Two Dozen and One Holiday Lies - Complete (NS Advent Calendar 2008)

[skauble]

Title: Two Dozen and One Holiday Lies
Summary: Holiday platitudes never worked quite right for them
Spoilers: This story takes place in season four. I’m not going to really get into the specifics of different episodes and the arc of the stones because…well, much of it was ridiculous and stupid.
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine and hence I make no money from it...sadly.
Rating: PG


A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed this story and encouraged me. It helped more than you know to keep me on track. Love you all and you guys rock so hard! :)


Prologue


1. Giving always makes you feel better


“‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”

Hugging the walls and sticking to the darkest of the shadows, Chloe preferred to think of herself as less of a mousey intruder and more of an ambassador of good will. After all, it wasn’t as if she was breaking into the mansion for a story…this time.

Her fingers tightened briefly around the small package she was carrying as she remembered just why she was there – to spread a little holiday cheer. Because even if it gave Lex Luthor a coronary to imagine it, she was going to show him that someone thought about him, despite his recent upgrade from mere bah humbug to all out Grinchiness.

However, she’d be teaching him that lesson anonymously. For all of the bravado that went on in the loudest part of her mind, Chloe knew that she simply couldn’t take it if she reached out to Lex and he rejected her friendship outright instead of in the more subtle way of simply avoiding her.

His absence in her life after their closeness during her time in hiding hurt, but Chloe pushed that feeling aside because, yes, Lex was awful at the whole friendship thing, but she found that she couldn’t blame him too much.

Although he certainly hadn’t blurted out his entire life story during the enforced emotional intimacy of their time together, they had grown close. That, coupled with her innate ability to ask seemingly innocuous questions that were anything but, had given her a much clearer picture of Lex’s life. And, sadly, that picture contained very few friends.

Sure, he had Clark; but that didn’t really count.

Although Chloe was grateful that her own relationship with Clark was back on track, and she truly wouldn’t trade it for the world, she had to admit that his mixture of open innocence and awkward lies sent mixed signals that a friendship novice like Lex might interpret as the way that relationships were supposed to be. So it was no wonder that he flailed so badly in them.

It was also no surprise that he was now courting Lana’s…friendship. Because the truth was that Lana was remarkably like Clark in that both of them had expectations that he be everything except himself. And though she knew that there was somehow more to it than met the eye, she still couldn’t shake the feeling that Lex was trying to prove something in his strange, quasi-pursuit of the girl who was already the object of a tug-a-war between two men.

Lana wanted him, as she did with all men, to play the perpetual hero to her damsel in distress, while Clark just wanted Lex to be more Kent-like. And Chloe knew him well enough, at this point, to understand his fear of himself, his future, of his potential to become his father. He was desperate to avoid what he’d come to see as his probable destiny, and so he clung to those who demanded that he be someone other than Lex Luthor, in whom he often found so little value.

So it was almost understandable that he’d avoid her and, by extension, her friendship. She happened to like Lex just as he was – even if he was made up of more than his fair share of stupid recently - and didn’t doubt, for one moment, his worth. Which meant that it was up to her, as the only one with realistic experience in the area, to pick up the slack. Even if that slack gathering had to be done at an emotionally safe distance.

Of course, he’d probably assume that the present was from Lana…Actually, he’d probably assume it was a bomb. But after it failed to kill him, Lana would be his next thought. And though it galled her on some level that the brunette would be his chief suspect, it didn’t bother her as much as the thought of him having a holiday completely devoid of warmth and some kind of human connection.

And with that thought in mind, Chloe set the festively wrapped package on the sleek desk and left as silently as she had come; her deed done, but heart heavy that this was the only thing she’d be sharing with Lex for Christmas.

TBC…

This thread is closed. If you would like to leave a comment regarding the story, this thread - Story Reviews (http://forums.naughty-seduction.net/showthread.php?t=6711) - is the place for them. :)

[skauble]

Prologue from the flip side


2. A gift brightens everyone’s day


It was probably a bomb.

Okay, it probably wasn’t. But the fact that he’d even had to consider that the small, unassuming package was a murderous, incendiary device told Lex all he needed to know about how the holidays were shaping up.

He looked back down at the box with two questions on his mind. One, who would give him a present and, two, who would give him a present anonymously? The contents of the package made him only mildly curious because when one had enough money and power at their disposal to instantly fulfill even the most extravagant of whims, it really did end up being the thought that counted most when it came to giving.

His first thought was Chloe…

But before the name could even take full form in his mind he resolutely pushed it back. Such thoughts were useless and counter productive. Whatever bridges had been built between them over the time of Lionel’s trail had been burnt, and he’d been the one to light the match. Lex knew that he’d do well to remember that fact.

There were three options, provided that the LuthorCorp board hadn’t signed him up for the Jelly of the Month Club.

Of course, deciding that the package was not of the explosive variety, Lionel was immediately ruled out. Even if the man had decided to give him a gift of the non-lethal variety, he wouldn’t do so without being there so that he could prod whatever painful memories a Luthor gift would be chosen specifically to provoke.

Which left Clark and Lana.

Clark was, clearly, a contender. There was no question in Lex’s mind that his young friend lived and breathed the idea that it was better to give than to receive.

But as generous as the boy could be, he knew that anonymous gifts like this weren’t quite his thing. No; the gift would be completely incidental and it would be the “experience” that he’d want to share. If Clark had a present for him he would have nagged him into journeying to the farm where Lex could open his gift amongst all the traditional trappings of Christmas.

Regardless of the Norman Rockwell images that brought to mind, Lex was unsurprised at the utter lack of joy he found in contemplating a scene that included the suspicious and censorious stare of Jonathan Kent. A disapproving father was the one aspect of family life he had covered. He hardly needed to borrow that from Clark.

And then there was one.

Lana.

Despite the fact that he’d been strengthening his friendship with the young woman while his others faded away, she strangely hadn’t been the first thought to cross his mind. Lex frowned at the realization, but then concluded that it was because the box before him seemed so much like him and, therefore, so unlike her.

Wrapped in a matte paper with bold blocks of muted color that blended golds, silvers, and greens in a subtle and sophisticated manner, the package seemed less in keeping with the glittered snowflakes, smiling snowmen, and other homespun icons that generally represented the holidays for Lana.

But then Lana had been playing at appearing worldly ever since her return from Paris - an attempt that only seemed to work because the majority of her audience had never left Kansas. Still, it wasn’t impossible that she’d simply had it wrapped at whatever store she’d bought it from and asked a staff member to leave it for him in his office.

The mystery was solved.

Lana had given him the gift.

Probably the sole gift that he’d receive that year.

And as Lex picked up the parts acquisition reports he’d been reading, he told himself he was glad; that it was better that way. He might miss his friendship with Chloe – her wit, her insight, her laughter – but that relationship, that closeness, hadn’t been safe. For either of them. So it was good that she hadn’t given him anything. It would have meant that all of his hard work at creating a divide between them had been undone.

No, it was for the best that it was from Lana…Lana, whose gifting choices would be inspired either by her rural, small town sensibilities or her faux European persona.

And he would have to pretend to like it.

Feeling a headache looming, Lex pushed the box into a drawer, vaguely wondering why he had hoped it wasn’t a bomb.

TBC

This thread is closed. If you would like to leave a comment regarding the story, this thread - Story Reviews (http://forums.naughty-seduction.net/showthread.php?t=6711) - is the place for them. :)

[skauble]

3. Holidays are the best time to catch up with old friends


Unlike her trek onto Luthor property the previous night, there was little good will involved in Chloe’s current night’s sneaking.

She’d been surprised when a conversation with a contact she’d made during her internship at the Daily Planet had yielded some unrelated information that there was, supposedly, something going down at a warehouse at the edge of the slums that night. Of course, something seedy was always taking place in the Suicide Slums, so that, in and of itself, hardly merited the drive in from Smallville. No; what had interested her was that it was a LuthorCorp warehouse.

It wasn’t that Chloe had a grudge against the large, multi-national conglomerate whose former CEO had tried to have her killed. It was that she knew how hard Lex was working to clean up all the messes his father had left behind – the dirty dealings, the underhanded negotiations, the general lack of the most basic of ethics. When Lionel had been released from prison, she’d worried about a million things that he might do, who he might hurt. But he was somewhat inhibited by the fact that Lex was currently wielding the power that LuthorCorp held. If Lionel was doing something to upset that balance, to take that power back, he’d be ten times the threat he was now.

Which was why she’d left her car a few blocks down, crossed over a darkened and distinctively creepy alleyway, and was beginning to climb some rather rickety crates in hopes of catching a glimpse of what was happening inside through one of the large windows that overlooked the loading dock.

As she reached the top crate, the wood wobbled dangerously before settling into a more stable position. She briefly gave thanks to the news gods who were quite clearly on her side as, not only had she not been assaulted, kidnapped, of buried under a pile of shaky containers yet, but her father was also out of town until the next day, leaving her blissfully free to uncover hidden conspiracies, bring wrong doings to light…snoop.

With an almost giddy sense of anticipation, she peeked over the window’s ledge to see something rather unexpected.

Inside were two large trucks and, by Chloe’s count, seven men. It required absolutely no experience with the inner workings of warehouses and their employees to know that they clearly didn’t belong. She’d certainly been in enough places she didn’t belong to recognize the way they held themselves alert, how, no matter what task was being preformed, every minute or so, heads would raise to scan the area. Even if that behavior hadn’t seemed suspicious, the fact that she could clearly see that at least three of the men were armed certainly was. And a number of months spent in close contact with federal agents told her that the hardware they were packing was not your standard revolver in the glove compartment, trucker fare.

But, being fairly satisfied that something nefarious was underway, what bothered her most was that all of the activity below her was not in an effort to load the large boxes that the building contained into the trucks, but was actually an unloading of similar containers that were then carefully placed amongst the other crates in a seemingly random manner.

Deciding that she needed to get close enough to hear at least some of what was going on, Chloe cautiously and quietly made her way back down the unstable pieces of wood. Just as she was ready to make the small hop to the ground, strong arms grabbed her, spinning her around and pressing her against the side of the building. Within a matter of seconds she found herself trapped between the solid concrete and a lean, hard body, her gasp of surprised stifled by the hand placed over her mouth.

And just as she was about to begin struggling in earnest, Chloe looked up into the stormy gray eyes she would recognize anywhere.

Lex.

Normally the site of Lex filled her with a sense of security. But the rage that was clouding his face and the tenseness that she could feel in every line of his body as it pressed against hers, could not, in any way, be construed as reassuring.

Still, he wasn’t some nameless gunman trying to kill her so, no matter how intimidating he was in his anger, he was clearly the lesser of two evils. In fact, he was the non-evil that was messing up her night of snoo-journalistic field work.

Lex’s eyes narrowed as he saw the fear fade and the fire snap to life in Chloe’s eyes.

When he’d first seen a familiar form balanced precariously on a pile of rotted wood, peering in on what he was certain was some less than legal activities, he’d known instantly, with every fiber in his being, that it was Chloe. You could have the woman committed, dress her in a straightjacket and lock her in a padded cell and, within an hour, she would have uncovered an insurance fraud ring, a doctor working without a license, and suffered no less than three attempts on her life. Some days he just wanted to lock her up in the castle for her own safety and throw away the key. But then he remembered that many of the greatest dangers Chloe had faced in her life had been because of her connection with the Luthor family, not in spite of it.

Shelving those thoughts for another time, Lex pushed away from Chloe, catching her wrist in an iron grip and pulling her with him as he turned to cross the alleyway, back to where he’d left his car.

Chloe knew that there wasn’t much that she could do at the moment, other than go where Lex led, but that didn’t mean that she had to be happy about it. And she wasn’t. She wasn’t happy at all. In fact, the only thing she was happy about was the fact that, when they were somewhere safer, she could Lex know just how very, truly, extremely, not happy his interference was making her.

Unfortunately, in all of the pushing and pulling and smooshing into walls, neither of them had noticed that the hem of Chloe’s black sweater had gotten caught on one of the splintered pieces of wood until the entire wobbly structure began to shake.

Immediately identifying the problem, Lex tugged Chloe sharply towards him, and out of the path of the falling debris. However, there was little time for relief at the crisis averted as loud shouts from inside the building filled the air.

“Come. Now.”

Chloe would have rolled her eyes at his bossiness if she hadn’t been busy with all of the fleeing. She’d lived in Smallville longer than he had. If anyone should be in charge of the ‘running for your life’ portion of the evening, it should be her! But all indignation was momentarily forgotten as the sound of gun shots split the night.

As they reached the end of the alley, her move to turn left was thwarted by Lex’s momentum which was taking them in the opposite direction.

“My car-” she called.

“Is staying here.”

There was no room for debate as he pulled out a key with a small remote attached. Before they’d even reached the vehicle, the doors were unlocked and the engine started. Thrusting Chloe into the passenger’s side, Lex was behind the wheel within moments, speeding from the scene as bullets continued fly.

They were both silent as they started the long trek back to Smallville in the contemplative way that often follows cheating death; no matter how many times they may have cheated him before. And yet, for all that their thoughts were the same, they were tellingly opposite.

Lex was furious. Chloe could have been killed.

He didn’t need the whole story. Oh, he’d get it, but it was enough, for now, to know that someone had tried to hurt her. And as he nearly shook with the intensity of the feeling inside of him, he told himself it was anger that someone had tried to undo the months of works he’d put into keeping her safe and whole and not a mind numbing fear at almost having lost her.

Chloe was livid. Lex could have been killed.

She didn’t know what exactly what was going on, but she would. Although, when Lex was in danger the situation usually had Lionel’s fingerprints all over it. And because it was easier after being shut out for so long, Chloe focused on her outrage at the father’s actions towards his son, and not on her heartbreak for the little boy inside who she knew, better than anyone, just wanted to be loved.

So lost was she in her thoughts, that Chloe didn’t realize that the scenery was no longer a blur, and that the car had slowed to make the turn towards town.

Only it didn’t turn in that direction.

“Umm…Lex, I know that I’ve been uncustomarily silent, and so you may have forgotten that you have company, but my house is in the other direction.”

The car merely picked up speed as he replied without taking his eyes from the road.

“You’re not going home. You’re staying at the mansion.”

TBC

This thread is closed. If you would like to leave a comment regarding the story, this thread - Story Reviews (http://forums.naughty-seduction.net/showthread.php?t=6711) - is the place for them. :)

[skauble]

4. Holiday hospitality is always welcomed


Chloe had been to the mansion more then enough times to storm through the halls in a fit of righteous indignation without the humiliating chance of turning down the wrong corridor and ending up fuming in a guest bathroom. Making use of this valuable knowledge, she stomped ahead of Lex, pushing through the doors of his office and waiting for the soft click of their closing to let her know that he’d followed, before whirling around to face him.

“And here I thought I’d make it through the night without being kidnapped.”

Despite the irritation he could clearly read on her face, Lex only rolled his eyes at her before crossing to the bar.

“I would hardly call this a kidnapping, Chloe.”

“So what exactly would you call shoving someone in your car and refusing to let them continue on to their destination?”

“A rescue?” Lex asked as he finished pouring some scotch into a glass full of ice. “We did leave your car in the general vicinity of the warehouse. A car that I’m assuming contains your registration with your name and address plainly listed. Do you honestly think that on the even remote chance that, whoever those men were, they now have such information about you, I’m going to allow you to go back to an empty house in the middle of the night?”

Chloe’s mouth snapped shut on the incensed reply that had been bubbling to the surface and followed a new and yet, she suspected, equally vexing train of thought.

“How do you know my house is empty for the night?”

Seeing the briefest of tensing before he forced himself to relax confirmed her suspicion that Lex wasn’t simply being overly cautious. He’d known that her father was out of town, that she’d have been alone.

“Are you having me followed? Is that how you knew where I’d be tonight?”

Lex downed the rest of his drink and set the tumbler back onto the bar before turning to face Chloe for what he was absolutely certain was going to be an unpleasant confrontation.

“I’m not having you followed.” It should have been enough but, seeing her there, decked out in her snooping attire, all he could think about was the danger she’d foolishly placed herself in. “Believe me; if I had been even slightly aware of what you were planning tonight you wouldn’t have stepped one foot out of Smallville.”

“As if you could have stopped me,” she returned, nearly choking on her outrage before she realized that she was being diverted from her original question. “Which is so not the point here. How did you know that my dad was out of town?”

“I’ve been keeping a very general and discreet eye on you and your father,” Lex admitted. “Nothing invasive; but with Lionel’s release from prison, I thought that it was prudent to err on the side of caution.”

Chloe could see that Lex would probably not be much more forthcoming as to the specifics of whatever ‘eye keeping’ was going on, but she reasoned that it wouldn’t be too difficult to find out for herself, now that she was aware of the issue. So she decided that her time with Lex would probably be best spent pushing for information that she could only get from him.

“So if you weren’t having me followed, then how did you end up there tonight? Don’t you have thugs on your payroll to prowl around dark alleys in the night?”

Glad to be away from the touchy subject of extending the Sullivans his indefinite protection, Lex had no problem answering her inquiries. He knew her well enough that giving her no information would simply push her into investigating matters herself. Besides, of all the people in his life whose trustworthiness was in question, Chloe’s Sullivan’s was beyond reproach.

“I’m hardly in the habit of employing thugs. But, yes, I have many people that could have been sent in my place tonight.”

“But none you could trust?” Chloe asked, reaching what she thought was the logical conclusion. Only logic so rarely influenced life in their little corner of the world.

“Actually,” Lex admitted, “the problem isn’t me not knowing who to trust, it’s not letting my father know who I trust.”

And that…actually made quite a bit of sense to Chloe. Of course Lionel’s first move in a power play for LuthorCorp would be to undermine Lex’s powerbase from the inside out. But every person Lionel made a move towards turning exposed him just a bit more. By not knowing who was absolutely loyal to Lex and who was up for sale, he might very well make overtures to the wrong person and reveal his machinations.

It was really quite brilliant of Lex and Chloe couldn’t help smiling in approval at the thought of him outmaneuvering Lionel in this manner.

“Good plan. The only downside being, of course, that you’ve been forced to do your own dirty work.”

A small smirk tilted his lips. Lex knew that Chloe both judged less and understood more than anyone else that he was willing to dirty his hands if necessary.

“I’d gotten wind of something occurring tonight at that particular warehouse. There was every chance that it was a move on my father’s part to learn who I most trusted to handle such situations, but since I couldn’t be sure which it was, there really was no other choice than to look into the matter personally.”

The answer was honest and to the point but, he hoped, vague enough to keep from rousing her curiosity even more…although it was a very dim and feeble hope. It did, however, lead him to the question he’d wanted to ask from the moment he’d seen her peering into the warehouse window earlier that night.

“What were you doing there tonight, Chloe? Why on earth would you get anywhere near anything to do with LuthorCorp? Haven’t you learned anything after your dealings with my father?”

She could hear the concern hidden in his words and so she disregarded the harshness of his tone.

“You better believe I’ve learned the lessons Lionel was kind enough to teach me. But you’re sadly mistaken if you think ‘ignorance is bliss’ was among them. If your father’s up to something, if he’s making a play to regain what he’s lost, then you better believe that I want to know about it before hand.”

She stepped forward, letting him see the determination that she felt down to the very core of her being.

“You weren’t the only one to hear rumblings that something wasn’t right. I got a tip from an old source that something wasn’t quite right and when I heard the name LuthorCorp, I knew I’d be looking into it if only to ease my mind that your dad wasn’t behind it.”

Now that she was, once more, focused on the happenings of the evening, she recalled what had been bothering her before Lex had shown up and ruined her fun—her investigation.

“Lex, those men, they weren’t loading their trucks with LuthorCorp merchandise. In fact, they weren’t taking anything at all. Before your ill timed ‘rescue’”, she paused to make the insulting air quotes, “they’d actually unloaded five separate crates and placed them in seemingly random places throughout the warehouse.”

His brow furrowed as his mind turned over what Chloe had told him and searched for possible explanations. The warehouse was LuthorCorp owned, but not in such a direct manner or as such a necessary hub of transport that anything found there, short of children being shipped in from third world countries to work in sweat shops, would have actually had an impact on the company as a whole. It would be useless for Lionel to be planting anything at the site. And if the men weren’t connected with his father, then why hadn’t they simply been stealing the merchandise within.

It was a puzzle he planned to solve, just not with Chloe. Never again would he do something that placed her in danger.

“Chloe,” he began, trying to reason with her. “I appreciate the information that you’ve given me, but I’m asking you to please let me handle this.”

He could see that she wanted to protest, but Lex didn’t even let her begin.

“I know that you’re curious; that you want to help. And I know that you’re worried that this might be the work of my father. But honestly, that’s all the more reason for you to stay out of this. Haven’t you been in enough danger because of this family?”

And suddenly the reason for all those months of pain and rejection became blindingly clear. Lex wasn’t tired of her friendship. He hadn’t simply moved on to greener, Lana-filled pastures. He was scared…for her.

And not just because of what his father had done. Lex was afraid that somehow, because he was a Luthor, he was cursed to bring her the same kind of pain that Lionel had.

Looking downward, Chloe quickly blinked back the tears that threatened at the realization that Lex did still care.

“Alright, Lex,” she said, looking back up into his eyes while she assured him, “I won’t get in your way.”

And she wouldn’t, she reasoned. Lex needed someone to watch his back when it came to Lionel, and they’d already proven that they tackled that particular endeavor well as a team. So there was no reason to believe that she’d be anything other than an asset in this investigation. And if anyone could appreciate an asset it was a businessman like Lex.

So, with a smile that was innocence personified, Chloe left the study and headed upstairs to the room that she’d sometimes used during their brain storming sessions before she’d been forced into hiding, hoping that maybe the time and distance between them had dulled Lex’s knowledge of her enough so that he bought that.

TBC

[skauble]

5. Holidays bring the joy of family


Lex sat at his desk, pretending to read.

There were, of course, files and reports that actually needed his attention, but Lex knew that he was operating on borrowed time and he saw no reason to be wrapped up and distracted when Chloe finally made her way downstairs.

He wasn’t stupid, and he knew Chloe far to well to believe her innocent act of the previous night. Clearly she thought that she could placate him and then make use of the fact that he would be engrossed in the problems with Lionel to go on her merry way, throwing herself into one dangerous situation after the next.

Well, that wasn’t going to happen.

The trouble, however, was convincing her of that without strengthening her stubborn streak. Which, honestly, was less of a streak and more of the entirety of her makeup.

And, as he needed every advantage possible, he was attempting to appear busy without actually distracting himself with LuthorCorp business. In addition, he’d already had coffee and a tray of pastries sent to her room. There were few things that terrified a Luthor. But a hungry, un-caffeinated Chloe Sullivan came amazingly close.

Hearing steps in the hallway, Lex glanced back down at the file, waiting for the blonde whirlwind to blow through the doors.

“Hello, son.”

Lex’s head snapped up in time to see his father step into the room and close the door behind him. His heart lurched with panic as he realized that Chloe would be also be making an appearance at any moment. The need to protect her that was always there was twice as strong when it came to Lionel, and he knew that he had to get the man out of the mansion and on his way before he realized that Chloe was there.

“What do you want, dad?” Lex asked, hoping, just once, they could cut through all of the Machiavellian maneuverings that were the cornerstone of all of their interactions, and get to the actual point so that they could go their separate ways.

“I was hoping that we could talk,” Lionel said as sat in one of the sleek chairs on the opposite side of the desk. “You’ve been avoiding me. I know that we’ve had our problems, but we’ve been given a second chance here, Lex. Let’s not waste it in pointless recriminations and senseless power struggles.”

It was only years of repressing his emotions that kept Lex’s expression blank as Lionel simply dismissed all that had happened between them the previous year.

“I’m not sure who it is that you’ve gotten this miraculous second chance from”, he coldly informed his father, “but it’s nothing to do with me. I’m sorry that you find it petulant, but I’m still slightly put out over the small matter of you trying to kill me.”

Any justification Lionel might have made was lost as the large door flew open and Chloe announced her presence.

“I’m heading home, Lex. And don’t worry, I remember our talk last nigh-”

Chloe froze as she took in the scene before her and realized that, not only was Lex not alone, but exactly who was there with him.

“Miss Sullivan,” Lionel stood to greet her, only to be cut short by Lex, who also rose and moved around the desk.

“Don’t,” he warned his father before turning his attention to Chloe.

“Go home. Williams will drive you. We can talk later.”

There were a million and one situations in which Chloe was comfortable arguing with Lex. This, however, was not one of them. With Lionel they were a united front. Chloe wouldn’t necessarily do what Lex said, but she wouldn’t bicker about it in front of the man and give him a chance to play them against each other.

Lex was relieved by the acquiescence he read in Chloe’s eyes. The situation was bad, but it could be salvaged as long as he knew that she was out of the direct line of fire for the moment. But just to be safe he called out to her as she reached the door.

“Call me when you get home.”

And with a terse nod, she was gone.

“You know, Lex, you didn’t have to run her off on my account. In fact,” he turned back, “I’m rather glad to see that news of the dissolution of the relationship between you and Chloe was false.”

“Leave it alone, Dad,” Lex warned. “Haven’t you caused Chloe enough problems for a lifetime?”

Lionel smiled and extended his hands in a gesture of appeasement. “I have no reason to harm that young woman any longer. And as I’ve said, I consider all of the unpleasantness of the last year as water under the bridge.”

He paused for a moment before shooting Lex a sly look.

“Actually, I’m quite satisfied with this turn of events.” At Lex’s incredulous look, he continued, “She’s a strong woman, son, and a Luthor’s life, an the lives of those around them, is never an easy one. You certainly could…and have, done worse.”

For a moment Lex was mesmerized by the sincerity he could read in the other man’s eyes. But he quickly shook of the feeling, knowing better than anyone how adept his father was at manipulation and deceit.

“Look, if you’ve come to do nothing more than stand here offering olive branches I’m sure you’re more than prepared to beat me with and making ludicrous assumptions about my personal life, then I suggest you go. I have a meeting in Metropolis at ten and I have to be on my way soon.”

It was a clear dismissal, and Lex waited to see how Lionel would react in his current, semi-penitent mood. Thankfully, he simply shrugged, and nodded his consent.

“Of course,” he made to leave before calling over his shoulder, “and be sure to watch for Henderson, Lex. He’s been putting out extremely discreet feelers concerning the acquisition of a certain LuthorCorp subsidiaries. Nothing good can come of that.”

Lex ground his teeth together to bite back the retort that was clamoring to spring forth. He knew that his father was baiting him; both with the knowledge of whom his meeting was with, and the fact that Carl Henderson was planning a major double cross.

He knew that Lionel was aware that he was already in possession of such information. If the man had thought, for one minute, that Lex was ignorant of such a plot, he would have stepped in and handled it himself, regardless of which of them had actual control of LuthorCorp.

Walking back to his desk, Lex began placing the pertinent folders into his briefcase. He didn’t think that his father was foolish enough to actual make any kind of move against Chloe, but it certainly wasn’t a chance that he was going to take now that it appeared the man might have some renewed interest in her, for whatever reason. Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed the number of one of those few, trustworthy men in his employ.

Maybe it was time for his ‘eye keeping’ to become the slightest bit more invasive.

-----

Chloe knew that Lex wouldn’t let his father stay long. There was simply too much going on for him to risk a lengthy confrontation with the man with no warning.

And she knew that the visit must have been a surprise because, no matter what happened between them, Lex would never willingly expose her to Lionel again.

But as serious as Lex was about keeping her safe, he didn’t seem to realize that she’d fight just as hard to see him remain unharmed. No matter what form that harm took; physical or emotional.

And it was that deep seated need to protect that kept her waiting outside the mansion instead of searching out Williams to take her back home. And, indeed, her patience was rewarded as Lionel exited the mansion shortly after her.

Pushing away from the wall she’d been leaning against, she caught up with him just as his driver opened the door to his limo.

“We need to talk.”


TBC

[skauble]

6. Christmas is a time to let bygones be bygones


“We need to talk,” Chloe told Lionel as she moved to towards the limo he was about to enter.

With a surprisingly open smile, he gestured towards the open door. “Of course, Miss Sullivan. I could provide transportation home and we could discuss any concerns you might have on the way.”

With a laugh far too bitter for her years, Chloe declined. “I’d rather walk home barefoot over broken glass…while on fire. Besides, this won’t take that long.”

She waited for Lionel to turn and face her fully so that he could see just how deadly serious she was before she issued her warning.

“Leave Lex alone.”

“My dear,” he offered appeasingly, “you’ve understandably misinterpreted my reason for being here. I don’t want to hurt Lex; I want to make amends with him. With the both of you, actually.”

A roll of her eyes dismissed his words as ridiculous and borderline insane.

“The best thing you could do for Lex, is stay out of his life. If you really have changed,” she told him, “if you’re really sincere, then time and not much else will prove it.”

Lionel frowned, but his eyes held hers and the urgency she saw in them caught her off guard.

“I know that I’ve made mistakes with my son, Miss Sullivan. Terrible, terrible mistakes. But my time in prison, my nearly dying changed me more than you can know.”

Chloe scoffed as she stepped closer; her body vibrating with the repressed violence she wanted to commit.

“I’m remarkably unmoved by your jailhouse revelations. I don’t care if you found Jesus, Waldo, and where the missing socks from the dryer go. You’re dangerous. And since the only thing that will prove that fact a lie is the absence of you and yet, here you are, I’m not disposed to reverse that opinion.”

He didn’t seem angered by her words, and the lack of his irritation shocked her. But not as much as his next words.

“Miss Sulli- Chloe,” he spoke the name softly. “As you’re most likely aware, I’m generally disinclined to be quite so open with my feelings, but you’re very important to my son. And both his and your opinion that I’m some kind of threat to you may be one of the largest obstacles I face in reconciling with Lex.”

The use of her name angered Chloe; made her feel violated in a way. He had no right to that level of familiarity after what he’d done to her; to her family. But, more than that, he had no right to stand there confusing her with words and actions that were so outside what she knew of him. It infuriated her that, after all of this time, she was going to have to work out the complexities of a new facet of this man’s malevolent machinations.

She just wanted him to leave. She knew the hope of actually getting him to do so was slim to none, but she’d had to try. If there was one massive chink in Lex’s armor it was the need to be loved. And the need to be loved by his father made up a large part of that particular weakness.

But she wasn’t going to let Lionel exploit that again. In this area, Lex, the strongest and most capable man she knew, was vulnerable. Far too vulnerable for her to let him face this on his own. And although, in the deepest part of her, she could admit that Lionel Luthor scared the living daylights out of her, this was one fight from which she had no intention of backing down.

Anger pulsing within her, crying to unleash itself in the older man’s direction, but she was abruptly halted as he went on.

“I know that you’d prefer that I cut myself out of Lex’s life, Miss Sullivan.”

She could see that he’d noticed her reaction to his use of her name.

“But,” he continued, “I have the very real fear that if I leave, if I lose this chance to heal things between Lex and I, I’ll never regain the opportunity. That the time and distance, rather than proving my good intentions, will just show my son how little he needs me.”

And Chloe was officially stunned. By his apparently openness, his seeming earnestness, the fact that she was actually standing in front of the man who’d tried to have her killed and yet felt very little danger.

Of course, even without her threat meter dancing off the charts, the kind smile she saw seemed rather creepy on Lionel’s face, and his words only confirmed the official weirdness of her day.

“Now, if you don’t mind me saying so, you should probably hurry home before Lex begins to worry.”

With that, he turned, entered his car, and waved his driver onward, leaving Chloe standing there in a daze, staring after him.

Every instinct she had – gut feelings that had been developed and honed by a love of journalism, a curious nature, and a million and one life threatening adventures – said that the man might just be genuine. That he might actually feel whatever passes for Luthor remorse, and truly wanted to attempt to fix what he was foolish enough not to see was most likely irrevocably broken.

But every piece of her rational brain, which she had desperately been trying to listen to with greater frequency, told her that Lionel Luthor couldn’t be trusted. Not now, not ever.

However the tug of war inside of her didn’t matter because in the end, whether he was being honest or not, they simply couldn’t afford to extend the man the benefit of the doubt. Not after what he’d done to her in the past year; what he’d spent a lifetime doing to Lex.

Glad to have the matter settled in her mind, Chloe could admit that Lionel did have one point – she had to get herself home posthaste. Because a worried Lex was…really a rather obnoxious pain.

TBC

[skauble]

7. ‘Tis the season to gather and do things together


Lex was glad that he was alone.

Yes, Chloe’s investigative skills were beyond formidable, but he’d sacrifice the benefit if it kept her out of trouble…out of danger.

Besides, it wasn’t as if he was a novice at piecing together mysteries himself. Not that that particular talent was helping him at the moment.

The first thing he’d made sure to do upon returning to the mansion the previous night was to send someone to investigate Chloe’s car, which he’d had picked up after they’d cleared the city limits with no one on their tail. The men charged with that task had meticulously gone over it checking to see if it had been entered and the contents tampered with. It was only because that didn’t seem to be the case that Lex had let Chloe leave the mansion that morning. Otherwise he would have had to find a way to keep her there long enough to place what he was certain would have been an excruciatingly painful phone call to Gabe Sullivan.

However, that didn’t mean that he’d completely dismissed any threat to Chloe’s safety. And merely as a precaution, he reasoned, he had sent one of his men to keep an eye on her for the next week or so.

There was no way of knowing, at this stage, whether or not his father’s hands were in this mess. The absence of proof against him was equally vindicating and damning in that the man would never start a project like whatever this was and link himself too closely. So Lionel could never really be ruled out of anything.

Although Lex would never admit it to her and risk Chloe believing that he approved of her various midnight excursions, the fact was that the information she’d given him was the best lead he had.

She had seen men, some of them clearly armed, along with two trucks in the warehouse. All of that was well within the realm of the expected when dealing with this type of theft. Except for one major detail.

The boxes were being placed into the facility as opposed to being removed from it. And, that one aspect turned every theory he might have head on its head. And it only got stranger from there.

The fact that items were being added rather than subtracted ruled out the obvious suspicion of having stumbled into a burglary. Which, of course, led Lex to the next probable explanation – someone was framing LuthorCorp.

He’d given the order, late the night before, to have every crate pulled, examined, and verified as actual LuthorCorp property. All of them were legitimate except for nine. And those nine were…empty.

And that made the least sense of anything in the entire bizarre string of events.

Why leave a number of empty crates inside of a warehouse. It would be understandable if there were items there of an extremely valuable nature, but that fact was that it was one of the most minimal security level facilities that the company had in Metropolis. According to the shipping invoices, it was currently housing nothing more than some manufacturing machinery, surplus parts, and temporarily holding the toys that were a part of the Give the Gift of Christmas campaign that LuthorCorp spearheaded every year.

All of those things were valuable in their own way, but certainly not worth stealing. The machinery parts were specifically designed for mass production. So all one could really do with them would be to open up a plant that produced the given product. Since the introduction of the new product on a large scale would make any new company a suspect it would be completely unproductive to steal said parts.

The surplus that was stored was, again, all geared towards the needs of LuthorCorp, and would be fairly useless in the hands of another entity.

As for the toys, they certainly had a value, but to make it worth the time and effort to steal they have had to be taken in total. Which would mean, according to the figures he’d been provided with that morning, 107 crates. A number that was hardly manageable, even on the edge of the Suicide Slums in the middle of the night.

Which, quite frankly, was why all of those various items had been placed in a low security complex.

It would probably have helped if the crates that had been left behind had some kind of information on them that indicated what the intruders had wanted to see done with them. Clearly they thought that they would go unnoticed in the sea of containers awaiting shipment. However, they must have been interrupted before having a chance to implement that stage of their plan.

It was, to say the least, a vexing problem. It was also one that Lex planned to solve without Chloe. Because no mystery, no crime, no threat to LuthorCorp - whether his father was involved or not – was worth putting Chloe in danger, ever again.


----


Chloe was glad that she was alone.

Yes, Lex’s resources were nearly endless and would have made her investigation much easier, but she wanted to find out if Lionel was behind this before Lex got hurt by the man…again.

Besides, if Lex had been around she probably would have killed him once she realized that the bland car that had trailed her to and from town earlier that morning had been one of his.

Not only was it a clear invasion of her privacy, but it had scared the bajeezus out of her until she realized that it was most likely one of Lex’s men. But, worst of all, if had made her call in an extremely precious favor to have the license plates run through the DMV only to learn that the car belonged to LuthorCorp.

Or course, it could have theoretically been someone sent by Lionel. But the fact was that, although she didn’t necessarily believe anything he said about changing, she did believe that he wanted people to believe that he had. He wouldn’t risk hurting her until that plan either failed entirely or it outlived its usefulness.

In fact, a part of her kind of wanted to search Lionel out in a more public place and see just how far she could push his new found good will. But the rest of her wanted to keep breathing, so she wouldn’t be tugging that particular tiger’s tail any more than necessary.

After she’d worked out who was having her followed and why, Chloe had set about pulling together all of the information her resources could provide. By noon she’d managed to get her hands on the police report of the incident, the schematics of the warehouse, and the latest inventory list.

All of which had gotten her almost nowhere.

But the afternoon had turned her luck around as she managed to get a hold of the source of her original tip. Gerald Keegan was a fascinating man. His activities placed him on the periphery of the underworld in Metropolis; close enough to know the players, but far enough to not be exposed by the tips he passed on.

He’d contacted Chloe once, during her internship with the Daily Planet because he’d needed to pass some information along and he’d grown up in Smallville, where his elderly parents still lived, so he’d kept up on local news. And Chloe knew that she was local news often enough that it wasn’t strange that he’d heard of her and her journalistic endeavors. She’d assumed that’s why, when he was looking for a low level intern at the Planet, as opposed to a hard nosed, seasoned reporter, he’d chosen her.

Chloe was naïve about many things, but journalism was rarely one of them. She’d understood at the time that she was being used in a way by Keegan. He was looking to get rid of someone who was calling unwanted attention to his door by passing on some information related to a string of robberies that had been committed. It was self serving, but the info was good and Chloe had seen no reason not to run with the story. It hadn’t been a front page headline by any means, but it was a solid story for her and had cleared up Keegan’s problem quite handily.

Thus a relationship of mutual benefit had been born. It worked well for them both and, it was the reason that he had called her when something had been going down at a LuthorCorp facility. Her problems with the Luthors were hardly private, having splashed all over the front pages of every major newspaper for months. He must have known she’d be interested in the goings on of that particular company.

Hoping that he might have more for her, Chloe had contacted him again. And what he’d related was surprising.

“It’s big, Sullivan,” he’d told her. “Whatever’s going on here is major.”

He’d paused and she waited. She’d learned, over time, that sometimes the best way to keep someone talking was to give them a silence to fill.

“I’ve seen people from forgers to weapons specialists turn down jobs lately. But not one of them has mentioned anything going down.”

Curiosity got the better of her Zen silence plan and she’d asked him why he thought any of it was connected. Couldn’t they just already have picked up different jobs?

“It’s the silence; it’s absolute. There’s always the one guy that wants to brag, no matter how vaguely he does it, that’s he’s involved in the next big thing. But the silence from every single person who’s suddenly out of the game; it’s deafening.”

There was another moment of quiet and it laid over them even heavier than the last.

“You watch yourself, Sully. Whatever this is, it’s not something the people behind it will take kindly to you bringing to light. Maybe you might want to think about takin’ a miss on this one.”

She had told him that she’d think about it but, of course, they both knew that she was just being polite. Chloe wouldn’t have stopped investigating if it had simply been a story to which she had no connection. But something like this? Something that could possibly involve Lionel and probably hurt Lex?

Yeah, there was no way she was staying out of it.

Not that she was just going to rush into anything blind. Once she had enough information that Lex would have to include her in whatever was happening, she’d go to him. She really didn’t want to do all of this alone. After all, dying was a terrible way to spend her Christmas vacation.

TBC

[skauble]

8. Holiday pastimes bring joy and cheer


Clark Kent was a jerk.

Chloe had arranged to meet her best friend for coffee at the Talon to plan their annual trip to Metropolis for Christmas shopping. But after fifty minutes he was still a no show and, of course, unreachable by phone. She wondered how she wasn’t used to it by that point, but consoled herself that what had once been the sharp ache of heart break was not just the dull throb of disappointment in a friend.

Deciding that she’d grab another cup of coffee and hang out for ten more minutes, because an entire hour seemed like a much more impressive number to shout at Clark when she reamed him out for making her wait, she was halfway to the counter when she noticed Lex there, having been waved over by Lisa, the cashier.

“Sorry, Mr. Luthor,” she remarked in a voice that seemed strangely knowing, “but if you’re here for Lana then she left about an hour and a half ago with Clark.”

Chloe knew that no one else would see it, but she’d been with Lex through enough stressful situations to notice the slight tensing of his jaw.

So he had been there for Lana. Who’d stood him up just as Clark had her. And as much as her misery often loved company, this wasn’t one of those times. A sentiment that grew as the young woman continued.

“And what with you planning a lovely carriage ride and all.”

Lisa stopped for a moment, her hand flying up to her mouth as if she’d revealed some great secret, although her eyes showed the clear delight of a small town busybody who knows something and can’t wait to prove it.

“Oh! I’m sorry if that was supposed to be a surprise, but my uncle works out at the mansion and saw the carriage being brought in from Metropolis. I think it’s awful sweet of you to do that for Lana since she’d been talking about wanting a traditional Christmas for weeks now.”

Lex wasn’t happy.

Yes, he’d arranged to surprise Lana with a carriage ride. He needed to get some answers from her and getting her to lower her guard by doing something special for her had always worked before. So he’d asked to meet her at the Talon, not revealing to her his plans in the hopes that the surprise would aid his strategy. However, what he hadn’t counted on, stupidly he could now see, was that a gesture that he had cringed at even as he conceived it, to become common knowledge.

And, a million times worse than being thought a complete and utter sap by the town’s residents, was the fact that instead he would now appear as a rejected fool. It was already starting. He could see it on the young waitress’ face – pity.

Lex had suffered many things in his life. Familial rejection, childhood ostracism, more murder attempts than he cared to count; and yet nothing left him feeling so raw, so vulnerable and humiliated as people’s pity. He’d hated it as a child who’d lost his mother, his brother, and his hair all in a remarkably brief period, and his loathing of it had only intensified over time to the point that he felt it might suffocate him.

“Geez, Lex; billions of dollars and you can’t buy a working cell phone. You could have called and told me you were running late.”

Chloe stepped to the counter beside him and shot him a significant look that he knew her well enough to catch but that their audience would be too oblivious to follow.

“Of course, I know how you get when business is involved; which probably explains most of those billions. And, as you promised me a carriage ride, I’m inclined to forgive you. Although buying me some hot chocolate for the ride wouldn’t hurt.”

Lex watched as the pity in the cashier’s face was replaced with confusion followed by a keen interest, and the relief nearly leveled him. In a slight daze he placed the order for Chloe, paid for it, and was out the door with her before he knew it.

Once in the parking lot, they made their way over to Lex’s silver Porsche and Chloe slipped in the door he held open and waited for him to join her.

She’d questioned her decision at first, but the moment that she saw the relief blaze ever so briefly in Lex’s eyes, she knew that she’d made the right choice. She’d been stood up by Clark so frequently that no one would even have noticed her sitting at a back table, silently fuming over her best friend’s desertion.

But Lex Luthor being stood up, especially by a girl still in high school, would be food for the gossips for weeks. He’d be the recipient of countless pitying looks, the subject of endless whispers as he walked by. And she knew, without doubt, that it would eat away at him as surely as the poison he’d fought off earlier that year.

Not that it was completely unexpected. Lana wasn’t cruel by intent. She simply saw everyone’s behavior in terms of how it affected her and hers only in terms of how it affected herself. It was annoying, to say the least, but the risk that was taken when courting the town princess.

Starting the car, Lex pulled out of the parking lot and on to the main street. He knew the road like the back of his hand; didn’t need to watch it so closely, but kept his eyes glue to it as he spoke.

“Thank you.”

It was hard to say; to acknowledge his weakness. But Chloe had seen him through some of the lowest moments in his life. She’d never judged him; never used her knowledge to hurt him or create advantageous situations for herself. So, while it was difficult for him to express the sentiment, it was a thousand times easier with her than it would have been with any other person on the planet.

“Oh please,” Chloe dismissed his words. “You always think everything’s about you. I was supposed to meet Clark there. And yeah, like I want to be the girl who was stood up for Lana instead of the one the billionaire shipped in a carriage for.”

While Lex definitely knew that there was some truth in her words about not wanting to be seen as secondary to Lana, he also knew that she was letting him off the hook. By making it about her insecurities, she’d taken the focus off of his own and he felt the warm connection that he’d tried to break after his father’s trial spring to the forefront once more.

“And now,” she continued and he knew that the sour tone of her voice was the harbinger of bad news, “we actually have to go on this ridiculous carriage ride. Because, of course, you couldn’t pick a holiday activity with more warmth and less horses.”

And suddenly, although he, too, was not greatly enamored with the idea of a trek through the Smallville country side in the blustery, winter weather, he couldn’t think of a thing he’d rather do if it included spending some time with his estranged friend.

And finally, after months of denying it, of focusing on his goals with LuthorCorp, the mystery with Lana, and the potential threat his father might pose, he could admit the truth.

He’d missed Chloe.

TBC

[skauble]

9. Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh


The open carriage swayed gently as the large wheels bounced along the grooves of one of Smallville’s many country roads. Lex would have chosen a sleigh, but despite the increasing chill in the air, there hadn’t been a snowfall yet that would have provided an adequate groundcover.

Although they were both warmed by the thick, heavy throw that had been provided, there was a crispness to the air and he couldn’t help but notice the becoming color it brought to Chloe’s face…

Rather, it would have been becoming had it not been for her look of utter disdain as she took in the farms they passed, the empty fields, and the horses pulling their conveyance.

“You know,” Lex said blandly, “in this weather your face might actually freeze like that.”

Chloe couldn’t help but laugh. She knew that she wasn’t hiding her lack of enthusiasm for their current outing, but she was a city girl. Moving to a small town hadn’t changed that about her. In fact, if anything, she’d urbanized Smallville more than it had countrified her. Open carriage rides through the countryside with besotted men might be Lana Lang’s idea of a winter wonderland, but Chloe would have preferred trudging through the dirty snow of Metropolis as she fought the crowds to take in the spectacle of Christmas in the city before settling in at The Ugly Corner Cafe to warm up with the greatest cup of coffee to ever to spring from a bean.

Looking over at Lex, she noticed a softness about his features. He looked less like a man bracing to take on the world, and more like the friend with whom she’d fought side by side. Slowly her smile faded.

“What happened to us, Lex?”

“Chloe,” he paused, not quite sure what to say to her, how he could make her understand why he’d done the things he had. “The trial, our time together as it went on, it was a world all its own. It never could have continued like that.”

He wasn’t sure if his words had been too harsh or his tone to soft, but he saw pain shade her luminous eyes.

“But it could have continued like something else. Instead you just shut me out and walked away.”

One of the benefits of being close to very few people was the decreased chance of being hurt. The other, Lex had found, was that he had less of a chance to hurt others; to see their pain, feel their sadness as he was doing now, with Chloe.

He had certainly never meant to hurt her; not like this. Of course he knew her well enough that she would feel a certain amount of pain at the loss of their friendship. But plenty of people had left him before. None of them had seem to suffer overly much or for too long. He had simply assumed that, once she had her former life back, was once again surrounded by her family and friends, any lingering fondness she might have felt would fade over time. It was what he wanted for her. What was best for her.

But, he could admit, in a small corner of his heart he hated the thought of how easy it would be for her to move on as if their friendship had never happened. Only now did he see that was exactly how he had made her feel by pretending he had simply grown beyond her.

He understood, finally, that instead of keeping Chloe safe and out of his life, he’d simply rubbed salt into the wounds of previous rejections that had left her with her own wariness and fear. Feelings that she had breached to let him in, only to be left hurting and alone, and he knew that the very least that he owed her was some sort of explanation.

“I only wanted to keep you safe.”

Chloe had suspected that was the reason for Lex’s desertion; had all but had it confirmed after her ill-fated reconnaissance a few nights past. But hearing him openly acknowledge his motivation filled her with a near crushing sense of relief. Relief and…anger.

“Safe?” The word was a mockery of his every well meaning yet twisted intention. “You wanted to keep me safe? And how well is that working out, Lex?”

Twisting to face him fully, Chloe leaned back against the side of the carriage and unleashed the full force of her ire.

“Let’s set aside the fact that I live in Smallville where being ‘safe’ means that you ended the day with a concussion instead of in a full blown coma. And we’ll ignore the fact that I face death on a bi-monthly basis and have since I was fourteen.

“But Lex,” she continued, keeping her voice low to avoid sharing their conversation with the driver, “even if we just took the last week of my life, I interrupted a robbery, was shot at, fled criminals in a high speed dash for the city limits, and had a confrontation with your father. All of which, although involving LuthorCorp, were due to circumstance that I initiated completely on my own. Even after you’d kicked me to the curb. So what’s your big safety plan now, huh?”

Lex wanted to protest that he hadn’t kicked her to any curb. She wasn’t tossed aside like refuse, but had been isolated from his life in an attempt, which he could see in retrospect had been ill conceived, to keep her protected.

But those thoughts were cut short as the last of her tirade processed in his mind.

“What confrontation with my father?”

Chloe bit her lip, aware that she’d just opened a rather large can of worms. It simply hadn’t occurred to her that Lionel wouldn’t taunt Lex with their last meeting by his car. She could have killed the older man for not being a jerk the one time in which it would have been beneficial to her. With a sigh, she decided that the only way out was through.

“I told him to stay away from you.”

Lex waited, hoping that if he gave them a moment the words would make sense. But time didn’t seem to make things clearer, so there was nothing for it but to ask.

“What?”

Chin jutting out at a mutinous angle, Chloe glared at him.

“I told him to leave you alone. I don’t know what he’s doing Lex, but I do know that it can’t be anything good. I won’t let him hurt us again!”

The word ‘us’ rang in his head, and the clear declaration that Chloe still saw them as a team set something free inside of him. And he didn’t know if it was that the evidence did back up her words, or because he so desperately wanted it to be true, but he realized that Chloe was right; she probably spent more time in danger than in school. Although her ability to often work the former into the latter probably helped.

If she wasn’t safe away from him, then the sacrifices he had made in keeping her at arms length were pointless. Perhaps it wasn’t too late for him to regain what he had lost.

“Chloe-”

But before he could say more than her name, he noticed that he had lost her attention and that her eyes were focused on something behind him. Turning, he saw a gray sedan approaching them at a speed far too extreme for the location and the conditions. His hand shot out and grabbed hers, and he used the leverage to pull her towards him and then push her down onto the seat, covering her body with his own.

He shouted to his driver, but everything except his initial order to ‘go’ was lost as the sounds of gunshots filled the air.

TBC

[skauble]

10. There’s joy to be found in the hustle and bustle of the holidays.


The men chasing them were either remarkably fixated or incredibly dumb. Obviously they’d been sent to kill Lex, but by aiming at him and Chloe, instead of at the driver, they had lost their chance to use the element of surprise to disable the carriage and kill it’s passengers at their leisure.

Lex, however, was not dumb. He’d made a lifetime of profiting from the miscalculations of others and the people currently shooting at them had made more than just the one. Setting aside the fact that it was never wise to attack a Luthor, as countless others had learned to their regret, they had also been extremely foolish to assume that Lex had learned nothing from his past mistakes.

After taking control of LuthorCorp, Lex realized that he simply couldn’t afford to play as fast and lose with his safety as he had during his initial time in Smallville. Rare was the time when security wasn’t within easy summoning distance and only in the most unavoidable of circumstances was it completely absent.

Luckily, these were not those circumstances. A fact proven as the carriage’s driver slid a sleek pistol from beneath his coat and returned fire before jerking the reigns sharply to the right and sending them off onto a smaller access road for one of the local farms.

Reaching into his pocket, Lex retrieved his cell phone. Clutching it tightly, he pressed the first number on his speed dial and was immediately answered by the no-nonsense tone of his chief of security. Relaying the current situation and their location took less than thirty seconds, and he flipped the phone shut, jamming it back into his coat pocket, to take stock of what was happening.

Clearly, their pursuers hadn’t planned on such an extremely rural detour. And, while the carriage was by no means deftly handling the terrain, his man’s familiarity with the area and the fact that their vehicle’s, admittedly minimal, speed wasn’t hampered by the body being so low to the ground, did much to balance out their odds in the short term.

Even the horses were doing well. Having been initially spooked by the gunshots, they’d responded well to Linder’s strong hand and, while certainly skittish, were moving at near break neck speeds without veering off course in a wild panic.

Turning his attention to Chloe, he felt her holding him with a strength that seemed greater than her small form could muster. At first he thought that she was terrified, but he slowly realized that she wasn’t clinging to him in fear – she was pulling him closer to her, her arms spread across his back, covering the widest area possible in what was clearly an attempt to shield whatever part of him she could. And, although it was a futile gesture, it meant the work to Lex.

“We’re going to be okay,” he spoke close to her ear, pulling back slightly to let her see that he believed his words to be true.

“Of course we are,” she shot back. “You don’t actually think I’m going to die in a carriage on some farmer’s back forty, do you?”

And he couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at his lips despite their dire circumstances. Because, only Chloe would be less bothered by the prospect of dying than the prospect of doing so in their backwater town instead of on the trail of a front page story in the middle of the seamy underbelly of Metropolis.

Suddenly, the carriage swerved right, once more, and the tree lined road they’d been bumping over became a much rougher and exposed field. The change would have concerned Lex had he not heard the booming sound of whirring blades moments before seeing the LuthorCorp helicopter sweeping over the hillside before passing above them to engage the sedan in a massive exchange of gunfire.

Taking the chance to peer over the seat, Lex saw that the car that had been chasing them was quickly retreating, and that his security team in the air was landing to take them safely home.


---


Chloe followed Lex into his study as eight armed men in dark suits trailed behind them. Just as she was about to start demanding answers, she saw him grab a file and turn to walk back out.

“Lex! Don’t think you’re leaving me out of this,” she warned him.

“Chloe,” he came back towards here. “Just give me a few minutes to wrap some things up.” Seeing her reluctance he added, “Please.”

“Alright, but you better be back here in ten minutes.”

Forty five minutes later, Chloe was furious. She would have been angry at the extra waiting time under any circumstances. But the fact that she had tried to leave the room three times only to be politely “asked” to wait for “Mr. Luthor” by the two men he’d left behind had her so mad she was almost seeing spots.

Just as she was contemplating leaving via the window – after all, she’d survived it once before – Lex returned, taking one look at her face and hurriedly dismissing his men.

“What do you think you’re doing locking me in here with Dasher and Dancer?” she demanded.

His step faltered and he paused before questioning bemusedly, “You gave my men reindeer names?”

“I was in a festive fury,” she bit out before adding, “and don’t think I don’t know that you’re having me followed by Blitzen.”

Chloe saw his lips twitch and had to fight back the urge to smile in return. She wouldn’t be so easily distracted.

“Lex, is this about the other night?”

She knew that Lex, both on his own and as the head of LuthorCorp, was often the target of these kinds of attempts. But this seemed a little too coincidental when coupled with their late night escapade and the facts she had subsequently uncovered.

“Honestly? I don’t know.” He ran a weary hand over his head before taking a seat on the large leather couch and gesturing for her to do the same.

“I’m not exactly sure what’s going on,” he told her. “Facts are few and far between. I don’t have any hard evidence that this is my father’s doing, but neither can I rule him out which means I have to split my focus just to be safe.”

“Well,” Chloe said, drawing out the word in her reluctance to tip her hand and earn yet another lecture, “I may be able to help.”


---

Four hours, one dinner, and innumerable cups of coffee later and Chloe and Lex had combined the information they had each obtained separately in the hopes of uncovering the bigger picture.

They didn’t have any definite answers, but Lex was both impressed by the information that Chloe had managed to gather and encouraged that things had finally started moving forward.

He watched as she stood and stretched before reaching to retrieve her purse and he, too, rose.

“I have to get home before my dad realizes I’m missing. And,” she cut him off before he could get a word out, “no, you can’t have someone drive me home. That’s all I need is to show up in one of your limos.”

He wanted to protest, but knew it was useless. Chloe wasn’t the kind of person who could let things go, but her father had a great deal of understandable fear for his daughter and so Lex could see that she was making the effort to at least pretend to not be an utter trouble magnet.

He nodded shortly and was surprised as moved to briefly embrace him.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” she whispered and was gone before he had time to react.

Walking to his desk, he pressed a button on the sleek, silver phone and was rewarded with the near instant appearance of the head of his security team.

“Donaldson is trailing her now, but I want three more men watching.”

The man turned to carry out his orders, but Lex stopped him.

“Discretion is essential. She’ll tolerate her current shadow, but any further attempts will be met with resistance and, most likely, defiance.” Lex was silent for a moment and when he spoke again his words were laced with a dark promise. “And if something were to happen to Miss Sullivan, it would be extremely unfortunate…for everyone.”

TBC

[skauble]

11. When friends come together in celebration, good cheer abounds.


If Lex had a dollar for every reason that he didn’t want to attend the annual Christmas party at the Talon…well, he really didn’t need another billion dollars.

The intrigue with Lana was quickly losing its luster. He didn’t know if he was tired of the mystery or tired of catering to her to solve it.

He tended to think that it was the latter because, although he was frustrated with the lack of progress with the LuthorCorp warehouse break in, he wasn’t fatigued by the mere thought of it. But then that particular situation involved Chloe.

With both Lana and Clark, things always felt like a struggle. Even when they were supposedly on the same side. It always felt as if he was on probation, and that one small move that they considered a misstep would ruin everything between them.

But with Chloe he’d felt like they were partners. She understood the reality that life was not black and white and that not even the best people were perfect. With her he’d never experienced that feeling that he was the first piece of dead weight to be tossed overboard in a storm. With Chloe Sullivan, you sank or swam together.

Lex had begun to admit that he missed that. Craved it. Longed for that connection with another person. And for all that he’d believed that Chloe wasn’t safe with him, she was right when she’d pointed out that she wasn’t safe, period. She was simply too passionate about too many dangerous things, like justice and truth, to ever truly be safe.

The clock caught his eye, and Lex nearly groaned. He didn’t have the time or the focus to spare for thoughts of what might have been. He had a party to attend.

And thinking, once more about Lana, Lex remembered the gift that had been left for him that had been shoved into one of his drawers. A brief search produced the small, tastefully wrapped package, and he realized that he needed to open it so that he could pretend he had liked it when Lana began dropping rather heavy handed hints about his reaction.

With a handy letter opener, he cut through the tape binding the paper, peeling it away to reveal a small, blue box. Removing the lid, he stared down in shock at the contents.

Inside, on a bed of blue velvet, was a silver lighter with the LuthorCorp logo engraved on it.

There was nothing remarkable about it. It was of good quality, but wasn’t ostentatious or overly expensive. In fact, it would have been seen as nothing more than a tasteful and generic holiday gift by someone who didn’t realize that he remembered every moment of their time together.

She’d called the game, “What would you do if…”. Apparently she and Pete Ross had played it often, and Chloe had said that it made her feel strangely better about living in Smallville to create hypothetical, perilous situations and devise a realistic course of action. After one was solved, the next would be slightly more difficult.

He had been rather awestruck at just how many contingency plans Chloe actually had.

With her at the time they were playing, awaiting a chance to be useful, was a bobby pin in her hair, a handcuff key in the lining of her purse, and a small travel box with both Ipecac and charcoal tablets.

Lex hadn’t known whether to applaud her preparedness or drag her far away from Smallville and never let her return.

He, of course, had done abysmally. And not just by comparison. Even the most basic scenario of being tied to a chair in an empty room had been something for which he’d had no answer other than, “I’m sure I’d think of something”.

Not one to let him so easily off the hook, she’d thrown numerous suggestions at him, the last of which being that he use his lighter to burn through the ropes.

Admitting to her that he had no lighter seemed somehow like telling a child that you’d put the quarter under their pillow after they’d lost their tooth. And she’d reacted with just as much disbelief.

“But- but,” she’d sputtered, “How would you light a signal fire? Sterilize a needle to give yourself stitches? Find your way through an air conditioning duct?!”

Lex had laughed then. He wasn’t laughing now.

Because the small box in his hands held more than just a Christmas gift, more than even an all purpose, life saving device…

It held a second chance.

TBC

[skauble]

12. No one can refuse a gift that comes from the heart


The Talon was crammed full of people Lex would have gladly paid not to see. However, there was one exception, and he carefully scanned the crowd looking for her.

There, at one of the back tables, sat Chloe with her best friend who was clearly distracted with making eyes at Lana and her boyfriend. While he found Clark’s actions almost intolerably rude, he was quite pleased to note that Chloe looked mildly bored with his preoccupation as opposed to crushed or heartbroken.

Grabbing a cup of coffee, he made his way to a quiet table and waited for a moment to catch Lana alone. He needed to begin to extricate himself from his dealings with her. Yes, he wanted to solve the mystery in which she was clearly involved. Quite badly, in fact. But if he couldn’t unravel it without her help, then he would accept that it would remain unsolved.

From the moment that he’d realized that Chloe had been the his mysterious Santa, the moment he understood that she had snuck into his house to give him a gift, knowing that he would most likely credit another and simply so he would feel slightly less alone, he knew that he wanted to rebuild his friendship with her. To possibly build something more.

Seeing Jason excuse himself and head towards the restrooms, Lex stood and approached Lana. There was no time like the present to begin to clear the way for the future with Chloe.

---

Chloe watched Lex advance on Lana with a slightly heaving feeling in her heart. It was one thing to watch Clark moon over her all evening, but to have to watch Lex do so - she wasn’t sure her heart or her stomach was up to that.

And she hated the fact that she was so upset. She didn’t want to care so much. She’d had her fill of being rejected for Lana during her disastrous infatuation with Clark. But the time she’d spent with Lex recently had clarified things for her. Shown her that losing him hadn’t hurt her so badly because she missed her friend. It hurt because she missed someone that she cared about…someone that she loved.

As Lana smiled brightly at Lex, her doe like eyes luminous; the lights glinting of the long, dark waves of her perfect hair, Chloe felt tears sting her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Clark. I don’t feel so well.”

To his credit, Clark’s eyes immediately left Lana and turned to her, full of concern.

“Would you like me to take you home?”

Chloe simply nodded and gathered her things before heading out the back way to avoid the scene that she could no longer bear to watch.

---

Lex practically sighed with relief as he walked away from Lana and back to his table. He’d managed to create some distance between them and, more than that, to convince her that it had been her idea.

Lana wasn’t a malicious person, by any means, but she had difficulty not being the main center of everyone’s attention. If she believed that he had lost interest in her she would begin a complex game of damsel in distress to regain his focus. The worst thing was that Lex honestly believed that she wasn’t even aware of the behavior, therefore it had little chance of stopping and her life would continue in a state of near constant upheaval.

But that was no longer his problem. He was only interested in one woman just then, and by no stretch of the imagination would she be mistaken for a woman endlessly in need of saving.

Once again he scanned the crowd for Chloe. But this time his search yielded no positive results. He was disappointed that he hadn’t gotten to speak with her, but he had to admit to an almost child-like excitement as he thought about the gift he’d left at her house.

After all, one good breaking and entering deserved another.

---

Chloe sighed in relief. It hadn’t been too hard to send Clark on his way. He’d been very solicitous of her health, but had clearly been anxious to get back to his pseudo-stalking of Lana. And for once she didn’t mind, as she just wanted some peace and quiet.

Moving to place her keys and purse on the table, she noticed a package placed upon it. It was small and exquisitely wrapped in a paper of deep crimsons and lush greens. It hadn’t been there earlier that day, so it couldn’t have been from her dad, who’d had to leave town that afternoon.

Which, of course, only left Clark.

It wasn’t just that he’d been the only other person in the house that day; it was also the fact that, of her limited circle of friends, only Clark’s mom really had the good taste to pull of something so beautifully wrapped.

Well, and Lex. But he’d spent months avoiding her and she wouldn’t delude herself that their recent time spent together had been due to anything other than their common goal of finding out who was behind the break in at the LuthorCorp facility.

Chloe scooped up the box and trudged up stairs. Entering her room, she dumped it on the cluttered desk. She really didn’t want to deal with a gift from Clark right then. All she wanted to do was get into a hot shower and wash away the disappointment of the evening.

TBC

[skauble]

13. And there shall be peace on Earth and good will toward men


As voices reached him from the hallway, Lex had to admit that, for once, he was glad to hear that one of them was his dad’s. He’d wanted to see the man since Chloe’s carriage ride revelation, but he had been away on whatever business it was that Lionel was currently occupying himself with.

As the older man entered, Lex refused to rise and, instead, waited for his father to take a seat on the other side of the large desk. Having no time for his mind games, Lex cut right to the chase.

“I thought I told you to stay away from Chloe.”

Lionel smile was appeasing as he addressed the clear accusation.

“You know, Miss Sullivan is quite a number of things, but she’s not manipulative and rarely untruthful. I’m sure that she informed you that she approached me.”

“And that stopped you from leaving, how?” Lex inquired.

“I didn’t want to be rude, son.”

“You tried to have her killed,” Lex reminded him. “Politeness in no longer a goal to which you can aspire when it comes to Chloe.”

Lionel waved a hand dismissively.

“Which is exactly why I was interested to hear what she had to say. After all, it would have to be rather important to compel her to endure my presence.”

Pausing for a moment, his eyes took on a serious light. “And I was right. She cares for you a great deal, Lex.”

There was often a false civility in Luthor family conflicts. You spared verbally, inflicted emotional damage, but the majority of the threats of violence were contained in currents and undertones that manifested at a later date as a knife in your back or poison in your Scotch.

But this was different. Chloe was no longer a pawn in their never ending chess match and Lex didn’t care if he broke the unwritten rules of their familial combat to make that clear.

“I won’t let you hurt Chloe again,” he held his father’s gaze and allowed him to see the blazing sincerity in his eyes. “If you go near her again, you won’t be breathing long enough for another trial.”

To his credit, Lionel retained his composure.

“I know that you’re suspicious of my change of heart. And no one can blame you for your caution, least of all me,” he admitted. “But I hope one day you’ll come to see that I honestly regret all of the time that I’ve wasted.”

Ignoring Lex’s dubious expression, he continued, “All I want is your happiness, Lex. If Chloe brings that to you then, as little as it may mean to you at the moment, you have my blessing.”

Leaning down to retrieve his briefcase, Lionel opened it and removed a folder and passed it to his son.

“In fact, that’s one of the reasons that I came here today.”

Lex opened the folder to find shipment manifests for MK Trucking. Much of their business involved Luthor contracts and, as they were one of the companies that had access to the warehouse which was the site of the break in, he’d had all of their records pulled.

A cursory glance at those before him showed that his father had found what he had – there were a dual set of documents; one that was provided for official accounting, and the other that was a record of back room deals and black market transactions. That it hadn’t been discovered before then was likely due to LuthorCorp only just beginning to settle after the massive power shift, and the fact that the actual figures had been expertly hidden in the company’s computers. In fact, even though Lex knew that Lionel still had a vast amount of resources, he was impressed that he’d been able to acquire the information almost as quickly as he, himself had.

“Those,” Lionel indicated the papers, “are a copy of the files that Miss Sullivan hacked into last night.”

Feeling the folder begin to collapse in his clenching fists, Lex forced himself to relax.

Hiding a smile at his son’s reaction, Lionel continued, “She’s very good. You certainly have to give her that. I only found out that she’d been there at all because I had someone looking into the matter simultaneously.

“He had a Devil of a time tracking her down.” Lionel’s voice took on a slightly nostalgic quality. “She always was amazingly resourceful. I’ve often regretted losing someone of her extraordinary talent.”

“Lose?” Lex asked, incredulous and momentarily distracted from his previous anger. “You didn’t lose her. You tried to kill her!”

“And now I’m trying to save her,” his father shot back, impatiently. “Believe me, if I wanted her hurt I could have easily achieved that end by delivering this file to the head of our very crooked trucking company. But she’s important to you, and so here I am.”

Lionel closed his briefcase and stood.

“Believe what you want, Lex. But if you want to keep that young woman safe, there are far more pressing threats than I.”

Lex watched his father leave and he knew the man was wrong. Oh there was a threat to Chloe, but it wasn’t shady truckers. It wasn’t even Lionel. It was him; because when he got a hold of her he was going to wring her neck.

TBC

[skauble]

14. And as the holiday spirit moves us all, one good turn will merit another.


Working her way through yet another boring shipping manifest, Chloe was almost relieved to hear the loud pounding on her door. Normally, she’d be a little wary of such an aggressive sound, but she was fairly certain that she was safe. For one thing, killers rarely knocked, no matter how rudely, and for another, she hadn’t ditched her shadow and so any genuine threat would have likely been intercepted.

In fact, she kind of hoped that it was Lex as she wanted to have a few words, many of them four letters, with him.

Having her tailed by one guy was acceptable. Even the best could be shaken in a pinch. But four was a little excessive, even by Luthor standards. It made sneaking nearly impossible, which may have been Lex’s intention, but was not at all what she had signed up for.

Despite her belief that she was not in danger, Chloe still checked the peep hole. And she’d been correct. It was Lex.

An apparently agitated Lex.

Concerned, she quickly opened the door, only to have him brush rudely past her.

“Excuse me,” she snapped as she closed the door and followed him.

“I don’t think I will,” Lex shot back as he turned to face her. Despite the constant reports from his security team, his father’s claims of Chloe’s recent activities had worried him. Seeing her before him, perfectly safe, calmed those fears, but still left his anger and frustration.

“What is your problem?”

“This,” was his reply, along with the file he’d brought which he tossed on the table between them, watching as it skidded towards her, the papers inside spilling to fan out on the table.

Chloe only had to glance at the top paper to realize that Lex was aware of her activities of the previous night. Not in the least contrite, she merely rolled her eyes at him, “This isn’t going to be another lecture about my involvement in this, is it?”

“Dammit, Chloe,” he ground out when he managed to unclench his jaw, “I’m just trying to keep you safe.”

Throwing her hands up in the air, she brushed past him to take advantage of the extra space near the sofa to pace.

“How many times do we have to go over this,” she demanded. “I’m not a safe person. I don’t have a safe life. And, honestly, I’m okay with that, Lex.”

He opened his mouth to protest but, as so often happened with Chloe, she simply steamrolled past his planned objection.

“I understand that you want to protect me, and I really do appreciate that you care. It’s why I’ve let Blitzen follow me all over town.”

Stepping back towards him, Chloe reached out to lay her hand on his arm. “But Lex, why can’t you accept that I want to protect you, too?”

And he could see that she meant it. That protecting him was as important to her and her safety was to him.

Lex’s face softened, but his tone was more resigned than relieved.

“I’m not going to get you to leave this alone?”

Chloe’s smile was bright, although she tried to screen out the sense of victory. It was never good to make a Luthor feel as if they’d just lost a battle and anyways, as far as she was concerned, they were both winners in this one.

“Of course not. What kind of friend would I be if I left you on your own to find out who is trying to swindle your multi-national conglomerate by leaving empty boxes in your warehouse, simply because we were shot at…”

Pausing for a moment, Chloe slowly played back, in her head, her last words.

“Our lives are weird, aren’t they?”

“Incredibly,” Lex agreed with a small twist of his lips. “I blame this town.”

And he did. Smallville didn’t just manufacture weird; it all out cornered the market. Every week was some new trial to survive, and you were almost relieved to be the victim of the town’s newest killer because it meant that whatever it was that caused such a high percentage of psychopaths hadn’t infected you yet.

However, no matter what his feelings towards Smallville, Lex knew that he would never regret, for one moment, that fate had led him there. Not when it had brought him to the woman before him. A woman who had so little to gain by letting him back into her life and so much to lose. A woman who, instead of using him for the power and prestige his money and name brought was, instead, genuinely angry that he was not allowing her to take care of him.

It was a novel experience for him, and not one he was prepared to waste ever again. In fact, looking into her eyes, seeing the depths of the emotions there, Lex was almost certain that he could get quite used to it.

“Okay,” he gestured to the sofa. “Show me what else you found.”

TBC

[skauble]

15. The many mysteries of the Christmas season are best savored when left unquestioned.


Chloe barely managed to contain a squeal of delight at the fact that Lex was finally accepting her help; finally accepting that she wanted to keep him safe with the same determination he dedicated to her well being.

Motioning him towards the couch, she gestured for him to sit before gathering up the papers and various files that she had collected, placing them in front of him, and sitting down beside him with her laptop.

“Okay, I’ve found a lot of info and,” she paused, “happened upon the shipping manifests for the last two months. There are actually quite a few discrepancies and dubious business practices that you might want to look into, but most of them seem to be minor issues that are unrelated to the current situation.”

Lex waited patiently while she talked and pointedly ignored her mild description of hacking into the files of both LuthorCorp and their sub-contractors.

“So the question I was asking myself before I was so rudely interrupted,” Chloe smiled to let him know she was teasing, “isn’t what are we missing, but what do we know.”

“Alright,” he nodded his agreement with her methods, “what do we know?”

Reaching over, Chloe scooped up the stack of papers from the coffee table and rifled through them. Finding what she was searching for, she opened a file and placed it in front of him.

“MK trucking does a lot of the local transport for LuthorCorp. Since you have a copy of the secondary records I found buried in their system last night, you’re aware of the fact that they’ve been diverting some of their shipments and then fencing them through an organization that deals with moving corporate merchandise.

“By the way,” she briefly halted her explanation to comment, “You should probably do something about that.”

“Thank you for that savvy business advice.”

Smiling at the heavy sarcasm lining his voice, Chloe reached over and pulled another page out of the file he held and handed it to him.

“But you can see that there’s clearly a pattern of theft and then profit. Every time, the merchandise is taken, and they’re paid, presumably, on delivery.

“However, here,” she pointed to a row of numbers, “you can see that there’s a deposit to their off shore account of $25,000; but no record of anything taken. In fact, every delivery they were scheduled for was completed successfully.”

“Which means,” Lex concluded, “that, rather than stealing something on their own, it appears that they’ve been hired to steal something for someone else.”

Chloe was nodding her agreement before he’d even finished.

“Which is why I pulled these,” she handed him the shipping orders for the entire month of December; those completed and those pending.

Looking down at the LuthorCorp logo marked on all the papers, Lex looked back up at Chloe. “You know, when this is all over we’re going to have a long talk about you wandering through my databases.”

“Yeah,” Chloe agreed. “I’m sure we’ll discuss it just as soon as it stops being useful to you.”

Pulling her computer closer to her, she began to bring up a number of files.

“The only thing that MK Trucking is moving from that warehouse for the next three weeks are the toys for the Give the Gift of Christmas toy drive that you’ve sponsored; and I can’t imagine going to all this trouble just to Grinch up the Christmas of Metropolis’ underprivileged children.”

Having found the page to which Chloe was referring, Lex frowned. Something was off, but he just couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Reading it over again, he finally realized what was amiss.

“One hundred and sixteen crates.”

“What?” Chloe questioned at the seemingly random comment.

“It says there are one hundred and sixteen crates being moved,” he showed her the numbers as she leaned over. “But when I was given the inventory of the warehouse after the break in, there were only one hundred and seven crates of toys.”

“You’re sure,” Chloe questioned, even though she knew that Lex had an impeccable memory.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “But what’s even more interesting is that there were nine empty crates found that night.”

It only took a second for Chloe to add the two figures together and arrive at the correct conclusions.

“One hundred and seven crates for the toy drive and nine empty crates. So, one hundred and sixteen in total. The empty crates weren’t meant to stay there at all.”

Lex smiled at her, remembering just how nice it felt to have a partner whose mind worked so like his own. “Which tells us that they must have changed the shipping orders that night, before we arrived, and then were unable to change them back when their plan fell through because I’ve had men investigating non-stop.”

“So,” Chloe mused aloud, “we just need to figure out where the extra crates were supposed to end up.”

Leaning over, Lex flipped through the stack of files until he found another, that he’d seen earlier, filled with LuthorCorp invoices.

“From what I understand, the toys were only at that warehouse as a holding point. They were all to be transported on the 24th to a number of different locations so that the charities participating in the drive could pick them up for distribution at the Christmas day festivities.”

A few pages into the report, Lex finally found the destinations.

“This can’t be right.”

Chloe had pulled up the same file on her laptop but didn’t see anything amiss. “What’s wrong?”

“They’re being taken to three separate places – a warehouse in the North Park district, one in the Logan Heights area, and a facility in Lakewood.”

“And” she questioned.

“The warehouse in Lakewood is a high security facility.” Lex looked over at Chloe, hoping that she would understand that, while he knew her to be beyond trustworthy, there were some business details that he couldn’t share. At least not without much greater cause. “It holds many of the prototypes for government defense contracts we’re working on. Who would approve this kind of transfer there?”

“Lawrence Henderson,” Chloe answered as her fingers flew over the keys of her computer, pulling up a myriad of information.

Chloe’s eyes jerked away from the screen and back to Lex as some very inappropriate words filled the air.

“Henderson is on the LuthorCorp board,” he explained. “He’s been attempting to exploit the weaknesses left by my father’s displacement and my subsequent appointment as CEO. He’s been trying to make headway in takeover attempts by going after some of our subsidiaries instead of the corporation directly. I managed to forestall the attempts, which cost him millions. With my father’s release from prison, he must have assumed we’d be occupied with trying to kill one another and decided to recoup his losses and make his final move on the company.”

Chloe almost laughed at the fact that this plan was going to be foiled because Lionel Luthor actually seemed to be playing nice for once in his miserable life. By not making the predictable move towards revenge against Lex, neither Luthor’s attention had been diverted from business. It seemed almost fitting that Lionel could screw someone over by attempting to be good.

“But, Lex, is there really anything there that would jeopardize your hold on LuthorCorp?”

Lex shook his head. “It’s not that simple, Chloe. If he managed to get a hold of the prototypes for any one project, he could sell them for tens of millions of dollars on the weapons black market. But more importantly, it would endanger every defense contract we have. That, in conjunction with his new influx of cash could definitely mean a viable takeover attempt.”

“But not now,” Chloe asked.

Suddenly, Lex smiled.

“No,” he agreed. “Not now.”

And tossing the pages back onto the table before him, he reached over and pulled the computer from Chloe’s lap, placing it next to the discarded files. Turning back towards her, he moved closer and reached out, gently brushing the hair from her face.

“Thank you,” he said softly.

And then he kissed her.

TBC

[skauble]

16. Christmastime is best spent focusing on all those around us and not ourselves


As there lips met, the air seemed to spark around them. A soft moan echoed, but neither was sure who’d made the sound. But as they moved closer, it ceased to matter; nothing mattered but this single, solitary moment in time.

Lex was warm and strong against her, and Chloe leaned into him, allowing his solid presence to surround her.

When he’d first come to town, the girls of Smallville High had given a near collective swoon at the mere mention of the man the press had dubbed ‘Sexy Lexy’. Even though her best friends were both male, Chloe had still heard talk about purported conquests and rumored expertise. It had seemed somehow cold and calculating to Chloe at the time and not at all as exciting as the girl’s around her tended to believe.

But they’d been wrong. Each suggestion, every rumor had been incorrect and Chloe was so very, very glad. Not that he was clumsy or awkward. She wasn’t sure those words could ever be used in conjunction with Lex. It was just that nothing about him seemed remote or practiced. She didn’t feel played or seduced; used or cheapened. She felt…

Like she was home.

Chloe had a good sense of self. She liked who she was and, although she’d made mistakes, she, unlike many, owned up to them and worked hard to make things right. She dedicated her life to the pursuit of truth and the noble cause of enlightening the public. She believed, deeply, in the justness of her call and focused her passion accordingly.

And yet, there had always been a part of her that had felt out of place; as if she never truly belonged.

When her mother had left, Chloe had been crushed. For months she had been as perfect as possible; cleaning her room, doing chores around the house, excelling in school. She’d thought that if she could just do better than she had before, her mother would return. Finally, her father had seen what was happening and explained to her that Moira’s leaving had never been about her or the kind of daughter she was.

For the most part, Chloe had believed him, but there was always the doubt. What she’d never told her father, though, was that not all of the changes had been about her mother. There was a very small place, way down inside, that had worried that he would leave her, too.

Then had come her move to a small town where she’d been barely tolerated because of her ‘big city’ ways, followed by her disastrous crush on Clark Kent, who had little problem ditching her for the girl he worshipped from afar. In fact, even when he was with her, the ‘I wish you were someone else’ vibes were sometimes so strong that she’d often ended up making lame excuses to leave.

It hadn’t broken her. None of those things had. And yet, each had sewn a tiny seed of doubt in the deepest, darkest recesses of her mind.

But sitting there, with Lex’s arms sliding around her, pulling her tight against him, the past, and all of its worries and fears, seemed to fade away.

Her head wasn’t sure why it would. After all, even though she knew that Lex wanted something from Lana that was in no way romantic, it was still easy to believe that he was also falling under whatever spell the brunette seemed to cast on every male in her path. It’s why it had been so painful to see them together.

However, her heart was so certain, so steadfast in it’s acceptance of Lex. There were so many ways in which he knew her that no one else ever had. He understood the pain she carried because he, too, had been left by those he loved. He could soothe the fears she held because, beneath his stoic exterior, he harbored them also.

And, ironically, the fact that he’d tried so hard to push her away, touched her more than she could say now that she could feel, with every touch, how much it had pained him to do so. It was in the way that his arms banded around her a little too tightly. In the way that his lips moved over hers with an urgent sense of need. The way that he pulled back and looked at her for a moment, with a slight disbelief in his eyes, as if he thought it might all be a dream.

To have someone that truly knew her, that understood what drove her, that saw everything she was and still needed her so badly - to actually belong…it was everything, and she was home.

Chloe was soft and lush in his arms, and Lex pulled her closer to him, allowing her nearness to soothe him.

For years Lex had been searching for love. But time and experience had been slowly teaching him that such an emotion was either a poet’s dream or for people better than him, and he’d begun to divide the women around him into two categories – those waiting to hurt him, and those waiting to leave.

But he’d been mistaken, and never in his life had he been so incredibly grateful to be wrong. No matter what she said, Chloe had found more danger and pain since the Luthors had come into her life than she had before his family, and yet she didn’t want to punish him for that fact. And, even more miraculously, she didn’t want to leave him for it either. Never once did he feel unsafe or uncared for with Chloe. In fact, he felt…

Like he was home.

Lex knew he was damaged, emotionally. He wasn’t his father – he hadn’t let his pain and hate and rage shape him into some kind of soulless monster. But he understood that there was a part of him that expected the world to be Luthor-like, and often over-compensated for the attacks that he’d learned to assume everyone was planning.

When Julian had died and his mother had let Lex take the blame, he’d begun to believe that, while someone might love you, ultimately, they’d do whatever was best for them in any given situation. And that realization had driven his life for years.

When he’d come to Smallville and was rescued by Clark, he’d begun to question that belief. But the fact was that his friend really wasn’t as different as he had wanted to believe. True, Clark had saved his life and the lives of many others. But Lex had finally come to the conclusion that the younger man knew far more about the strange happenings in their little town then he would ever openly acknowledge.

Clark Kent had a secret, and he kept it despite the fact that Lex was all but certain that the information he was hiding would allow the people of Smallville to at least attempt to better protect themselves. And that realization had been a crushing blow to his newfound belief in the goodness of people.

Until Chloe.

Chloe, who had made her mistakes and then shown that she didn’t have to be defined by them forever; that she could make new choices, be better than before. At any time during her struggle with Lionel she could have given in. He knew that his father would have been more than pleased to welcome her back with open arms, even after she’d begun working against him.

But she’d held strong. Done what was right, instead of what was easy or safe, and it had given him back a sense of faith that he’d thought lost forever.

It was, ironically, why he’d pushed her away. Yes, he’d wanted to keep her physically safe. But more than that, he’d wanted to protect her from the taint his family carried with them.

Yet now he could see what he’d forgotten in his fear and uncertainty. Being with Chloe didn’t make her less; it made him more. The fact that she knew him on such a deep level; the fact that she understood the pain that drove him and the fears that haunted him, and wanted to be with him still - to be so completely accepted…it meant the world, and he was home.

TBC

[skauble]

17. The joyous season renews one’s faith in their fellow man


As the kiss continued, Chloe swore that she heard bells….then they stopped…then they started again. When Lex groaned against her lips and began to pull away, she realized that it was his cell phone that was ringing.

“Luthor,” he barked into the phone, making Chloe glad that she wasn’t the person on the other end.

Giving him some privacy, she stood and began gathering the various papers and files spread out on the table. Wanting to keep their evidence in order, she absentmindedly skimmed the pages before placing them on an appropriate pile.

As she was reaching to add a shipping invoice to the stack, she hesitated. Something was niggling at the back of her mind and she had learned, over the years, to trust those instincts. Examining the paper once more, she realized what had bothered her.

As she turned to face Lex, her expression must have conveyed her sense of urgency because he immediately wrapped up his phone call with a terse promise to call back.

“Chloe, what is it?”

Handing him the paper, she pointed to the relevant information.

“Look at the date that they’ve scheduled the transfer and pick up from the Lakewood facility.”

“That’s today,” he noted. “But those toys weren’t supposed to be distributed to the local charities until early morning on the 25th.”

Lex stood and ran an agitated hand over his head.

“I have to take care of this,” he told her.

He turned towards the door, but stopped abruptly. Swinging back to face Chloe, he reached out and caught her hand. With one swift tug she was back in his arms.

And then he was kissing her once more. It was hard and hot and they were both short of breath as they parted. Raising a hand to gently cup her cheek, Lex trailed a finger down to run across her slightly swollen lips before promising her, “We will talk about this when I get back.”

All Chloe could do was nod as Lex made his way out the door, his phone already opened as he began handing out orders to rectify the situation.

In a daze at how fast everything had changed, Chloe returned to her task of gathering the various papers. Once finished, she sat with her laptop and slowly began to sort the various emails, invoices, financial records, and personnel files she’d ‘borrowed,’ into different folders as she closed them down. A small ding let her know that one of the last of the files she’d been downloading had finished, and she pulled up the information to catalogue it with the rest.

It was the last of the files she’d retrieved from the trucking company that had been running through a decryption program. Opening it, she could see that it was a record of money received. The amounts were all different, so it seemed almost to be a covering of expenses as opposed to the normal payments for the job. And beside every entry was a name – Merrickson.

Chloe knew that name; she was certain on it. Starting a search through her files, she only had to wait a few minutes before a match revealed why the name seemed so familiar.

She’d called him Prancer. One of the members of Lex’s security team that she’d met the day of the carriage chase.

Of course Lex hadn’t been able to uncover who, exactly, was willing to sell him out on his staff. All this time he’d been looking for connections to Lionel when it had been Henderson who was pulling the strings.

Grabbing her phone, she frantically dialed Lex’s cell. After three rings it transferred her to the answering service and Chloe cursed as she realized that if he’d taken the helicopter to Metropolis then he was most likely already airborne and thus out of touch until he landed.

She thought, briefly about calling the police, but even if she managed to get someone that wasn’t corrupt or incompetent, there was every chance that they would show up at the facility, be told that everything was fine by Henderson’s men, and then leave, having alerted them to the fact that Lex was aware of what was happening.

With that door closed to her, her next inclination was simply to walk outside and tell the men that had been shadowing her for the last few days. She knew Lex’s overprotective streak quite well and that knowledge told her two things.

One, the security detail he’d left with her would definitely be safe to trust. Lex had said that, even though he couldn’t pinpoint the traitors among his staff, he knew which of his men were absolutely trustworthy. He would never have left her safety in the hands of anyone other than those on that short list.

Two, he would have left his men with strict orders that they were to stay with her and keep her safe by any means necessary should anything happen. If they believed that something was going down, they wouldn’t let her leave her apartment and they wouldn’t leave her side until they got the okay from their boss.

So, really, all they’d be able to do would be to call someone and alert them to the situation. And if Lex didn’t know who was working against him, Chloe had little reason to believe that his men would.

Which left her with only one option. Grabbing her keys, she ran outside and climbed into her car. She pulled out of her driveway slowly to give her tail time to get to their own vehicles. She knew that they wouldn’t risk losing her, even if they had to reveal their presence, and so she was confident that they’d be right behind her as she hit the gas and sped down the road at a speed she was sure would turn her father’s hair white.

But at that moment, nothing else mattered to Chloe but getting herself and the few men she could trust to Metropolis and saving Lex.

TBC

[skauble]

18. The holidays are only as stressful as you allow them to be.


After a mind numbingly fast flight from Smallville, which she still couldn’t believe hadn’t culminated in arrest, Chloe slowed down as she turned onto the block on which the LuthorCorp Lakewood facility was located, before finally pulling into an alley across the street.

Before she’d even managed to shut off the engine, three cars pulled in behind her. Pocketing her keys, she opened the door and stepped out to face the four men waiting for her, disapproval written all over their faces.

“That was extremely reckless of you, Miss Sullivan,” the man she’d named Blitzen said, chidingly. “Did you really think that you could lose us?”

She rolled her eyes as she walked towards them.

“I didn’t want to lose you. I wanted to get you here.”

To her amazement and their credit, they had their weapons drawn almost instantly, focused on determining if they’d been led into an ambush.

“Look,” she waved her arms to get their attention, “as nice as it is to see that Lex has actually hired competent security for once, I haven’t set you up. We’re here to save your boss.”

And with that she shoved the papers that she’d brought with her over to Blitzen and briefly explained, “Lex and I found out what was going on right before he left. He came here to stop Henderson from stealing some kind of Defense Department prototype.”

The men clearly recognized Henderson’s name, and none of them seemed incredibly surprised that he was planning to stab their employer in the back; which was good, because Chloe didn’t have the time to waste convincing them of the legitimacy of the threat.

“That page is from the set of second books that the crooked trucking company is running.” Leaning towards Blitzen, she ran her finger down the page until it rested by the name Merrickson. “I’m sure you recognize the name. He’s been acting as some kind of middleman for Henderson.”

There was a great deal of swearing as the paper went from one set of hands to the next and they realized who had been the Judas amongst them.

“I knew you wouldn’t have left Smallville while I was there,” she regained their attention as she explained her mad dash to Metropolis. “But I don’t know anyone other than you four that I can absolutely trust with Lex’s safety. After all, he trusted you with mine so I know that he has faith in you. So I got you here the only way I could. Now go do your thing and make sure that Lex is okay.”

She made a little shooing motion with her hands, which was promptly ignored as Blitzen began to hand out terse orders. When he was done, the other three men moved to the end of the alley, sticking to the shelter of the early evening shadows, and making their way silently across the street. Once there, they split up and were quickly out of view.

When Chloe turned back towards her lone bodyguard, she heard him wrapping up a call with the police. She’d been afraid to bring the police in when there were only Henderson’s men on site to speak with them. But now that Lex’s staff could fill them in she was glad that they were on their way.

“I guess it’s too much to expect you to go with them,” she asked as he hung up.

“Yes. In fact,” he informed her, “you and I are leaving the immediate vicinity. We’re going to pull back and rendezvous with the local and federal law enforcement agencies.”

Chloe hated the thought of leaving without knowing that Lex was safe, but she saw the wisdom in the plan. But as they were about to get into one of the non-descript sedans, a voice rang out from the other end of the alley.

“Hey! What are you two doing there?”

She watched as Blitzen’s hand moved, almost imperceptibly, to the gun concealed by his jacket, before turning to face the men approaching them. But whatever tale he’d been planning to spin was destined to remain unknown as a cry of “He’s one of Luthor’s men” split the air, followed closely by the sounds of gunfire.

“Run!” He ordered her, and Chloe wasted no time questioning him as she dashed towards the street. There was nothing she could do in the middle of a gunfight other than be a target for the bad guys and a distraction for the good ones.

Unsure of where to head, she crossed the street. She didn’t necessarily think it was a great idea to be closer to the facility that was clearly the site of a full scale robbery, but the large rows of shipping containers offered more coverage than any other place she could see on the entire length of the block.

Just as she was settling behind a large stack of wooden crates, she heard the sound of hurried footsteps coming her way. Pressing herself as far back as she could, she waited for them to pass.

“Roger that.”

Chloe could hear the static of a walkie-talkie as one man relayed their orders to his partner.

“We’ve been compromised. Boss wants us to go check on Luthor.”

While Chloe may have been willing to leave when everything seemed under control, there was no way that she was going to do so, knowing for certain that Lex was being held somewhere close by. Giving the men a good head start, she peaked around the corner of the crate and then silently trailed behind them.

Slipping, unseen, into a small hallway, Chloe watched as the two men unlocked the door to what seemed to be a supply room. They didn’t enter but, instead, gave the room a once over and said something she couldn’t quite make out before closing the door and locking it once more.

Once they were out of sight, she carefully left her hiding place and approached the door. Arriving in front of it, she bit back a string of curses that longed to escape.

She’d picked her share of locks in her time, both as a reporter and as someone simply attempting to survive life in Smallville. If it had been a regular lock before her, Chloe had no doubt that she’d have had Lex out in no time.

Unfortunately, staring back at her, its red light mocking, was a shiny, new, electronic lock.

Unsure of what to do next, Chloe’s musings were interrupted by what she was fairly certain was the barrel of a gun pressing into her back.

“Don’t worry, my dear,” said a smarmy and obnoxious voice, “I’d be more than happy to unlock that for you.”

TBC

[skauble]

19. During the holidays, there’s little more romantic than enjoying a fire with someone that you love.


The man behind her swiped a keycard through the electronic lock and the door unlatched with a soft click. Pushing it open, he shoved Chloe into the middle of the room. The momentum propelled her forward unsteadily, but she was promptly halted by strong arms that she’d recognize anywhere.

“Henderson,” Lex curtly acknowledged as he pulled Chloe towards him. He wanted to demand to know what she was doing there, but he knew better than to reveal anything to an enemy.

“Seems I found your little sidekick,” the man nodded at Chloe.

“Hey” she bristled. “For all you know Lex is my sidekick.”

“Feisty,” Henderson laughed as he looked Chloe over. “I like this one. She honestly doesn’t seem to want to kill you,” he told Lex as if the fact was nearly unbelievable. “It’s a shame that you’re going to die anyway.”

When Lex refused to answer, Henderson shrugged an insincere apology.

“I’m sorry that it had to come to this, Lex. I never really had anything against you. You just never could see the bigger picture.

“Now you’re father, on the other hand,” he paused, and his voice took on a tone of malicious glee. “I’m rather going to enjoy having him killed.”

Seeing the look of shock that flitted briefly over Lex’s face, he explained, “You really shouldn’t be surprised. Lionel might try to have you killed on a semi-annual basis, but there’s no way that the old man would let anyone else live for attempting the same feat. Much less accomplishing it.”

Although he continued talking, the gun wielding man was clearly growing more uncomfortable with the lack of response.

“It’s better this way, anyway. It will make my transition to CEO that much smoother.”

“Is this the part where we swear this will never work,” Chloe asked Lex, tired of the blathering man who was using up their precious escape time. “I can never quite tell when it’s a break in the rambling and when it’s just blessedly over.”

The older man seemed almost stunned for a moment, before shaking his head with a chuckle. “Like I said; feisty. Enjoy her while you can, Lex,” Henderson tossed out as he backed through the door, closing it and resetting the lock.

Turning Chloe to face him, Lex looked her over from head to toe, taking in every detail.

“When we get out of her, remind me that I want to yell at you,” he told her as he turned and began to clear off a chair covered in boxes of printer supplies.

“As long as you remind me to tell you my incredibly logical reason for being here,” she agreed, watching as he pulled the chair to the center of the room. “I take it that your activity means that you have a plan?”

Lex nodded. “This facility was recently built and all of its systems are state of the art. They’re geared for two things – protecting our employees and securing the merchandise being housed here.

“So in the event of a fire, for instance, the system works to achieve both of those goals, simultaneously. First, it locks down all of the high security areas – prototype storage rooms, loading bays - and floods them with a specialized concentrated gas that, while mildly irritating, is harmless to people but will extinguish any flames. Second, it activates a more standard sprinkler system in the lower tech sectors and, as a precautionary measure, all minimal security areas – offices and their various restrooms and supply rooms – are unlocked to allow for easy staff evacuation.”

Positioning the chair precisely, Lex faced Chloe.

“There are two reasons that Lawrence Henderson could never run LuthorCorp. One, he never understood that the ‘bigger picture’ is really just made up of a thousand tiny details. And, two,” Lex reached into his pocket and pulled out the lighter Chloe had given him, “he never had anyone with whom to play ‘What would you do if’”.

“You knew,” Chloe gasped.

Taking her chin in his hand, Lex tilted her mouth up to his. “From the moment I saw it,” he told her before his lips caught hers in an achingly tender kiss.

It was over almost as quickly as it had begun, and before Chloe could even begin process all that had happened, Lex stepped up on to the chair, flicked open the lighter, and held the flame up to the sensor. The scream of the fire alarm ripped through the air as a cascade of icy water began pouring from the ceiling.

Jumping lightly to the ground, he grabbed Chloe’s hand and pulled her towards the door. Just as they reached it, the red light flashed briefly before converting to green as the lock clicked open.

Lex opened the door carefully, checking to make sure that the hallway was clear. Seeing that it was, and knowing that this was the only chance that they were going to get, he pulled Chloe close to him and then they ran.

TBC

[skauble]

20. From now on our troubles will be miles away


Lex kept a tight grip on Chloe’s hand as they negotiated the various hallways of the managerial section of the facility. The sprinklers had stopped spraying in the absence of any further indication of fire, but the alarm continued to wail. Despite the blaring siren, they heard the distant, but unmistakable sounds of gunfire.

Chloe stopped, suddenly, forcing Lex to halt, also.

“Lex, the men you had following me are here. That’s why I came; to get them here.”

He saw the concern in her eyes and he longed to soothe her fears, but he knew that they needed to keep moving.

“Chloe, my men are professionals. This is what I’ve hired them to do, and they’re very good at their jobs. Us doing anything other than getting to safety will just mean being in the way.”

Nodding her understanding, Chloe allowed Lex to begin leading them to the exit, once more. Within moments, they entered the lobby and made their way to a large set of glass doors.

Scanning the area beyond the building, Lex waited a moment, wanting to ensure that the coast was clear. With a brief nod to Chloe, he pushed open the door and they dashed out across the small, executive parking lot directly in front of the building, to the field of crates that had sheltered Chloe earlier.

“My car is in the alley across the street,” she told him, and watched as he peeked around the corner to gauge the distance to their new destination.

Before they had a chance to make their move, the distinctive noise of helicopter blades could be heard over the still shrieking alarm. Pushing themselves as far back as possible, they waited for the sound to fade before edging forward once more.

“I can’t believe he got away,” Chloe proclaimed in disgust at the thought of their obnoxious kidnapper escaping justice.

“Believe me Chloe,” Lex assured her, “even if that was Henderson, he won’t get very far. He was right about the danger of leaving a Luthor alive unintentionally.”

Chancing a glance her way, Lex was caught off guard by the satisfaction on Chloe’s face at his words. He was far too used to the sanctimonious lectures on ‘being the better man’ and ‘vengeance not being the answer’ that he often got from Clark and even Lana, that he’d forgotten how wonderful it felt to be with someone who didn’t have a negative preconception of every word that came from his mouth.

With a small smile in her direction, he grasped her hand tighter and moved to the very edge of the containers concealing them.

“Are you ready,” he asked. Seeing her nod, he made one more visual search of the area. “Let’s go.”

They crossed the street quickly, and without incident, and were almost to Chloe’s car when a low voice halted them in their tracks.

“Stop right their, Luthor. Turn around slowly.”

As they did, Chloe saw that it was one of the men that she had followed earlier. He motioned them back towards the street with his gun, and she followed Lex’s lead as they made their way back out of the alley.

Not many people understood what it had been like for them when they had been working to bring down Lionel. Despite Lex’s money and resources, it had been an incredibly dangerous undertaking which they did, in large part, completely on their own. Being forged in that kind of fire created a kind of unspoken communication between them that most people only dreamed of developing. And so, Chloe knew – could feel – that Lex was about to make some kind of move and prepared herself accordingly.

And she was right. The minute that they stepped into the street, Lex released her hand and gave her a small shove in the opposite direction as he turned and launched himself at the man behind them.

Having taken him completely off guard, Lex was able to grab the gun before any shots could be fired, and the two men proceeded struggle violently for control of it.

The momentum of the fight carried them into the street, where the foolhardy thug learned that Lex was not merely a spoiled, rich boy. With an elbow to the man’s midsection, and an uppercut to his jaw, Lex was able to send him flying backwards onto the asphalt.

The gun wrenched free from both of their grips and went skidding to the opposite side of the street. With two more brutal punches, Lex watched as the man fell to the ground before him, unconscious.

Chloe had been mesmerized by the fight but, once she realized that Lex had the upper hand, she found her attention caught by a car that was pulling out of the warehouse’s parking lot. She recognized Lawrence Henderson. Realized that whoever had been on the helicopter they’d heard, it hadn’t been him.

She also realized that he was heading directly for Lex.

“Lex!” She called out to warn him, but knew he wouldn’t see in time and so, with all the speed she could muster, Chloe ran, launching herself towards him. The impact staggered him, and Chloe watched him stumble backwards before catching himself and looking towards her, shock on his face.

And then everything went black.

Lex had heard the fear in Chloe’s voice as she called out his name. He’d looked up, only to find her hurtling herself at him. Unsure of what was happening, he righted himself from the impact as quickly as possible, only to watch in horror as the car that she’d obviously been trying to save him from, clipped her and sent her crashing to the ground.

For a moment, everything seemed to stop. There was no movement, no sounds, only his beautiful Chloe, lying so still on the harsh pavement. And then time snapped back into motion and, with a choked cry, Lex was on his knees beside her, calling her name, but afraid to touch her.

So trapped in his anguish, Lex didn’t hear the squeal of the tires as the car stopped. Didn’t hear the engine rev as it turned back in his direction or someone yelling his name.

In fact, he heard nothing until six gunshots echoed off the nearby buildings and the car that had been heading straight for him suddenly veered off course, crashing headlong into a large, metal shipping container.

His head jerked in the direction the shots had come from and Lex stared, momentarily dumbstruck by the site of his father standing there, gun clasped in his hand.

But the shock passed because none of it mattered. Nothing mattered but Chloe.

“Dad,” he called out. For despite their trials and tribulations, if it meant saving Chloe, Lex knew that he’d gladly deal with the devil.

Lionel had his phone out and was barking orders for an ambulance to be sent before he even made it to where Lex was kneeling next to Chloe’s still form.

Seeing the shattered look in his son’s eyes, Lionel reached out and laid his hand on Lex’s shoulder.

“Help is on its way,” he told him. “She’ll be alright, Lex. I expect nothing less from Miss Sullivan and she has yet to disappoint me.”

He knew his father was speaking; could tell from the tone of his voice that the words were meant to reassure. But Lex couldn’t be bothered to focus on the actual words. All of his attention was for Chloe and his terrible fear of what a life without her would be.

TBC

[skauble]

21. Christmas is the time of year when we all long to have family close.


Lex looked at the small hand, clutched tightly in his own. It was amazing how delicate she seemed once she was quiet and still. A state that happened so rarely that it was no wonder those words were so infrequently used in connection with Chloe Sullivan.

Of course, he knew that the fragility he sensed at that moment was merely an illusion. After all, this was the woman who, according to his security team, rushed to Metropolis at speeds nearing one hundred miles per hour. Then snuck into a facility which she knew was the site of an active robbery. She heckled their kidnapper; eluded armed thugs to escape with him; and last, but never, ever least, pushed him from the path of an oncoming car, saving him from probable death.

If there was one thing Chloe Sullivan would never be, it was fragile.

And, amazingly, that didn’t seem to be limited to her remarkable spirit. Although she had yet to regain consciousness, her CT scan had come back completely normal, and the only injury her x-rays had shown was her dislocated, left shoulder.

He’d never believed in Christmas miracles, but if Chloe would just wake up, Lex swore that he’d set out milk and cookies for Santa every year.

Reaching over to gently brush some stray hair from her face he told her, “You are so incredible, Chloe Sullivan. No one has ever been there for me the way that you have; done the things you’ve done for me.”

A pained look crossed his face as he thought about the last few months and how he’d tried so hard to push her away. How he had ignored her and focused on Lana.

“I’m so sorry I’ve been such a fool. I’ve wasted so much time with things that were never important compared to you; to us.”

He bowed his head and rested it on their joined hands as he confessed to her, “I love you. I love you so much, and if anything happened to you, Chloe, I’m not at all sure what I’d do.”

“You better mean that, Lex Luthor,” came the raspy reply. “Because if that’s just some kind of misplaced guilt talking then I will hunt you down and hurt you.”

His head shot up at the sound of her voice, and Lex was momentarily stunned at the site of her bright green eyes. Regaining his wits, he processed what she’d said and promised her, “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life.”

Chloe sighed as her eyes slid shut once more.

“Oh, thank God; because I am insanely in love with you, too.”

And the last of the tension in Lex’s chest broke. It had been so long since he had really felt truly loved; felt like he was even capable of eliciting that emotion. But to have some like Chloe love him; someone so good, so strong, so utterly amazing, it was more than he’d ever dreamed of, and so much more than he felt he deserved.

Although he’d never tell her that. Chloe was, above all else, unbelievably loyal. She’d never let anyone disparage him. Not even himself.

Lex smiled at that thought. Being taken care of, protected…he could get used to that.

Unable to hold back for one more second, he leaned down and captured Chloe’s lips, desperate to feel her; to reaffirm that she was really whole and had truly come back to him.

Chloe closed her eyes as Lex’s lips moved over hers. She couldn’t believe how far they’d come in such a short time. She was so sure that he might be falling under Lana’s spell that to find out that it was her that he loved made her head spin.

She had a thousand and one questions to ask Lex about what had happened to Henderson and how they’d come through alright, but at that moment everything faded away except Lex and the way that he made her feel; both her body and her heart.

For as much as she genuinely believed in herself and her worth as a person, it seemed as if she was never anyone’s first choice. To know that Lex was choosing her; that he loved her with the deep intensity that she’d seen in her eyes, it was everything to her.

Her hand moved to the back of Lex’s head and she gently ran her fingertips over the taught skin, delighted to feel him shudder in response. She pulled him closer, wanting - needing to feel more of him.

Lex groaned as he felt Chloe pull him to her. He’d tired to hold back, not wanting to hurt her when she’d just woken up, but feeling her deepen the kiss, he couldn’t help but reciprocate with an ever growing fervor.

However, their moment of passion was destined to die an untimely death as a loud cough sounded from the doorway. Pulling apart, Lex saw Chloe glance over his shoulder at the intruder and let out an endearing little squeak. But all thoughts of her unquestionable cuteness were wiped away at the single word she uttered.

“Daddy?”

TBC

[skauble]

22. And in the joy of the season, all worries fade away.


Lex stood as Gabe entered the room.

“I’ll give you two some time,” he told Chloe as he bent to brush a soft kiss on her forehead.

“Coward,” she whispered.

Ignoring the tender jibe, he turned to leave.

“Gabe,” he nodded to the older man.

“Lex,” the man coolly returned the greeting before taking the newly vacated seat next to his daughter’s bed.

Chloe watched the exchange nervously. It was important to her that these two – the most important people in her world – got a long. Which, she knew, meant trying to explain things to her father in a way that highlighted the fact that she’d chosen to get herself into her current predicament, instead of minimizing that fact as she generally did.

“So, Dad; you’ll never believe what happened.”

Gabe rolled his eyes at his daughter’s continuous attempts to break her hair raising antics to him gently.

“We live in Smallville, Chloe, so I’m quite certain that I will.”

And so she began the lengthy tale; sharing her fear that Lionel might have been trying to regain his former power, and highlighting the lengths that Lex had gone to to protect her.

Finally, when it was all said and done, she waited, anxiously, for her father’s response. After a few minutes of silence she prodded, “Dad? I didn’t give you a stroke; did I?”

He smiled faintly.

“You said that you loved him. I know that’s not something that you say lightly, so I take it that you meant it?”

It was phrased as a question, but Gabe was certain he already knew the answer, and his daughter didn’t disappoint.

“I did.”

He nodded before continuing. “Lex doesn’t strike me as someone who says those words lightly, either. So I have to assume that he was serious, too.”

“He was,” Chloe finally felt secure enough to answer on Lex’s behalf. As silence stretched once more, she asked him, “Are you angry?”

“Oh, baby,” Gabe reached over and grasped his daughter’s hand. “I could never be angry at you for following your heart.”

With a heavy sigh he admitted, “Do I wish that it didn’t lead you into the lion’s den? Of course; but…”

“But what?” Chloe urged, gently.

Gabe took a deep breath. Blew it out. Looked his daughter square in the eyes.

“But Lex is a good man,” he told her. “I know that some people have problems with him because he’s a Luthor. But it’s like I’ve always told you, Chloe. There’s a difference between good fortune and good character.

“Clark Kent is a good, young man,” which Gabe believed despite the boy’s terrible taste in woman that led him to overlook the wonder that was his little girl. “But he’s been raised in a small, tight knit community, in a wonderful home, with two incredible parents who love him and have dedicated years to instilling good values in him. He’s been amazingly fortunate.”

Pausing, he looked over at the slightly open door and into the hallway where Lex stood, speaking with his father. Shaking his head, he turned back to Chloe and went on.

“You know more about the Luthors than just about anyone. Certainly more than I ever would have wanted you to know. So you know what Lex has endured, what he’s struggled to live through. And the fact that he’s risen above it all and become the man he is today – that’s good character.”

“So you don’t mind,” Chloe asked; head swimming with relief.

“Of course I mind,” he corrected her. “You’re my little girl. No man’s good enough for you and you shouldn’t have even been thinking about finding that out for another decade or so. However, if you’re happy…well, that’s all I’ve ever wanted for you.”

Squeezing her hand, he smiled slightly. “I mean, sure, you’re in the hospital. But this is probably the most minor of all your hospitalizations. Frankly, I’ve given up on safe for you,” he told her in a weary tone. “There’s only risk management where you’re concerned.”

This time it was Chloe who squeezed his hand in comfort. “I’m sorry. I know that I’ve been kind of difficult to raise.”

“Chloe Ann Sullivan,” both the title and the tone conveyed his seriousness. “You have always been and always will be the greatest joy in my life. The gray hair was more than a fair exchange for having such an amazing daughter.”

And to the best of her ability with one arm immobilized, Chloe threw herself into her father’s arms, so grateful for the man holding her; the father who had shouldered the role of two parents and had never faltered in his love for her.

“Thank you, Daddy.”

“Just be careful, baby,” he whispered against her hair as he hugged her as tight as he dared.

Pulling back, Chloe shot him a bright smile. “Aren’t I always?”

And despite his feeling that no one was good enough for his little girl, and regardless of his concerns about the trouble that was part and parcel of the Luthor name, he was almost glad that Chloe and Lex were truly committed to their relationship. Because, after all of the years of doing it on his own, Gabe Sullivan thought that it might be nice to finally have someone to share the considerable worry that loving Chloe brought.

And at least Lex’s hair wouldn’t turn gray.

TBC

[skauble]

23. "It is the one season of the year when we can lay aside all gnawing worry, indulge in sentiment without censure, assume the carefree faith of childhood, and just plain 'have fun.'" -- D.D. Monroe


Lex hated leaving Chloe’s side for so many reasons. The main one being, of course, how close he’d come to losing her. If he lived to be a hundred, he knew that he’d never forget the terror that had stabbed through his heart as he knelt on the asphalt, helpless as he watched over her battered body, waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

Secondary to that was the worry that Gabe Sullivan was in there, right at that very moment, trying to convince his daughter what a poor choice it was to love a Luthor. And Lex knew that he wouldn’t even be able to argue that point effectively. Hadn’t he told Chloe the same thing?

Of course, now that he knew that Chloe loved him as much as he did her, he wouldn’t give her up without a fight. Still, he knew it would upset Chloe to not have her father’s approval and a part of him wanted to be back in that room, convincing Gabe that he was sincere in his commitment to this relationship.

And, lastly, was the fact that out in the small grouping off chairs in the hallway sat his father. Knowing he couldn’t put it off forever, he headed over and took the seat across from him.

“They said her injuries were, thankfully, minor, all things considered,” Lionel remarked.

Lex knew he shouldn’t be surprised at either the fact that his father had managed to get information on Chloe’s condition or that he openly shared that fact, and yet he was. Sometimes he wondered if Lionel had any idea how the whole ‘redeeming oneself’ thing actually worked.

Silent for a few more minutes, he finally looked at Lionel. Met his gaze.

“Nothing else.”

Lex could see the confusion in his eyes, and he took a deep breath and began a conversation he never thought he’d have with his father.

“After everything that happened, everything you did, I swore that I’d never let you anywhere near my life again. And, honestly, I gave a fair amount of thought to finding a more permanent solution to the problem you pose to the safety of those I care about.”

He paused a moment, wondering at the fact that such a declaration was offered without shame and greeted without surprise.

“There is nothing else,” he continued, “that you could have done to ever make me question that decision…except this.”

And for a moment, something passed in their gaze. For Lex it was the strange understanding that he was somehow important to his father. And for Lionel, it was the realistic acknowledgment that Chloe was important to his son and that any second chance he received was only in conjunction with that fact.

“I don’t know how much faith I have in your ‘change of heart’. Certainly not enough to risk either Chloe or myself by simply ignoring everything that you’ve done. However,” Lex took a deep breath. Swallowed. Forced out the words. “She would have died. Chloe would have died on that road and there would have been nothing I could have done about it.

“You kept that from happening. For once in our miserable relationship you did something, for whatever reason, that has made my life infinitely better. It doesn’t fix things between us. In fact,” he confessed, “I’m not sure exactly what it does. But if there’s anything that can be salvaged out of this, it will only be because you saved her.”

Lex looked at his father, and for the first time that he could remember, the man looked hesitant; as if he wasn’t operating in accordance with some well scripted plan. And that observation both frightened and relieved Lex.

If there could actually be an end to the hostilities between them; if they could be, not allies, but not enemies, either, then a huge weight would be lifted from Lex’s shoulders. A weight he’d carried for far too long.

But as much as he longed for some kind of truce, a part of him wondered what they would be if they weren’t endlessly at odds with each other. He had wanted his father’s love for so long, wanted the man to actually try, but never believed it would happen that he had absolutely no idea what to do next.

It was an uncomfortable state for Lex, but it was made slightly better by the fact that Lionel seemed to be sinking in the same boat.

“Lex…” Lionel began but then trailed off. He seemed to search for the right words before starting again. “Son, I won’t try to convince you I’m a different person than the man that you’ve always known. You wouldn’t believe it and, frankly, I’m not sure that it would be true.”

It was the first thing that Lionel had said to him since his release from prison that Lex had given any credence to.

“But even if I haven’t changed, my priorities have. I want to be a part of your life…of the lives of the children you’ll have one day. It’s important to me, Lex. So, if the only way that I can accomplish that is to moderate my behavior then you can be assured that it’s done. Because we’re Luthors, son. When have we ever not gone after what we’ve wanted with everything in us?”

It actually made a strange kind of sense to Lex. His father had not just been imprisoned, he also had thought that he was going to die. Those two things, separately, we’re enough to change one’s perspective. But combined? Yes, he could see how that might have made even Lionel long for the connection that family brought; pushed him into thinking about the continuation of the Luthor line.

And Lionel was the kind of man who would do whatever it took to succeed. If he truly believed that he had to play nice to be let back in, even in a probationary manner, then he’d do so if it was the only way he could achieve his goal.

Which didn’t mean Lex trusted him. Didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be watching all the time in case Lionel’s ‘goals’ suddenly changed. But it did mean that there was a very miniscule amount of something that had previously been foreign to the Luthor family – hope.

TBC

[skauble]

24. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend


Lex looked over at Chloe, seated next to him, blowing on her coffee with soft little puffs of air that made him long to bend down and cover her lips with his own.

It had been four days since her release from the hospital with her arm in a sling but a clean bill of health in all other respects and Chloe was still conning him into grabbing her ‘celebratory’ cups of coffee.

After much discussion they’d decided to meet at The Talon. Although neither of them felt the need to let the general populace know of their new relationship, they did have a very public history together, so there was little harm in them being seen engaging in such innocent activities. Besides, they didn’t want their relationship, when it did come out, to be so shocking as to become a hot bed of gossip. Best to let everyone see them together as friends, make nothing of it, and then pretend, later, that they’d known about it all along.

As he watched her, Lex thought back to his talk with Gabe earlier that day. It had been awkward and painful…and gone far better than he had ever hoped it would.

Gabe had, surprisingly believed him when he spoke of how much he loved Chloe. He’d also been unexpectedly less concerned with the danger that came with his family than he’d feared. The older man had been satisfied with Lex’s vows to keep her safe and to vastly expand his security team.

The snag had come when the topic of Lex’s history with romance had been broached. Thankfully, that portion had been short and sweet – hurt his daughter and he’d kill him.

And Lex had been almost ridiculously happy at the acceptance that threat implied.

Chloe glanced sideways at Lex and wondered what thoughts prompted the slightly goofy smile trying to creep onto his face.

Of course, she knew if he was smiling then he probably didn’t know about the talk she’d had with Lionel earlier that day. And it had gone surprisingly well.

Lionel had tossed one assurance after another at Chloe – he’d changed, he wanted a second chance, he finally understood what was important in life. Frankly, Chloe couldn’t have cared less. If Lionel died miserable and alone then it was no more than he deserved, in her opinion, and he only had himself to blame.

Her only concern was Lex and so, thankfully, their conversation had been brief and to the point – hurt his son and she’d kill him.

Both Chloe and Lex were so lost in their own thoughts that they failed to notice Lana approaching the table followed closely by Clark, until the two were upon them.

“Chloe,” Lana greeted hesitantly, sending cautious glances in Lex’s direction before turning to greet him, too. “Lex.”

Clark’s greetings were a near mirror copy and Chloe would have laughed if there wasn’t a painfully awkward job to be done.

Having discussed it between the two of them, they had decided it would be best to tell their friends of the new status of their relationship. If they found out by accident there would be endless lectures and fruitless attempts to “save” Chloe.

However, if they knew, up front, and understood that this wasn’t a shameful secret and, in fact, that they had Gabe’s support, well, they wouldn’t be happy, but it would certainly help to minimize the inevitable interference.

“Lana,” Chloe stood and grabbed her friend’s hand. “I was hoping I could ask your opinion on something…in private.”

Nodding to Clark, they made their way to the back, where Chloe bypassed the bathroom in favor of a small, but infinitely more private, storage room. Flipping on the light and closing the door, she turned to Lana and gave her a conspiratorial smile.

“We’re together now. Lex and I,” she clarified, deciding it was best to be blunt.

A flurry of emotions crossed Lana’s face and Chloe watched as shock turned to disbelief, which became confusion before finally settling into concern. It was the concern that Chloe had been waiting to see before she spoke.

“I wanted to thank you.”

And she was back to confusion.

“Chloe, Lex-”

“It’s okay Lana,” she cut off the other girl. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you; to let you know that I understand and I appreciate what you did.”

“You do?” The reply was hesitant as she tried to follow Chloe’s train of thought.

“Of course. Lana, I know that you’re very serious about your relationship. I know that you went out on a limb, considering the way that the gossips work in this town, to help Lex when he reached out for a friend.”

Chloe turned slightly away; hid her expression.

“It was hard for Lex and I while we were apart, loving the other but not sure if we could be together. Lex needed a friend, and you didn’t turn your back on him. And that means a lot to me.”

And with that she turned and pulled Lana into a tight embrace and, strangely, felt no guilt at what she’d just done. It wasn’t that Chloe had necessarily wanted to manipulate her friend. But the fact was that Lana would misread the situation no matter what. So the choice was either to let her misread it as Lex being an evil fiend who was settling for poor Chloe because he couldn’t have his true choice, or have her misread it as her being a truly intuitive individual who understood that her friends were hurting and did everything she could to help.

Chloe felt much better about the latter scenario because Lana was actually a kind person. She generally did what she thought was best for everyone. Unfortunately, she had a sort of bent view of what that was. But the blame for that could hardly be laid solely at Lana’s door. There was an entire town of people who, for nearly two decades, had been telling her that everything she was doing, thinking, believing, was absolutely and utterly correct. Even if Chloe had wanted her to see things differently expecting her to do so was unrealistic.

The fact was that, within the scope of what Lana understood reality to be, she was a kind and caring person. And so, while Chloe often felt frustrated by a life view that almost bordered on delusional, she had no real desire to hurt her friend.

As if to prove that Chloe had been justified in her weird and twisted faith in her, Lana shot her a brilliant smile.

“You and Lex are my friends, Chloe. I’m just glad that I could be there for you.”

And Chloe could see that she honestly was and so, while she had just lied through her teeth, she felt it was more of the “there is a Santa Claus” kind of lie as opposed to the “could you take this ‘innocent’ package across the border and give it to my ‘brother” kind of lie.

“But you owe me a coffee date and a lot of details,” Lana informed her.

“Deal.”


Lex watched Chloe and Lana make their way to the back of The Talon, leaving him with Clark.

He and Chloe had agreed on how to best handle their friends, and while he had no problem with the minor rearranging of the truth, he did mind that it was eating into his time with Chloe.

But, he supposed, if he got it over quickly then he’d have Chloe to himself until he had to return her home at whatever Gabe Sullivan considered a reasonable hour. Lex wanted to argue that it was never reasonable to have her leave him, but he was still riding too high on the novelty of parental approval for him to do anything that might jeopardize it.

“So,” Clark said slowly as he took a seat, “you and Chloe?”

“Yes,” he nodded, thankful that Clark was on the right track. “Chloe and I are together.”

The younger man’s brow furrowed as his mind played out its concerns for both his best friend and the girl that he was still pining for.

“But, I thought…” He trailed off, doubtfully.

“You thought what?” Lex encouraged.

“I thought that you and Lana…” He trailed off again, but this time in embarrassment at the idea that he might have gotten everything so wrong.

“Clark,” Lex frowned and feigned a small amount of hurt. “I know that you and I haven’t been seeing eye to eye on everything, lately, but do you really think that I’d do that to you?”

Okay, Chloe might not have known he was going to go quite that far with the guilt, Lex thought. But he was tired of always being the one who was supposed to carry all the blame for the deterioration of their friendship. Yes, he had his secrets, but Clark Kent was truly the last person on Earth who should start chucking stones out of glass houses.

“No. I mean,” Clark stopped. Pulled his thoughts together and then shot Lex a small, lopsided smile. “Chloe, huh?”

And Lex couldn’t help but smile back. Didn’t even want to try to resist. Clark had been one of the first real friends he’d ever had, and if there was any way that they could come to a place where they could respect the fact that they were both bald faced liars, well, they couldn’t be the friends they’d once dreamt of, but they could be something.

He didn’t know if it could work, but for both his own sake, and Chloe’s, he was going to try. And so he invited Clark over for a game of pool the next day and changed the subject as he saw the women making their way back towards the table.



As they reached the door of the Sullivan’s apartment, Lex turned and pulled Chloe into his arms. The kiss was soft and sweet; full of love as opposed to the burning passion he was sure would be inappropriate to ignite with Chloe’s father sleeping just beyond the walls.

As they broke apart, he reached down and retrieved the keys from her hand to unlock the door for her. Pulling them back out from the lock, he frowned.

“You didn’t like it?”

He was so certain that she would.

“The kiss?” Chloe asked in genuine confusion. “Of course I did. You know I-” She was cut off by Lex’s laughter.

“No,” he assured her as he gently cupped her cheek. “Call me conceited but I had no doubts as to your satisfaction in that regard. I meant the present.”

Which left her even more confused until, “Oh! That was from you?”

Lex scowled down at her in the dim porch light. “Yes that was from me. Who did you think would give you such a thing? Clark?”

And now Chloe’s curiosity was afire. Lex seemed truly upset that she would attribute his gift to Clark, which left her dying to know just what was in that package resting, still wrapped, on her desk.

“I did think it was from Clark,” she told him, watching his frown deepened before she soothed, “which is why I didn’t open it.”

The frowned melted away as a small smile took its place; and though she’d never tell him for the world, he looked almost boyish in his excitement. But the excitement began to give way to a nervousness that seemed strange on a Luthor.

“Well, let’s go, slowpoke! I want to open my present,” she declared, grabbing his hand and pulling him with her up the small, narrow stairway to her bedroom. Once inside, she motioned for him to sit on the bed, grabbed the package and then sat beside him.

Ripping off the paper in childish delight, she uncovered a small, metal box. She glanced up at him before directing her attention to opening it. Gently, she lifted away the lid, and inside found…

A keychain.

She was fairly certain that Lex hadn’t bought her a car because one, there were no keys attached and two, he dad would kill him. So she was pretty sure this was the gift, itself.

At her questioning look, Lex took the keychain from her hands. Placing the small, rectangular piece of steel on his palm, he flicked the bottom of it open to reveal a small button.

“It’s a GPS beacon,” he told her. “When you push that button, wherever you are, I’ll know”

Lex hesitated a minute. Looked at the small device in his hand, then back up at the woman he loved. Told her, “Everyone gets lost sometimes. And it’s good to know that there’s always one person you can count on to find you.”

Like she’d found him. The words were unspoken, but she heard them clear as day. And as their lips met, she knew that despite the pain and the obstacles, the misunderstandings and miscommunications, what they’d found…was each other.

~ End ~ Epilogue to follow

[skauble]

25. You can’t go home again.


It was odd being back at the castle. It was always difficult to accurately judge the passage of time in a home that was centuries old.

Not that it had been that long since they’d been there. In fact, Lex was surprised to realize that it had only been a little more than three years ago since he and Chloe had left Smallville; her for Met U and him to be closer both to her and the base of operations for LuthorCorp. And while they’d been back for visits, they’d been brief and generally hadn’t encompassed too many detours down memory lane.

Lana still lived in town. Clark had too, going to the local college for two years before deciding to see a bit of the world. Surprisingly, Pete Ross had moved back and had proven quite the comfort for Lana in her hour of need. But, honestly, Gabe Sullivan was the only thing that had pulled Chloe or Lex willingly back to Smallville with any regularity.

Hence the reason that they were back in what Chloe affectionately termed their ‘leafy little hamlet’. They’d driven down earlier to open presents with Gabe, and then had snuck away while the man had gorged himself on a myriad of football games, with the promise to return for Christmas dinner.

Although he’d never thought it would happen, both he and Chloe had had Christmas Eve dinner in Metropolis, with Lionel, the night before. Despite innumerable underhanded business deals and questionable ethical choices, the man had kept true to his word of not hurting them and Chloe had adopted a mostly ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy unless his actions were truly egregious.

Without being at odds with his father, LuthorCorp was thriving and Chloe would soon be graduating and heading to a full time position at the Daily Planet. Life was so much better than he’d ever dreamed possible and it frightened him even as it made him deliriously happy.

There was just one thing.

“Chloe,” he began, hesitantly as they walked through the snow covered gardens. “What would you do if-”

“Oh my God!” She almost bounced with excitement. “We haven’t played that in so long. Which is sad, when you think about it, since I could totally equip myself with all sorts of top secret LuthorCorp gadgetry now.”

“And you think that I’d give allow you access to anything that would heighten the likelihood of you finding danger? Not likely,” he told her, shaking his head.

“Yeah,” she easily dismissed. “Like you’d be the Luthor I asked.”

Ignoring Lex’s scowl, Chloe began to speculate on possible scenarios for their game.

“What would I do if – there was a zombie outbreak that affected two thirds of Metropolis? If I was dropped into a pit of venomous snakes with nothing but a letter opener and a block of Velveeta Cheese? I came to Smallville to visit Lana to find it wasn’t really her, but that she’d been cloned?”

“Wait, what?” Lex asked, his mind sticking on one thing in the midst of her many, utterly ridiculous scenarios. “Why would anyone want to clone Lana?”

Chloe shrugged, “I don’t know. That’s what makes it a good ‘What if’.”

“Well it’s none of that,” he said, grumpily. “What I was going to say before you 007ed the conversation was,” he took a deep breath. Turned to face her; took her hand. “What would you do if I asked you to be my wife?”

And, with a nervousness he couldn’t quite hide, he pulled out the ring he’d brought with him for just that moment.

Gazing down at the ring, then up at him, then back again; her silence was only increasing his anxiety. But when she finally met his gaze, the love he saw behind the tears in her eyes told him everything, even before she said the words.

“Yes. Oh my God; yes!”

And as she threw herself into his arms, and he crushed her to him, Lex knew that wherever they were, be it mansion in Smallville, penthouse in Metropolis, or anywhere in between; as long as they were together, they were…home.

The End.

This thread is closed. If you would like to leave a comment regarding the story, this thread - Story Reviews (http://forums.naughty-seduction.net/showthread.php?t=6711) - is the place for them. :)