sadie kate
19th June 2006, 08:13
Author: sadie kate
Rating: R for mild smut
Category: Angst
Spoilers: Futurefic, with references to the series at large. All aired episodes, to be safe.
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Borrowing 'em for my own enjoyment
Summary: “Because maybe it’s not that we weren’t good enough for them,” Lex told her. “Maybe they weren’t good enough for us.”
Author's Note: Just a little one-shot that smacked me out of nowhere.
“Clark signed the papers today,” Chloe said wearily, leaning against the doorframe.
Lex hadn’t looked up from his work yet, but she knew he knew she was there. He always, always knew.
“How does it feel?” he said finally, scooting his chair back a few inches, lacing his fingers behind his head as he looked up to meet her eye. “Being free again, I mean.”
“Lonely,” she admitted.
“So nothing’s really changed,” he pointed out.
His tone wasn’t as cold as it could have been.
“I thought I’d feel something different when it ended,” Chloe told him quietly, crossing the room to sink down in one of the overstuffed chairs he kept for associates, comfortable enough so that people would let down their guard so he could zero in for the kill. “Anger. Relief. But it’s all just … empty.”
She curled up into herself like a child, arms wrapped around her knees, pulling them tight against her chest.
“It’s not really over,” Lex said, his expression inscrutable. “You don’t ever sever the tie, not completely. The emptiness doesn’t go away, either. But you learn not to let it bother you.”
“You have to say that,” Chloe smiled bitterly. “You’re Lex Luthor. You can’t admit you’re heartbroken. That would necessitate admitting you actually have a heart. Save the façade for your cowering minions. I know you better than that.”
“You’ve always known me better than most,” he conceded.
“I quit my job last week,” she said after a long moment, glancing up at him from beneath her eyelashes. “But then, you’d already know that.”
“I must admit, I was slightly relieved,” Lex acknowledged, smiling slightly. “It’s rather time-consuming, making sure you’re not going to run anything too damaging. I don’t anticipate that anyone else at the Planet will be quite so … problematic.”
“You’re only slightly relieved?” she teased, sounding like her old self for a moment. “I’m offended. I thought for sure you’d be planning some debauchery-laden soiree to celebrate, replete with virgin sacrifices, or whatever it is the overentitled elite are into these days.”
“Virgin sacrifices are so last year,” he deadpanned. “Anyway. Just assume my overwhelming joy was slightly dampened by my disappointment.”
“Disappointment?”
“I know you better than most too, Chloe,” Lex said gently. “That’s the only career you’ve ever wanted, and you walked away from it for what? Because your feelings are hurt?”
“I didn’t come here to be belittled,” she snapped. “I thought if anyone would understand, it would be you.”
“Then make me understand,” he urged. “Tell me how two people, who are so insignificant in the scheme of things, could make you throw your whole future away.”
“Insignificant?” Chloe choked. “Lois was my best friend, my cousin. Clark was my husband. I don’t see how even you can call those ties insignificant. They were my family. The only family I had left.”
“They were beneath you,” Lex dismissed. “They always have been.”
“I feel stupid,” Chloe admitted. “I never saw it coming. I’ve always been so obsessed with finding the truth, with digging up the things that people hide. And all that time, they were in love. They were in love, right in front of me, and I didn’t notice. I didn’t even think they liked each other.”
“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Lex said, with a wry twist to his lips. “How the people who clash the most, often wind up together.”
“As you can see, I’m overcome with laughter,” she said dryly.
“Is that it then?” he inquired. “Have you lost faith in your unerring sense of the truth? You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, if that’s the case. It’s easy to ignore what should be evident when you have a personal stake. And not that my opinion is worth anything, but for the record, I think that your ability to discern what’s real is still intact.”
“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t,” Chloe shrugged. “I just can’t bring myself to care anymore. About any of it.”
“Is that so?” Lex asked silkily, and she could see something click behind his eyes, could pinpoint the moment when he switched from confidant-mode to business-mode. “Or is it just too painful, knowing that Superman is always going to be the biggest story in this town, that you’re going to have to cover him, no matter what he and Lois did to you.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Lex,” she said tiredly. “I’m sure you’ll always give Superman a run for his money when it comes to making the headlines.”
“You don’t seem surprised that I know Superman’s true identity,” Lex observed.
“You’ve never been stupid. His disguise isn’t terribly good. Anyone who really knew Clark at all was bound to figure it out.”
“It took Lois long enough,” Lex snorted. “I assume she didn’t know until shortly before she left me. It makes more sense, that way. It wasn’t really Clark and Lois who fell in love, it was Lois and Superman. Once she gleaned his secret, the line was just that much easier to cross.”
“Do you want to know the worst part?” Chloe asked, leaving the larger issue untouched for the time being. “They claim that they were never unfaithful to us. That they never acted on their feelings until after I left Clark. Like that made it okay. Like they were noble. I was the bad guy. Because I finally saw what was going on, and I left him first.”
“It must be hard,” Lex said soothingly, but he still had his corporate shark face on, as though he was circling around the scent of blood. “Finding out your hero isn’t so infallible after all.”
“Leave it alone, Lex” she warned. “Clark the man let me down. Not Superman. Everything else aside, I still believe in what he’s doing. I won’t be involved in your plans to take him down.”
“Superman was never your hero, Chloe,” he said sadly. “It was always Clark. Don’t you realize that?”
She regarded him for a long moment, then rose to circle around, insinuating herself between him and his desk. She suspected she was the only one who was ever allowed to place herself between him and his work, and she knew no one else had ever granted her that privilege.
It shouldn’t have made her feel so powerful, so wanted, but everyone else had their weaknesses, so why couldn’t she?
“What will you do now?” he asked mildly, reaching out to skim a hand up her inner thigh.
“I don’t know,” she whispered, letting her eyes fall closed as he slid her panties down past her knees. “Leave town. Start over. Write for another paper, in a place where people don’t fly.”
Lex rose gracefully from his chair, hoisting her up on his mahogany desk as he did so.
“What if I asked you to stay?” he asked, breath hot against her ear, fingers tugging impatiently at the buttons holding her blouse together.
“I’d want to know why,” Chloe responded, biting back a moan as he freed her from her bra, grazing her nipples with his thumbs.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he muttered working her skirt up over her hips as she tugged at the knot in his tie.
“Don’t make this into something more than it is,” she implored, looking up at him searchingly. “We wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t left us. This is revenge.”
“Oh, Chloe,” he said, his voice thick with need. “If we were just a grudge fuck, don’t you think they would have found out about it already?”
He captured her mouth in a bruising kiss before she could formulate any words, and she responded greedily, biting his lower lip hard enough that he could taste his own blood.
She broke the kiss, reaching out for his belt, and he pulled his shirt the rest of the way off as she unbuckled and unzipped. Her nails dug into his back as she guided him into her, and he hissed at the sting, slamming his cock in deeper.
“If it’s revenge you want,” he told her, hauling her closer against his chest. “I could pick up the phone right now and get it for you. I could make them sorry they were ever born, just before I wiped them off the face of the earth.”
Chloe let out a muffled sob against his chest, and he scooped her up, carrying her across the office and collapsing onto the couch without pulling out of her. She settled against him delicately, regaining her composure, before she pulled back to look him in the eye.
Her face was flushed, her lips swollen, her hair disheveled, but her eyes were as flat and clear as the water just before a storm.
“No,” she said firmly. “I don’t want that for them.”
He grasped her waist hard enough to leave marks, bucked his hips underneath hers, and she moaned, letting her head fall to the side.
“If you leave me,” Lex said, watching her face as he continued to thrust into her, slow and deep. “I won’t have anyone left who will tell me no. No one that I’d listen to, anyway.”
“Why?” she gasped, her breathing getting shallower, and he reached down to rub her clit with his thumb. “Why do I get that kind of power?”
“Because maybe it’s not that we weren’t good enough for them,” he gritted out, stuttering out a pattern against her flesh with his own. “Maybe they weren’t good enough for us.”
Chloe clawed at his shoulders when she came, burying her face into his neck as she shuddered against him. It was enough to push him over the edge, and he came inside of her, trembling with the force of it.
She didn’t move for a long moment, except to wrap her arms tighter around him.
“Stay with me,” he whispered into her skin.
Chloe laughed, and he felt the vibration of it run through his whole body.
“That doesn’t sound like a question,” she noted, pulling back to look at him.
“It’s not,” he replied, brushing her hair away from her sweat-dampened face.
“How do I know this is happening for the right reasons?” she asked.
“Do the reasons really matter?” Lex responded.
Chloe bit her lip and studied his face. She didn’t say anything, but that didn’t matter. He knew her well enough to interpret her silences. He tugged at her wrist, pressing a kiss against her pulse.
“It’s getting late,” he said. “Let’s go home.”
They weren’t the kind of people that indulged in public displays of affection, and so he waited until they were in his car to take her hand. She wrapped her fingers around his, and held tight.
Rating: R for mild smut
Category: Angst
Spoilers: Futurefic, with references to the series at large. All aired episodes, to be safe.
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Borrowing 'em for my own enjoyment
Summary: “Because maybe it’s not that we weren’t good enough for them,” Lex told her. “Maybe they weren’t good enough for us.”
Author's Note: Just a little one-shot that smacked me out of nowhere.
“Clark signed the papers today,” Chloe said wearily, leaning against the doorframe.
Lex hadn’t looked up from his work yet, but she knew he knew she was there. He always, always knew.
“How does it feel?” he said finally, scooting his chair back a few inches, lacing his fingers behind his head as he looked up to meet her eye. “Being free again, I mean.”
“Lonely,” she admitted.
“So nothing’s really changed,” he pointed out.
His tone wasn’t as cold as it could have been.
“I thought I’d feel something different when it ended,” Chloe told him quietly, crossing the room to sink down in one of the overstuffed chairs he kept for associates, comfortable enough so that people would let down their guard so he could zero in for the kill. “Anger. Relief. But it’s all just … empty.”
She curled up into herself like a child, arms wrapped around her knees, pulling them tight against her chest.
“It’s not really over,” Lex said, his expression inscrutable. “You don’t ever sever the tie, not completely. The emptiness doesn’t go away, either. But you learn not to let it bother you.”
“You have to say that,” Chloe smiled bitterly. “You’re Lex Luthor. You can’t admit you’re heartbroken. That would necessitate admitting you actually have a heart. Save the façade for your cowering minions. I know you better than that.”
“You’ve always known me better than most,” he conceded.
“I quit my job last week,” she said after a long moment, glancing up at him from beneath her eyelashes. “But then, you’d already know that.”
“I must admit, I was slightly relieved,” Lex acknowledged, smiling slightly. “It’s rather time-consuming, making sure you’re not going to run anything too damaging. I don’t anticipate that anyone else at the Planet will be quite so … problematic.”
“You’re only slightly relieved?” she teased, sounding like her old self for a moment. “I’m offended. I thought for sure you’d be planning some debauchery-laden soiree to celebrate, replete with virgin sacrifices, or whatever it is the overentitled elite are into these days.”
“Virgin sacrifices are so last year,” he deadpanned. “Anyway. Just assume my overwhelming joy was slightly dampened by my disappointment.”
“Disappointment?”
“I know you better than most too, Chloe,” Lex said gently. “That’s the only career you’ve ever wanted, and you walked away from it for what? Because your feelings are hurt?”
“I didn’t come here to be belittled,” she snapped. “I thought if anyone would understand, it would be you.”
“Then make me understand,” he urged. “Tell me how two people, who are so insignificant in the scheme of things, could make you throw your whole future away.”
“Insignificant?” Chloe choked. “Lois was my best friend, my cousin. Clark was my husband. I don’t see how even you can call those ties insignificant. They were my family. The only family I had left.”
“They were beneath you,” Lex dismissed. “They always have been.”
“I feel stupid,” Chloe admitted. “I never saw it coming. I’ve always been so obsessed with finding the truth, with digging up the things that people hide. And all that time, they were in love. They were in love, right in front of me, and I didn’t notice. I didn’t even think they liked each other.”
“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Lex said, with a wry twist to his lips. “How the people who clash the most, often wind up together.”
“As you can see, I’m overcome with laughter,” she said dryly.
“Is that it then?” he inquired. “Have you lost faith in your unerring sense of the truth? You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, if that’s the case. It’s easy to ignore what should be evident when you have a personal stake. And not that my opinion is worth anything, but for the record, I think that your ability to discern what’s real is still intact.”
“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t,” Chloe shrugged. “I just can’t bring myself to care anymore. About any of it.”
“Is that so?” Lex asked silkily, and she could see something click behind his eyes, could pinpoint the moment when he switched from confidant-mode to business-mode. “Or is it just too painful, knowing that Superman is always going to be the biggest story in this town, that you’re going to have to cover him, no matter what he and Lois did to you.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Lex,” she said tiredly. “I’m sure you’ll always give Superman a run for his money when it comes to making the headlines.”
“You don’t seem surprised that I know Superman’s true identity,” Lex observed.
“You’ve never been stupid. His disguise isn’t terribly good. Anyone who really knew Clark at all was bound to figure it out.”
“It took Lois long enough,” Lex snorted. “I assume she didn’t know until shortly before she left me. It makes more sense, that way. It wasn’t really Clark and Lois who fell in love, it was Lois and Superman. Once she gleaned his secret, the line was just that much easier to cross.”
“Do you want to know the worst part?” Chloe asked, leaving the larger issue untouched for the time being. “They claim that they were never unfaithful to us. That they never acted on their feelings until after I left Clark. Like that made it okay. Like they were noble. I was the bad guy. Because I finally saw what was going on, and I left him first.”
“It must be hard,” Lex said soothingly, but he still had his corporate shark face on, as though he was circling around the scent of blood. “Finding out your hero isn’t so infallible after all.”
“Leave it alone, Lex” she warned. “Clark the man let me down. Not Superman. Everything else aside, I still believe in what he’s doing. I won’t be involved in your plans to take him down.”
“Superman was never your hero, Chloe,” he said sadly. “It was always Clark. Don’t you realize that?”
She regarded him for a long moment, then rose to circle around, insinuating herself between him and his desk. She suspected she was the only one who was ever allowed to place herself between him and his work, and she knew no one else had ever granted her that privilege.
It shouldn’t have made her feel so powerful, so wanted, but everyone else had their weaknesses, so why couldn’t she?
“What will you do now?” he asked mildly, reaching out to skim a hand up her inner thigh.
“I don’t know,” she whispered, letting her eyes fall closed as he slid her panties down past her knees. “Leave town. Start over. Write for another paper, in a place where people don’t fly.”
Lex rose gracefully from his chair, hoisting her up on his mahogany desk as he did so.
“What if I asked you to stay?” he asked, breath hot against her ear, fingers tugging impatiently at the buttons holding her blouse together.
“I’d want to know why,” Chloe responded, biting back a moan as he freed her from her bra, grazing her nipples with his thumbs.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he muttered working her skirt up over her hips as she tugged at the knot in his tie.
“Don’t make this into something more than it is,” she implored, looking up at him searchingly. “We wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t left us. This is revenge.”
“Oh, Chloe,” he said, his voice thick with need. “If we were just a grudge fuck, don’t you think they would have found out about it already?”
He captured her mouth in a bruising kiss before she could formulate any words, and she responded greedily, biting his lower lip hard enough that he could taste his own blood.
She broke the kiss, reaching out for his belt, and he pulled his shirt the rest of the way off as she unbuckled and unzipped. Her nails dug into his back as she guided him into her, and he hissed at the sting, slamming his cock in deeper.
“If it’s revenge you want,” he told her, hauling her closer against his chest. “I could pick up the phone right now and get it for you. I could make them sorry they were ever born, just before I wiped them off the face of the earth.”
Chloe let out a muffled sob against his chest, and he scooped her up, carrying her across the office and collapsing onto the couch without pulling out of her. She settled against him delicately, regaining her composure, before she pulled back to look him in the eye.
Her face was flushed, her lips swollen, her hair disheveled, but her eyes were as flat and clear as the water just before a storm.
“No,” she said firmly. “I don’t want that for them.”
He grasped her waist hard enough to leave marks, bucked his hips underneath hers, and she moaned, letting her head fall to the side.
“If you leave me,” Lex said, watching her face as he continued to thrust into her, slow and deep. “I won’t have anyone left who will tell me no. No one that I’d listen to, anyway.”
“Why?” she gasped, her breathing getting shallower, and he reached down to rub her clit with his thumb. “Why do I get that kind of power?”
“Because maybe it’s not that we weren’t good enough for them,” he gritted out, stuttering out a pattern against her flesh with his own. “Maybe they weren’t good enough for us.”
Chloe clawed at his shoulders when she came, burying her face into his neck as she shuddered against him. It was enough to push him over the edge, and he came inside of her, trembling with the force of it.
She didn’t move for a long moment, except to wrap her arms tighter around him.
“Stay with me,” he whispered into her skin.
Chloe laughed, and he felt the vibration of it run through his whole body.
“That doesn’t sound like a question,” she noted, pulling back to look at him.
“It’s not,” he replied, brushing her hair away from her sweat-dampened face.
“How do I know this is happening for the right reasons?” she asked.
“Do the reasons really matter?” Lex responded.
Chloe bit her lip and studied his face. She didn’t say anything, but that didn’t matter. He knew her well enough to interpret her silences. He tugged at her wrist, pressing a kiss against her pulse.
“It’s getting late,” he said. “Let’s go home.”
They weren’t the kind of people that indulged in public displays of affection, and so he waited until they were in his car to take her hand. She wrapped her fingers around his, and held tight.