sabby
5th September 2003, 01:08
Disclaimer: Smallville and it's Characters don't belong to me. You know what would happen if they did *g*
A Lesson Learned
by Sabby
The clacking of her heels on the parquet sounded hollow as she stepped into the empty room. Light filtered through the high windows, falling in long diagonal stripes onto the floor. Particles of dust dancing in the bright almost yellow beams
and everything was eerily silent. No noises, neither from outside nor from within. Cold, despite the summer day's scorching heat she felt cold. The hush around her seemed to consume everything as she looked around the vacated room. High windows, and empty walls. Grey shadows where once there had been paintings or boards. A cold and empty fire place. The parquet beneath her feet meticulously clean and unblemished. As if there had never been a desk, a comfortable brown leather couch, a short glass coffee table, a recliner, a persian rug that would give under your feet until your toes sunk almost completely into it. As if there'd never been life. It hurt, it hurt so much to see the room before her now. Dead as if it never had been part of a home. A home that she had lost. Chloe closed her eyes slowly. She let the memories come. Let them take her over and back in time. Back to better days.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The silence gave way to chattering slowly but surely. The chitter chatter of people outside, milling through the rooms, mingling, making polite conversation. When she opened her eyes she took in the room around her with a contented smile. Paintings were lining the walls, next to photos of her and her family. Their friends. A low fire crackled in the huge open fire place, though it was more for ambience than for actual warmth and light streamed through the open windows and onto the comfortable seating area and the oversized carpet. A warm tingle spread through Chloe's body as she remembered a particular night that she and her lov - her husband had spent on said carpet. Entwined in the most intimate of embraces and worshipping each other over and over until dawn broke through the windows and the fire that had lighted their lovemaking had slowly died down leaving them sated and tired in the predawn light.
Chloe smiled at the pictures that adorned the mantelpiece. There was one of her father and herself on graduation. Chloe was wearing her robe and a giddy grin on her face, proudly clutching her diploma in one hand and the other arm locked
securely around her father's waist. Gabe was beaming with pride and fatherly love and affection. Next to it there was a picture of her surrounded by Clark and Pete, all of them smiling widely and showing off their diplomas. She remembered
briefly how happy she'd been that day. They had gotten their friendships back on track. Clark and her had sorted it out and it had helped a lot that Lana had decided to move away and live with her aunt in Metropolis after the fiasco that had
happened in the summer before senior year.They hadn't heard a word of her again. Chloe could have cared less.
A pair of lean arms closed around her waist and a strong chest pressed close against her back. Chloe sunk back into the familiar embrace, letting go of a contented sigh.
"Trying to play hookey on your own wedding day Mrs. Luthor?" Low, smooth voice, tinged with amusement and his arms tightened around her as he nuzzled his nose into her hair.
Chloe closed her eyes and smiled. "I wouldn't dream of it Mr. Luthor." Her hands came to rest over his and her head rested back on his shoulder. "I just needed a moment for myself, away from the crowd is all."
An amused chuckle tickled against the shell of her ear and Chloe couldn't help the little shiver that came and went. "You'll be away from the crowd for the next two weeks, remember? Only you and me and maybe the one or other cabana boy
answering to your every whim."
A teasing grin spread over her lips. "Oh I thought I would have you as my cabana boy. I bet you look striking in a hawaii shirt and khaki shorts."
Eventhough her eyes were closed she knew he was smirking. "You wish."
"Maybe." She turned around in his embrace, her arms wrapping around his shoulders and her face burried in the crisp white of his shirt. "You're not planning on wearing business suits all the time while we're doing the exotic-island thing are
you?" Looking up at him and she could get lost in those eyes. In the yellow tinted light of the setting sun they seemed to change their color from an icy blue-grey to something warmer.
Chloe raised up on her toes to press a gentle kiss on his lips, then pulled back when she felt him smile against her.
"I thought you liked my sense of style?" The patented arched eyebrow and his lips curled up in just the hint of a smile that belied his serious tone.
"Oh I do, just once in a while it wouldn't hurt you to be a little more casual, you know?" Her nails started to softly scratch the back of his neck and the expanse of his shoulders as she smiled up at him, waiting for his reaction.
"And hawaii shirts and khaki shorts are your idea of casual?" His fingers were stroking lazy patterns on the small of her back and this was really distracting when trying to engage in verbal sparring.
"Lex." And she knew her voice was just on this side of bratty when she rolled her eyes at him. But it didn't matter because it made him laugh and the sound reverberated through his chest and tingled on her skin where her body was pressed against his.
"I love you." And she wasn't sure when she'd gotten used to telling him that. The laughter tapered down to a brilliant smile and eyes shining with mirth and happiness. "I love you, too." He gave her one last squeeze before stepping back from their embrace. Only far enough so he could take her hand. Taking a few steps backward and to the door of the room he pulled her with him. "Now come on. We have to say our proper goodbyes. After all, we have a plane to catch."
Chloe grumbled in token protest but let herself be dragged out and back to the waiting crowd by her husband. "Not as if your private-jet wouldn't wait for us," she mumbled under her breath.
If she was honest she couldn't wait to finally be inside the plane and on their way to a relaxed and carefree honeymoon. It was the getting there that was taking too long for her.
It felt like she'd shook a thousand hands and embraced a hundred people, half of them she didn't even know and their faces were a blurr. Chloe was sure she wouldn't even remember their names when they got back from Samoa.
There was no champagne on the flight. Chloe snuggled up against Lex on a couch that lined one of the cabin walls. She'd replaced her white costume with plain jeans and a red shirt and somehow convinced Lex to at least remove his tie and jacket and open the first few buttons on his dress shirt.
It would take a few hours until they arrived at their destination and after a while they had shifted into a more comfortable position. Lex reclining full length on the couch and Chloe sprawled on top of him. Making out like teenagers without real
intent to take this any further until they where in the undisturbed rooms of the suit waiting for them in the Samoa Hilton.
Their honeymoon was sheer bliss, every moment of it. The suite, the beach, he even took her diving and Chloe managed to convince him to really take these two weeks just for the two of them. No phone calls or emails, no business. Strictly
relaxation. Lex had never smiled so much in his life and Chloe rejoiced in it. She knew life wouldn't be easy once they got back and ordinary life took over.
The two weeks flew by and as Chloe had expected, real life had them in it's clutches as soon as they arrived back in Smallville. Ordinary days flew by and time passed. Chloe had made her business major and got involved in the more
simple dealings and transactions of LexCorp all the while playing the dutiful wife on endless business events and charity parties that both her and Lex hated.
Weeks became months and life was alright, it wasn't a fairytale but Chloe wouldn't give a moment of it. Lex was still considerate and understanding when Chloe got one of her ranting fits and Chloe learned to put up with his habit of closing himself up when working on an important project until late in the night.
They spent all the time they could get together and their friends got to see enough of them when they could wrangle out enough space in their tight schedules. Chloe was usually the one who had to coordinate those when Lex turned out to be
more than just a little oblivious to such things as leasure time the more LexCorp blossomed and spread. Yes, post-its had become a necessity in the Luthor household.
Before they knew it the day of their first anniversary was drawing near and then it was there and Chloe couldn't wait for Lex to return from Metropolis so they could celebrate accordingly.
She'd set up a picnic in front of the fireplace in their favorite room. It was one of the smaller studies and when Lex didn't really have to brood over some important papers and just go through his daily routine Chloe would usually be rolled up on the couch or the comfortable recliner reading a book or just watching Lex at work.
She loved the way his brows would draw together in the slightest frown, a pencil caught and mauled between his teeth while his fingers flew restlessly over the keyboard of his laptop or shuffled through contracts and memos.
The first few weeks when he'd caught her watching him, Lex would look up and smile around the pencil wagging his eyebrows before going back to the work at hand. He'd never been disturbed by her presence and she'd never asked if she could join him, it was just one of these routines that had established between them.
Chloe pulled on one of the edges of the quilt smoothing out a wrinkle on the otherwise picture perfect setting. The fire was already crackling and the sun was casting its last rays of the day through the high window and onto the silent room.
Smiling at the scene that could've been out of one of the cheesy romance novels she loved to read in her spare time, Chloe went over to the stereo on one of the boards and put some classic music in the cd player. When the strings flitted silently through the hidden speakers and filled the room, Chloe gave one determined nod. Everything was settled, all that was missing now was her husband and he should be there within the next twenty minutes.
Chloe settled into the recliner, her feet tucked under her and waited. She glanced at her watch and sunk deeper into the cushions with a sigh. Patience had never been her strong side. But well, Lex would just have to make it up to her. A
devious smile crossed her features and Chloe toyed idly with the hem of her blouse, indulging in a vivid fantasy of just how Lex could make it up to her.
The ringing of the phone on Lex's desk jarred her out of her daydream and Chloe jumped from the recliner and hurried over to catch the call before the person on the other end might hang up. She ripped the reciever up and to her ear.
"Lex, if you're telling me you can't make it tonight you will be seriously in for it buddy! You know how imp--"
"Mrs Luthor. This is the Metropolis General. I'm afraid we have to tell you...."
The sound of blood rushing from her head drowned out everything else and Chloe barely managed to give the appropriate answers in the right intervals.
A few minutes later she was in her car and speeding towards Metropolis, bits and pieces of the conversation she had just had penetrating her brain. Her foot pushed harder on the accelerator.
"An accident on the way out of Metropolis." Chloe took a deep breath and took the right exit towards Metropolis, missing the ditch only by a margin as her tires squeeled on the dry concrete.
"...truck driver fell asleep on the wheel..." 'Three hours, if I keep this speed up, I can make it in 1 and a half.'
"... full frontal crash..." Chloe's breath hiched "Oh god, please god no." She forced back the tears and tried to concentrate on the road, she had to get to him, she had to make it in time.
"...in intensive care now, we're waiting for him to regain conciousness. The next twenty four hours will decide..." Chloe jerked the car back into the right track from where it had drifted off. "Dammit, Chloe. Focus!"
The rest of the drive was a blurr, the last sentence of the nurse on the phone ringing over and over through her head.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Luthor."
She all but crashed through the front doors of the emergency entrance, bumping into a faceless person on her way to the reception desk. The nurse behind it looked up and gave her a questioning gaze through her thick glasses.
"Mrs. Luthor, Chloe Luthor. Where's my husband?"
"Can you identify yourself?"
"God dammit I got a call almost two hours ago that my husband has been in a carcrash and you want me to..." Chloe took
a deep breath and scrambled to her purse. When she couldn't find her wallet by touch she spilled the contents of her purse on the floor and scrambled down until she found it.
Slamming down the id in front of the nurse she gave her a threatening glare. "Here. Now where. Is. My. Husband?" She grit the words through her teeth, her chest heaving with the effort to pump oxygen into her lungs and her eyes burning with unshed tears.
"Please wait a moment Mrs. Luthor, I will get the doctor." The nurse stood up from her place and took her damn sweet time moving her lazy ass to the intercom and calling for some Doctor Petterson.
A few minutes later she found herself in a dark hospital room, her focus immediately drawn to the single bed that lined the sterile green wall. "Lex?"
Her voice was weak and cracked even on the single syllable. "Baby it's me." Chloe stepped closer and to the side of the bed. A sob caught in her throat at the sight of her husband attached to the heart monitor, a bandage covering his head and a tube under his nose to help him breath. An IV was dripping some clear liquid into another tube that ran into the vein on his left arm.
Sitting down on the edge of the bed as careful as and taking his right hand in hers. His skin felt clammy and cold and this was the worst moment in her life and 'Please god let him be ok' "Lex, baby open your eyes. Please?"
A rush of breath from her lungs as the hand in hers tightened for a brief moment and then those familiar silver-blue eyes cracked open slowly. "Oh thank you," whispered to the ceiling and a vow to make it up to which ever higher being there
was in every way she could.
Lex made a croaking sound in his throat as if to speak and Chloe placed a finger on his lips "Shh, don't try to talk. It's ok. It's gonna be ok." And now the tears came and dammit why was she crying when she had no reason to. He was alright,
he was awake it would be ok.
"You scared me baby." hushed tone and she was tracing the unblemished parts of his face with her finger now and everything would be ok, because it had to. Because there was no way he could leave her. There was no way she could
go on without him.
Leaning down and pressing a kiss to his dry and parched lips, remembering their softness. "Sleep now, ok? I'll be here when you wake up and we're gonna talk about this when you're back on your feet." She really needed a kleenex or
something because this sniffing was pathetic by now and he was still looking at her and rubbing slow circles into her palm but he didn't speak now and that was ok. "I love you."
Chloe closed her eyes and she knew she was going to spend the night in this hospital room and listen to the sounds of the machines and underneath them the sounds of his breathing. And he croaked again something that might have been
'love you too.' She let go of a long breath and she knew that it would be ok. She was sure.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Strong arms closed around her waist and pulled her against a broad chest. Chloe leaned back into the comfort, slowly opening her eyes to the empty room.
"It's time to go, Chloe. Are you ready?" The voice was smooth and dark and the presence behind her one of silent strength that seemed to envelope her from the outside.
"No. But it doesn't matter." She cast one more look around and tried to let go of something that wasn't hers anymore.
Tried to let go of the past.
"Come on. The limo is waiting. I'll take you home." He stepped back from her and she could hear his purposeful steps retreating as he left her alone once more.
A bitter laugh escaped Chloe at his choice of words. "Yeah, whatever you say Bruce, whatever you say," she mumbled under her breath.
Chloe slowly turned her back to the empty study and stepped outside, silently closing the door behind her.
Life had taught her a lesson that night a few months ago. You can never be sure.
The End
A Lesson Learned
by Sabby
The clacking of her heels on the parquet sounded hollow as she stepped into the empty room. Light filtered through the high windows, falling in long diagonal stripes onto the floor. Particles of dust dancing in the bright almost yellow beams
and everything was eerily silent. No noises, neither from outside nor from within. Cold, despite the summer day's scorching heat she felt cold. The hush around her seemed to consume everything as she looked around the vacated room. High windows, and empty walls. Grey shadows where once there had been paintings or boards. A cold and empty fire place. The parquet beneath her feet meticulously clean and unblemished. As if there had never been a desk, a comfortable brown leather couch, a short glass coffee table, a recliner, a persian rug that would give under your feet until your toes sunk almost completely into it. As if there'd never been life. It hurt, it hurt so much to see the room before her now. Dead as if it never had been part of a home. A home that she had lost. Chloe closed her eyes slowly. She let the memories come. Let them take her over and back in time. Back to better days.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The silence gave way to chattering slowly but surely. The chitter chatter of people outside, milling through the rooms, mingling, making polite conversation. When she opened her eyes she took in the room around her with a contented smile. Paintings were lining the walls, next to photos of her and her family. Their friends. A low fire crackled in the huge open fire place, though it was more for ambience than for actual warmth and light streamed through the open windows and onto the comfortable seating area and the oversized carpet. A warm tingle spread through Chloe's body as she remembered a particular night that she and her lov - her husband had spent on said carpet. Entwined in the most intimate of embraces and worshipping each other over and over until dawn broke through the windows and the fire that had lighted their lovemaking had slowly died down leaving them sated and tired in the predawn light.
Chloe smiled at the pictures that adorned the mantelpiece. There was one of her father and herself on graduation. Chloe was wearing her robe and a giddy grin on her face, proudly clutching her diploma in one hand and the other arm locked
securely around her father's waist. Gabe was beaming with pride and fatherly love and affection. Next to it there was a picture of her surrounded by Clark and Pete, all of them smiling widely and showing off their diplomas. She remembered
briefly how happy she'd been that day. They had gotten their friendships back on track. Clark and her had sorted it out and it had helped a lot that Lana had decided to move away and live with her aunt in Metropolis after the fiasco that had
happened in the summer before senior year.They hadn't heard a word of her again. Chloe could have cared less.
A pair of lean arms closed around her waist and a strong chest pressed close against her back. Chloe sunk back into the familiar embrace, letting go of a contented sigh.
"Trying to play hookey on your own wedding day Mrs. Luthor?" Low, smooth voice, tinged with amusement and his arms tightened around her as he nuzzled his nose into her hair.
Chloe closed her eyes and smiled. "I wouldn't dream of it Mr. Luthor." Her hands came to rest over his and her head rested back on his shoulder. "I just needed a moment for myself, away from the crowd is all."
An amused chuckle tickled against the shell of her ear and Chloe couldn't help the little shiver that came and went. "You'll be away from the crowd for the next two weeks, remember? Only you and me and maybe the one or other cabana boy
answering to your every whim."
A teasing grin spread over her lips. "Oh I thought I would have you as my cabana boy. I bet you look striking in a hawaii shirt and khaki shorts."
Eventhough her eyes were closed she knew he was smirking. "You wish."
"Maybe." She turned around in his embrace, her arms wrapping around his shoulders and her face burried in the crisp white of his shirt. "You're not planning on wearing business suits all the time while we're doing the exotic-island thing are
you?" Looking up at him and she could get lost in those eyes. In the yellow tinted light of the setting sun they seemed to change their color from an icy blue-grey to something warmer.
Chloe raised up on her toes to press a gentle kiss on his lips, then pulled back when she felt him smile against her.
"I thought you liked my sense of style?" The patented arched eyebrow and his lips curled up in just the hint of a smile that belied his serious tone.
"Oh I do, just once in a while it wouldn't hurt you to be a little more casual, you know?" Her nails started to softly scratch the back of his neck and the expanse of his shoulders as she smiled up at him, waiting for his reaction.
"And hawaii shirts and khaki shorts are your idea of casual?" His fingers were stroking lazy patterns on the small of her back and this was really distracting when trying to engage in verbal sparring.
"Lex." And she knew her voice was just on this side of bratty when she rolled her eyes at him. But it didn't matter because it made him laugh and the sound reverberated through his chest and tingled on her skin where her body was pressed against his.
"I love you." And she wasn't sure when she'd gotten used to telling him that. The laughter tapered down to a brilliant smile and eyes shining with mirth and happiness. "I love you, too." He gave her one last squeeze before stepping back from their embrace. Only far enough so he could take her hand. Taking a few steps backward and to the door of the room he pulled her with him. "Now come on. We have to say our proper goodbyes. After all, we have a plane to catch."
Chloe grumbled in token protest but let herself be dragged out and back to the waiting crowd by her husband. "Not as if your private-jet wouldn't wait for us," she mumbled under her breath.
If she was honest she couldn't wait to finally be inside the plane and on their way to a relaxed and carefree honeymoon. It was the getting there that was taking too long for her.
It felt like she'd shook a thousand hands and embraced a hundred people, half of them she didn't even know and their faces were a blurr. Chloe was sure she wouldn't even remember their names when they got back from Samoa.
There was no champagne on the flight. Chloe snuggled up against Lex on a couch that lined one of the cabin walls. She'd replaced her white costume with plain jeans and a red shirt and somehow convinced Lex to at least remove his tie and jacket and open the first few buttons on his dress shirt.
It would take a few hours until they arrived at their destination and after a while they had shifted into a more comfortable position. Lex reclining full length on the couch and Chloe sprawled on top of him. Making out like teenagers without real
intent to take this any further until they where in the undisturbed rooms of the suit waiting for them in the Samoa Hilton.
Their honeymoon was sheer bliss, every moment of it. The suite, the beach, he even took her diving and Chloe managed to convince him to really take these two weeks just for the two of them. No phone calls or emails, no business. Strictly
relaxation. Lex had never smiled so much in his life and Chloe rejoiced in it. She knew life wouldn't be easy once they got back and ordinary life took over.
The two weeks flew by and as Chloe had expected, real life had them in it's clutches as soon as they arrived back in Smallville. Ordinary days flew by and time passed. Chloe had made her business major and got involved in the more
simple dealings and transactions of LexCorp all the while playing the dutiful wife on endless business events and charity parties that both her and Lex hated.
Weeks became months and life was alright, it wasn't a fairytale but Chloe wouldn't give a moment of it. Lex was still considerate and understanding when Chloe got one of her ranting fits and Chloe learned to put up with his habit of closing himself up when working on an important project until late in the night.
They spent all the time they could get together and their friends got to see enough of them when they could wrangle out enough space in their tight schedules. Chloe was usually the one who had to coordinate those when Lex turned out to be
more than just a little oblivious to such things as leasure time the more LexCorp blossomed and spread. Yes, post-its had become a necessity in the Luthor household.
Before they knew it the day of their first anniversary was drawing near and then it was there and Chloe couldn't wait for Lex to return from Metropolis so they could celebrate accordingly.
She'd set up a picnic in front of the fireplace in their favorite room. It was one of the smaller studies and when Lex didn't really have to brood over some important papers and just go through his daily routine Chloe would usually be rolled up on the couch or the comfortable recliner reading a book or just watching Lex at work.
She loved the way his brows would draw together in the slightest frown, a pencil caught and mauled between his teeth while his fingers flew restlessly over the keyboard of his laptop or shuffled through contracts and memos.
The first few weeks when he'd caught her watching him, Lex would look up and smile around the pencil wagging his eyebrows before going back to the work at hand. He'd never been disturbed by her presence and she'd never asked if she could join him, it was just one of these routines that had established between them.
Chloe pulled on one of the edges of the quilt smoothing out a wrinkle on the otherwise picture perfect setting. The fire was already crackling and the sun was casting its last rays of the day through the high window and onto the silent room.
Smiling at the scene that could've been out of one of the cheesy romance novels she loved to read in her spare time, Chloe went over to the stereo on one of the boards and put some classic music in the cd player. When the strings flitted silently through the hidden speakers and filled the room, Chloe gave one determined nod. Everything was settled, all that was missing now was her husband and he should be there within the next twenty minutes.
Chloe settled into the recliner, her feet tucked under her and waited. She glanced at her watch and sunk deeper into the cushions with a sigh. Patience had never been her strong side. But well, Lex would just have to make it up to her. A
devious smile crossed her features and Chloe toyed idly with the hem of her blouse, indulging in a vivid fantasy of just how Lex could make it up to her.
The ringing of the phone on Lex's desk jarred her out of her daydream and Chloe jumped from the recliner and hurried over to catch the call before the person on the other end might hang up. She ripped the reciever up and to her ear.
"Lex, if you're telling me you can't make it tonight you will be seriously in for it buddy! You know how imp--"
"Mrs Luthor. This is the Metropolis General. I'm afraid we have to tell you...."
The sound of blood rushing from her head drowned out everything else and Chloe barely managed to give the appropriate answers in the right intervals.
A few minutes later she was in her car and speeding towards Metropolis, bits and pieces of the conversation she had just had penetrating her brain. Her foot pushed harder on the accelerator.
"An accident on the way out of Metropolis." Chloe took a deep breath and took the right exit towards Metropolis, missing the ditch only by a margin as her tires squeeled on the dry concrete.
"...truck driver fell asleep on the wheel..." 'Three hours, if I keep this speed up, I can make it in 1 and a half.'
"... full frontal crash..." Chloe's breath hiched "Oh god, please god no." She forced back the tears and tried to concentrate on the road, she had to get to him, she had to make it in time.
"...in intensive care now, we're waiting for him to regain conciousness. The next twenty four hours will decide..." Chloe jerked the car back into the right track from where it had drifted off. "Dammit, Chloe. Focus!"
The rest of the drive was a blurr, the last sentence of the nurse on the phone ringing over and over through her head.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Luthor."
She all but crashed through the front doors of the emergency entrance, bumping into a faceless person on her way to the reception desk. The nurse behind it looked up and gave her a questioning gaze through her thick glasses.
"Mrs. Luthor, Chloe Luthor. Where's my husband?"
"Can you identify yourself?"
"God dammit I got a call almost two hours ago that my husband has been in a carcrash and you want me to..." Chloe took
a deep breath and scrambled to her purse. When she couldn't find her wallet by touch she spilled the contents of her purse on the floor and scrambled down until she found it.
Slamming down the id in front of the nurse she gave her a threatening glare. "Here. Now where. Is. My. Husband?" She grit the words through her teeth, her chest heaving with the effort to pump oxygen into her lungs and her eyes burning with unshed tears.
"Please wait a moment Mrs. Luthor, I will get the doctor." The nurse stood up from her place and took her damn sweet time moving her lazy ass to the intercom and calling for some Doctor Petterson.
A few minutes later she found herself in a dark hospital room, her focus immediately drawn to the single bed that lined the sterile green wall. "Lex?"
Her voice was weak and cracked even on the single syllable. "Baby it's me." Chloe stepped closer and to the side of the bed. A sob caught in her throat at the sight of her husband attached to the heart monitor, a bandage covering his head and a tube under his nose to help him breath. An IV was dripping some clear liquid into another tube that ran into the vein on his left arm.
Sitting down on the edge of the bed as careful as and taking his right hand in hers. His skin felt clammy and cold and this was the worst moment in her life and 'Please god let him be ok' "Lex, baby open your eyes. Please?"
A rush of breath from her lungs as the hand in hers tightened for a brief moment and then those familiar silver-blue eyes cracked open slowly. "Oh thank you," whispered to the ceiling and a vow to make it up to which ever higher being there
was in every way she could.
Lex made a croaking sound in his throat as if to speak and Chloe placed a finger on his lips "Shh, don't try to talk. It's ok. It's gonna be ok." And now the tears came and dammit why was she crying when she had no reason to. He was alright,
he was awake it would be ok.
"You scared me baby." hushed tone and she was tracing the unblemished parts of his face with her finger now and everything would be ok, because it had to. Because there was no way he could leave her. There was no way she could
go on without him.
Leaning down and pressing a kiss to his dry and parched lips, remembering their softness. "Sleep now, ok? I'll be here when you wake up and we're gonna talk about this when you're back on your feet." She really needed a kleenex or
something because this sniffing was pathetic by now and he was still looking at her and rubbing slow circles into her palm but he didn't speak now and that was ok. "I love you."
Chloe closed her eyes and she knew she was going to spend the night in this hospital room and listen to the sounds of the machines and underneath them the sounds of his breathing. And he croaked again something that might have been
'love you too.' She let go of a long breath and she knew that it would be ok. She was sure.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Strong arms closed around her waist and pulled her against a broad chest. Chloe leaned back into the comfort, slowly opening her eyes to the empty room.
"It's time to go, Chloe. Are you ready?" The voice was smooth and dark and the presence behind her one of silent strength that seemed to envelope her from the outside.
"No. But it doesn't matter." She cast one more look around and tried to let go of something that wasn't hers anymore.
Tried to let go of the past.
"Come on. The limo is waiting. I'll take you home." He stepped back from her and she could hear his purposeful steps retreating as he left her alone once more.
A bitter laugh escaped Chloe at his choice of words. "Yeah, whatever you say Bruce, whatever you say," she mumbled under her breath.
Chloe slowly turned her back to the empty study and stepped outside, silently closing the door behind her.
Life had taught her a lesson that night a few months ago. You can never be sure.
The End