superag
19th December 2010, 03:54
I know I have been gone for almost forever, but I'm working on a comeback. So here is the first part of my now traditional Christmas short story. I should get the next part done in the next couple of days. Thanks for reading!
Title: How the Grinch Stole Lexmas
Name: Superag
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I own NONE of these characters and only borrow them for my personal entertainment.
Summary: 4th year of the Lex/Chloe Christmas adventures. You should be able to read this without reading the others, but you can read them if you want.
Chapter 1 - Baby, It's Cold Outside
Chloe sat on the sofa in the mansion study staring over at the new 8 foot tree that she and Lex had finished decorating the night before. The lights twinkled in the early evening as the sun started going down and made an interesting light show along with the stained glass colors on the floor.
She could hear her nails as they tapped anxiously on the laptop in her lap. She couldn't tell why she was anxious. Nothing had gone wrong, no one was sick, nothing was planned. That simple idea that she and Lex for their fourth year together had nothing planned.
The lack of plans probably worked out for the best since the rest of the central section of the country was snowed in and had closed every airport or landing strip within six states. But as phones had started ringing a day earlier, she tried to hide the smile that she had when Lex simply told each person calling that things could wait until after the Christmas holidays. It made Chloe feel suddenly warmer in the slowly darkening room that her being alone tonight in the mansion had nothing to do with Luthorcorp after last year. He was simply out shopping.
Last year had been near impossible with the economy and closing a plant. Lex had done what he could by improving the employees' lives the way he could, but to this day, the plant was still out of business. She wondered silently what happened to all the people who had been affected, but it wasn't something she could control. The whole state of Michigan was suffering, even the football team.
Still, his plan had been a little more involved for the holidays until the latest storm. She remembered walking out on the balcony of the bedroom in the morning and saw the drift that almost reached the middle of the first floor windows. Looking back at her laptop, she wasn't feeling motivated to research her latest story at the Metropolis Sun.
"Good evening Miss Sullivan. I was told to check on you and make sure you were comfortable this evening," the older man came and smiled pleasantly at her.
"Thank you Dominic. I'm good, but have you heard from Lex this afternoon?"
The orderly man that Lex had taken on as a more personable butler than a bodyguard smiled at Chloe but shook his head. "I am afraid he has instructed me to get your dinner for you in his absence. He will be returning tomorrow morning due to the weather. He says not to worry and you may call after eight."
Nodding her head, Chloe went back to looking at her computer screen as her phone rang. Picking up the receiver, she shook her head knowing either the woman on the other end was in love or in trouble. "Hey cuz."
"So I finally get to talk to you. Seems like now I seem to always have to go through some service or secretary." Lois exaggerated.
"Oh haha; like my cousin hasn't been cornering the market on my best friend. I hear things are going pretty fast up in Metropolis," Chloe replied knowing that the last year had been a whirlwind for everyone she was surrounded by. Chloe's thoughts escaped her thinking about the events since Lex had proposed to her the previous Christmas.
That past February Lionel had finally passed away quietly in jail as the doctors had predicted. Luthorcorp and every subsidiary dealt with his passing as a nonissue since he had been all but cut from the business after the conviction. Then her father had gone on a well deserved vacation to south Florida and decided to stay. He was coming for New Year's but someone named Chelsea was a distraction for him this Christmas.
But Clark's taking a part time beat reporter job with her older cousin at the Daily Planet had been the kicker. After a well documented tirade by the future Mrs. Kent, the name after the future Mrs changed from Lana to Lois. Chloe snickered thinking about Lana's face when Clark dropped the bomb that he had found his true soulmate. Chloe knew at that moment that Clark had finally "got it."
"Cuz? Did you hear me?" Chloe heard in the phone and came back from the whirlwind tour of the year.
"Sorry, what?"
"I said I have a little story that maybe I thought I could pass your way. I'm emailing it to you now. Perry passed on it here, but I thought maybe you would want to see what you could do with it."
Chloe opened her email and started reading the email. "Why? This sounds like a great story to work on. Get Clark..."
"That's the thing," she interrupted. "Clark has shut down all story writing for the week. He's got something up his sleeve and we're supposedly going somewhere up North for a few days. As much as I like the vacation, it sounded juicy."
Chloe smiled to herself knowing that up North meant one hell of a Christmas surprise was coming Lois' way and then Clark would keep her confined until he figured whether she hated him for hiding his secret from him for nearly the entire year.
"Well, I'll see what I can do with it. Have a great trip and be nice to Clark." Chloe could see the intentional scowl from her cousin through the phone. Clicking the phone off, she eyed the story and started a search on the strange Christmas decoration.
*****
Two days later, Chloe walked into Lex's office and stood silently in the doorway. He had his back to her, dressed in simple gray pants and a dark blue sweater. He had returned the night before and looked as frozen as she had seen him. She had convinced him to stay in for the rest of the week. Clients could wait until the state thawed out.
"Are you coming in? There's a package on the table there for you. Some company gadget you had to try?" Lex turned and was holding a folder, but from Chloe's view he wasn't very intent on it. "I couldn't tell if it was to go under the tree or just something for now."
Chloe met Lex at the couch and picked up the box. It was smaller than she had thought. Ripping into to the box, Lex sat down and admired her fervor and wondered if the presents under the tree were going to be opened just as fast.
"Look, it's a singing tree." Chloe held up the small plastic tree decorated with lights and annoyingly played the 12 days of Christmas until Lex clicked the power button on the bottom of the tree. "Why did you do that?"
"Because that is a very sad replica of a tree put out many years ago. The music isn't mp3 quality." Chloe noted the observation of her incredibly handsome fiancee and put the tree back on the table. "Besides, I have a better idea," Lex smiled and grabbed Chloe up off the couch.
Lex hit a button the remote on the table as the room filled with "Baby, It's Cold Outisde," and the lights dimmed. Chloe had started getting more used to Luthor charm that she had let him use on her the last four years. This year was looking to be the best Christmas of them all.
Chloe leaned her head back as Lex kissed up her neck to her chin before slipping his hand under her sweater and pulling her into the plush angora rug in front of the fireplace.
*****
"Dude, come look," the kid in headphones said as he repeatedly slapped his brother in the shoulder.
"What? I got four cameras going and...."
The two watched, swallowed, and developed smiles from ear to ear. "Porn and presents...damn..."
Chapter 2 - Grown Up Christmas List
Chloe woke the next morning and turned to look at the clock. She fully intended to turn over and relax in the empty bed after seeing the time switch over to 9 AM, but her arm felt skin move in her direction. "Good morning."
Turning back over, she smiled at him. His eyes still looked lazy as if he had just woken. "Hey, I thought you would already had been up, seeing it's still not Christmas."
Lex smiled as he ran his hand down her bare arm and thought about the night before. "I was, but the ice froze up one of the main cell towers and landlines are still out, so no calls are coming or going out until the sun thaws things out. So, I was thinking I might see what you look like when you wake up."
She smiled and shook her head. "Well, what's the verdict?" Chloe closed her eyes as Lex continued dragging his fingers down the side of her arm, somewhere between ticklish and seductive. Moaning quietly, she felt his warm breath on her as it dropped from her lips to her chest.
Continuing in her state of dreamy ecstasy, she ran her hands over his smooth head and moaned again as the covers beneath her moved. "Lex," she pulled on him.
Popping his head out from underneath the sheet, he halfway nodded and reached in the bedside table drawer before disappearing under the sheet again. Chloe knew he had been reluctant in using protection other than the pill after their engagement, but they had both felt a need to be extra careful after their earlier pregnancy scare in the summer.
The two smiled at each other as their bodies became fluid in motion. She loved watching his face as he came to his peak; that was when she knew he was most vulnerable.
As she watched Lex groan at the release from her, she rolled and watched him disappear into the bathroom. He really was making an effort to be careful. They both wanted her to finish her degree, which was at least one year out. The doctors were still looking at her options since normal birth control was not working, whether because of his or her exposure to kryptonite as a child. Things didn't quite work as well for them.
Lex was careful though after the past June. She remembered how broken he had looked when she came in the office with her eyes all red and puffy. She and Lois had spent the afternoon together and Chloe had her sit with her while she waited for the little stick to change to something. And the something had not been what she and Lex had talked about.
He had barely rounded the desk when Chloe slumped out of Lois's arms and onto the floor. Lois left and let Chloe explain that she was pregnant and she would be withdrawing from school. Lex had let her go through everything before speaking. Chloe remembered his words and swallowed when she still thought of them. "This may be unplanned but not a mistake, and you are going to be a wonderful mother."
As they settled into her carrying Lex's first child, Chloe had seen the strange change in Lex's demeanor when talking to other clients with families, slowly seeing what he had never been quite in touch with. And she knew it still crushed him when she walked into the office two weeks later saying that she had indeed started her cycle.
Chloe had wanted to ask him since that time whether that mask she recognized on him was more to hide his true feelings of still having no children or to hide the relief that she had been feeling. Lex caught her coming out of the bathroom. "Still thinking about it?"
"Yeah, I kind of wonder what it would be like laying here looking as if I swallowed a watermelon." She watched Lex slide in beside her naked and then felt a pillow land on her belly.
Lex looked at her sideways. "Radiant. I wouldn't need Christmas candles. You would light up the room." Chloe tried not to laugh but hit him with the pillow as she jumped out of bed. She couldn't remember the last time they had been in bed until almost noon.
*******
The rest of the day, Chloe worked on writing something up about the little trees and what she had learned so far, which was not much. As she worked, Lex made notes on the computer to himself in the event that he could actually talk to human being in the next few hours. Both relented to the curse of technology and decided to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" as the nightly Christmas movie came on.
Secretly Chloe thought the day had worked out perfectly, but she knew that Lex felt somewhat behind even with the full intent of taking Christmas Eve and day off. His plan, however, had not been to cancel work for the entire week.
Curling closer to her fiancee, she smiled up in his direction and got a kiss on her nose for her effort. She watched as Lex squirmed slightly, edgy from not getting work done for the day, but could still see him yawning out of the corner of her eye. "Go onto bed. No one's going to call."
Lex leaned forward and rubbed his face with his hands. Relaxing was making him more tired, or relaxed, he didn't know exactly what the feeling of a loss of adrenaline was like. Leaning over and kissing Chloe, he smiled. "Come to bed soon." Pulling out of her grip, he started back to his room and then the room fell silent.
Chloe watched as the tree they had put in the living room glowed. The one in the office was the real one, the one that could be seen somewhat through the stained glass, but the small one was her favorite. They had picked out a new set of ornaments together and called it the beginning of their Christmas' together.
She yawned and switched the channel to another Christmas movie that was on. Stretching out on the couch, she fell asleep to the Christmas Carol.
*****
Lex woke up the next morning and rolled over, shrugging partly irritated. He was wondering why he had felt unusually cold most of the night, but he knew that Chloe never came to bed.
Throwing on his robe, he padded down the hall and pushed the door to the living room. The tree was still lit and the television was still on. Glancing at the couch, he didn't see her. Letting his other senses take over, he couldn't hear any water running and no coffee was brewing in the house. Trying to keep himself in check, he took a deep breath and walked into the other rooms on the second level before going into the office on the first level. The tree had not been plugged in from the night before.
Glancing at the desk, he wondered if she had gone out early and left a note, but none was there. He continued to eye the room, knowing Chloe was over her investigation of the basement and other rooms of the house that had been off limits for so many years. He looked at the table and smiled. A note.
Reading the typed note, Lex's blood turned cold as he waded up the paper and looked at the place some ugly plastic tree had been and then at the empty space under the large tree where no presents remained.
Thanks Santa. We'll take ten million dollars too. You owe us. You're fiancee took my tooth out.
The Grinch
TBC
Title: How the Grinch Stole Lexmas
Name: Superag
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I own NONE of these characters and only borrow them for my personal entertainment.
Summary: 4th year of the Lex/Chloe Christmas adventures. You should be able to read this without reading the others, but you can read them if you want.
Chapter 1 - Baby, It's Cold Outside
Chloe sat on the sofa in the mansion study staring over at the new 8 foot tree that she and Lex had finished decorating the night before. The lights twinkled in the early evening as the sun started going down and made an interesting light show along with the stained glass colors on the floor.
She could hear her nails as they tapped anxiously on the laptop in her lap. She couldn't tell why she was anxious. Nothing had gone wrong, no one was sick, nothing was planned. That simple idea that she and Lex for their fourth year together had nothing planned.
The lack of plans probably worked out for the best since the rest of the central section of the country was snowed in and had closed every airport or landing strip within six states. But as phones had started ringing a day earlier, she tried to hide the smile that she had when Lex simply told each person calling that things could wait until after the Christmas holidays. It made Chloe feel suddenly warmer in the slowly darkening room that her being alone tonight in the mansion had nothing to do with Luthorcorp after last year. He was simply out shopping.
Last year had been near impossible with the economy and closing a plant. Lex had done what he could by improving the employees' lives the way he could, but to this day, the plant was still out of business. She wondered silently what happened to all the people who had been affected, but it wasn't something she could control. The whole state of Michigan was suffering, even the football team.
Still, his plan had been a little more involved for the holidays until the latest storm. She remembered walking out on the balcony of the bedroom in the morning and saw the drift that almost reached the middle of the first floor windows. Looking back at her laptop, she wasn't feeling motivated to research her latest story at the Metropolis Sun.
"Good evening Miss Sullivan. I was told to check on you and make sure you were comfortable this evening," the older man came and smiled pleasantly at her.
"Thank you Dominic. I'm good, but have you heard from Lex this afternoon?"
The orderly man that Lex had taken on as a more personable butler than a bodyguard smiled at Chloe but shook his head. "I am afraid he has instructed me to get your dinner for you in his absence. He will be returning tomorrow morning due to the weather. He says not to worry and you may call after eight."
Nodding her head, Chloe went back to looking at her computer screen as her phone rang. Picking up the receiver, she shook her head knowing either the woman on the other end was in love or in trouble. "Hey cuz."
"So I finally get to talk to you. Seems like now I seem to always have to go through some service or secretary." Lois exaggerated.
"Oh haha; like my cousin hasn't been cornering the market on my best friend. I hear things are going pretty fast up in Metropolis," Chloe replied knowing that the last year had been a whirlwind for everyone she was surrounded by. Chloe's thoughts escaped her thinking about the events since Lex had proposed to her the previous Christmas.
That past February Lionel had finally passed away quietly in jail as the doctors had predicted. Luthorcorp and every subsidiary dealt with his passing as a nonissue since he had been all but cut from the business after the conviction. Then her father had gone on a well deserved vacation to south Florida and decided to stay. He was coming for New Year's but someone named Chelsea was a distraction for him this Christmas.
But Clark's taking a part time beat reporter job with her older cousin at the Daily Planet had been the kicker. After a well documented tirade by the future Mrs. Kent, the name after the future Mrs changed from Lana to Lois. Chloe snickered thinking about Lana's face when Clark dropped the bomb that he had found his true soulmate. Chloe knew at that moment that Clark had finally "got it."
"Cuz? Did you hear me?" Chloe heard in the phone and came back from the whirlwind tour of the year.
"Sorry, what?"
"I said I have a little story that maybe I thought I could pass your way. I'm emailing it to you now. Perry passed on it here, but I thought maybe you would want to see what you could do with it."
Chloe opened her email and started reading the email. "Why? This sounds like a great story to work on. Get Clark..."
"That's the thing," she interrupted. "Clark has shut down all story writing for the week. He's got something up his sleeve and we're supposedly going somewhere up North for a few days. As much as I like the vacation, it sounded juicy."
Chloe smiled to herself knowing that up North meant one hell of a Christmas surprise was coming Lois' way and then Clark would keep her confined until he figured whether she hated him for hiding his secret from him for nearly the entire year.
"Well, I'll see what I can do with it. Have a great trip and be nice to Clark." Chloe could see the intentional scowl from her cousin through the phone. Clicking the phone off, she eyed the story and started a search on the strange Christmas decoration.
*****
Two days later, Chloe walked into Lex's office and stood silently in the doorway. He had his back to her, dressed in simple gray pants and a dark blue sweater. He had returned the night before and looked as frozen as she had seen him. She had convinced him to stay in for the rest of the week. Clients could wait until the state thawed out.
"Are you coming in? There's a package on the table there for you. Some company gadget you had to try?" Lex turned and was holding a folder, but from Chloe's view he wasn't very intent on it. "I couldn't tell if it was to go under the tree or just something for now."
Chloe met Lex at the couch and picked up the box. It was smaller than she had thought. Ripping into to the box, Lex sat down and admired her fervor and wondered if the presents under the tree were going to be opened just as fast.
"Look, it's a singing tree." Chloe held up the small plastic tree decorated with lights and annoyingly played the 12 days of Christmas until Lex clicked the power button on the bottom of the tree. "Why did you do that?"
"Because that is a very sad replica of a tree put out many years ago. The music isn't mp3 quality." Chloe noted the observation of her incredibly handsome fiancee and put the tree back on the table. "Besides, I have a better idea," Lex smiled and grabbed Chloe up off the couch.
Lex hit a button the remote on the table as the room filled with "Baby, It's Cold Outisde," and the lights dimmed. Chloe had started getting more used to Luthor charm that she had let him use on her the last four years. This year was looking to be the best Christmas of them all.
Chloe leaned her head back as Lex kissed up her neck to her chin before slipping his hand under her sweater and pulling her into the plush angora rug in front of the fireplace.
*****
"Dude, come look," the kid in headphones said as he repeatedly slapped his brother in the shoulder.
"What? I got four cameras going and...."
The two watched, swallowed, and developed smiles from ear to ear. "Porn and presents...damn..."
Chapter 2 - Grown Up Christmas List
Chloe woke the next morning and turned to look at the clock. She fully intended to turn over and relax in the empty bed after seeing the time switch over to 9 AM, but her arm felt skin move in her direction. "Good morning."
Turning back over, she smiled at him. His eyes still looked lazy as if he had just woken. "Hey, I thought you would already had been up, seeing it's still not Christmas."
Lex smiled as he ran his hand down her bare arm and thought about the night before. "I was, but the ice froze up one of the main cell towers and landlines are still out, so no calls are coming or going out until the sun thaws things out. So, I was thinking I might see what you look like when you wake up."
She smiled and shook her head. "Well, what's the verdict?" Chloe closed her eyes as Lex continued dragging his fingers down the side of her arm, somewhere between ticklish and seductive. Moaning quietly, she felt his warm breath on her as it dropped from her lips to her chest.
Continuing in her state of dreamy ecstasy, she ran her hands over his smooth head and moaned again as the covers beneath her moved. "Lex," she pulled on him.
Popping his head out from underneath the sheet, he halfway nodded and reached in the bedside table drawer before disappearing under the sheet again. Chloe knew he had been reluctant in using protection other than the pill after their engagement, but they had both felt a need to be extra careful after their earlier pregnancy scare in the summer.
The two smiled at each other as their bodies became fluid in motion. She loved watching his face as he came to his peak; that was when she knew he was most vulnerable.
As she watched Lex groan at the release from her, she rolled and watched him disappear into the bathroom. He really was making an effort to be careful. They both wanted her to finish her degree, which was at least one year out. The doctors were still looking at her options since normal birth control was not working, whether because of his or her exposure to kryptonite as a child. Things didn't quite work as well for them.
Lex was careful though after the past June. She remembered how broken he had looked when she came in the office with her eyes all red and puffy. She and Lois had spent the afternoon together and Chloe had her sit with her while she waited for the little stick to change to something. And the something had not been what she and Lex had talked about.
He had barely rounded the desk when Chloe slumped out of Lois's arms and onto the floor. Lois left and let Chloe explain that she was pregnant and she would be withdrawing from school. Lex had let her go through everything before speaking. Chloe remembered his words and swallowed when she still thought of them. "This may be unplanned but not a mistake, and you are going to be a wonderful mother."
As they settled into her carrying Lex's first child, Chloe had seen the strange change in Lex's demeanor when talking to other clients with families, slowly seeing what he had never been quite in touch with. And she knew it still crushed him when she walked into the office two weeks later saying that she had indeed started her cycle.
Chloe had wanted to ask him since that time whether that mask she recognized on him was more to hide his true feelings of still having no children or to hide the relief that she had been feeling. Lex caught her coming out of the bathroom. "Still thinking about it?"
"Yeah, I kind of wonder what it would be like laying here looking as if I swallowed a watermelon." She watched Lex slide in beside her naked and then felt a pillow land on her belly.
Lex looked at her sideways. "Radiant. I wouldn't need Christmas candles. You would light up the room." Chloe tried not to laugh but hit him with the pillow as she jumped out of bed. She couldn't remember the last time they had been in bed until almost noon.
*******
The rest of the day, Chloe worked on writing something up about the little trees and what she had learned so far, which was not much. As she worked, Lex made notes on the computer to himself in the event that he could actually talk to human being in the next few hours. Both relented to the curse of technology and decided to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" as the nightly Christmas movie came on.
Secretly Chloe thought the day had worked out perfectly, but she knew that Lex felt somewhat behind even with the full intent of taking Christmas Eve and day off. His plan, however, had not been to cancel work for the entire week.
Curling closer to her fiancee, she smiled up in his direction and got a kiss on her nose for her effort. She watched as Lex squirmed slightly, edgy from not getting work done for the day, but could still see him yawning out of the corner of her eye. "Go onto bed. No one's going to call."
Lex leaned forward and rubbed his face with his hands. Relaxing was making him more tired, or relaxed, he didn't know exactly what the feeling of a loss of adrenaline was like. Leaning over and kissing Chloe, he smiled. "Come to bed soon." Pulling out of her grip, he started back to his room and then the room fell silent.
Chloe watched as the tree they had put in the living room glowed. The one in the office was the real one, the one that could be seen somewhat through the stained glass, but the small one was her favorite. They had picked out a new set of ornaments together and called it the beginning of their Christmas' together.
She yawned and switched the channel to another Christmas movie that was on. Stretching out on the couch, she fell asleep to the Christmas Carol.
*****
Lex woke up the next morning and rolled over, shrugging partly irritated. He was wondering why he had felt unusually cold most of the night, but he knew that Chloe never came to bed.
Throwing on his robe, he padded down the hall and pushed the door to the living room. The tree was still lit and the television was still on. Glancing at the couch, he didn't see her. Letting his other senses take over, he couldn't hear any water running and no coffee was brewing in the house. Trying to keep himself in check, he took a deep breath and walked into the other rooms on the second level before going into the office on the first level. The tree had not been plugged in from the night before.
Glancing at the desk, he wondered if she had gone out early and left a note, but none was there. He continued to eye the room, knowing Chloe was over her investigation of the basement and other rooms of the house that had been off limits for so many years. He looked at the table and smiled. A note.
Reading the typed note, Lex's blood turned cold as he waded up the paper and looked at the place some ugly plastic tree had been and then at the empty space under the large tree where no presents remained.
Thanks Santa. We'll take ten million dollars too. You owe us. You're fiancee took my tooth out.
The Grinch
TBC