it had just been re-filled, it was a pleasant temperature and Chloe smiled to herself, glad that she had given in and brought her swimsuit, pushing aside whatever other feelings she might be feeling toward Lex in order to spend time with her friend.

“How is it?”

Chloe’s head swung around at the sound of Lex’s voice and she was sure that her jaw dropped to the floor when she saw him clad only in a set of dark purple swim trunks. His lean, muscular body was enough to make her drool, and she averted her eyes quickly so he wouldn’t think she was staring at him.

‘Oh, God,’ she thought. ‘How am I going to do this?’ She met his eyes and, being so wrapped up in her own nervousness, failed to see the desire lurking in his gaze. “Purple, huh?” she joked with a wavering to her voice. He smirked at her and stepped closer, resting his hand on her hip as he leaned down to speak into her ear.

“I didn’t have a pale pink one.”




TBC…

[zwabby]

omg I almost fainted when I read that last line ......... wauw hot :yay:

[tiff]

Oh My God...that last line's a killer! Lex make your move!! I'm loving this curse... :chlexsign1:

[NightGlow]

And why the hell wouldn't he have a pale pink one? Hmpph! :crygreen:

[petriebird18]

MORE!!!!!! :yay: :worship2: :yay:
~Deidre~
:chlexsign3:

[A-u-r-o-r-a]

LMAO!!! XD

...hehehe! ^_^ i bet he *does* have a pale pink one you know, i know his game!

haha! brilliant, me likey!

[Queen Of Tact]

Kris you get here and post another ch now... I loved that last line, but I need more.... Great job....

CC

[nessa]

:biggrin: Great last line but now I can't wait what will happen next. Maybe a little smut...hint,hint ;) I love this story :chlexsign3:
Nessa

[bluemoongirl23]

Update now!!!! Really, that's all I have to say. Other than, fantastic as usual. And I love the use of the word neigh. YOu get extra points for that one.

Blue

[TwirlWriter]

OH your sooo mean!!!! You just had to leave it there........okay so I shouldn't be one to talk but but I want more!!!! Please update soon!!!! :worship2: I love this story! :chlexsign2:

[scifichick774]

A/N: Imp actually gave me permission to start the smut anytime now – and if you all were wondering, it was part of the challenge not to have that part of the relationship right away. So, expect smut coming up in the next chapter. Just warning you. *wink*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Oh – oh, man,” Lucas laughed into the phone. “You should have been there Sabs. It was so great.”

“You don’t really think Lex’s feelings are because of the curse, do you?” Sabrina said, a worried frown on her lips.

“Uh – ye-ah,” Lucas strung out. “That’s what makes it so funny.”

“Damn it, Lucas! How am I ever supposed to get them together if Chloe doesn’t think Lex likes her just because?”

“Just because what?”

“Just because he does!” Sabrina replied. “Great, this is just great,” she said sarcastically, more to herself than to Lucas. “And I suppose that Sean was absolutely fine with the idea of them spending time together?”

“Apparently,” Lucas said. “She told him everything about the curse and he actually believed her and said he was thinking about asking Lex to keep an eye on her anyway, so it all worked out. What kind of moron asks a guy who likes his girlfriend to keep an eye on her?”

“I don’t know. But it’s not like Sean knows that Lex likes her.”

“Whatever,” Lucas said dismissively. He heard his girlfriend sigh and he rolled his eyes. “What?”

“I just – I think I need to talk to Chloe,” Sabrina said. “You think she’ll believe me if I tell her that Lex’s feelings have nothing to do with the curse?”

“No,” he answered with a slight scoff.

“Well, I’m just going to have to try.”

“Ugh. You’ve *got* to be kidding me. I thought I told you to knock off the matchmaking crap.”

“Lucas!”

“Do I need to remind you - *again* - that she already has a boyfriend?”

“I know, but ---”

“But nothing. Let it go.”

Sabrina pursed her lips on the other end of the line, but she couldn’t start yelling at him while she was at work.

“I have to go,” she said curtly and hung up the phone, knowing that Lucas would just think that her supervisor was coming down the hall or something. She took a deep breath and got a determined look on her face. Chloe and Lex were going to get together if it killed her.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Chloe noticed that Lex’s hand was lingering against her bare skin, but she made no move to stop it. Instead, she smiled up at him, a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

“Why do I get the feeling that you’re lying to me?” she teased. Lex arched an eyebrow at her and tried to ignore what their close proximity was doing to him. He only hoped that she didn’t notice before he could jump into what he hoped was cold water to take care of it.

“Most men don’t own pink swim trunks, Chloe.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Would you let Sean wear pink?” Lex asked, regretting the words as soon as they came out of his mouth. ‘Good idea – remind her of her boyfriend when you’re trying to seduce her. Way to go Luthor,’ he mentally chided.

Chloe shook her head, trying to push aside the mental image that Lex just conjured up.

“His skin tone doesn’t go well with pastels,” she answered. Lex blinked.

“Are you implying that mine does?” he asked. Chloe scoffed and took a step away from him to dangle her toes in the water again.

“Please,” she said sarcastically. “How many days a month do you wear lilac-colored shirts?” Despite the knock, Lex found himself grinning.

“You’ve noticed what colors I wear?”

Chloe pursed her lips.

‘Shit,’ she thought. “No,” she answered, not daring to look up at him.

“I’ve notice what you wear,” he said in an entirely too suggestive voice. Chloe let her eyes flutter closed for just a second. She could practically feel his breath on the back of her neck and it was going to take every ounce of willpower she had not to take advantage of the fact that he was only acting this way because of some stupid curse that his brother had put on him.

“Uh – yeah,” she said almost hesitantly, but still trying to keep her tone light, “you still owe me for that blouse, by the way. Your saliva left some sort of weird stain on it that the dry cleaners couldn’t ---” Chloe suddenly felt Lex’s warm lips teasing her neck with feather-light kisses and found it impossible to continue her train of thought, let alone of speech.

His hands skimmed lovingly along her stomach until they were completely wrapped around her waist from behind. His mouth made its way to her ear and he gave the shell one simple, moist kiss before blowing on it, sending a shiver of pleasure down Chloe’s spine. She let out a whimpering moan and Lex caught her earlobe between his teeth, gently nipping it before sucking it gently.

“Lex,” she breathed, closing her eyes as the sensations started to sweep through her body. “We can’t --- you ---” Lex pulled her flush against him, the evidence of his arousal pressed hard against her. “Oh, God.”

Lex took a breath, inadvertently inhaling Chloe’s light, natural scent along with the air. His head started to spin as the familiar warmth of his previous ‘episodes’ hit his body. His face nuzzled into her hair and Chloe shook her head lightly. This had to stop. She couldn’t just let him…

“Did you just sniff me?”

“Mmm.”

“Lex?” Chloe turned around; Lex’s hold on her the only thing keeping her from falling into the pool. Lex’s mouth suddenly on hers cut off whatever else she had been about to say. She weakly tried to push him away, but her hands ended up climbing his chest and circling the back of his neck as she let the kiss deepen. “Mmm.” The kiss became more passionate, more forceful as their tongues slid warm and wet against each other; and the sheer weight of Lex’s body against hers forced Chloe to unknowingly move backward. She fell, dragging Lex along with her, into the pool.

She kicked her way to the surface and sputtered for air, coughing out the water that had shot down her throat when they splashed beneath the crystal blue liquid. Chloe swam to the side of the pool and tried to get her breathing under control, chuckling inwardly at the absurdity of the situation. She had wanted to stop it and it had definitely stopped.

Except, she hadn’t *really* wanted it to stop. The jolt that shot through her at the somewhat innocent skin to skin contact, the way Lex’s lips felt against hers, the way their bodies molded into each other – she had never felt anything remotely like that with any of the guys she had dated. Not that there had been that many, certainly not as many as some girls in her class, but enough to know that the kind of physical connection she felt with him was the stuff that romance novelists wrote about.

She quickly forced the idea out of her head. Lex didn’t really like her like that. He was only acting that way because of the curse and she had a boyfriend – or almost boyfriend – anyway.

“If you wanted to move things to the pool, all you had to do was say so,” a husky voice said, snapping Chloe out of her thoughts. She turned her head and frowned when she realized that Lex had been able to come up right next to her without her hearing him because she hadn’t been paying attention. Lex placed his hands on around her on both sides of the pool wall, effectively trapping her there. He started to lean toward her, but Chloe turned her head to the side and avoided any kind of possible eye contact with him. “What’s wrong?”

“Lex – we can’t do this.”

Lex frowned in confusion, his heart still beating rapidly from the high he had gotten off her scent.

“I ---” He had been about to launch into a speech about how he knew that she couldn’t really love Sean when they were so much better of a match, but he stopped himself. No one could verbal judo with him like Chloe, but he needed to be confident that he was going to win this round and actions spoke louder than words. He kissed her temple, taking her off guard enough so she turned her face to look at him, and then he moved his lips to hers. It was sweet, soft, and at first, completely unreciprocated.

Lex was persistent though, persuasive as he moved one of his hands to the back of her head, urging her to respond to his affections. Chloe let out a small moan and he slowly snaked his tongue into her mouth. She let go of the wall and placed her hands on his shoulders as they kissed. When they finally pulled apart to breathe, Lex rested his forehead against hers. He allowed a small, satisfied smirk to come to his lips.

“What were you saying?”

Chloe arched an eyebrow at his smug tone. Sure, he had a reason to be smug, but that didn’t mean he had to be. She turned around and started to push herself out of the pool, leaving an incredibly confused Lex in her wake.

“I was *saying*,” she started as she walked over to the towels, “that we can’t do this.”

“Why not? I like you, you --- like Sean --- shit,” Lex muttered the last part of his sentence under his breath. He pushed himself out of the pool and Chloe had to drag her eyes away from the amazingly erotic image that a dripping wet Lex Luthor made. He walked over to her and ducked his head apologetically. “God, Chloe, I’m sorry. I thought ---”

“It’s okay, Lex,” she said, cutting him off, and then mumbled to herself, “at least you have an excuse.”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing,” she lied.

“You said at least I have an excuse.”

Chloe sighed and met his questioning gaze.

“Look, you’re under the influence of that curse. You don’t actually like me, you ---”

“You kissed me back,” Lex interrupted, as if he had suddenly come to that realization. Chloe tried to force down the color that began rising to her cheeks, but was unsuccessful. “Chloe, about the curse…”




TBC…

[Queen Of Tact]

Kris you know I luv you but if you dont' get back here and post the next ch I'm going to have to kill you.....

By the way if you couldn't tell great ch....


CC

[Sway]

i second that motion!!!

great as always!! :biggrin:

[Blaire023]

<snatches sabby&#39;s whip away from her>

THAT IS IT&#33;&#33;&#33; YOU ALL SAY I&#39;M EVIL?

<points at Kris>

That&#39;s who I learned it from&#33;

B

[drina]

:yay: :yay: :yay: oh boy...when will you add to this? in the next 10 seconds i hope...

[L'infini]

Wahoo, the smut bunnies are finally appearing&#33; As I&#39;ve just said in another thread Pool Smut - makes the day seem brighter. Anyway *mwah* I love you&#33; I came back from a crappy German exam and found a lovely chlexy almost-pool-smut update&#33; Yay&#33; :yay2:

[TwirlWriter]

MORE NOW&#33;

Or I&#39;ll send my evil little minons after you&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;

PLEASE update soon...........

Nows good&#33;

[Katharina]

You really have to update soon. I love this story and I need more&#33;&#33;&#33;

[bluemoongirl23]

The hell&#33; Oh, I do NOT think so&#33; Unacceptable&#33; So, I&#39;m thinking of starting a posse consisting of sabby,
Queen of Tact, Not an Addict, Blaire and myself to come and hunt you down if you dont update soon&#33; I mean, how violent can we get? gah. No fair&#33;

Blue

[TestingFaith]

What the heck do you think you&#39;re doing stopping here....don&#39;t leave us hanging...please update soon.... :crygreen:

[scifichick774]

A/N: Ugh. I know I promised you smut in this one, but my stupid muse had other ideas. Sorry.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Lex,” Chloe interrupted, taking a step backward and holding her hands up as a defensive warning, “Tell you what, let’s just pretend this whole thing never ---”

“The curse doesn’t have anything to do with my feelings for you,” he uncharacteristically blurted out. Chloe furrowed her brow.

“What?”

“It doesn’t. Ask Lucas if you don’t believe me,” he said. Chloe crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, causing Lex to give her a lopsided grin in understanding. “Sabrina then.” Chloe shook her head lightly and smiled, but she tried to push it down as she started to speak.

“Lex ---” she was cut off by the distinctive sound of her cell phone ringing loudly through her bag. Lex sighed and ran a hand over his scalp as he watched her walk over to it.

‘With the way my luck’s going, it’ll be Sean – calling to profess his undying love for her,’ he thought and then bit back a small groan.

“Hello?” she answered, not daring to peek over to see what Lex’s reaction to her taking a phone call right in the middle of what could become a heated discussion was. ‘Heated in more than one sense of the word,’ she thought, immediately followed by, ‘Mind out of the gutter, Sullivan.’ Chloe heard a familiar tsking sound coming through the phone and her lips spread in a smile.

“I’ve only been gone a short while and you’ve already forgotten the proper phone etiquette I taught you,” Lionel teased.

“Answering the phone with my last name isn’t considered proper phone etiquette,” she jokingly argued. Lex couldn’t stop the cringe that swept through his body with her words. There was no mistaking who was on the other line now, and it was definitely worse than if Sean had been the one to call her. “And besides, this is my *personal* cell phone – not my business one. I can answer it any way I want to.” Lionel chuckled and she could practically hear him smirk at her through the phone.

“Of course, dear.”

“So – what’s up?”

“Just calling to check in, make sure you haven’t made anyone angry in my absence,” Lionel said smugly with a hint of teasing in his voice. Chloe laughed.

“No one that I know of,” she said and then glanced at Lex. Seeing the disturbed yet inquisitive look on his face, she amended her statement. “Nobody business-wise anyway.”

“Things not going well with the Callaghan boy then I take it?” Lionel asked, although it came out as more of a statement. “You know, I *did* warn you about long distance relationships.”

“You’re the one who gave him my phone number to begin with&#33;” Chloe objected.

“True,” he conceded, “But I never meant for it to be any sort of relationship. I just thought with all the stress you’re under that you might need a…tryst…so to speak.” Chloe’s mouth opened in shock, but she quickly snapped it shut.

“You thought I needed to get laid?&#33;” she half-screamed, ignoring the way Lex’s eyes threatened to pop out of his head. “I can’t believe you&#33; God, remind me never to tell my dad that. He’d never let me come to work again.” Lionel smiled and barely held back his laughter at Chloe’s outburst.

“Speaking of work, how has Lex been doing?”

Chloe looked over at Lex, running her teeth over her bottom lip nervously.

“Fine. You want to talk to him?” she asked, desperately hoping that he would say yes so she wouldn’t have to be the one to tell her boss about the curse that was put on his son. ‘Not that he’d believe me anyway,’ she thought.

“He’s with you?” Lionel asked in surprise. “It’s Friday night, Chloe. Shouldn’t you be ---”

“Hold on,” she interrupted and quickly made her way over to Lex, practically shoving the phone at him. Lex quirked an eyebrow, but held the phone up to his ear.

“Dad?”

“Lex,” Lionel greeted somewhat coolly and full of suspicion. “Why do I get the distinct impression that Chloe didn’t want to talk to me anymore?”

“I can’t imagine,” Lex said sarcastically. “What was that about you trying to get her laid?” Lionel smirked.

“Where is your brother?” he asked, skillfully dodging the question.

“I have no idea.” Lex heard his father grumble through the phone and his lips curled into a half-smile. He knew he would probably catch hell for what he was about to do, but it would be worth it. “Now that we know what’s wrong with me, Chloe has taken over what Lucas was so affectionately referring to as ‘Lex duty’.”

“What?” Lionel asked. Lex managed to stifle his laughter, but just barely. “You know ---”

“Apparently my beloved brother, with the assistance of his girlfriend, decided to put a curse on me,” Lex said.

“A curse?” Lionel asked, the disbelief evident in his voice.

“Mmm,” Lex hummed in affirmation, flashing a bright and mischievous smile at Chloe, who was sitting in a lounge chair looking completely mortified with the situation. “It’s supposed to make me develop an addiction ---” Lionel cut him off with a snort.

“I shouldn’t think they’d need a curse for that.”

“--- to Chloe,” Lex finished smugly. He pictured his father’s jaw squaring and his lips pursing in anger. “It was supposed to develop slowly, but since I didn’t have as much exposure to her over the first week as they had planned – well, it didn’t work out that way.”

“I see,” Lionel said through gritted teeth. “Put Chloe back on the line, would you?” Lex smirked.

“I would, but she just got back in the pool,” he lied. “And I don’t want to risk electrocution. I’ll tell her you said goodbye though.”

“Lex,” Lionel growled.

“Bye Dad,” Lex said cheerfully and hung up Chloe’s phone, pressing the button to shut off the power completely so Lionel couldn’t call back on that particular phone. Chloe groaned and buried her head in her hands.

“I’m going to get fired,” she said and shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m going to get fired over this. I’m a good worker, I ---”

“Chloe?”

Chloe jerked out of her rambling monologue to look up at Lex, who was staring back down at her with a bemused grin on his face.

“You’re not going to get fired.”

“But ---”

“He seemed more concerned about you than he did about me,” Lex admitted, sitting down next to her. “It was a little disturbing actually.” Chloe let out a huff of a breath.

“You’re not going to start calling me ‘sis’ like Lucas was; are you?” she asked. “Because I can guarantee that I’m not your ---” Lex reached up and brushed a few strands of damp hair behind her ear and Chloe had to desperately search for the words she had been about to say, “--- sister.”

“I know.”

“Listen Lex,” she started, ducking her head slightly so she wouldn’t have to meet his eyes, “About earlier – maybe we should just ---” she trailed off when she felt his hand skim along her side and rest on her hip.

“You kissed me back,” he said, efficiently resuming their earlier conversation. Chloe sucked in a breath. There was no way she could say what she wanted to say without it crossing the boundaries of their friendship forever; kisses were easier to ignore than words – at least that’s how it had been in her friendship with Clark.

“I like you,” she said quietly. Lex was close enough to her now for her to feel his breath against her wet hair and skin. She closed her eyes as she nibbled her lower lip, nervously waiting for his reaction.

“Then why are we arguing?” he asked. Chloe began to raise her face and Lex met her halfway, their lips briefly brushing against each others before the kiss turned into something considerably more substantial.

They parted their lips at the same time, their tongues reaching out to taste one another and becoming entangled as they slid against each other. Chloe felt his warm hand against the cool dampness of her bikini top and let out a moan as he cupped her breast, teasing her nipple through the thin piece of fabric. When they pulled apart to breathe, Lex stared at her through a haze of lust and desire, along with something that Chloe couldn’t put her finger on – at least, not until he spoke again.

“Call him,” he said through panted breaths.

“What?”

“Call Sean,” he said. There was no pleading quality to his voice – it was a command, pure and simple. “Tell him whatever you had with him is over.” Chloe opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off with the answer to her unspoken question. “I won’t share you.”




TBC…

[dsapiro]

Lex doesn&#39;t like to share. Luckily, Chloe is all his&#33; Update soon&#33;

[nessa]

:biggrin: Great chapter&#33;&#33;&#33; I really like Lionel in this story, his conversations with Chloe are always interesting and funny. Please update soon&#33;&#33;&#33;

[Katharina]

:yay: I really liked this chapter. I would have loved to see Linols face when Lex told him about the curse.
Now I don´t mean to get on your nerves, but when is the smut coming??? :drool:

[Sway]

soooo... posessive Lex... i like&#33;&#33; :worship2:

[TestingFaith]

don&#39;t stop there...

...need more :drool: :drool:

[drina]

Possessive much, Lex? :biggrin:

I can&#39;t wait for the next chapter...

[crazygirl]

I just love possive Lex, and Lionel is actually decent in this fic. But I wonder what will happen once he comes back home. But I&#39;ll wait. Patiently or rather not quite patiently. Actually, I want an update right now. Pretty please?&#33; :chlexsign3:

[sydsvaughn]

Possessive Lex ... gotta love him&#33; Cannot wait to see if Chloe gets all possessive as well .. and I can feel the smut coming on&#33;

Great chapter... more soon&#33;

Sara

[Tandy]

I wonder how chloe will react to that&#33; Hopefully with something that results in smut&#33; Wonderful job&#33; Please you have to update soon for that sake of my sanity&#33; I NEED more&#33;
Tandy :yay:

[bluemoongirl23]

It&#39;s weird, cause I so hope that Chloe just does as told so we can get our smut and SOON&#33; But, somehow, I don&#39;t think that that&#39;s going to happen. Still hoping though....Loved it, as usual.

Blue

[Sunny]

GGRRRREEEEEAAATTTTT&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; :worship2: :worship2: :worship2:
I want more&#33; Please write more soon&#33;&#33;&#33;

[scifichick774]

A/N: Yes, I know that Nightcap is supposed to come next in the rotation, but like I’ve said – I’ve got a fickle muse. Sorry.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Luthor,” Lucas answered into his cell phone.

“Well, at least one person is answering the phone properly,” Lionel commented.

“Dad?” Lucas asked. Lionel made a grumbling noise and Lucas frowned. This obviously wasn’t a social call – not that it ever was when his father was concerned. “What’s up?”

“You placed a curse on your brother?”

‘Crap.’

“I’ll take your silence as an affirmative answer,” Lionel said. Lucas let out a little nervous laugh.

“Listen, Dad, I can explain about that – it was just supposed to be a joke. How was I supposed to know it would actually work?”

“I certainly hope you don’t expect me to believe that.”

“Worth a shot,” Lucas said with a light shrug. “So, what’s got you pissed? The fact that I put a curse on Lex or the fact that I chose Chloe as his addiction?”

“Both, and you can expect some form of punishment when I return, but right now I’m more concerned that your brother might be trying to take advantage of the situation.”

“How so?” Lucas asked, already knowing the answer and hoping that the laughter he felt inside wasn’t coming through in his voice.

“Ever since ‘the incident’, I’ve noticed that he’s been looking at Chloe differently.”

“Uh huh,” Lucas said, trying to stifle the chuckle that was rising from his throat. “But even if he tries something, it’s not like she’ll go for him. She’s going out with that Sean guy.” Lionel grunted.

“Yes, well, apparently that’s not going so well. When I spoke with her, she all but said that she was going to call things off with him.”

“Shit,” Lucas said under his breath.

“Lucas?”

“Uh – I’m sorry to hear that,” Lucas said. “So, what do you want me to do? Sabby and I are already looking for a counter-curse, but no luck yet.”

“Seeing as how you’re to blame for this entire situation, you’re still on ‘Lex duty’,” Lionel answered snidely.

“What?&#33; But ---”

“No arguments, Lucas,” Lionel told him. “You’re to make sure he doesn’t make any improper advances toward Miss Sullivan. Is that understood?”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Chloe pulled back abruptly and had to force down her first instinct of rage. She took a deep breath and stood up to distance herself from him.

“Chloe?”

“This was a bad idea,” she murmured under her breath. “I’ll – um – I’ll talk to you later, okay Lex?” She started to make her way toward the changing area and Lex caught her arm.

“What’s going on?”

“What’s going on,” Chloe repeated in as calm of a voice as she could muster, albeit through gritted teeth, “Is that you’re acting exactly like Clark.”

“I beg your pardon?” Lex asked, the jealous and angry tones not escaping Chloe’s attention. Chloe slowly turned back around to face him and Lex noticed that her hands were balled into fists. Because of that, he was expecting to see a familiar angry fire within her eyes, but instead he saw something else. Hurt.

“Do you have any idea what I’ve gone through with him? Any idea at all?” Chloe asked. Lex opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. “I liked him – a lot. And then when I finally thought that he might like me back ---” she trailed off as she tried to hold back her tears, “well, obviously he didn’t. But that doesn’t keep him from giving me his opinion about every single guy that I’ve dated since then – and it’s *never* positive. It’s like he doesn’t want me, but he doesn’t want me to be with anyone else either.”

“And that’s what you think I’m doing?”

“No,” Chloe said, shaking her head as she looked at the ground. “You’re worse.” She met his eyes again and raised her hand to sweep away her tears before he had a chance. “Because you’ve actually said that you like me and you’ve gone so far as to initiate something.”

“I’m afraid I don’t follow,” Lex said. “How is that a bad thing exactly?”

“Because ---” Chloe sucked in a breath and then released it. “Because it would be different if you were interested in a monogamous relationship, but you aren’t. You expect me to break things off with Sean when you undoubtedly have no intention of doing the same from whatever women you’re dating. It’s just like with Clark; I’m your backup plan, or your ‘for the time being’ plan, but when the curse is lifted, then you’ll go back to going out with models and --- I don’t want to have my heart broken again. I can’t. I don’t think I could take it.” Chloe paused for a second, not daring to look at Lex and missing his stunned expression. “I’m sorry. We can still be friends, and I’ll still be around all the time so you don’t go through withdrawal, but I think we should forget about anything else. It will just be easier that way.”

“Easier for whom?” Lex asked somewhat angrily, fully preparing to go into a rant mode that rivaled Chloe’s. “Chloe, perhaps you didn’t notice, but I’m *not* Clark. I’m not pining after anyone else, and you said it yourself – I’m not interested in the women that I’ve been going out with. Hell, I don’t even like them. It’s all I can do not to walk out five minutes into the date most nights. And then you came to work for my dad ---”

“I don’t see how ---”

“And I got to know you for you – as a beautiful, intelligent, funny, caring woman, and not just as one of Clark’s friends. I realized that I liked you. Even more so when you started doting on me to make sure I was okay. You showed me a side to you that most people don’t get to see and it made me see that I didn’t just like you as a friend, but I knew you were going out with Sean and didn’t feel the same way.” Lex stopped for a second, surprised that he had poured out his heart like that when he certainly hadn’t intended to. The prospect of being around Chloe all the time and pretending like there was nothing between them was too much to handle though, and he figured it was worth a little humiliation if it got her to relent.

“I ---”

“When you started to show signs that my feelings might not be so one-sided after all, I let my impatience get the better of me and decided to act on it. When I asked you to tell Sean it was over, it was so we could be together. I don’t *have* anyone to get rid of or I would completely expect you to ask the same of me. I would have already done it without being asked.” Chloe opened her mouth, but snapped it shut, changing her mind before she spoke. A sly grin lifted one corner of her mouth.

“You didn’t actually *ask* me,” she pointed out. Lex let some of his anger with her presumption of his intentions slip away and allowed himself to give her a small grin as well.

“Semantics.”

“So ---”

“So,” Lex repeated.

“You want me to call Sean, huh?”

“Seeing as how I won’t act on my feelings for you – at least not anymore - until I know you’re all mine and vice versa – then yes. I would greatly appreciate it.”

Chloe glanced over to the clock on the wall and then back to Lex.

“He’s probably in the air right now so I have no way to reach him,” she said and then gave him a forced yet teasing smile. “I guess we’re going to have to be just friends for the evening.” Lex pursed his lips at her taunting tone.

“Is it too late to amend my earlier statement?”

Chloe laughed and Lex smiled in return – at least until he heard a loud wolf whistle come from the door to the pool room. Both of them turned their heads to see Lucas strolling toward them, his eyes taking in every inch of Chloe’s scantily clad body.

“Nice bikini, Sullivan,” he said with a broad smile. Chloe rolled her eyes and Lex glared at him.

“Lucas,” he said in a warning tone.

“What? It was a compliment,” Lucas argued. “I have a girlfriend, she has a boyfriend ---”

“Did you need something, Lucas?” Lex interrupted.

“Not *need* per se, but I just had a ‘really fascinating’ conversation with dad,” Lucas replied, emphasizing the middle of the sentence with heavy sarcasm. “He seems to think that you might be tempted to take advantage of this little curse thing – which, by the way, he totally reamed me about ---”

“Good,” Chloe and Lex said in unison.

“Get to the point, Lucas,” Lex added irritably. Lucas gave him a laughing smile and his eyes danced with mischief.

“Can you say *chaperone*?” he asked. Chloe and Lex exchanged a look.

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Lex said. Lucas scoffed.

“That’s what I told him, but would he listen to me? Noooo.”

“Lucas ---”

“Look – you wanna get rid of me? You’re gonna have to call him and talk to him yourself, because like I said, he’s not listening to me.” Lucas walked over to one of the lounge chairs and sprawled himself on top of it, resting his hands behind his head and crossing his legs at his ankles as he made himself comfortable.



TBC…

[sydsvaughn]

Lucas as a chaperone, what are they going to do? <EG> Loving this so far, especially the &#39;heartfelt confessions.&#39;

More soon please&#33;

Sara

[hfce]

Ok give me a gun so I can shoot lucas right now. He is really pissing me off. :devil:

Hope :devil:

[buffiy18]

Go Chloe&#33; Standing up for herself and not doing as Lex orders... kinda


“He’s probably in the air right now so I have no way to reach him,” she said and then gave him a forced yet teasing smile. “I guess we’re going to have to be just friends for the evening.”

Lucas has horrible timing, I wanted to see how long "just friends" would of lasted in the pool :wub: Is he falling into the pool and drowning anytime soon?

[Queen Of Tact]

LMAO&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; I would so like to see the day that Lucas could pass as a chaperone.... Loved it... I can&#39;t wait to read more....


CC

[tiff]

Yay, you updated this too&#33; *ahem* I&#39;m okay. Lucas as a chaperone is just...there are no words...

[nessa]

:yay3: I like your idea with Lucas as chaperone. :biggrin: But I would like better some smut between Chloe and Lex. Please update soon.

[hler]

Quick&#33; Throw Lucas into the pool and run (to the bedroom please)&#33;

I absolutely love this fic&#33;&#33; :worship2: Lucas as a chaperone: priceless. Now all we need is for Sabrina to distract him. Hmmm......

[Katharina]

Wow&#33; That was so funny.
But why did Lionel have to sent Lucas. Can´t he just go and play with his own girlfriend?
Well, let´s just hope somebody drowns in the next chapter.

[crazygirl]

Lucas *never* does what Lionel wants him to, so *why now*??? Please update soon. :chlexsign4:

[bluemoongirl23]

I think that this might just send Lex over the edge. So close to getting what he wants and now Lucas has to watch over them? Poor Lex. Hey, I think that Sabby may just come in handy soon with her devious mind.

Blue

[petriebird18]

Wait, Lucus is supposed to &#39;chaperone&#39; them? :huh: Like he could actually do anything to stop them :biggrin: ;) MORE NOW&#33;&#33;&#33; :yay:
~Deidre~
:chlexsign3:

[scifichick774]

A/N: I have no excuse other than my real life really sucks right now. Thank you for your continued support and if this part sucks, then you know why.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lex shot Lucas another warning glare, which Lucas promptly responded to by giving him a twisted, almost demonic smile. Lex balled his hands up into fists, part of him desperately wanting Lucas to say that one thing that would be stepping over the line so he could deck him. For the last half hour, Lucas had been playing what he referred to as ‘the dutiful son’ by acting as a chaperone between Chloe and Lex; and apparently Lucas’s idea of cooling things off between them primarily consisted of constantly asking questions about Chloe and Sean’s relationship.

Lex knew that his brother was doing it to drive him crazy, but it upset him that it was actually working. Normally he would have been able to shrug off Lucas’s comments about anything with an impassive face, but he and Chloe had been so close to finally actualizing the relationship that he wanted with her and Lucas had come in and ruined everything.

As it was, one more mention of how adorable Lucas said Sabrina thought Chloe and Sean were as a couple and Lex would either throw up or strangle his brother; and he was seriously considering the second option, security cameras be damned. Lucas had left them alone for a few minutes and come back in his swimming trunks. He actually seemed surprised that Chloe wasn’t drooling over his finely toned physique and it had only brought on another series of comments about Sean and how ‘well built’ he must be for Chloe to not even check him out.

That was it. Lex started to pull his arm back, only to have it still in the air and fall back to his side when the butler came into the room. He cleared his throat and stood near the doorway, quickly averting his eyes so it wouldn’t look like he was leering at Chloe in her bikini. Chloe, Lex, and Lucas all had their heads turned toward him with expectant expressions on their faces.

“Miss Sabrina is here to see ---”

Sabrina seemingly appeared out of nowhere and hurriedly pushed past him, cutting him off in mid-sentence. The butler frowned, giving her an almost scathing look before turning on his heel to leave. Sabrina smiled brightly, panting as she struggled to regain her breath. She held up a book and walked toward the group.

“I found it&#33;”

Lucas’s smile fell.

“You found what?” he asked.

“I found *it*,” she replied. “I found the counter-curse.”

“You did?” Chloe asked happily, her demeanor definitely picking up from the sour anger that had laced her system at Lucas’s arrival. Lex couldn’t be sure, but he thought he felt his heart break. The curse, despite its fallbacks, was his one sure way of securing Chloe’s time and attention. Now that they had a way to break it, he wasn’t entirely confident that she wouldn’t take the safe road and stay with Sean. Clark had hurt her badly enough that Lex could easily see that happening, especially with Chloe’s newly acquired enthrallment for the counter curse, and it didn’t please him one bit.

“Yeah,” Sabrina said, shaking Lex out of his thoughts. She flipped to her bookmarked page and raked her teeth over her lower lip nervously as she stared down at the words. “There are a couple of *little* problems though.” Lex’s eyebrows rose, a glimmer of hope tweaking his interest.

“O-kay,” Chloe said slowly, stringing out her word. “But it can’t be any worse than it is now. I mean, Lex has had to go through so much just because of this thing.” Sabrina barely held back a snicker, knowing full well that Lex held a very different view on the topic.

“Alright,” she started. “Well, the first thing is that he has to have made his way all the way through it before we can do anything.”

“What do you mean?” Lex asked. Lucas grumbled something under his breath and then let out a small resigned sigh.

“The curse works its way through all the senses, yada yada…” he said disinterestedly. Sabrina gave him a partial glare and then faked a smile at Lex.

“Basically he’s right,” she said. “The curse has to go through all five of your senses before the counter-curse will work – and the taste one ---” she trailed off and focused her eyes back on the book.

“And the taste one *what*?” Chloe asked.

“Yeah,” Lucas chimed in. “What’s the big deal? So he shoves his tongue in her mouth, licks around a little, and there you go - all done.”

“Wow. You’re such a romantic,” Sabrina said sarcastically. “And it’s not that kind of taste.” She added the last part so quietly that the others barely heard her.

“What?” Lex asked. Sabrina cleared her throat and purposefully avoided eye contact with him as she answered.

“It’s not that kind of taste,” she repeated. “You have to --- you know ---” she stopped talking and motioned with her hand to the juncture between Chloe’s thighs. ‘Not that you’ll mind,’ she thought. Chloe’s eyes grew wide at the suggestion and Lex’s lips held a hint of a delighted grin. He slapped his brother hard on the back.

“I’ve got to hand it to you Lucas,” Lex said. “Maybe I should let you try to get even with me more often.” Lucas gave him a tight, forced grin.

“Shut up,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Well, it *is* a curse,” Sabrina interrupted in an effort to explain, “and seeing as how taste comes last and that particular kind of taste would pretty much ensure that the afflicted person went through withdrawal to the point of almost dying – it makes sense if you look at it in that perspective. How far along are you with the other senses?”

“I’m not sure,” Lex answered, finding it difficult to pull his mind out of the image of him and Chloe that Sabrina had unwittingly placed in his head. “Hearing, sight, scent,” he said, tapping his fingers as he counted through his memories of what had happened. “I think that’s it.” Sabrina nodded.

“Touch and taste are the last ones to come, and now that Chloe’s making sure you don’t go through withdrawals, then it might be a while ---”

“I don’t know,” Lex said suggestively, his eyes skimming up Chloe’s body, “we could try pushing things along.”

Both Sabrina and Lucas rolled their eyes.

“It doesn’t work that way,” Sabrina informed him.

“And I thought you didn’t want to do anything until ---” Chloe abruptly stopped talking when she realized that Lucas and Sabrina were staring intently at her. “I - er – that is to say ---” Sabrina let out a high pitched squeal that eerily reminded Chloe of a similar sound that Lana made when she got over-excited about something.

“I knew it&#33;” Sabrina yelled cheerfully, a note of triumph lining her voice. “I knew you liked him back&#33;” Chloe looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

“I ---”

“This is so great,” Sabrina continued. “See? I told you Lucas. They’re supposed to be together. It’s like ---”

“Hold on,” Lex interrupted. “Lucas just got through telling us, for the last half hour before you got here, that you thought Chloe and Sean belonged together.”

“What?&#33;” Sabrina screamed, her eyes now fixed in a fiery glare at Lucas. “I never said that&#33; I’ve been wanting Chloe and Lex to get together this whole time&#33; I was even going to try and have a heart to heart with Chloe to tell her that his feelings have nothing to do with the curse, because you were joking about how she’ll never like him back&#33; How could you ---”

“Shh. Calm down,” Lucas said in a soothing voice. He wrapped his arm around her back and started to turn her around toward the door. “It was just a joke. Can I help it if he doesn’t have a sense of humor?”

“Lucas ---”

“Besides, wouldn’t you rather be spending some quality *alone* time?” he asked in a husky voice, lowering it to the point where Chloe and Lex could barely hear him anymore. “Seeing as how you came home from work early and everything.” Sabrina visibly relaxed and let out a small giggle as Lucas whispered in her ear. Chloe and Lex watched as the couple made their way toward the door and then left. Chloe frowned.

“Why does your brother have to be so smooth? Sabby’s rant was going so well,” she said. Lex chuckled and Chloe chewed on her lip before nervously glancing over at him. “So --- the curse really has nothing to do with your feelings?”

“I tried to tell you.”

“Yeah, well, it’s always good to get someone else’s perspective,” she mumbled. Lex nodded once. “So, what now?” Lex didn’t answer, but gave her a tiny smirk that Chloe missed as he stepped closer to her. “I guess we haven’t technically gone swimming yet.”

“Uh-huh,” Lex replied, his tone lower and huskier than before.

“Or we could go bother Lana and Pete,” Chloe suggested with a light chuckle. She shook her head a little and smiled in amusement, not noticing how close Lex was getting to her. “I still can’t believe she likes him. I ---” Chloe paused when she felt Lex’s hands glide across the skin on her sides until they rested on her hips. “L--- mmph.” Lex leaned down and kissed her, his tongue darting out almost immediately since her mouth was open from talking.

His hand trailed up her back and as his lips made their way to her neck, his deft fingers pulled at the strings holding Chloe’s bikini top to her body. Chloe opened and widened her eyes, startled by the bold move.

“Lex – I thought you wanted to wait until --- oh, God.”

Her top was thrown to the floor and Lex palmed one of her breasts as he started to suck on the smooth skin of her neck. His thumb brushed against her nipple and when she let out a whimper, he started to roll it between his finger and thumb, pulling and tweaking until it was almost painfully tight and erect. He kissed his way up to her ear and dabbed it with his tongue before blowing lightly into it. The tremble that ran through Chloe’s body encouraged him.

Despite what he had said about wanting Chloe to call things off with Sean first, he knew he wouldn’t be able to wait for the hours to pass before she would be able to call him. And although his momentary insecurity about her staying with Sean had been abated for the time being, he still felt the desperate need to mark her as his own. Because, after his dad finally came home, who knew if they would ever be able to spend time together again?

He peppered moist kisses from her neck to her collarbone and then down to her other breast. His tongue circled around the nipple and he felt Chloe’s fingers dig into his scalp in anticipation. His lips wrapped around her and he gently started to alternate suckling with light bites. Chloe moaned and arched into him. That was all the incentive he needed. Lex stood up and Chloe immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, pushing on the back of his head as their mouths met in a frenzied kiss.

In a single fluid movement, Lex leaned down and picked her up, kissing her again as he began to carry her toward the door; only realizing too late that the security cameras that lined every room of the house except the bedrooms were recording their every move.



TBC…

[hfce]

Oh wow that was good. And the ending :drool: Pleae Kris more with sugar on top. ;)

Hope :)

[petriebird18]

only realizing too late that the security cameras that lined every room of the house except the bedrooms were recording their every move

Uhoh :ohmy: i&#39;m guessing that means that we&#39;re going to be seeing a very :evilbat: Lionel in the next Chappy?
SO HURRY UP ALREADY&#33; :biggrin: That should be &#39;interesting&#39; :hehe:
~Deidre~
:chlexsign3:

[asy]

hey swtie..u okai? i hope so&#33;&#33; juss ta letcha know that this chapter was awsome&#33; (so what else is new??) hee hee&#33;&#33; i hope everything gets better for ya soon&#33;&#33; <33 btw...update cause i cant wait fer what&#39;s nxt&#33;&#33; :chlexsign3:

[Blaire023]

Oh, Kris. Beautiful turnabout on the taste sense.

Heeeh, I had big stupid grin on the whole time....earning very weird looks.

~B

[sydsvaughn]

Okay, you need to update soon&#33; I loved this chapter and the whole Sabby rant&#33; More very soon, please?

Sara

[bluemoongirl23]

Oh, Sabby, stopping your rant for some Lucas.....yeah, not suprised by that. Cameras be damned&#33; And I like that the curse has to involve all five senses...

Blue

[Katharina]

Awwwww that chapter was really cute. Even though Sabrina could habe talked a little longer. Lucas really diserved that. I´m looking forward to see Linols reaction to the tape. That´s gotta be interesting.

[drina]

Hope everything&#39;s better in the RL, Kris...and no, this chapter does not suck, it&#39;s great&#33; :biggrin:

[scifichick774]

A/N: I can’t believe I’m saying this eighteen chapters into the fic, but a big smut warning is in effect for this chapter – and, uh, it pretty much jumps right into it, so avert your eyes if you’re offended by that sort of thing. This chapter is for Sabby, and I think you’ll see why.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I can’t believe you were right,” Lucas grumbled, casually removing his swim trunks as Sabrina started to undress in front of him. “I mean, she’s got a *boyfriend*. A rich, smart, good-looking ---”

“Should I be worried?” Sabrina teased, an eyebrow arched in the air for effect. Lucas rolled his eyes.

“Funny,” he said sarcastically. “And you know what I meant. She just doesn’t seem like the kind of girl who would cheat on someone she was going out with.”

“First of all, Sean *isn’t* her boyfriend,” Sabrina argued. Lucas opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. “They’ve been out a few times and have been talking on the phone, but I’ve never heard the words ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend’ mentioned. Have you?”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

Sabrina shook her head and walked over to him, running her hands up his chest.

“How did we get on this topic again?” she asked. Lucas ran his eyes appreciatively over her naked body and he placed his hands on her hips as he lifted one corner of his mouth in a leering grin.

“I’d remind you, but I can think of a better use of our time before dear old dad finally gets home,” he said suggestively.

“I thought he wasn’t coming back until early next week?”

Lucas snorted.

“I wish, but apparently his plans have changed,” he said.

“Because of Lex and Chloe,” Sabrina replied understandingly. Lucas nodded. “Well, you could call him – tell him that we have a counter-curse now.”

Lucas tilted his head at her, a tight grin on his lips.

“Uh huh,” he started in a mocking tone, “And who’s going to tell him the *conditions* of the counter-curse? Because it sure as hell isn’t going to be me.” Sabrina bit her lower lip playfully and then let out a gurgle of laughter.

“Yeah, I guess that wouldn’t go over very well, huh?”

“He’d come rushing home faster than he is already,” Lucas agreed and then shook his head.

“What?”

“I don’t get him. I mean, he sets Chloe up with Sean so she can get laid, but he doesn’t want her sleeping with Lex? What’s the difference?”

Sabrina made a face as a thought came to her.

“Lucas, you don’t think she really is your ---”

He interrupted her with a loud scoff.

“No way,” he said.

“But you were out there for a long time and Lex didn’t know that you existed,” she argued. “And if there’s even a possibility that ---”

“There’s not,” Lucas interrupted again. “Dad makes all his employees take a blood test when they first come to work for him.”

“So?”

“So-oo,” he strung out, “he has DNA analyses done on all of them, and I already had Chloe’s compared to Lex’s.” Sabrina’s eyes widened and she pulled away from him.

“What?&#33; Why did you do that? And when? And why didn’t you tell me sooner?” she rambled. Lucas rolled his eyes.

“I’m mean, not *evil*,” he said. “You really think I would have taken ‘Lex duty’ so lax they *were* related?” Sabrina gave him a surprised and pleased smile.

“I guess not,” she said. “So, what about your dad? Maybe he doesn’t know ---”

“I don’t suppose we could *not* talk about my dad right now?” Lucas asked, barely suppressing the urge to shudder when he thought of the reason he suspected that Lionel was being so protective of Chloe in regards to Lex. “Kind of ruins the mood, you know?” Sabrina smiled again and Lucas leaned his head down to kiss her. Her lips parted immediately, her tongue reaching out to his at the same time he started to plunge into her mouth.

He hands drifted down her backside and cupped her ass, bringing her flush against him as he backed them toward the bed. He tumbled on top of her, his tongue still dueling with hers as his hands skimmed along her body. Her knees bent at his sides and he pulled away from the kiss to hover over her.

Lucas smirked down at Sabrina for a second, relishing the somewhat impatient look on his girlfriend’s face before ducking his head and moving his mouth along her body. He kissed the swell of her breasts first, teasing a hardening nipple until she whimpered. Sabrina’s hands wove through his hair and gripped hard in an effort to keep his attention there when she felt him start to move. Lucas grinned and happily obliged.

His tongue swirled in circles around her areola, only giving in to running his teeth across her nipple and then gently suckling when her fingers in his hair actually started to hurt with their pressured insistence. He rolled her other nipple between his fingers as she started to rock her hips beneath him in an effort to seek the friction she so desperately craved.

Lucas barely resisted smirking against her.

“Lucas ---” Sabrina trailed off, catching herself before she started to beg him to give her what she needed.

Lucas let go of her breasts and licked down her belly, stopping at her thighs to tease her more. Sabrina half scowled at him and hooked her leg over his shoulder to pull him forward. Lucas snickered.

“This was *your* idea, Lucas,” she said through gritted teeth. “I can always go back to work if you’re not going to ---”

Lucas tickled her inner thighs with his moist, warm lips, slowly moving closer to her swollen center. Sabrina moaned and attempted to grab his head once again to force his tongue onto her clit, but he pulled back slightly and gave her an impish look; one that was surreally hot and thoroughly aggravating at the same time. Sabrina closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing down from the semi-pant it had become. If Lucas wanted to play, then she could play, because there was no way she was going to beg him for it.

“Bastard,” she rasped out, feeling Lucas’s body as it shook with a light laughter in response to her comment. She should have known better than to use that particular term, as Lucas seemed to take a strange pride in not being raised as a Luthor, but in the heat of the moment she had forgotten and was mentally chiding herself for it. She was just about to push him away for good when he dipped his head again and started to lap at the moisture along her silken folds. “Oh – oh, God.” She let her head arch back against the pillow and closed her eyes as the muscles in her stomach started to clench.

His tongue darted inside her and he started to rub her clit with his thumb in time with his thrusts, Sabrina’s moans and guttural broken words of pleasure only spurring him on. He could feel that she was close, her inner walls growing wetter and wetter every time he tasted them, and was more than stunned when she suddenly jerked away from him and pushed his back onto the bed.

Lucas arched an eyebrow at her, but it was accompanied by the famous Luthor smirk.

“Baby, you didn’t let me finish,” he teased, propping himself up on his elbows. Sabrina moved to straddle him, dipping her head only for a quick kiss and tasting her own juices on his mouth before positioning herself above his hard and waiting cock. She slid down slowly, impaling herself inch by inch just to try and torture him. Lucas chuckled underneath her and brought his hands up to her hips, pulling her down in one swift movement, and causing both of them to let out loud moans. She smiled wickedly down at him as she started riding him. The bed’s headboard started banging hard against the wall and the sound echoed through the hallway.

Lex stopped and placed Chloe’s feet on the ground so he could kiss her properly. The short and sweet stolen kisses on the way to his room were nice, but he needed more. One of his hands wove into her hair, gripping the back of her skull as their tongues tangled, and his other hand swept across Chloe’s naked back, pulling her closer until she was flush against him.

Chloe let out a whimpered moan, tilting her head to the side as Lex trailed away from her mouth and start nibbling at the soft skin of her neck. Her hands ran around to the back of his head and neck, making sure that he stayed in the position that was sending shivers of delight through her body.

‘Or maybe that’s because you’re half naked and in the middle of a poorly insulated castle,’ her inner voice chimed. Chloe grimaced. “Shit.” Lex pulled away slightly, giving her a questioning look with a raised eyebrow. “I ---” she paused and gritted her teeth, motioning to one of the cameras hanging from the upper corner of one of the hallway’s walls, “cameras.” Lex squared his jaw and quickly shielded Chloe’s body from the camera’s view.

“I’m sorry,” he said, searching her eyes for some chance that she might forgive him for overlooking something so important. “I wasn’t think---”

“Oooh – fuck yeah&#33;”

Chloe and Lex both blinked a couple of times at the sound of Sabrina’s very loud scream of pleasure. After a moment of uncomfortable silence companied with the erotic noises coming from Lucas’s bedroom down the hall, Chloe finally shook her head in disbelief.

“How does he do that?” she asked, more for herself than to Lex. Lex’s eyebrow quirked upward again and Chloe blushed. “That’s not what I meant,” she quickly covered. “I meant, how does he get her to just forget everything else that’s going on around them and ---”

“Yes, yes&#33; Oh, God&#33; Lucas&#33;”

The sounds from his brother’s bedroom seemed to be growing louder and louder and Lex couldn’t stand it anymore.

‘Screw it,’ he thought to himself. “I’ll just get the security tapes later.”

Lex moved swiftly and pressed Chloe’s back up against the wall, his hand skimming up her side until it trailed across her ribcage to her breast. Chloe closed her eyes and sucked in a breath. Surely Lex wouldn’t really do anything in front of the cameras…or, he would.

His tongue traced along the crease in her lips and she found herself opening her mouth to allow him entrance.

“Lex,” she breathed as he pulled his mouth away. He kissed down to her breasts and kissed the valley between them before clasping his lips around one of her already painfully hard nipples. She arched into him and Lex let out a low, harsh groan when her hips bucked against him. As he continued his attention to her breasts, alternating between licking, biting, and sucking, Chloe hardly noticed that his free hand had glided down her skin until it reached her curls. Chloe’s eyes snapped open and Lex brushed her clit with his thumb through her bikini bottoms. “Lex,” she said, trying to muster up a warning tone, but only having it come out with a pleading quality.

Lex raised his head again and kissed her hard as he hooked his fingers on the inside of the small bikini bottoms and started to tug them down. When they reached her knees, Chloe shimmied out of them and kicked them aside, now too enraptured by the sensations to care that their actions were probably being recorded. Lex climbed out of his swim trunks and pressed his rock hard length against Chloe as he panted against her ear.

“We can stop,” he whispered, not really meaning it. Chloe nodded, but then it turned into a shake of her head. She turned her face and captured his mouth with her own, driving her tongue into his mouth passionately.

“No we can’t.”




TBC…

[sabby]

I&#39;d love to review properly but I&#39;m kinda incoherent now...I&#39;m sure you understand ;)

just:

*tackle hug*

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

and update soon

hugs,
Sabby

[petriebird18]

:worship2:
NOW GO WRITE MORE&#33; :biggrin:
~Deidre~
:chlexsign3:

[hfce]

Hmm :blush: :huh: that was interesting. I never knew you had it in you Sabby. Kris :worship2: more please..


Hope

[Impress]

Great. Hot. Wonderful. Steamy. Pick one. which ever one you like it&#39;s yours. Great work as usual. Now, where&#39;s the rest?

[TestingFaith]

you stopped.....wwwwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyy :crydevil: :crydevil:

Please keep going,
Lily M. :sunny:

one more thing...you had a story &#39;Nightcap&#39; what happened to it, it was good

[sydsvaughn]

Sigh. There&#39;s just something wonderfully naughty about having your intimate moments caught on camera.. and not caring. Go Chloe and Lex... and yeah for Lucas and Sab&#33;

Great chapter, more soon please?

Sara

[drina]

:drool: :drool: :drool:

this gives a whole new meaning to the term "caught in the act"

[rhetoricai]

ooohkay, so good Lucas/Sabrina smut....
WHERE&#39;S THE GOOD CHLEX STUFF????
Update soon, please&#33;&#33;&#33; :crygreen:

[NightGlow]

:huh: What&#39;s this, a twist? This whole relation thing is intrigueing...

But not so intrigueing as Lucas and Sabrina getting it on&#33; Way to spice up an already scathingly sexy fic.

And lastly, way to go Chloe. I wouldn&#39;t let Lex stop, either.

[bluemoongirl23]

What&#39;s with the stopping? You just wrote that they can&#39;t stop, yet, look at you all stopping right there. Not nice. At all. Give more soon.

Blue

[bluemoongirl23]

What&#39;s with the stopping? You just wrote that they can&#39;t stop, yet, look at you all stopping right there. Not nice. At all. Give more soon.

Blue

[TigersEye283]

Hey,

Semi-new here and now that my computer is done being evil for like the first time in two months I just wanted to say that I LOVE this fic. :worship2: I&#39;m really love all of your fics and I cant wait to see how this one is going to end.

[Katharina]

I totally agree with Chloe&#33;
YOU CAN´T STOP&#33;&#33;&#33;

Please? :blush:

[lunaluthor]

YOU STOPPED

ok part of me is relieved because my coworkers are already complaing about those "funny" noises coming from my corner
but the other part is dying for an update and although a cold shower is miles away I need more from this sweaty breathtaking stuff
come on update

pleeeaaseee :biggrin:

[L'infini]

I want you to understand that this is just because I love your fic so much and that really it&#39;s a token of my appreciation but I just have to say...

WHAT ARE YOU DOING???? NO STOPPING&#33; IT&#39;S WRONG, MORALLY WRONG&#33;

Ahem, glad I&#39;ve got that off my chest. Please do another update soon otherwise I&#39;M going to start getting withdrawal symptoms. And readers going cold turkey do not happy reviewers make.

Hehe, you know I love your fic really, right?

:worship2:

[jem]

hey L&#39;infini i totally understand what ure going thru,

i agree&#33;&#33;&#33; hey no stopping, its wrong&#33;&#33;&#33;

ure last update was AAGES ago, in chlex world anyways...

heehee... u know we love ur work buddy&#33;&#33;&#33;

[sara_noele]

Oh no, you stopped. Come back, please, please&#33; I want more, now&#33; This is to good to be stopped here&#33;

[lunaluthor]

buuhhuu every hour I visit this story for an update but there is none, I&#39;m very very sad and depressed and I need my daily dosis of smut and passion and so on so please have a heart and go on writing :crygreen:

[hurlingturtles]

yeah&#33; an update&#33; i&#39;m so happy&#33; hot stuff, it was cool to read some smut with people other than Lex and CHloe, though I always appreciate their smut :biggrin: Now I feel like I should update soon, too. *guiltily scurrying off to write*

[xadie]

:chlexsign2: You rule, of course, as always. Please let them do it in the hall. Whilst they listen to Lucas and Sabrina. Please.

[jem]

Originally posted by scifichick774@Jun 13 2003, 12:29 AM


“No we can’t.”

yes you can&#33;
yes you can&#33;
YES YOU CANNNNNNNN&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;

PLEASEE update&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;

[Btab12207]

Omg that was so good i love the hallway part&#33;&#33; lol and the diner thing too that was so great plz update soon :biggrin:

[scifichick774]

A/N: My sincerest apologies for the fact that there isn’t much smut, as the plot bunnies have pretty much taken over. Hope you like it anyway.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Chloe raised her hands to his shoulders, using them as leverage as she jumped and wrapped her legs around his waist. The action sent the couple stumbling against the wall and they beamed amused looks at each other before they kissed again. As their tongues caressed, Chloe lifted her hips, hinting to Lex that she was more than ready for him to finally be inside her. Their widened eyes met at Chloe slid onto him in one smooth stroke, earning a gasp from deep in her throat and a strangled moan from his.

Lex struggled to fight back the pure feeling of bliss he felt at being surrounded by Chloe’s warm, wet depths; knowing that if he gave into that stage of the addiction, then it would all be over entirely too soon and Chloe would have every right to go back to Sean. After all, he could hardly expect her to stay with him if she thought he wasn’t able to give her what she needed.

Chloe started to ride him, her eyes closed as she thrust herself up and down on his cock, her back slamming against the wall with every movement. She was too enraptured in the sensations cursing through her body to notice that Lex’s grip on her had tightened and his eyes had completely glossed over.

“Lex,” she whimpered pleadingly as he finally started to push against her actions, hitting her clit with every forceful stroke. Her stomach muscles started to quiver and she lost any control she had over their coupling rhythm.

“Chloe,” he responded through grunts and panted breaths.

The sound of utter pleasure lining his voice threw her over the edge and her body shook as her orgasm washed over her. Her inner walls clamped around him like a vice and Lex groaned loudly as the smooth, velvet-like encasement milked his own climax out of him.

Chloe’s legs slowly drug down his body until they reached the floor and she brought his face down for a passionate kiss, tangling their tongues together one last time before falling forward and collapsing against him.

“That was…wow,” she muttered against his chest, her eyes closed as she temporarily forgot about where they were and just basket in the afterglow of their lovemaking.

“Mmm,” Lex hummed in agreement, leaning his head down to kiss her again. Chloe’s eyes jolted open when she felt what had been his semi-flaccid length suddenly grown hard against her once again. “More,” he murmured against her mouth.

This time Chloe did catch sight of his eyes, and noticed that his gaze was glassy and distant rather than boring into her like it usually seemed to be.

“Oh, no,” she half-whispered to herself. ‘Guess the touch sense just got to him.’ She was completely taken aback when Lex growled at her and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder.

“Yes,” he argued as he began to carry her to his room.

“What?” Chloe asked blankly. Her former words hit her memory and her eyes broadened. “No&#33; No – Lex, that’s not what I meant. I meant that the touch part of the curse seems to be --- could you put me down please?”

“No.”

Lex opened the door to his room, walked in with Chloe slung over his shoulder, and used his foot to slam the door closed behind him.

Lucas rolled onto his side and smirked smugly at Sabrina, who rolled her eyes back at him.

“The sound of a door slamming doesn’t mean anything,” she said. “Maybe they finally got caught up in the throws of passion. Or – it was pretty far away. Maybe someone just dropped something.”

“Uh-huh,” he replied in a teasing tone. Having drowned out whatever sounds Chloe and Lex had made in the hallway with their own rendezvous, Lucas continued to voice his theory. “Like Chloe dropping Lex because she realized what a loser he is.”

“Your brother’s not a loser, Lucas.”

Lucas let out a snort of a guffaw.

“He will be soon,” he responded, sitting up and rubbing his hands together in evil delight. “Just imagine how bad things are going to get when dad comes home and keeps them apart.”

“But ---”

“No *buts*, Sabby,” Lucas interrupted. “This is my moment of victory – let me enjoy it.”

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” Sabrina said. “Why would they be fighting? There’s no reason for it.” Lucas shrugged.

“Don’t know, don’t care,” he said callously. “Maybe she refused to break up with Sean because she thinks that Lex won’t stick around after the curse is broken.”

“You’re delusional. You *do* realize that, right?”

“Then how do you explain the angry slam of the door?” he countered.

“Hurry to get to the smut?” she returned with a light smile.

Lucas laughed and reached out to brush some hair behind her ear, pleased that she wasn’t able to maintain her anger with him for a long period of time. He began to lean toward her when a knock came at the door. Sabrina swore under her breath and then looked in the direction of the door.

“Go away&#33;”

The knock came again, louder than before, and Lucas couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up in his throat.

“Guess they didn’t hear you,” he joked. He got out of bed and wrapped a sheet around his waist before going to deal with the intrusion. “Ten bucks says it’s Lex.” Sabrina snickered and rolled over onto her stomach as she turned to face him.

“You’re on.”

“You think it’s Chloe?” he asked with a disbelieving eyebrow arched high in the air. Before she could answer him, the knock came again and Lucas hung his head slightly in only partial mock-annoyment. “What’s the matter? Didn’t you hear the wo--- Dad,” Lucas greeted in surprise. Sabrina hurriedly covered herself with one of the blankets, but Lucas never opened the door the rest of the way; choosing instead to place his hands against the door and its frame, shielding her from view as he addressed his father. “I wasn’t expecting you back so soon.”

Lionel’s lips curled into a half-sneer, half-smirk.

“Obviously,” he answered, holding out the swimsuit bottoms that Chloe and Lex had left in the hallway. Lucas looked down at the garments dangling from his father’s fingers and then back up at him as Lionel tossed the swimsuits over his head into the room. “Far be it from me to hamper your sexual activities in any way, but in the future do *try* to refrain from conducting them where the security cameras can record you. The last thing I need is one of the guards getting the bright idea to blackmail our family because of your continued recklessness.”

“But I ---” Lucas trailed off when he realized that Chloe and Lex must have left the swimsuits behind. ‘Oh, dude – you’re *so* gonna owe me.’ Lionel looked at him expectantly and Lucas forced a large fake smile onto his lips. “Will do. Anything else?”

“Given our earlier conversation --- your brother’s whereabouts?”

“Not sure,” Lucas said as casually as he could. Lionel raised an accusatory and questioning eyebrow at him and Lucas rolled his eyes. “Sabs got off work early. What’d you want me to do? Let an opportunity like that slip by so I could play babysitter? Which, by the way, they totally don’t ---”

“Oh, God&#33; Lex&#33;”

“Chloe&#33;”

Lionel’s head whipped around toward the screams of pleasure that came from Lex’s bedroom and Lucas winced. He had been hoping that his girlfriend wasn’t right about Chloe and Lex, but obviously she had been. Lionel clenched his jaw as he slowly turned his head back around to look at his son.

“You were saying?” he asked disdainfully. Lucas grumbled something incoherent at the floor and then looked his father square in the eye, only to be met with just as feral a stare from Lionel. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done with this curse nonsense? How wounded your brother is going to end up being?”

“Sabrina found a cure for the curse,” Lucas cut in.

“Did she?” Lionel asked with suspicion. “Then perhaps you’d care to explain why ---” Lucas rolled his eyes as his father trailed off.

“Apparently they like each other,” he answered dryly. There was a slight lapse in the conversation as Lucas watched his dad’s eyes dart down toward Lex’s bedroom again. “Not that I’m in favor of the relationship myself, but I’m curious as to why *you’re* so against it, Dad. And before you answer, you should know that they’re going to be doing *that*,” he tilted his head in the direction of Lex’s bedroom, “for a while. The curse has to work its way through all five of Lex’s sense before the counter-curse can be applied, and let’s just say that ‘taste’ – not so much of the outer skin.”

Lionel seemed to be considering Lucas’s words with great thought and Lucas barely resisted the urge to squirm.

“Hmm,” Lionel finally said. “Well, perhaps by that time…”

“What?”

“Nothing – nothing,” Lionel said and faked a grin, “just thinking aloud. When they…finish…tell them I want to see both of them in my office.” He glanced at the sheet covering Lucas’s lower half and gave him a snide look. “I’ll let you get back to your toga games.” Lionel turned on his heel to leave and Lucas closed the door before leaning his back against it.

“I should have had you curse *him*,” he said. Sabrina giggled and Lucas let the corners of his mouth lift into an amused smile. “Or we could turn him into a toad – he has plenty of hair.” That earned him a full blown laugh and Sabrina shook her head as she let her laughter taper off.

“I don’t know,” she said teasingly, “Technically, you owe me ten bucks from the bet, and I’m not sure I want to do any more spells for you until you’ve paid up.” Lucas smirked at her and slowly began to walk back toward the bed, about to make a comment about a possible barter, Sabrina broke in. “What do you think your dad meant?”

“I believe it was a reference to the sheet,” he answered cheekily. Sabrina rolled her eyes.

“Not *that*. I mean ---”

“I know what you meant,” he said. “I just don’t know what *he* meant. I mean, how would Lex possibly be ‘wounded’ by sleeping with Chloe?”

“She could be rough in bed,” Sabrina suggested.

“Ye-ah, but that would suggest that dad already knows that somehow – and again, yuck.”

Their heads turned to the now even louder sounds of Lex and Chloe’s lovemaking, that were now drifting through most of the rooms along the hall. Lucas tilted his head to the side.

“It doesn’t sound…unusual.”

“No,” Sabrina agreed, “it doesn’t.”

The sounds tapered off and Lucas raised both of his eyebrows in surprise.

“I think they stopped. It’s a miracle,” he said wryly.

“Or a homicide,” Sabrina suggested uneasily.

“We would have heard the gunshots,” Lucas pointed out. “You think they passed the last stage of the curse?”

“Only one way to find out.”

~*~*~*~*~

Lucas leaned one hand on Lex’s bedroom door as he pulled his foot back slightly to kick it, grinning to himself when he heard a shuffling sound come from the other side. The door slowly creaked open and then stopped as Chloe peeked her head out. She looked at Lucas and then opened the door just a little bit more.

“What do you want?” she asked, her voice betraying how exhausted she was. Lucas smirked at her.

“What’s the matter? My brother wear you out?” he crudely teased. Chloe glared at him and he rolled his eyes. “Speaking of Lex, is he in there somewhere?”

“He’s sleeping,” she answered. Lucas raised both of his eyebrows with impressed surprise and Chloe tried to push down a light blush that rose to her cheeks. “I wish I could take the credit, but I’m pretty sure he just overdosed because of that stupid curse you put on him.” Lucas snickered and then gave her and evil, lopsided smile.

“Okay,” he said, the mischief already lining his voice with that one word. “Well, when he wakes up, Dad wants to see both of you in his office.” Lucas was barely able to contain his laughter as he watched the color drain from Chloe’s face.

“What?” she squeaked. “I thought he wasn’t going to be back until ---”

“Change of plans,” Lucas interrupted with a smug shrug of his shoulders. “Oh, but hey – don’t worry about it. He already knows that the two of you are fu--- ‘involved’, so I’m sure it’s just about business or something.” A wide, delighted smile took over his mouth as he looked at Chloe questioningly. “So, you said the curse kicked in. Any chance that ‘touch’ *and* ‘taste’ were taken care of?” Chloe pursed her lips and slammed the door closed in his face. Lucas threw back his head with an evilly amused laugh. “Guess not.”




TBC…

[Blaire023]

*bows to Kris*

You take a fic, and you make it even better. I love you. Really&#33;

~B

[tigroon]

I&#39;m glad you&#39;re back at last scifichick.
life just isn&#39;t the same without your updates &#33;&#33;

I love this fic by the way.

[buffiy18]

Yes, an update&#33; Thank you Thank you Thank you.
Great chapter. Can&#39;t wait to find out what Lionel is up to.

[drina]

What&#39;s lucas&#39; problem with lex?? he&#39;s starting to annoy me tremendously... :tease:

[hurlingturtles]

woo hoo&#33; an update&#33; yay for the smut too&#33; more? yes?

[xadie]

:biggrin: Ooooh&#33; They did it in the hallway&#33; And it was so goood&#33; And then they did it in the bedroom&#33; And the whole house could hear them&#33; Oh I think I love you&#33;

Can&#39;t wait for &#39;taste&#39;&#33;

:worship2: :yay: :worship2:

[sara_noele]

So the curse is still working and Lex just can&#39;t get enough of Chloe. Lucky for us&#33;
Can&#39;t wait for Lionels speech. Update soon, please.

[Sunny]

Great&#33; Great&#33; Great&#33; Great&#33;
I can&#39;t wait for more&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;
Please update soon&#33; :yay:

[Charlie]

We want an update, pleeeeease. I&#39;m down on my knees begging and it is not a pretty sight. :worship2: More hallway stuff and Lucas needs to be taught a lesson. Lex is not a loser.

[Charlie]

We want an update, pleeeeease. I&#39;m down on my knees begging and it is not a pretty sight. :worship2: More hallway stuff and Lucas needs to be taught a lesson. Lex is not a loser.

[Gemini]

*giggle*

That was a stunning chapter&#33; I love it, now go write some more :worship2:

[bluemoongirl23]

Good stuff&#33; Can&#39;t wait to see what Lionel has to say about all of this. But, really, nothing can be done until taste is taken care of. It&#39;s a pity, really....

Blue

[jem]

oooh touch and taste not taken care of eh???

im waiting for that to happen....

way to keep the suspense going&#33;&#33;&#33; this ROCKS

[Calliope]

Yes, I believe an update is in order. Lucas is being an ass to Lex, and I hope he gets his kicked.

Taste...mmmmm. :biggrin:

[NightGlow]

So glad Chloe and Lex finally got hooked up&#33; :biggrin:
And even though Lucas was being a jerk his comments were pretty amusing. It&#39;s nice for him to provide so much comic relief.

[vardaquareien]

mmm it finally happens - the much anticipated sex scene :yay3: Yummy, yummy, yummy&#33;

You&#39;ve really got me intrigued as to the whole "Lionel situation". What&#39;s his deal? What&#39;s the magnificent bastard aka "the devil" up to this time? Huh? Huh? :unsure: I wanna know&#33;&#33;&#33;

Update soon. I really :heart: all your fics. I sure hope that Lex gets to cure himself via taste next chapter&#33; :satanwink:

[Katharina]

Wow, that was great.
Wanna know what Lionel is up to. Please update soon.

[scifichick774]

A/N: This one is finally winding down. Just three or four more chapters and then I’ll be able to start the AH sequel. Enjoy this chapter&#33;

~*~*~*~*~*~

Chloe lifted her clenched fist into the air, but stopped and made a face in hesitation before it hit the sturdy wood door in front of her. As if it wasn’t bad enough that the only thing she could find to cover herself was one of Lex’s plush, oversized robes, but now she had to have a conversation with Lionel without Lex there because it looked like he wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon.

‘Mr. Luthor, I love your son, please don’t fire me,’ she thought, silently mumbling, ‘or kill me.’ She sighed and rested her forehead lightly against the door. ‘Having sex with his son – in the hallway no less - yep, I’m a dead woman.’ She took a breath to summon up the courage to knock on the door and let her knuckles fall against the hard surface before she chickened out.

“Enter.”

She cringed when she heard Lionel’s curt, business-tone of a voice, but turned the knob and opened the door anyway. Lionel glanced up at her from the paperwork in front of him and then looked back down.

“I believe I told Lucas that I wanted to see both you *and* Alexander,” he said. Chloe barely held back a cringe with her employer’s use of his son’s full name, but was unable to restrain herself when he set the paperwork aside and leaned back in his chair. He looked her straight in the eye and steepled his fingers.

“He’s sleeping,” Chloe finally responded quietly, stepping fully into the room and closing the door behind her. “How much has Lucas told you?” Seeing the stone-like expression on his face, she immediately inwardly chided herself. ‘Stupid question.’

“Chloe,” Lionel started in a tone that sounded like he was speaking to a child. He leaned forward and clasped his hands together on his desk. Chloe sighed and moved to sit down.

“You don’t have to say it.”

Lionel arched an inquisitive eyebrow and Chloe hung her head to stare at the floor as she spoke.

“I crossed the line and I’m fired,” she said sadly, pausing before she continued. “Don’t worry. I know I’m still under legal obligation not to say anything because of the contracts, and I can ---”

“Chloe,” Lionel repeated with a slight tinge of amusement to his voice.

‘Or am I just imagining that?’ Chloe wondered and then risked looked up at him. He grinned back at her.

“You’re not fired.”

Chloe blinked.

“I’m not?”

“No.”

“But ---”

“I place the blame for this entirely upon Lex’s shoulders,” he said. Chloe gave him an uneasy look.

“It wasn’t entirely his fault,” she said. “I mean, the curse, and then…the whole it takes two to tango thing.” She mumbled the last part and wasn’t entirely sure whether he had heard her or not until she noticed a glint in the older man’s eye.

“And here I was trying to protect the poor boy,” Lionel mused aloud. Chloe furrowed her brow and Lionel grinned as he leaned back in his chair observing her. “You like him.” She stared at him in disbelief.

“Of course I do,” she said. “Why do you think I ---” she trailed off when she remembered his comment on the phone about setting her up with Sean simply because he believed she needed to get laid. Chloe cast a glare of stunned anger at him. “You think I slept with him because I ---” she rose from her seat, her face burning because of her temper. “God&#33; You’re such an --- wait a second. What do you mean you were trying to protect him?”

“Sit down, Chloe,” he responded with an amount of patience that he would never have displayed to anyone else. Chloe sat back down on the chair and looked at him questioningly. “If you hadn’t noticed, my son’s history with women is…not good.” Chloe snorted.

“That’s an understatement,” she said. “So, you think I’m going to try and kill him or something?” Lionel chuckled and shook his head.

“No, no, dear,” he responded, pausing as he lifted a hand thoughtfully up to his jaw and mouth. “Chloe, do you know why I do so well in business?”

“Because you’re ruthless?” Chloe answered with a teasing smile.

“Well, that too,” he responded, his smile and tone matching her own. “But, primarily it’s because I have the ability to tell what people are thinking or how they’re going to act before they do.”

“O-kay,” Chloe strung out. “And this applies to me and Lex *how* exactly?”

“I’ve known for some time that my son has feelings for you, quite probably before he realized that it was more than friendship,” Lionel said, his face suddenly turning serious. “And I also know that you just got out of a rather painful friendship/pseudo relationship with Clark Kent.” Chloe opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when Lionel continued speaking. “Lex likes you, Chloe – really likes you. And I knew that because you just got away from Clark, there was a possibility that you might just be using him as a rebound, so to speak. That’s one of the reasons I was anxious for you to date Sean – I don’t care one bit if you hurt him.”

He stopped and gave her a light smile, causing Chloe to snicker.

“Nice,” she said with joking sarcasm.

“But if you got involved with Lex, and for whatever reason decided that he *was* just a rebound relationship, you would break his heart. It would be worse than anything he’s ever gone through before, because he wouldn’t be able to write it off to you only ever wanting him for his money or some other ulterior motive. Quite frankly, I don’t know if he would ever be able to pull himself back together again.”

“Mr. Luthor ---”

“I couldn’t afford to let that happen, Chloe,” Lionel interrupted. “I may never tell him this, but he’s become quite the businessman. He’s a valuable asset to my company and I don’t want to lose him over something as trivial as unrequited feelings.”

“But I ---”

“Yes, well, I know that now, don’t I?”

Chloe sighed and rubbed her temples.

“You said you knew what people were thinking before they did – so why didn’t you know that I liked Lex?” she asked quietly.

“I knew you liked him as a friend,” Lionel answered, “but you must admit, you put on a rather convincing act about liking the Callaghan boy.” Chloe winced.

“Sean.”

“Did you ever get in touch with him to break things off before you slept with my son?” Lionel asked, the only too true accusation rippling waves of guilt through Chloe’s body.

‘Don’t answer him,’ she thought. “No.” ‘Damn.’ There was silent moment as Lionel carefully regarded her.

“Are you planning to pursue a relationship with Lex?”

“That’s really up to him,” Chloe answered somewhat sadly, still a little unsure that Lex would even want to stay with her after the curse had run its course. Lionel arched a mocking eyebrow at her.

“You’re leaving your relationship in my son’s hands? Tsk, tsk. I thought you’d know better than that,” Lionel teased. “You’ll be married and pregnant by the end of the month if you leave it up to him.” Despite the situation, Chloe couldn’t help the small gurgle of laughter that pushed past her lips. Lionel grinned at her and then glanced at the phone as a silent hint. Chloe nodded and rose from her chair once again, giving him a small, unsure smile before she walked to the door.

“Mr. Luthor?” she asked, turning her head slightly as she reached the door.

“Yes?”

“Thanks for not firing me.”

She couldn’t see it, but she could almost feel the amused smile that spread across Lionel’s lips.

“Of course, dear.”

Chloe walked almost aimlessly toward the pool room, her thoughts running over the possible directions her conversation with Sean might take.

‘Sean? Hey. Glad I finally got a hold of you. Listen, it’s just not going to work between you and me because I’m in love with Lex.’

Chloe stopped dead in her tracks, her body completely stiff and stilled from the realization that had flitted into her mind.

“Shit.”

She ran a shaky hand through her hair and made her way to the pool, her eyes darting around the table and chairs as she looked for her cell phone. She sighed as she padded over to the spot where she saw it lying on the floor and then leaned down to pick it up.

Chloe bit her lip and turned the power on, holding the phone up to her ear to check any messages she may have gotten in the time that she had been ‘occupied’.

“You have three messages,” the automated voice chimed on the other end of the line. Chloe punched a key and listened as the first message came through.

“Hey Chloe, it’s dad. Just wanted to let you know that I got here safely and how much I miss you and Lana already.” Chloe rolled her eyes. Having a best friend that almost everybody in town seemed to be in love with was one thing, having her dad take her in as a surrogate daughter was another thing entirely. “My schedule is up on the fridge if you need to get ahold of me. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Chloe pushed another button for the message to be deleted and then the second message started to play.

“Oh, my God&#33; Chloe&#33; I can’t believe it&#33; He kissed me&#33;” Chloe held the phone away from her as Lana’s shrill squeal came through too loudly. “When you get back here, I want to tell you all about it – so hurry up&#33; Oh, and Sean called. He said he was only getting your voice messaging on your cell phone and he was wondering if you were okay. I told him to call back and leave a message, so you’ll probably have another one after this. Bye&#33;”

Chloe grimaced and deleted Lana’s message, waiting apprehensively for Sean’s message to play.

“Hi Chloe, it’s Sean. I’ve tried calling a couple of times now, but you know how I hate answering machines – voice messaging – whatever. I, um – I got here alright and I miss you. I sort of have something I want to talk to you about. Just…call me back, okay?”



TBC…

[hfce]

You did not just stop there Kris? No you didnt you have another chapter hidden somewhere. Come out with it where is it? Ugh More Please......


Hope :chlexsign2:

[Sunny]

Awwww.... I loved it&#33;&#33;&#33; The Chloe/Lionel part was great&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;
Please write more soon&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; :yay:

[xadie]

:biggrin: Fantastic&#33; I never thought I&#39;d say this, but I want Lionel to be my dad&#33; Or maybe father-in-law. Yes, that would definately be better&#33;

Poor Sean, I feel really sorry for him. I hope he&#39;s ok when Chloe dumps him. And of course I hope that Lucas gets over his total jealousy fit&#33;

Must go and have a lie down at shock revelation that Lionel isn&#39;t leching all over Chloe but is actually nice&#33; Hooray for fun twists&#33;

:worship2: :worship2:

[petriebird18]

To bad Sean, she belongs to Lex, not to you so there&#33; :tease:
UPDATE NOW&#33; (and i hope smuts in the next chappy too&#33; :biggrin: )
~Deidre~
:chlexsign3:

[bluemoongirl23]

You know, I know that Sean&#39;s not a bad guy, but I still yell &#39;dump his sorry ass&#39; at the screen. Is that wrong? Didn&#39;t think so. Though the way us evil writers go, he will most likely show up at the Luthor front door.

Blue

[sabby]

Ok I know how stressful this morning was for you and all, but YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE AND THAT&#39;S JUST MEAN&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;

I want more&#33; You can&#39;t end it there and then expect me to wait for the rotation to go all the way thru until I get the next chappy&#33; I mean it&#33; I want more now&#33; This is soo not nice to stop it there *petulant pout* Please update this soon, yeah?

hugs,
Sabby

[TestingFaith]

Yay&#33;&#33; You&#39;re updating again.

Can&#39;t wait for more,
Lily M. :sunny:

[hurlingturtles]

Oh, oh, oh&#33; I bet Sean has met someone else, hasn&#39;t he? That way Chloe&#39;s off the hook. Oh, and the whole broken heart bit just made me go "awwww", in a disgustingly girly kinda way. I&#39;m such a sap. Write more&#33;

[vardaquareien]

Lionel&#39;s nice? He actually cares about Lex? *narrows eyes suspiciously* Is this him being real or has he got something else up his sleeve? Hmmm I tentatively venture to say that I love Lionel in this chappy but I&#39;m still waiting for you to tun &#39;round and dash my ideals&#33; :dry:

You&#39;ve really unbalanced me here. Can we take the magnificent bastard at his word or is he playing her? Or am I reading to much into this? :unsure: I don&#39;t know what to think&#33; Very well done btw, not many people can do that to me.

[jem]

lionels being pretty smug about this whole ordeal eh??
whens lex gonna wake up?? we want some lex action (seeing as there was none in the last chappie&#33;&#33;)

YAY&#33;&#33; update&#33;&#33;&#33; i havent posted to ur other fics, lovestruck and accidents happen, and consequences, but i read em all on ur other site, and was too chicken to say I LOVE UR WORK.... so heres a SHOUTOUT to u kris? (thats what ive concluded ure name is, from other ppls posts)

YAY&#33;&#33;&#33; on with the show&#33;

[lunaluthor]

yep another cliffhanger I should&#39;ve known btw nice conversation part with Lionel
needy for an update :biggrin:

[DawnieAngel]

oh my god how much do i love this fic&#33;&#33;
I loved the Chloe Lionel scene. Lately i&#39;m adoring Lionel, is that wrong? lol
I feel really bad for Sean?? Can&#39;t we maybe find someone for him to be in love with so he&#39;s happy? He was such a sweetie&#33;
Please update soon, I wanna see how Lex reacts sans curse&#33;


Dawnie

[drina]

Looks like this story is winding down...sigh... but it has been a great story, as always with yours. And I really want to know what Sean has to say to Chloe, however, it&#39;s like someone already mentioned, that he seems to have something bad (he feels) he has to tell chloe.

[mina murray]

Awww, Lionel&#39;s worried his boy&#39;s gonna get burned again&#33;
And Chloe needs to dump Sean ASAP.
Maybe in the next update?
Which should be posted here any minute now?
Mmmhh?
::hopefully glances towards scifichick&#39;s way:: ;)

[scifichick774]

A/N: I apologize for the rotation difficulties. Trying to figure out a new schedule now.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Chloe brought her cell phone to her ear and clutched her twisting gut with her free arm. Despite their initial attraction to one another, she didn’t care for Sean romantically; but she did like him as a friend, and she couldn’t help but think how much this break-up might hurt him.

The phone rang five times and Chloe let out a breath of relief when it looked like she might be able to take the easy way out and leave a message if he didn’t pick up.

She heard a click on the sixth ring.

“Sean Callaghan,” said the voice on the other end of the line.

‘Crap.’

“Hello?”

“Um – hey Sean, it’s Chloe.”

“Chloe&#33;” Sean said excitedly. “You’ll never guess what’s happened&#33;”

“Oh? What is it?” she asked, biding her time before she had to tell him her own news.

“I got promoted&#33; Dad’s *finally* transferring me,” he said. The knot in Chloe’s stomach tightened and she suddenly felt a wave of nausea sweep through her.

“Oh, God,” she moaned in little more than a whisper. He was getting transferred, and she could only surmise from the tone of his voice that he would be moving much closer to her and expected their relationship to deepen. The information only made what she needed to tell him that much harder to say.

“I know,” Sean said, misinterpreting how she meant her words. “But ---”

“But?” she asked after he trailed off.

“But,” he replied, his voice suddenly shifting into something considerably more serious, “the new position is going to take a lot more time out of my schedule and is even further away from Metropolis than where I am now.”

Chloe could practically hear him gritting his teeth in nervous anticipation of how she would respond and she only hoped he couldn’t hear the smile that spread across her lips.

“Where are you going?” she asked, trying to keep too much cheer from showing up in her voice.

“Hong Kong.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“So ---”

“God, I really like you, Chloe,” Sean started after a lapse in the conversation, “but this is the first time my dad has shown any *real* confidence in me and I don’t want to let him down.”

“You think we should break up,” Chloe said. It was a statement, not a question.

“I don’t know,” Sean admitted. “I’ve been trying to think of a way we could stay together since Dad told me, but I’m going to have so little free time. I’d only ever be able to visit you on holidays, and it’s not fair to ask you to stay in a relationship based on once a week phone calls.” He sounded so defeated that Chloe couldn’t help but sigh. “I’m so sorry, Chloe. You’ve got to know that I didn’t plan this and ---”

“No – it’s okay,” Chloe said.

“It is?” Sean asked in surprise.

“Of course,” Chloe answered. “I mean, it’s not like we’ve been going out for a long time, and I would never ask you to risk your relationship with your dad even if we had been.”

“Well, I wouldn’t be risking --- you really understand?”

“Yeah, I really do.”

“Think we can still be friends? *Real* friends, not just something you say when you break up with somebody?” Sean asked. “Because there isn’t any hostility between us and ---”

“I’d like that,” Chloe said, interrupting his rambling. Sean let out a breath.

“Me too.”

After drawn-out goodbyes, Chloe finally hit the power button on her phone to hang up and frowned to herself. She hadn’t ever brought up the fact that she had fallen in love with someone else or that she had slept with him less than an hour before, but she hadn’t needed to, right? Chloe sighed. She knew from her ill-fated experience with Clark that if she wanted her friendship with Sean to have any chance of making it, she would need to tell him the truth eventually.

‘Just not right now,’ she thought.

She doubted that things would get as serious with Lex as Lionel had her believe, especially since it looked like they were well on the way to being able to lift the curse, but she was going to be damned if she didn’t enjoy it for as long as it lasted.

Who knew? Maybe Lex had been serious when he said that he had started to like her before the curse had come into play, maybe they did have a chance…Chloe shook her head to clear her inner ramblings. Even if Lex had been truthful before, no relationship lasted forever; her parents’ short-lived marriage and her friendship with Clark were both testimonies to that fact. And how many relationships had Lex been involved in? He certainly wouldn’t be able to argue the point with her if the discussion ever came up.

No. She would just take it day by day and push aside her earlier slip about being in love with him. It would be easier and far less complicated that way, and she wouldn’t risk getting herself hurt again – at least not as hurt as she would be otherwise.

Her conversation with Lionel flitted into her mind as she briskly walked back to Lex’s room. He didn’t want his son to get hurt and he honestly believed that if she and Lex were to get involved and then break up that Lex would be devastated. She quickly realized that there was little chance Lex would actually believe her when she told him what transpired in his father’s office, and a large part of her was apprehensive to even bring it up. But if she didn’t, then Lucas would, and that would create a whole host of other problems.

Lucas.

Her hands clenched into fists as she neared Lex’s bedroom. After everything was said and done, she was going to have to find some way to exact revenge on him for what he had done to his brother, and by default, to her.

Lost in her thoughts, she was stunned to find her back suddenly slammed against the wall and a rather wild, pajama pant-clad Lex Luthor pressing his lips hard against hers in a bruising kiss. His tongue snaked into her mouth, and after she recovered from the surprise, she began to reciprocate the kiss. Her hands wove around his neck, pushing against the back of his smooth head and neck to keep his talented mouth where it was and her body seemed to mold to his as he pushed her harder against the wall.

He trailed away from the passionate kiss, leaving a trail of moisture as he peppered her cheek and jaw with lazy kisses. When he reached the crook of her neck, he nuzzled it only for a moment before taking her by surprise and clamping his teeth around the delicate skin.

“Lex&#33;” she screamed in shock and tried to push him away, only to have him push back and start to suck on the soft skin he had just bitten. An amazing tingle swept through her and the next time she said his name it was in a desperate, whispered moan. “Lex.”

The rational side of her knew that she should push him away, that she shouldn’t be allowing him to do this while he was clearly still under the influence of the last sensory high he had received from the curse…but the other part of her…

She let out small keening whimper of pleasure and grabbed the sides of his head to drag his mouth back to hers when she heard an all too familiar sound of someone clearing their throat. Her eyes opened and darted over to see Lucas standing but a few feet away from them, his arms folded across his chest, and a mocking eyebrow raised high on his forehead. She glared at him for as long as she could before Lex’s continued assault on her neck caused her eyes to drift closed yet again.

Lucas let a small grin curl up one side of his mouth. Normally he would have rolled his eyes at their behavior, or possibly just teased them about it, but as it was, he had something he considered much more devious up his sleeve.

He had just gotten back from talking to his father.

“So, you went to see the old man without Lex, huh?” he teased, a light smirk gracing his lips. “Brave woman. I wouldn’t have done it.”

Chloe winced as she felt Lex still his actions and start to raise his head to look at his brother before turning back to her with a not quite accusatory look in his eyes.

“You what?”

Lucas smirk grew wider and he rocked back and forth between his heels and the balls of his feet.

“Yeah. Dad came home, said he wanted to see you guys after you – you know - *finished*. So, I gave her the message and, like a good little worker bee, she apparently threw on your robe and trotted down to talk to him,” Lucas said.

Chloe couldn’t be certain, but something close to hurt registered in Lex’s eyes. She reached out and touched his chest, hoping that the action alone would help him to relax and trust her a little, but unsure whether it would work or not because his eyes still seemed a little glassy.

“You were sleeping,” she said quietly. “I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“So you went to see him *alone*?” Lex asked. Lucas’s smirk had now turned into a pleased smile.

“And in your robe,” he chimed in while looking at his brother. Both Lex and Chloe turned to glare at him, but he just let his smile fall back to a smirk. “And seeing as how dad tossed both of your swimsuit bottoms into my room – I’m guessing it was *just* your robe.” Lex squared his jaw and Chloe sighed, leaning her head back against the wall.

“He just wanted to lecture me about getting involved with you,” she explained.

“You don’t belong to *him*, Chloe,” Lex growled.

“No shit, Sherlock. Thanks for the newsflash,” she replied with heavy sarcasm. Lex blinked, her sharp tone gnawing through whatever high was left over in his body from their lovemaking. “And that’s not what it was about. Despite what you might think, and I know it might be hard to believe, but your dad actually loves you. He thought if you and I got involved and then broke up that it would end up really hurting you because I’m the first woman you’ve been with who hasn’t cared about your money or power.”

Lex opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it when he saw Lucas, still bouncing up and down out of the corner of his eye.

“You knew this,” he said in an observant and somewhat accusatory tone.

“Duh,” Lucas answered.

“But you were trying to make me think ---”

Lucas rolled his eyes.

“Just wondering if you’d believe it or not,” he said.

Lex and Chloe both glared at him and Lex looked down to his chest where Chloe’s formerly flat palm had curled into a fist. He was completely out of his Chloe-induced high now and he saw the need for vengeance that she carried in her eyes. He allowed himself a tiny smirk. Lucas was definitely going to regret the day he’d messed with the both of them.

“You know,” Lucas continued, “Since this is pretty much your last chance to back out and everything.”

Chloe and Lex exchanged a confused look and then looked back over to Lucas.

“What are you talking about?” Chloe asked. Lucas cocked his head to the side, not exactly pulling off the faux-sympathetic look he was going for.

“Dad didn’t tell you?”

“Lucas ---” Lex warned. Lucas smiled and slapped his hands together, rubbing them evilly.

“Well, since Chloe went on this big rant about how she really did like you and everything ---” Lucas paused as he saw Lex glance over at Chloe, giving her a pleased, if not bemused, grin. He cleared his throat. “*Anyway*, you know how he likes Chloe and everything ---”

“It’s not like that,” Chloe practically growled. Lucas held his hands up in front of him.

“As a daughter,” he clarified. Chloe’s lips thinned as she glared warningly at him.

“Just get to the part about having to back out, Lucas.”

“You want to back out?” Lex asked. Chloe turned and looked at him in frustrated disbelief.

“No, I ---”

“Well, if you do, you’d better do it now,” Lucas cut in. “Because I’m pretty sure now that he knows you like Lex and have dumped Sean ---”

“You dumped Sean?” Lex interrupted as he asked Chloe. Lucas cleared his throat loudly and gave them both a scolding look.

“It would be great if I could finish a sentence,” he said. “Anyway, know that he knows, he may have hinted that he’s going to try and move things along between you two.”

Chloe gave him a half snort.

“How much further does he want us to go?” she asked. Lucas waggled his eyebrows at them and hummed the first few keys of the wedding march. Chloe’s face dropped. “Lucas, I’m in high school. I can’t ---”

“You graduate at the end of this year,” Lucas pointed out. “And forgive me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure it takes time to plan a wedding.”

“But --- why?”

“Hello?” Lucas asked snidely. “What better way to ensure his favorite employee keeps working for him instead of going off to college to eventually become one of his enemies?” He let out a wicked chuckle and then turned on his heel to retreat down the hallway, teasingly humming the wedding march as he went.

Chloe’s face paled and she ventured a weary glance over at Lex, who reached out and rubbed the small of her back comfortingly through the thick fabric of the robe.

“He’s lying,” Lex said in a soothing voice. “You know how Lucas is.”

Chloe nodded, but her heart wasn’t in it. If Lucas *was* lying, then she would have to make her revenge on him even worse. Her lips carried the hint of a grin that came with the different ways she could enact retribution, but quickly fell when her gut twisted.

“Lex?”

“Hmm?”

“What if he isn’t lying?”




TBC…

[drina]

He was completely out of his Chloe-induced high now and he saw the need for vengeance that she carried in her eyes. He allowed himself a tiny smirk. Lucas was definitely going to regret the day he’d messed with the both of them.


Oooo...i can&#39;t wait for the day that Lucas gets his comeuppance. He is seriously annoying now

[sabby]

Finally a new chap, and I think Lucas has gone a little too far. *shakes head* he should know what happens if you drive Lex and especially Chloe into a corner. Not sure if he&#39;ll be able to survive the revenge. He really should have learned by now, but well. We&#39;ll see. And I hope soon, cuz I don&#39;t want to wait long for the next chap. And some more smut would be nice, too *G*

hugs,
Sabby

[bluemoongirl23]

Lucas is in trouble *sing song voice* Really, did the boy think there would be no retribution for his little joke. Can&#39;t wait to see what the two of them come up with.

Blue

[DawnieAngel]

Lucas is lying right? Please, but you know if he&#39;s not that&#39;d be a good story too and probably more realistic..(can I use the term realistic I mean it&#39;s all fiction anyway&#33;).urg i&#39;m torn&#33;

Great part, As always&#33; update soon please&#33;
and :bday:

Dawnie

[buffiy18]

This fic just keeps getting better. I love all the twists and turns. Thanks for the update&#33; :biggrin:

[Gemini]

I totally missed this chapter, thank God I finally read it, now pleeeeaase update? This is really an amazing fic, and I *need* to know what happens next&#33;

[hfce]

More now please..... :biggrin:


Hope :chlexsign2:

[vardaquareien]

I just knew that the magnificent bastard was up to something&#33;&#33;&#33;

Can&#39;t wait til Lucas gets his own back&#33;

More, please?

[Charlie]

I think it&#39;s time someone (Lex) teaches Lucas a lesson.

I love the story. Please, please update soon.

[xadie]

:chlexsign2: Yay&#33; Its back&#33; And just as great as ever&#33; More please&#33;

[Katharina]

The revenge needs to be very, very nasty. Obviously&#33;
Great chapters&#33;

[scifichick774]

A/N: Hey look – I’m updating&#33; *smile* Thank you for all the reviews. Your feedback means so much to me.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“The whipping post?” Lex suggested casually and pulled Chloe closer to him in bed so her head used his chest as a pillow. He had been considerably more than pleased when he had been able to convince her to come back to bed rather than dwell on what Lucas had said in his teasing.

“No,” Chloe said in an unconvinced voice. “Something tells me Sabby would get off on that.” Lex snickered.

“O-kay,” he strung out, causing Chloe to smile. “Drawn and quartered?”

Chloe lifted her head, twisting it ever so slightly so she could smirk at him.

“I’m pretty sure that would kill him, Lex.”

“Your point being?” he joked. Chloe laughed and shook her head, taking the opportunity to roll away from Lex and prop herself up to a sitting position so she could slide out of the bed. Lex frowned. “Where are you going?”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m naked.”

“I *had* noticed,” Lex said smoothly, smirking as he let his gaze slowly wander down and up her nude form. Chloe rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, well, as much as I’d love to wear your robe home and explain to Lana *and* Pete about why I’m wearing it and nothing else, then I’m thinking I should go retrieve my clothing from the pool room.”

Lex sat up completely and frowned at her again as he lobbed his legs over the side of the bed to stand up.

“You don’t have to leave, Chloe.”

Chloe guffawed.

“Yeah, because *that* explanation would be sooo much easier than the robe thing,” she said sarcastically. “Hey, Lana. Sorry I didn’t come home last night or call you to tell you what was going on, but I was too busy making love with Lex. Yep. That’ll go over real well.”

Lex’s eyebrows rose in surprise when he heard Chloe’s endearing term for sleeping with him and a light smile took over his mouth. But, seeing as how she said the entire sentence with heavily-laced sarcasm, he decided that it was probably not the right moment to call her on it.

He crossed the room to where she was now slipping on his robe. He touched her shoulder and smirked at her when she turned around and was unable to keep her eyes from traveling over his body. Chloe blushed slightly at his smirk, but instead of teasing her, he let his smirk turn into a lopsided smile.

“You could always lie and say you fell asleep,” he suggested. “Or call her and tell her that you’re too tired to drive and I insisted that you stay in one of the guest rooms.”

“Maybe—e,” she strung out in an unconvinced tone.

“I’m sure she would be willing to forgive you, seeing as how she gets a night alone with Pete out of the deal.”

Chloe let out an uncharacteristic giggle that made Lex’s mouth curve into a genuine smile.

“Besides, I have a feeling that Dad’s not going to let you leave any time soon.”

Chloe’s smile faded quickly and she nibbled on her lower lip as she looked up at Lex.

“You don’t think Lucas was joking, do you?” she asked surely. Lex ran his hands comfortingly up and down her back.

“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “But, I certainly wouldn’t put anything past my father – especially not when you told me about your conversation with him.”

“Lex, I ---”

“Tell you what,” Lex interrupted, “we’ll go get your clothes, get dressed, and go see him together to ask him. Alright?” Chloe forced the tiniest of grins onto her face and nodded. Lex turned to walk to his closet, but quickly stopped in his tracks, twisting his head a little to look at her over his shoulder. “By the way, what explanation were you going to use for just wearing the robe home?”

Chloe couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up from her throat and she shook her head to try and clear it.

“I don’t know,” she said in a humored tone, “a meteor mutant broke into your house and used his abilities to disintegrate my clothing?” Lex chuckled.

“Somehow, I don’t think even Lana is dim enough to believe that one.”

“Hey – you’d be surprised at the stuff I’ve gotten away with telling her,” Chloe said, a teasing smile on her lips.

“Oh? Such as?” Lex asked, mimicking the expression on her face. Chloe let out a half-snort before it erupted into a small, highly amused giggle.

“Too many things to list,” she answered. “But I think the best one was when I told her that Clark was an alien.” Lex blinked, a stunned expression on his face, but Chloe kept laughing. “She believed me for almost three days.”

“Chloe ---” Lex said seriously and then trailed off.

“Hmm?”

“What made you think that Clark was an alien?”

Chloe arched an eyebrow at him.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I ---”

“Lex, come on&#33; I didn’t *really* think he was an alien. Meteor freak on the other hand…”

“Then why did you tell her that he was?”

Chloe snickered, obviously still pleased with herself for the practically joke she had played on Lana.

“Give me a break,” she said. “As you might know, Lana and I weren’t always friends. A few years ago, she made some comment about being afraid of aliens, so I ‘innocently’ mentioned that she wasn’t scared of Clark and he was an alien, and it just sort of escalated from there.”

“And she just believed you?” Lex asked in disbelief. “Just like that? You didn’t need to give her any proof?”

“Ooh – that’s the best part,” Chloe said, clearly trying to restrain her laughter. “I *did* have proof.”

“What?” Lex asked in surprise. Here he had been searching for an answer to his questions about Clark for so long, and Chloe Sullivan had the answers the entire time?

“Okay, it was circumstantial evidence,” Chloe said with a flick of her hand. “The point is that Lana believed it.”

“What did you tell her?” Lex asked, forcing a fake bemused expression onto his face.

“I told her that there were several accounts of people seeing things in the sky *other* than meteors, that Clark was adopted right after the meteor shower, did she really think it was a coincidence that Mr. and Mrs. Kent have always kept him so guarded by not letting him play sports even though he’s obviously built for them, stuff like that,” Chloe said with a light shrug and then smirked at him. “So - are you going to get dressed or just go to see your dad like that? Because if you go to see him while you’re naked, then he’s going to think I’m corrupting you.”

This time, Lex’s grin was real. For the time being, her light-hearted humor was enough to pull him away from his angstier inner musings on Clark and his origins; but that wasn’t to say that he wouldn’t bring up the topic again later.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Sabrina felt her frustration grow as Lionel simply leaned back in his chair, a bemused grin curling up the side of his mouth that his fingers were touching.

“Did you hear what I said?” she asked, trying desperately to keep her temper down. It was one thing to let loose and yell at Lucas, but Lionel Luthor actually wielded power and though he had always been polite to her, his reputation preceded him.

“I heard you.”

“Well, you’re awfully calm about it,” she pointed out and then paled as she realized that she might have been wrong. “You didn’t actually – did you? I mean, you didn’t tell Lucas that you’re going to make Chloe marry Lex?”

Lionel straightened his posture as he started to lean forward.

“I assure you, I said no such thing, Sabrina,” he said calmly, but with a hint of amusement. “Although I don’t consider it to be a bad idea. In fact, it’s quite inspired. Perhaps Lucas is finally starting to think like a Luthor.” Seeing her mouth drop open, Lionel’s grin spread even further. “What I would like to know is why *you’re* so concerned about it?” He paused and stood up, walking over to where the decanter set sat in the corner of the room. “To my knowledge, you have never been more than acquaintances with Chloe or Lex. Why should it worry you that I might want to see their relationship…develop?”

‘Because if you can force *them* to get married, then ---’

“Ah,” Lionel said, snapping Sabrina away from her thoughts. “You’re thinking of the possibility of me pushing you and Lucas to get married.”

“Well --- yeah.”

Lionel nodded in understanding and after taking a sip from his newly-poured drink, he headed back over to the chair behind his desk.

“Then allow me to alleviate your concerns,” Lionel started, smirking when a surprised look crossed Sabrina’s face. “You seem like a nice girl, and I must commend you for being a *somewhat* positive influence on Lucas, but quite frankly, I have very little to gain from your nuptials.” Sabrina’s mouth dropped open again, this time in surprised anger.

“What?&#33;”

“No offense intended,” Lionel said, giving a little wave of his hand to emphasize his point. “But both you and Lucas have been very forward about never wanting to get married or have children. Why would it benefit me to force you into a union that neither one of you want and won’t produce any grandchildren for me?”

Sabrina scoffed and folded her arms across her chest.

“And you think Chloe is going to give you grandkids? Dream on&#33;” Sabrina gave Lionel a smug grin as he raised an eyebrow at her outburst. “Lucas said she was completely mortified by the idea of having to marry Lex, so it’s not gonna happen.”

“Yes, and my son has *never* been known to exaggerate,” Lionel said with heavy sarcasm as he cast a pointed look back at her. Sabrina frowned. She had to admit, he had a point. “And as Lucas so kindly pointed out, their marriage would be beneficial to all parties for several reasons.”

“Because she wouldn’t become a reporter and you could keep her here working for you full time, etc., etc.,” Sabrina droned and gave a half-roll of her eyes.

“Precisely,” Lionel agreed, ignoring her tone of voice. “Not to mention that Lex would finally be in a good relationship with someone who cares about him rather than his money, Chloe wouldn’t need to be worried about how she could support herself in her early years as a struggling journalist because she would be in a profession that she seems to have an uncanny natural ability for, and, of course, eventually, some grandchildren might be nice.”

Sabrina shook her head and silently swore at Lucas. If he hadn’t been so intent on making his brother’s life a living hell, then none of this would have ever happened. But then, the matchmaker in her was cheering at the possibility of Lex and Chloe actually ending up together for the long term.

Lionel could see that the young woman in front of him was conflicted, but now that he had a good idea, he wasn’t going to let it go simply because of her discomfort.

A light rapping on the semi-open door caused both of them to turn their attention away from the lull in the conversation.

Lex looked back and forth between his father and Sabrina with suspicion as he and Chloe entered the room.

“Are we interrupting?” he asked, a pale eyebrow arching to back up his suspicious tone.

“Not at all,” Lionel replied. “In fact, we were just discussing you.”

“Oh?”

“And I was just leaving,” Sabrina said, giving them both a nervous smile as she pushed her way past them and then left the room.

Lionel smirked at his son and leaned back in his chair as he left his drink on his desk and steepled his fingers together in front of him.

“I understand that your brother has been teasing you,” he said. Lex looked down at Chloe and grinned as she let out a breath of relief.

“You could say that,” Lex finally responded. “We were brainstorming a way to get him back, but Chloe vetoed all of my ideas.”

“Medieval torture methods, I assume?”

“You assume correctly,” Lex told him with a glint of a smile. Lionel nodded and observed the two of them silently. His stare became unnerving and Chloe couldn’t stand it anymore.

“What? What is it? Why are you looking at us like that?” she rambled. ‘Okay, probably not the best idea to wig out on your boss, Chloe.’

Lionel grinned at the two of them, but within a millisecond, it turned into a smirk.

“Just trying to picture what my grandchildren will look like.”




TBC…

[hfce]

:lol: Lionel is so bad grandchildren. :lol: to funny. More please..


Hope ;)

[staysixkid]

Grandkids&#33; Whoa&#33; Are you hinting at something??? :goof: *giggles*
Excellent update&#33;
“You seem like a nice girl, and I must commend you for being a *somewhat* positive influence on Lucas, but quite frankly, I have very little to gain from your nuptials.” Sabrina’s mouth dropped open again, this time in surprised anger.
That was too funny. Jabbed it right to her. Must that man have motives for everything??

[zionista]

This fic is fantastic&#33;&#33;&#33; Fantastic, brilliant and fantastic again.
Can&#39;t wait to see how Chloe in particular reacts to Lionel&#39;s grandchild comment. :)

[buffiy18]

Great way to end a chapter&#33; I can&#39;t wait to see what follows. Keep up the great fic&#33;

[Sunny]

Aaawwww.... This is greeeaaaat&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;
I love too much Lionel in this fic...
Please, write more soon&#33; :yay:

[Charlie]

Like the fact that you have made Lionel a funny and likeable guy.

“Medieval torture methods, I assume?”

“Just trying to picture what my grandchildren will look like.”

[Tandy]

Lionel is so bad&#33;&#33;&#33; :goof: I really like him in this fic&#33; Great chapter like always&#33;

Tandy

[drina]

Punishment for Lucas...hmmm if I may suggest, forcing him to watch Teletubbies or Barney 24/7 for a week. LOL

"Hi I&#39;m Barney and I want to be your friend&#33; Let&#39;s sing a song about friends&#33;"

[bluemoongirl23]

I must say I love that Lionel is pushing their buttons with the grandkid stuff. And, I&#39;m sure if they really put their minds to it Chloe and Lex could come up with a proper way to punish Lucas.

Blue

[dsapiro]

Heehee, grandkids. Great chapter. Update soon&#33;

[Val]

I finally caught up on this fic&#33; Its great&#33;
May I please suggest a few ways of torturing Lucas? hehehe :devil:

[vardaquareien]

Originally posted by scifichick774@Jul 20 2003, 01:03 AM
“The whipping post?”...
...“Something tells me Sabby would get off on that.”
:hehe: lol something tells me your right with that statement&#33;&#33;&#33; *evil grin*

Great chap - what would his grandkids look like - devastatingly gorgeous of course&#33;&#33;&#33;

[sydsvaughn]

Ooooh... punish Lucas... oh what could they come up with? Can&#39;t wait to see&#33; Great chapter&#33;&#33;

Sara

[scifichick774]

A/N: Sorry about the lack of updates on this one. My muse has latched onto Deserted and won’t let it go for dear life, so my rotation has gone by the wayside.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Chloe’s eyes widened and it was all she could do not to leap forward and throttle the man in front of her.

“Excuse me?&#33;” she yelled. “I thought you said you were just teasing?&#33;”

“Actually, I believe I said that *Lucas* was teasing you two,” Lionel replied calmly, the smirk still on his lips as he enjoyed Chloe’s overwrought expression.

“You can’t be serious,” Chloe said, turning to Lex with a desperate and pleading look. To her surprise, Lex just stood there placidly, a completely contented expression on his face. “Lex&#33;”

“I think you’ll find him to be very little help in this regard, Chloe,” Lionel said. Chloe turned her head and narrowed her eyes at him, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. “You see, when he had ‘instances’ of substance abuse in the past, the resulting high seemed to make him…apathetic…to the world around him.”

“He was fine just a minute ago&#33;” she argued loudly. Lionel gave an unceremonious shrug of his shoulder.

“He’s fine now,” he replied. “Just not…battle-worthy.”

“Lex, come on,” Chloe said, turning her attention back to him. He grinned and then leaned down to kiss her forehead. “This isn’t funny. You don’t care at all that he’s going to try and make us get married?”

“Why should I?”

Chloe blinked in surprise and fell back a couple of steps.

“I *did* warn you what would happen if you let him take charge of the relationship,” Lionel reminded her.

“I thought you were joking,” Chloe said, still staring at Lex in disbelief. “And he’s not the one doing this - *you* are.”

“Semantics,” Lionel argued. “And you’ll notice that he’s not protesting.”

Chloe heaved out a large, suffered sigh and turned to look at Lionel with an expression that she had come to refer to as ‘the Lana expression’. Big, wet eyes, a pouty bottom lip that made it look like she was about to cry – all at the same time as trying to make it look like she was attempting to stay strong. Lionel snorted in amusement.

“A wonderful impression of Miss Lang’s doe-eyed plea, but I think you’ll find that it won’t work on me,” he said. Chloe let her face fall back to normal and she graced it merely with a simple, discontented scowl.

“How can you do this?” she asked. “I thought you liked me --- and I can’t believe I just said that.” Lionel let his smirk turn into a smile and he leaned forward.

“I do like you,” he replied in an endearing voice, finally getting Lex’s attention. Lex shot him a sharp, warning glare and let out a sound that remarkably resembled an animalistic growl; both of which Lionel promptly ignored. “And if you’d calm down for a second I would be able to explain that you had misinterpreted my earlier comment.”

“Thinking about what your grandchildren might look like doesn’t leave a lot of room for misinterpretation,” Chloe pointed out angrily. Lionel’s amused grin stayed on his lips.

“You *did* jump to the conclusion that you and Lex would be the parents of said grandchildren.”

The stunning effect of his comment hit Chloe hard and her mouth dropped open as she tried to digest the information, blinking a couple of times before she finally spoke again.

“You and Lex were talking about revenge,” she said.

“We were,” Lionel confirmed, happy to see that Chloe was finally catching on to why he had originally made the comment. Chloe leaned her head to the side and let out a sigh.

“You can’t force Sabrina and Lucas to get married,” she said. “No matter how much I want to get even with him, you just can’t ---”

Lionel sloughed off her comment with a well placed smirk.

“Do you recall me saying anything about marriage?”

“Well, no, but ---” Chloe trailed off and then gave Lionel a questioning look. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

~*~*~*~*~

The next day…

Chloe groggily stepped into her house, locking the door after she closed it behind her. It was mid-morning, but there was no sense in taking chances, especially in a town with such a high crime rate as Smallville.

“Where have you been?&#33;”

Chloe cringed at Lana’s distraught voice echoing down from the top of the staircase. She barely glanced at the girl before she dumped her bag on the floor and started walking toward the living room.

“Shouldn’t you be at the Talon? You know? *Working*?” she asked sleepily, covering her mouth with her hand as she yawned. Lana frowned and made her way down the stairs.

“I was worried about you. You were gone all night and I kept getting the voice messaging thing when I tried calling you on your cell phone.” Lana stopped and frowned as she took in her friend’s appearance. “You look tired. Were you out all night on a story or something? Because you really should have called and ---”

‘Yes, Lana. It’s called sex. It’s exhausting when done properly and for long periods of time,’ Chloe thought, drowning out the sound of the brunette’s voice. Finally, Lana’s yammering got to her and she forced a small smile onto her lips as she lay down on the couch. “I told you where I was and as far as not calling you ---” ‘Think brain, think. What does Lana like to talk about so I can steer the conversation away from me?’ A lopsided smirk crawled across Chloe’s lips. “I thought you and Pete might appreciate the time alone.” ‘Ha&#33; Good one,’ she inwardly congratulated herself. Lana’s cheeks colored with a ferocious blush and Chloe snickered. “So, I take it that it went well?”

Lana nodded and sat down on the coffee table in front of the couch.

“It went great,” she said, her face starting to seemingly glow as she talked about it. “He kissed me&#33;”

“And?” Chloe asked teasingly. Lana’s mouth dropped open and shut a couple of times, surprised at Chloe’s forwardness. Chloe smiled. ‘Better not tell her about what really happened between me and Lex yesterday or she’ll throw a fit.’

“Chloe&#33; I can’t believe you said that&#33;” Lana said with embarrassment, her cheeks now stained with a deep pink hue.

“Did you want it to?”

Lana pursed her lips.

“So?” she retorted. Chloe shook her head in amusement, but Lana misinterpreted the action. “Chloe, I know you and Pete – with everything that happened over Clark – if you want me to stop seeing him ---”

“Oh, Lana, no,” Chloe said, her face contorting in sympathy as she sat up again. “I think you and Pete will be great together – really.”

“You do?”

“Yeah,” Chloe answered. “Besides, it will make Clark go crazy once he finds out… I wonder if I can get someone to record that for me?”

“Chloe&#33;” Lana admonished. “I’m not dating him to make Clark jealous.”

“I know, Lana. But you can’t blame a girl for wanting a teensy bit of vengeance can you?” Chloe asked, pinching her fingers close together when she said ‘teensy’. To her surprise, Lana snickered.

“I guess not,” she said. Lana swept some hair behind her ear and smiled at her friend. “Speaking of making Clark jealous for all the wrong reasons, how is Sean doing?”

“I --- good,” Chloe answered. “He got a promotion.” Lana’s eyes widened.

“That’s great,” she chirped. “Does that mean he’s moving back here and you’ll ---”

“He’s moving to Hong Kong,” Chloe interrupted. Lana’s face fell. The last thing she needed was for Chloe to be available and Pete’s unrequited crush on her to be brought back up because of it.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. We sort of broke up last night,” Chloe admitted, leaving out the rest of the details. Thinking that Lana was about to go into full-on consoling mode, Chloe quickly amended her statement. “The long distance thing, you know? It was a mutual decision.” Lana was still frowning and Chloe fidgeted in her seat. “What?”

“Nothing,” Lana lied.

“O-kay,” Chloe strung out.

“It’s just --- I don’t suppose you’d agree to not tell Pete about the break up? At least not until we’ve been going out a little longer?”

Chloe sat there in shock. Lana Lang, Smallville’s pink princess, was worried about *her* getting in the way of her burgeoning relationship?

“Lana, you know I don’t like Pete like that.”

“I know, but ---”

“And I’m taken anyway.”

Chloe didn’t realize she had said her last statement aloud until she saw Lana look at her with pure confusion etched over her features.

‘Shit.’

“I thought you said that ---”

Chloe let her face fall into her hands and she let out a small sigh.

“I guess there’s something I should tell you.”




TBC…

[Blaire023]

Yeah, maybe she should tell her. And then she could go back to the mansion and fuck his brains out again. *gasps*

did i just say that? heh

and i dont care what you update, just give me more&#33; IWANTMORE&#33;&#33;&#33;

~B

[lunaluthor]

I&#39;m wondering what Lionel is plotting in his evil mind
so update soon :yay: :yay:

[buffiy18]

Thank you for the update. I agree... I don&#39;t care what you update just give us something to read from you.

I wonder what Lionel is up to... Chole should tell Lana and put her in her place :chlexsign1:

[hfce]

More please more :clap:


Hope ;)

[Salma]

More&#33;&#33;&#33;MOre&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;MOOORRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEE&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; &#33;&#33;&#33; :chlexsign3: :chlexsign4: :chlexsign1: :devil:

[bluemoongirl23]

I will second and third the chants of more. I would also love for Chloe to describe what she and her new man have been up to, making Lana blush to her roots. But, I&#39;m just naughty that way.

Blue

[flower]

:huh: I need more. I&#39;m need my Chlex. I NEED my CHLEX&#33; UPDATE&#33; :huh:

FloweR
..............
Please?
Pretty Please?
Please....?
..............

[shailafter]

can&#39;t wait for more&#33; :biggrin:

[scifichick774]

Lana stared unblinking as she tried to absorb what Chloe had just told her.

Chloe and Lex.

Together.

A couple.

Finally, Lana’s brow furrowed with a confused expression.

“I don’t get it,” she finally said.

Chloe let out a small sigh and rubbed her eyes. She had come to love Lana like a sister, but sometimes the girl just wasn’t that bright.

“What don’t you get exactly?” Chloe asked.

“Well,” Lana said and squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. “I thought you and ---”

“Sean,” Chloe supplied when the brunette hesitated. Lana shook her head meekly.

“Don’t get mad, but I kind of thought that you and Mr. Luthor were --- involved,” she said, wincing and darting her eyes away from Chloe.

Now it was Chloe’s turn to stare.

“You thought I was seeing Lionel,” she reiterated in disbelief. “But you *knew* I was seeing Sean. Why did you think ---?”

“Well, Mr. Luthor is…old,” Lana said, crinkling up her nose. “I thought, you know, maybe you were just…*you know*.”

“Cheating on him with someone good?” Chloe asked, arching an accusatory eyebrow.

“Well…yeah.”

Chloe opened and closed her mouth.

“I can’t believe you thought that – let alone that you just said it out loud,” she finally said in a flustered voice.

“Don’t be mad,” Lana said, looking surrealistically apologetic. After a beat, she plastered a fake smile on her face. “So – you and Lex?”

Chloe couldn’t help the snort that released from her nose.

“Kinda weird, huh?”

Lana looked thoughtful and then shook her head a little.

“Not really. You two have always kind of had that…whatever,” she said, her hands flinging wildly into the air.

Chloe creased her brow. To the best of her recollection, she and Lex had never spent that much time together in Lana’s presence – so why would Lana use that particular phrasing?

“What do you mean *always*?”

“You know – always,” Lana said with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. Chloe stared back at her blankly and Lana tipped her head to the side. “You really don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”

Chloe shook her head.

“I only started to become friends with him after I started working for his dad, and even then – this ‘together’ thing has only really happened…recently,” she said, not really wanting to go into details about how she and Lex had only hooked up the previous day.

“That’s not what I meant,” Lana argued. “I meant the whole…chemistry…thing.” Lana rolled her eyes at Chloe’s confused look. “Come on&#33; *Everybody* noticed it. Even *Clark* noticed it – and that’s saying a lot.”

“Clark?”

“When you and Lex had that interview at his house – Clark mentioned that he thought he was going along to keep you two from killing each other.”

Chloe opened and closed her mouth before settling on a bemused look.

“That doesn’t mean he thought ---”

“Afterward, he said the tension in the air was almost ‘palpable’,” Lana said with her arms crossed and an eyebrow hiked high on her forehead. “And yes, he actually used that word. I was as surprised as you are. I think he mistook the tension for hostility, but anyone else would have known what it was.”

Chloe frowned and looked down at the carpet. It was true that she had always felt a connection with Lex, though she had written it off as having to do with the fact that he was one of the only other intelligent people in town; and that he didn’t mind bantering with her, and that…

“Shit,” she muttered under her breath.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Chloe said. “I just – I’m wondering if Lex was right about his feelings for me not having to do with the curse. I mean, I wanted to believe him, but there was that little seed of doubt and ---”

“Curse?”

Chloe winced. Oops.

“I – uh ---”

Lana’s crossed arms morphed into a considerably sterner expression, one that demanded an answer to her question, and Chloe sighed.

“The short version is that Lucas is an asshole and his girlfriend practices witchcraft, so he had her put a curse on Lex.”

“What? What kind of curse?”

“Okay, not the reaction I was expecting,” Chloe said carefully. “You mean you actually believe in that sort of thing?”

“Well…yeah. How else would you explain all the weird stuff that happens in Smallville?” Lana asked, quickly adding, “Not that your meteor rock theory doesn’t have merit.”

“Gee, thanks,” Chloe said sarcastically. Lana smiled apologetically and then leaned forward, bracing her hands on the edge of the couch cushion.

“So, what kind of curse?”

“It gave him an addiction.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound too bad. He’s had addictions before, right? And what does that have to do with you?”

Chloe sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

“It gave him an addiction *to me*,” she clarified. Lana’s eyes grew wide.

“You mean --- wow.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s why you thought he didn’t really like you, because you thought that he was just – what? Feeding his addiction?”

“Sort of.”

Lana let her lips curl into a soft smile.

“If it helps, I think it was bound to happen eventually. The curse just probably gave you guys the little push you needed.”

“I guess,” Chloe said, still not sounding convinced.

“Why didn’t you tell me all this before?” Lana asked in a slightly hurt tone. “You know I would have helped you cover with your dad and everything.” Chloe shook her head.

“I promised I wouldn’t,” she answered and then pointed a finger at her. “So no telling&#33;”

Lana held up her hands in mock surrender.

“I’m not the reporter,” she said with an amused grin. “And don’t worry about it. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“Thanks, but now that you mention it, there is something you could do to help me.”

“What?” Lana asked, a mischievous smile beaming across her face, pleased to finally be let into the loop.

“Your cousin Marcie’s pregnant, right?”

“Well, I’m not sure I’d call her my cousin because I’m only related to her on my dad’s wife’s side, but ---” Lana trailed off and cleared her throat at Chloe’s impatient glare. “Yeah, why?”

“You think you can get her to take a pregnancy test?”

Lana blinked in confusion.

“Why? She already knows she’s pregnant.”

“It’s not for her,” Chloe said. “You see, Mr. Luthor came up with this plan to get revenge on Lucas.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And it basically involves making him think that Sabrina is pregnant – even though she’s not.”

“O-kay,” Lana drew out. “But won’t Sabby just tell him that she’s not?”

“She’s going out of town – some sort of book convention or something,” Chloe answered with a smile. Lana shook her head in disbelief and then smiled at her friend. “What?”

“Bound – to – happen,” Lana strung out, pausing between each word with a light giggle at the end. “You fit right into the Luthor family.”



TBC…

[tigerbaby]

This is just fantastic. Evil, evil Chloe. No wonder she likes Lex.

[sabby]

heheh, good chapter, really. Lana is just too slow. I mean what is there not to get? *shakes head* And to your plan EVIL&#33; But I like it, I like it very much so. Can&#39;t wait to see Lucas flip when he finds out that his girlfriend is supposedly pregnant. Oh I think there will be hell to pay when he reacts in the wrong way in front of her. Cuz after all it&#39;s doesn&#39;t matter if she is really pregnant, it&#39;s about how he&#39;d take it if she was...

hugs,
Sabby

[flower]

you&#39;re evil.

in a good way.

but still you´re evil.

UPDATE SOON&#33;

Flower

[shailafter]

:devil: heh heh heh.. great chapter more soon please&#33;

[bluemoongirl23]

Me likes the way that Chloe is thinking. Very much like a Luthor and it&#39;s an excellent way to get revenge on Lucas. But, he had best not behave like an ass.

Blue

[hfce]

Great chapter :clap:


Hope

[dsapiro]

Great chpater, loving evil Chloe. Moor soon&#33;

[happy bunny]

Love it, love it, love it&#33;&#33; Evil Chloe is just soo great&#33; And Lana was supportive and nice..... weird :huh:
CONTINUE SOON&#33;&#33;&#33;

[TestingFaith]

Brilliant...this fic (and your others) are uterly fantastic, amazing, unimaginably awsome...what am i talking about...oh...yeah...this fic...really really kewl...can&#39;t wait for more...

Lily M. :sunny:

[Brittany]

:biggrin: Great chapter and that&#39;s such an evil plan, I love it&#33; Can&#39;t wait to see Lucus&#39; reaction. Please hurry with the next update&#33; :worship2:

[vardaquareien]

:lol: Luv the revenge plan&#33;&#33;&#33; :devil: ALso liked Lana&#39;s observation that they&#39;d always had chemistry&#33; Nice to see she actually thinks about other people&#39;s lives occassionally&#33;&#33;&#33; And Clark&#39;s &#39;palpable&#39; - *snicker*

[lunaluthor]

Brilliant I love this wicked plan and Lucas will be so shocked go on I need the update :yay: :yay:

[scifichick774]

Two days later…

Lucas strolled into Lex’s office as if it were any other room in the castle, his head tilting in an upward nod as a means of greeting.

Sabby had just left for her convention that morning and he was feeling decidedly bored, so what better way to occupy his time than to bother his older brother?

“Lucas,” Lex said in a monotone voice and then turned his attention back to the paperwork in front of him. “What brings you here?”

“I live here,” Lucas answered smoothly and started rifling through the different antiques shelved in the room. Lex pursed his lips in irritation, hoping that the younger Luthor wouldn’t break anything, but suspecting that he would.

“I meant in my office.”

“Ah.”

Lex kept staring at him expectantly, losing what little patience he had every second that Lucas didn’t elaborate.

“Well?”

Lucas shrugged.

“Nothin’. Just bored.”

“So you thought you’d come and share the wealth?”

Lucas’s lips spread into a taunting smile.

“Something like that.”

“I see,” Lex said. He set his pen down and leaned back in his chair. “I meant to ask you – is Sabrina feeling alright?”

“To my knowledge. Why?”

“She looked a little pale when she left last night,” Lex commented in an offhanded, yet still concerned tone. Lucas rolled his eyes.

“She’s afraid of flying and she had to take a plane to get to that convention thing,” he said. “She was a little wigged about it.”

Lex nodded and gave him a glint of a grin.

“As long as it’s nothing serious.”

“Yeah.”

“So, was there anything else you needed to see me about?” Lex asked and then smirked. “Other than trying to get me in trouble with dad by not keeping up with my job?”

Lucas jokingly grabbed at his heart.

“You wound me.”

“I would be entirely justified.”

Lucas gave him a tight grin.

“Still upset about the whole curse thing, huh?”

Lex arched an eyebrow and a smile twitched at his lips.

“It’s not really the sort of thing you just get over,” he replied. Lucas frowned.

“At least it wasn’t supposed to be,” he grumbled.

“Nice to know you had my best interests at heart,” Lex said sarcastically. “Now, as touching as this Hallmark moment has been, I really do need to get back to work.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucas said with a flick of his hand. “Catch ya later.”

Lucas left the room and Lex once again leaned back in his chair, a significantly pleased smirk planted firmly on his face. Step one of the revenge scenario had gone according to plan, which meant that step two wouldn’t be far behind; and Lex couldn’t wait to see Lucas’s reaction to that one.

~*~*~*~

Lucas practically pouted as he made the way to his bedroom. His ‘meeting’ with Lex hadn’t gone nearly as well as he had hoped and he was sincerely regretting ever fessing up to placing the curse on his brother in the first place.

He had wanted to see Lex suffer much more than what had ended up actually happening. How could he have possibly guessed that Chloe Sullivan would not only be over her crush on Clark Kent but fall for his brother while the curse started to root itself into Lex’s system? It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t.

He wanted Chloe to kick and scream, maybe even resign so Lex would just end up stalking her to prevent the onslaught of withdrawal symptoms. He wanted her to hit it off with Sean Callaghan and end up getting married and moving across the ocean so Lex would be in constant misery and despair.

But none of that had happened.

Lucas sighed and opened his bedroom door, heading straight to the adjoining bathroom so he could relieve himself.

‘Stupid Lex,’ he thought to himself. ‘Fucking ruins everything.’

He shook himself off and went to wash his hands, bending over to pick up the hand towel that dropped onto the trashcan when he hit the wall in aggravation. His brow furrowed as he noticed a small cardboard box shoved down into the rest of the small contents of the garbage.

A pregnancy test.

His confused expression was quickly replaced by a frown when he saw a white stick peeking out of the box. He grimaced as he plucked it out; making a mental note that he would wash his hands again immediately afterward.

There was a pink plus sign as clear as day in the little window on the stick and even Lucas knew what that meant. Unfortunately, he doubted that one of the maids had just come into his room and used his bathroom to take the test, and the only person that left was his girlfriend.

Lex’s ‘pale’ comment came back to him full force and Lucas found himself unable to escape the groan that escaped his throat.

“Shit.”

He knew Sabrina well enough to know that she didn’t want to get married or have kids - *ever*. He doubted that she’d keep the pregnancy, but realized either way that it would put a rift in their relationship.

“Shit, shit, shit&#33;” he yelled, punching the wall again and pulling back his hand only to wince at the open cuts on his knuckles that the impact against the stone wall had caused.

Lucas shook his hand to try and dull the pain and stomped back into his room to call Sabrina’s cell phone. He waited impatiently as it kept ringing, only to be answered by her voice mail. What he didn’t know was that Chloe and Lex had already stolen his girlfriend’s cell phone the night before when she had been at the house so he couldn’t communicate with her to find out what was really going on.

He left a message, but growled as he hung up the phone. She was probably on the flight she had been dreading and he had no way of talking to her until she called him and told him her hotel and room information.

He shook his head. He had to get this out – talk to someone, run the situation past them and get a second opinion. Sadly, the few friends he had didn’t live in Smallville and the topic wasn’t really something he could just call one of them about and dump on them.

Lucas groaned again, flopping onto his bed and letting his face fall into his hands.

If he told his dad…well, that just wasn’t an option.

If he told Lex…no. That was almost worse, because not only would Lex inform Lionel as to what Lucas told him, but he would also probably mock him for getting himself into the situation as well.

Lucas closed his eyes.

“Chloe…shit.”

It was his only viable option.

She was in love with his brother, but she was also a female and might be able to identify with the situation. He couldn’t get empathy from her since he doubted that she’d ever been in a situation like that herself, but he could get sympathy. And his dad was always praising Chloe for her decisions – maybe she could pass on some good advice to him.

He left the room and walked back toward Lex’s office. Chloe wasn’t there, but at least Lex would know where to find her.

~*~*~

“How did he react?” Chloe asked, smiling at Lex from the other side of his desk. Lex’s face remained emotionless and he shook his head pensively.

“He thought it had something to do with her being afraid of flying.”

“Damn. How is this plan supposed to work if he doesn’t even care?”

“He doesn’t know anything for certain yet,” Lex reminded her. “We may not get along well, but he’s smart, and I’m sure he’ll put the pieces together after he finds the test you planted in his trashcan.”

“*If* he finds it.”

“You don’t think he will?”

“I don’t know,” Chloe answered. “I mean, I loosened the towel holder so it would fall with even the slightest tug, but there’s no guarantee that he would even use it.” Lex raised an eyebrow and Chloe shrugged with an almost embarrassed look on her face. “No offense, but he doesn’t strike me as the paragon of personal hygiene.”

“True.”

A knock came at the now closed door. Lucas wanted to talk to Chloe, but he had no desire to walk in on his brother fucking her and he was sure that the door had been closed for a reason.

“Come in.”

Lucas frowned at the two as he entered the room and both Chloe and Lex noticed how fidgety and terror-stricken he looked. They exchanged a look and then turned their attention back to him.

“Still bored?” Lex asked, unable to keep the corners of his lips from curling upward no matter how hard he tried.

“No,” Lucas said, immediately focusing on Chloe after he answered Lex’s question. “Um – can I talk to you for a second?” Lex made a point to scowl menacingly at him and Lucas glared back at him. “Just for a second – it’s not like I’m going to try and steal her away from you.”

Chloe smiled at Lex and followed Lucas out into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

“Okay, so what’s up?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest and doing her best not to start laughing.

“Sabby – she’s ---” Lucas trailed off and Chloe looked at him expectantly.

“She’s ---?”

Lucas released a breath as he ran a hand through his hair.

“I think she’s pregnant.”

“Wow,” Chloe said, pretending to be surprised. “Congratulations --- I guess.”

Lucas gave her a bitter grin.

“Yeah, well, it’s the ‘I guess’ part that concerns me.”

“What do you mean?”

“She doesn’t want to get married and have kids and ---”

“And you do?”

“No, but ---” Lucas paused and closed his eyes for a second. “But if she is then I don’t want to my kid to grow up without a father like I did.”

“Oh.”

Chloe wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She hadn’t been expecting Lucas to actually have a stance on it other than freaking out and the fact that he wanted to be responsible made her feel a little remorseful for what she, Lex, and Lionel were doing to him.

“Yeah, so --- I know you have to be around Lex a lot so he doesn’t start shaking or whatever, but you think you can edge out a little time to help me shop for a ring or something? I have no idea what kind of stuff chicks go for when it comes to that sort of thing.”

Chloe frowned, but quickly covered it with an apprehensive, sympathetic grin.

“Have you talked to her?”

“She’s on her flight right now, so her cell’s off.”

“Well, I think you should maybe wait and talk to her about all of this first – especially if you think she doesn’t want to get married.”

Lucas let out another breath and nodded a couple of times.

“Yeah, okay, you’re right,” he said. “Thanks.” Chloe nodded and Lucas took a few steps to walk away before turning back around to face her. “Think you could not tell Lex or dad about this for right now?”

“No problem.”

She watched him walk away and crossed her arms across her twisting belly. She knew that Lex would want to hear what had just transpired, but she also knew that he would probably have considerably less sympathy for the boy than she did.

Chloe opened Lex’s office door back up and slowly walked into the room.

“So?” Lex anxiously asked, a giddy grin on his lips.

“So --- I think we may have a problem.”



TBC...

[hfce]

This is no time for Chloe to be sympathetic. After all he wasn&#39;t to her or lex. So he gets exactly what he deserves.


Hope :tease:

[dsapiro]

Oh, come on, Lucas deserves it. The curse and then even the stuff about Lionel wanting Chloe and Lex to get married. He deserves it. Update soon&#33;