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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

westwingwolf
19th December 2010, 07:06
No! Why, that grinch even took the last Luthor fiance! Looks like the horrible Christmas streak is back on. All kidding aside, I hope Chloe is okay. Perhaps broken some more of the kidnappers bones. Unless the economy has been that bad for Lex, I think he can swing ten million dollars.

lexie
19th December 2010, 07:46
Oh, why is it that these two can never have a quiet Christmas together? Nothing goes as planned even when they have no plans! I'm curious to find out who's kidnapped Chloe and why.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Lex to be able to find her safe and sound and in time for them to celebrate Christmas together.These guys should get ready for the Luthor wrath.

superag
19th December 2010, 23:52
Chapter 3 - Mr. Grinch

Chloe scowled. She stared at the two men that sat and laughed to themselves. She had no idea where she had ended up after riding the majority of the night in the back of a moving van.

She watched as both didn't seem to pay her any mind; they carefully went through and opened random boxes that she guessed had been picked up as they went from one location to another. Now she started putting together the little Christmas trees.

"GPS was very clever." She waited for the men to turn around when she started talking. With no answer, she tried again "I said..."

The older looking man turned and grimaced with his one tooth missing. "I heard you; you were a casualty. You weren't supposed to be part of the deal. Junior here is stupid."

Chloe watched as the younger of the two obviously small time crooks glared at the older one. "Look, as soon as I figured out who it was, I figured we could move past the small time jobs and try for the big time. Look Luthor is made of money; he'll pay anything to get her back."

The older man looked back at Chloe one more time before grabbing the younger one by the collar and dragging him into another dark room, berating him the whole way, reminding him "that dealing with Lex Luthor was going to get them killed."

Chloe smirked to the extent she could being tied down to a chair with duct tape. She still wracked her brain wondering how they had not only acquired her but the room of other people's games, kitchen appliances, and clothes. Spying the stack of little plastic trees, she started cringing. This was supposed to be Lois' story.

Lois. And Clark. Crap, she thought. The one other person that had any clue that something could have gone horribly wrong with this minor story as Perry thought it was on her way to visit Clark's version of the North Pole. Closing her eyes, she tried to block out the family argument that seemed to mar everyone's Christmas holiday; although, this family totally deserved whatever came to them.

******

Lex pulled Dominic up to the wall and propped him up. As the man came around, Lex waited until Dominic came to. "Sir? Chloe? I walked in as two men were hauling her down the hall with her eyes blindfolded. The hit me with a taser and that's the last thing I remember. Sir, I'm sorry."

Lex patted Dominic on the shoulder and handed him a bottle of water. "The security team is scouring the footage from last night and will find something. Do you know where Chloe threw the box for that ugly plastic tree that she got in the mail?"

Dominic drank some of the water and continued trying to focus. "She put it in the chute in the kitchen. Why?"

Lex stood up as another member of his security team appeared. "Because the tree and all the gifts are gone. I have a funny feeling that monstrosity was nothing more than a tracking device." Lex walked back toward the office.

A little more than an hour had passed since he had woken and he now had several men scouring through the garbage bin in the back of the house for a box for prints of some kind. He continued to watch the video feed, but the chances of finding an unmarked black van in his experience was not enough to go on. He could at least rule out his father or his ghost. These were small time criminals who didn't realize who they just took on.

"Mr. Luthor, we found the packaging box and will be running tests on it. We will let you know if we can pinpoint an origin on the box," the man on the intercom spoke and then the room went silent again.

Lex stared at the intercom, silently cursing his never ending bad luck. He didn't even know if it was luck; it seemed to be expected now. And he swore that this year would be different. Sitting in the chair behind his desk, he looked at the first picture he ever had on his desk, their engagement photo. It had been taken right there in the garden behind the mansion because Chloe insisted on something simple yet elegant. A small twitch of a smile hit until he looked up at the empty tree and knew she wasn't going to come walking through the door with her coffee in tote.

Hearing the phone ring, he quickly picked up. "Luthor."

"I thought you would have been out of business mode by now son. It's Christmas Eve." Lex felt ill suddenly. He hadn't quite caught on to the concept of family even with Aunt Madeline and Gabe in the picture, so he shuddered wondering how to explain that he had lost Chloe.

A lie quickly came to mind, but he hadn't lied to the man since he had started fighting for Chloe's love. Gabe could always see right through everything he may have tried throughout the last four years anyway. "Lex, are you there?"

"Yes sir." Gabe was the only man he now answered with sir.

"Good, I was just calling to tell Chloe that Chelsea and I will be out on the boat tomorrow and may not be able to get a call out. I have had so much fun on the boat. Thank you although I never want another gift like this again." Gabe stopped and could barely tell if another person was on the other line. "Lex, is everything all right or did I disturb you?"

Lex swallowed visibly knowing that Gabe couldn't possibly cancel his plans to help worry about his daughter. "Yes sir. I know that Chloe will love that you are getting out and about on Christmas and the boat was the perfect retirement gift. Enjoy it. Chloe has stepped out for the morning trying to catch some last minute stocking stuffers, but she left her phone here. I'll pass on the message."

"Good. Well, you two have a wonderful restful Christmas this year. I'll give her a call when we get back to port."

Lex bid Gabe good bye and put the phone down. Hitting a button on the intercom, three men immediately appeared. Looking up from his seated position at the desk, he stiffly spoke to the men. "You have twelve hours to find her or you're fired. And I want the idiots who think they are getting paid."

The three men simply nodded and left the room. Lex stared at the photo again and cringed. Starting to formulate his own ideas on what happened, he hoped this would wrap itself up soon. He needed her home.

*******

Chloe leaned her head back trying to stretch her neck out after being constrained for the last several hours. "Can I get something to eat? And I need to use the ladies room. I had a few cups of decaf last night."

The older man punched the younger one and handed him a taser. "Go, you're turn to lose a tooth." The younger man looked at the older and grimaced as he looked at Chloe smiling at him. She looked sadistic, as if she was challenging him.

"Look, I'll take you to the restroom, but you gotta play nice. We haven't heard from your boyfriend yet."

Chloe felt the young man, she had determined not yet over 21, tug at the knot and cut through the part of the duct tape, carefully leaving her hands taped together. Chloe eyed the father who was paying no attention to the son. She smiled at the younger man, "What's your name?"

"Dirk. Come on." He pushed her in the direction of the small room the men went earlier in the morning. She watched as he turned on the light and pointed in the direction of a small closet. "There's the can."

Chloe turned up her nose at the comment. "Nice, you could use some manners." She kicked the door to the small bathroom and then looked down at her hands. Hollering though the door, she demanded, "Umm, how do you I'm supposed to get my pants down with my hands tied."

She heard muffled through the door, "Not my problem." Chloe huffed and decided that she would let Lex keep the security around Christmas next year instead of insisting that they get the week off. As she slowly shimmied out of her pants and balanced herself over the toilet she still wondered how the trees worked. GPS she figured, but there had to be more for the men to know where the Christmas presents were for each place.

Trying to sway the younger one to talk, she tried her inquisitive tone. "Dirk, so how come you pick only the houses that you did? I have a feeling you sold more trees than just the few. I know for a fact most of the loot came from our place."

Chloe shimmied back into her pants and carefully maneuvered the sink. Dirk pushed the door open without asking and surprised her by flushing the toilet. "You don't shut up do you? Well, blondie, the trees have cameras in them. So when we figured out we had been bought by some damsel that lived with Luthor we figured we hit the jackpot. Besides the impromptu Paris Hilton sex video was an added bonus. I got more pleasure out of it than dad. "

Chloe spun around and attempted to slap the kid when he grabbed her hands in the air and smiled. That camera had caught her and Lex in the most private moment. He normally had cameras in every room except for the bedroom, but they shut off with a touch of the remote, but the cheap tree had caught everything. Trying to gain her composure, she raised her chin. "I'm really sad for you to have to need that for entertainment."

"I'm not...I got the real thing right here. Maybe I can make you moan like he did," Dirk's voice became deeper as he moved in with Chloe pressed against the wall. "You like begging?"

"You're a pervert." Chloe struggled as he held her hands over her head against the wall as he moved too close for her to kick him in the crotch. As she screamed he covered her mouth with his and then quickly dropped to the ground in pain.

Chloe looked up at the older man. "Sorry." He grabbed Chloe by the arm as she found a time to start fighting. Pulling from the older man's grip, she slammed his body into the side of the doorway and looked for an exit. The whole building was dark and empty except for the scattered presents and wrapping.

"Don't look back," she repeated to herself as she felt along the walls until she felt a doorknob and flung the door open to a snow drift a foot higher than the door. Swallowing, she climbed up the drift and fell into the snow in the trees some two hundred yards from the house. She sunk herself deeper into the snow, knowing they could easily follow the tracks. Seeing the older man come to the door, he simply peered out and pulled the door closed. Rolling back over, Chloe felt relief, knew that they would probably simply move the hideout and be gone soon. Then she realized she was incredibly cold.

******

Lex walked into the office in the lab outside of Metropolis. His men had found something right about the same time that Lex had hacked Chloe's computer from over his network and found the beginnings of the story she and Lois had been writing on the little plastic trees.

Gifts had been disappearing from the houses where the trees had been delivered for the last few weeks. Some over the news had been reporting that even the wrapped gifts had been singled out for other objects in the house. The wrapped sweater and cookware set were left in lieu of the television and Blu Ray player. And the trees were always confiscated during the robbery. The amateur thieves had forgotten about the boxes.

"Mr. Luthor, there were no return addresses on any of the boxes that we were able to pick up from unsuspecting victims. They were all very cooperative but most mentioned that the cops had not been quite as thorough the first time through." Lex nodded his head, knowing he had still put together the best investigators for his own purposes, even if posing as special law enforcement was technically against the law. "I believe we may have found a way to hack the GPS coordinates back from the Luthor mansion and the other locations to the actual point of origin, but I seriously doubt the point of mailing is the place they would be holding Chloe."

"Or they could more dimwitted than you are giving them credit for." Lex paced as he watched three men type quickly on different computers, entering addresses from the few other boxes victims had saved hoping the cops would do their jobs.

After a few minutes, one of the men whispered to himself enough to get Lex's attention. "Connors?"

"Sir, I got an ID, but I'm trying to confirm it. It appears that the return address for the box that I have is pulling up a PO box for police warehouse in Edge City." Lex's head tilted. Edge City cops pulling small time burglaries across the country.

"Mr. Luthor, this particular box actually tested positive for a small nerve agent, one that would put a person to sleep if exposed for a long time similar to sleep after excessive drinking."

"Have all the boxes tested. Connors, any more movement on the location?" Lex glanced at his phone as Connors shook his head to any more information. Lex paced realizing that he may have hit upon a ring of unmatched proportions. What a better way for crooked cops to break into illegal activity but to make a series of burglaries seem innocent as a cover up. Still, as much he felt for the people that were missing their Christmas, he was still nowhere closer to finding Chloe.

"Luthor," he answered in a terse voice.

"Hey, we're going to be family Lex." Lex froze and took a deep breath. He was able to buy time with Gabe, but Lois was another story. She had always been wary of Chloe's decision to be with him. "So I wanted to talk to Chloe and couldn't get her on her phone. Is she with you?"

"She's out shopping; last minute things." Lex thought short and sweet would end it.

"Oh, but why isn't her phone on? I mean she usually has her phone on in one hand and the coffee mug in the other. You should know that by now Lex. Anyway, what are your plans for the rest of the holiday? Clark and I going on a trip in a couple of hours and..." she stopped and listened to Lex's non answer. "What's wrong?"

"Lois, do you have one of those plastic trees you and Chloe were investigating?" Lois looked across the small apartment at the plastic tree that she received in the mail that morning.

"Yeah, why?"

"Have Clark stay with you at your apartment tonight and if anyone tries to break in, try to hold them there and call me. Chloe bought one of those trees and now the Chloe, all our gifts, a few of my priceless pieces, and that tree is missing. I have people working on it and would love to catch the men in the act."

He heard silence and then her yelling across the apartment at Clark. "She's missing? What kind of sham security are you running."

"Talk to your cousin when she is found. She was the one that wanted to give everyone the weekend off. I hate to make you a plant, but the leads are coming slowly and I have Gabe held off until day after tomorrow. Lois..."

Lois relented and told Clark to cool his heels from what he could hear, although he really heard the whole conversation. So much for the best time to tell her the truth. Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Lois turned as Clark nodded his head. "No sweat. We'll get her back Lex."

"Tell Clark I appreciate this." Lex's voice almost shook as he clicked off the call before Lois could respond.

Lex looked back over the screens in front of him as the hackers that were always one step behind his own fiancee had to catch up.

TBC

starmoon
20th December 2010, 00:06
please come back and finish this i want to know what happened to chloe and if she is ok.

Zannie
20th December 2010, 01:05
I haven't read any of the earlier stories, but this seems like a very sweet, fun version of Chlex, so it's a shame that Grinch had to mess with their Christmas.

I really feel for both of them, but trust that you'll give them a happy Christmas reunion!

westwingwolf
20th December 2010, 01:33
Well it was good of the dad to stop his son, at least someone has sense. Hopefully, Lex, Lois & Clark will find her before anything worse happens.

Esther25jm
20th December 2010, 02:54
Love this! Very curious to see if Clark will accidently show his abilities while trying to catch the crooks who have Chloe. Also wondering if Lex knows about Clark...hmmm....can't wait for the next chapter & hoping Chloe gets out of the snow soon. :D

FarrahLea
20th December 2010, 03:01
What a wonderful story. I haven't had a chance to read any of the others, but I'm enjoying this one. I do hope that you give Chlex a happy ending.

Please update soon.

superag
21st December 2010, 19:15
A/N - Thanks for the wonderful feedback. I didn't want anything too angsty, so here's the end of the story. Have a wonderful holiday everyone!

Chapter 4 - I'll Be Home for Christmas


"Couldn't possibly had been kidnapped in the middle of the summer," Chloe mumbled as she continued trudging through the heavy snow drifts that blanketed everything. She looked around and couldn't see anything that looked familiar. Then again, everything was white. White as snow. Haha, she was feeling delirious.

She could tell by looking up at the sun that she was now heading into the afternoon and she had only a couple of hours of sun left. Her feet were next to frozen; she had stopped feeling them an hour or so earlier. It hadn't taken long since she had been walking. The thin hoodie that she had been wearing when she and Lex were watching the movie was not much, but at least there was no more wind and it had stopped snowing.

Leaning against a tree, Chloe closed her eyes and thought about the day before and wondered how Lex was handling her disappearance. She knew he was more than likely pacing and yelling at someone, blaming them for listening to him about taking the holiday off. She leaned back against the tree and started recounting the last few days, knowing her mind was starting to wander because of the cold.

Slumping into the trunk of the tree, she dropped her still taped hands into her lap and seemed to waver between sleep and adrenaline. She didn't see the man and woman approach her.

"Oh Rob, go get the horse blankets out of the trailer," the lady screamed down to the man standing by a truck on what was a snow covered road. "Dear, wake up honey."

Chloe leaned back, her eyes still fluttering in unconsciousness. "Lois?"

"Dear, where did you come from?"

"Mansion, the Christmas trees," Chloe continued to mumble through her fog as the woman pulled her up and then spotted the tape around her hands.

"Oh my. Rob! Bring the clippers too!" The woman began to tug to no avail as she tried to make out the words that Chloe continued to quietly murmur. The gentleman climbed through the drift and fell into the knee deep snow and began covering Chloe in the old wool blankets covered in hay.

Chloe's head twitched as her nose turned up at the sudden new smell that hit her. "What?" She opened her eyes and tried to focus on the people clipping her hands apart. "Kents?"

"My goodness, she is really out of it. Her fingers look as if she has been out here for several hours. Let's get her in the truck and back to the house." The two hoisted Chloe up in their arms and started dragging her to the truck as the door opened. Another younger girl jumped out and pulled the seat forward.

"Is she ok?"

"She will be. Honey, help her get those shoes off and bundle her feet in the other blanket your dad grabbed." The woman put the seat back into place as the younger girl did as she was instructed.

"Where are we taking her?" The girl looked at Chloe's hair and her face. She was a very light shade of blue and continued to mumble as the truck's heater started blowing hot air into the back of the truck.

"Home, then we'll call the sheriff. I have a feeling something else is going on here." The woman pulled out the duct tape that had been around her wrists as she reached back in the back to help adjust her more comfortably.

The two women watched as Rob continued to drive slowly down the iced over dirt road toward the house in the woods. Suddenly a strange bell continued to ring, and the girl pulled her phone out. "Hey the towers are working again."

"Good, then we can call into the sheriff," the mother said as her daughter started surfing through her email and the news for the last two days. Then she stopped. "You think she looks like her?"

Handing the phone to her mom, she tilted up Chloe's face to her mom and nodded.

**********

"Sir, we have a phone call coming in from somewhere in Nebraska. An older woman," Connors turned and announced to Lex.

With a nod of the head, he picked up the phone there in the command center he had built, and took a deep breath. "Can I help you?"

"I am hoping I can help you. I think we may have found someone that belongs to you Mr. Luthor. We found this young woman that continued to mumble something about Christmas trees and your name."

Lex couldn't believe his luck. "Is she alright? Where are you located?"

The woman waved to the others in the small living room in the country home. "Yes, she'll be ok. She was borderline severe hypothermia, but she is in the bathroom with my daughter continually changing out the bathwater to warm her. Let me give you the address."

Lex continued to write the information on a pad and handed instructions to one of the other man waiting behind him for instructions. Several men quietly slipped out of the compound and immediately left. Lex figured at least five hours in the driving conditions. "Thank you; I have team leaving right now for your location, but if you could give me where you found her."

"Let me let you talk to my husband; he set her location on the GPS. We have alerted the sheriff and he's already working on the case."

"Very good," although Lex wished that his group could handle the whole thing. He continued to speak to the other gentleman and sending out orders via paper as one by one, everyone except Connors had left the computer screens and his side to follow up ends that were now going to be connected.

When Lex finally got off the phone, he dialed one other person and smiled as he told Lois she was found.

"Good, I'm on my way to the mansion now, but Clark is staying downtown tonight to see if anyone comes after their little tree. I want to catch this son of a bitch."

Lex laughed at Lois' candor. "Don't forget you want the story back also." Lois rolled her eyes, knowing that she would have to let Chloe have the rest of the story or at least the byline with her in the Planet's article.

****

Lois ran up the stairs and was greeted at the door by a newly armed guard who checked her ID before opening the door. "Mr. Luthor said for you to have a seat in the main study."

Lois nodded and silently walked down the hall and into the only room that had an open door. She looked to her left and plugged in the tree knowing that would help slightly when Chloe came in. Sitting down on the overly zealous leather couch, she continued to shake her head. She still hadn't quite come to the fact that Chloe had seriously fallen for Lex Luthor. It seemed out of place; about as much out of place as a city girl falling for Smallville the man.

She glanced behind her and saw the arrangement of antique frames that now held different pictures of Chloe. Lifting one up, Lois wondered how his clients now felt when they walked in to the stoic office to be met with a background of Chloe's smiles behind the desk.

"I need Dr. Langston to report to the Luthor residence. I will also need a nurse and several warm humidifiers set up in the private bedroom." He clicked off the phone and watched as Lois pried through the photos of Chloe. "I think she's gotten more photogenic as she's gotten older."

Lois turned quickly around, careful not to drop the photo in her hand. "Yes, but I have a feeling that may have something to do with the person taking the pictures. Although I am still surprised that Luthor would let that private side seep out onto his desk."

Lex walked across the study and leaned up against the desk next to Lois. "It was little awkward for some of the clients at first, but they now treat me like everyone else that has family photos. It does, however, take a little bite out of my end of negotiations since they think I have less backbone. They find quickly that pictures don't change my business sense."

Lois nodded in agreement. "But I guess this is as always off the record."

Lex glanced over at her and shook his head while reading over a file he had pulled up about the family that was holding his fiancee. "As always." Lex closed the folder and looked over in Lois' direction. "It seems I automatically made my life difficult by deciding to marry into a two journalist family. How's Clark going to handle himself tonight?"

Lois put the picture Chloe down and glanced over Lex's shoulder, but he closed another folder before she could look. "He'll be fine."

Lex nodded and picked up his phone. "Good. Is she coherent? I'll be there." Turning to Lois, he smiled for the first time since he had walked in, "I'm meeting her downtown with the car. Please stay and wait for the doctor."

"I guess cousins now take second fiddle to fiancees. Yeah, I'll stay." Lois watched as Lex smoothly disappeared from the study and around the corner. Sitting down at the desk, she quietly flipped through the folder he had left on the desk. In black and white pictures, she saw what looked like an abandoned building with stacks of unwrapped gifts and a chair covered in rope. Lois swallowed knowing the power that Lex had to have already traced her kidnappers to their snowy hideout.

*******

A few minutes outside of Smallville Lex waited for a car to pull over to the side of the road. He sat in the back of the limo, looking at surveillance footage from the criminals. They were low end types with a panache for high tech rigged gear. But whatever underlying powers Clark had that he wouldn't divulge to anyone beyond his parents year ago, the small time criminals will probably meet their match tonight.

Pulling out of his thoughts of Clark's hidden abilities, he exited the car hearing the other car engine click off. He nodded at the man standing at the door and the man opened the door. Chloe was starting to get some of her color back but was clearly still asleep from her ordeal. "She's warming nicely, but be careful of her hands and feet sir."

Lex saw an older woman exit and glanced at the guard. "This is the woman that found her in the snow and she insisted that she ride where she could continue with Chloe." Lex glanced back at the woman and shook her hand.

"Thank you. My men will make sure you get back to where you live safely." The woman quietly nodded, understanding that just being in the presence of the Luthor empire was something not to be cooed at. She helped keep the warm wraps around the woman's hands as Lex picked her up and moved her carefully into the limo. As she got back in the van, she watched the man give some final orders to the men that were driving the van before the limo pulled away.

"I was instructed to give you this," one guard said as he handed the woman a check for what the note said was 'her patience and time.' It well covered a year on the farm.

IN the limo, Lex leaned Chloe under his arm. She was externally warm now but he knew her body temp was still not quite normal. She would be soon be under blankets now that the worst had passed. Hearing mumbling, he looked down as her gloved hand ran up his chest. "Just a nice quiet Christmas Eve at home huh?" he heard her whisper.

He tried not to laugh not to shake her head against his chest. He kissed the top of her head and ran his hand over hers. "I'm not letting you out of my sight the rest of the weekend."

"Just the weekend?" He smiled and shook his head; she was starting to finally come around.

"Forever."

The remainder of the short ride, Lex rubbed her arms through her newly acquired flannel jacket from the family that found her. When they pulled up to the mansion, clouds had blown in to cover the moon that had been high in the sky for a few hours now. Looking at his watch, it was approaching 2 AM. Seeing Lois not immediately, he assumed she had already fallen asleep.

"Come on, we've got to get you to bed."

Chloe's head flopped back, "where you can your way with me?" She smiled and then closed her eyes again. Lex picked her up and walked with her limp body in his arms back to the bedroom where the doctor and nurse quickly took over. Standing back out of the way, he took a deep breath knowing that at least she was home.

Have A Merry Little Christmas - Chapter 5


The night had spun on for hours. After leaving Chloe asleep under the nurse's watch, he and the doctor had discussed her activity level and potential nerve issues after his inspection of her. After the talk, Lex decided that the family that kept her should get a little more reward.

The phone on Lois' hip went off at four in the morning. He grabbed it from her before she slid off the couch in the study and answered it. "Luthor."

"Lex, I was expecting Lois."

"She's asleep. What's your status?"

"You were right. They attempted the break in about thirty minutes ago and were easy to apprehend. The tree apparently doesn't have the same residue on it because I had them as soon as they opened the door. I told the police to hold them and to call you with information about Chloe's condition. They said they could determine more charges at that point? How's Chloe?"

Lex heaved a sigh of relief and leaned back in the chair across the couch. Shaking his head and smiling in Lois's direction, she leaned back into the cushions and also sighed in relief before trying to sit up. "Where is he?" she whispered.

"Lois is asking for your whereabouts?"

"Tell her I'm back at the apartment. The police will probably call you on Sunday. They have enough to hold them over the holiday."

Lex got up from the seat and moved to the desk to look through the file of pictures and GPS coordinates that he had acquired from his own henchmen's investigation. "Good, I will ready up some other information and send it over this morning." Lex looked up as Lois knocked on the desk and waved bye. "Lois is on her way." Lex waited until she left before he said anything else.

"Clark, someday you'll have to share whatever gift I know you have with the rest of the class, or at least with the girl that sits next to you."

Clark bit his lip on the other end of the line. He was never sure if he wanted Lex to know, but only time would tell. "I think Chloe's made you soft."

"I think she has too, but don't tell her. I'll never win another discussion." With that, Lex clicked the phone off before heading down the hall. Walking into the doorway, the nurse immediately rose but quickly sat back down at Lex's motion. "How is she?"

"Normal temperature finally. Now I think she's just very tired," the nurse whispered back.

"Good, you can go. I got directions from Dr. Langston. Your check has already been processed." The nurse nodded and silently pulled the door to the bedroom closed. Lex continued staring at Chloe. Her face was now flushed and he gently moved some of the warmer blankets away from her face.

Seeing her move and groan in her sleep, he suddenly felt the urge to sleep. Glancing at the clock, the night was getting closer to turning to day. A long time since he had pulled an all nighter, relief started to feel like much needed sleep.

He slipped his shoes off and crawled into bed with Chloe. Careful not to disturb her, he turned away, but felt arms almost immediately surround him. Closing his eyes, sleep hit him quickly.

******

Lex rolled over and squinted at the sun that streamed through the higher panes of glass. It was almost noon and he could distinctly smell cinnamon and turkey from the other side of the house. He looked at the other side of the bed. She was missing again.

"Merry Christmas," Chloe announced as she came out of the bathroom still in woven gloves, sweats and at least two pairs of socks. Crawling onto the bed, she drew randomly on Lex's chest. "Doesn't the house smell delightful. The cooks were standing around this morning wondering what to do. One said he had never had to cook Christmas dinner here and another one was worried after last night to rock the boat with a big meal, but I said it was perfect way to celebrate the day."

Lex leaned up and kissed her as she opened her mouth to talk some more. "Shh," he covered her lips with his fingers. "Merry Christmas."

westwingwolf
21st December 2010, 20:37
Yay! I'm glad all is well. Would have been a very sad Christmas if it hadn't. I like that Lex knows something about Clark even if he doesn't know everything.

lexie
21st December 2010, 21:58
This was as delightful as the rest of the series, Mary. Do I smell a sequel? Maybe for Valentine's? After all, Lex and Chloe still have to get married.

hfce
22nd December 2010, 04:44
That was a nice ending and a beautiful story. I wasn't sure how it would end but I am glad it ending good. :)

Esther25jm
22nd December 2010, 07:17
That was wonderful, Super!! Glad that it all ended well, but now I'm hoping for more (possible sequel?) so that Lex can learn Clark's secret. It's been great reading another of your stories. Take care!! :D

ChloeLovesLex
22nd December 2010, 08:28
Loved it.

Poor Chloe. What an ordeal to have to go through. Glad someone happened upon her when they did.

I'm hoping Lex wrings some necks...in the sequel??? ;)

Zannie
26th December 2010, 15:20
I am very glad to see that Chloe was fine and Lex didn't have to go through too much torture in finding her - since it was Christmas and everything.


He tried not to laugh not to shake her head against his chest. He kissed the top of her head and ran his hand over hers. "I'm not letting you out of my sight the rest of the weekend."

"Just the weekend?" He smiled and shook his head; she was starting to finally come around.

"Forever."

I just love this part.

Thanks so much for the Christmas story!

Ami Rose
17th July 2012, 07:29
That was awsome loved it!