Love it... and so can't wait to see what Lex does to help Chloe! _elcome to the fandom, I look forward to reading much more from you!
SaraC
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Love it... and so can't wait to see what Lex does to help Chloe! _elcome to the fandom, I look forward to reading much more from you!
SaraC
Extremely well written and interesting chapter. Can't wait to read more.
I love it
Shay
Thanks for de-lurking to write us this. Great start, and I like the amount of detail you put into it. I also think you've written Lex and Chloe pretty accurately -- Lex's protectiveness and Chloe's struggling to put herself together despite her grief, for example. Hope to see more soon!
Terrific beginning. Very interesting portrayal on the possible outcome of the season finale cliffhangers. You have Lex's and Chloe's characterizations down very nicely. Can't wait for more.
Great begining. I cant wait to read more.
Hope :chlexsign2:
Survival
NC-17 Fanfiction
Post-Episode for Covenant (Season 3 Finale)
SPOILER WARNING: Spoilers abound, up to the current episode in U.S./Canadian release. Possible AU, but I won't know how far off-track I'm going until the fall, Season 4 premiere.
Disclaimer: Smallville, the characters therein, and all affiliated copyrighted materials are owned by the WB. This is a work of fanfiction not intended for profit or infringement, only for the pleasure of fans of the series.
A/N: As a long-time lurker I'm finally possessed of what I think may be a good plot to follow to the end. Hopefully it pans out and helps me work out some of my lingering dissatisfaction with the underuse of Chloe, Lex and what is likely the most interesting ship possibility on Smallville. I've attempted to include any clues about next season that I've heard, like Chloe's new hair colour. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
Chapter 2
Chloe shuffled along the hallway, half-heartedly sipping on some lemonade. It was excellent, freshly made and entirely unappealing. The cook, Elsie, was an effusive woman in her fifties who was deeply offended by her lack of appetite and horrified by her love of coffee. Lemonade was a compromise between the coffee Chloe had wanted and the milk Elsie had tried to foist upon her. In the end she had perversely enjoyed the motherly insistence, even if it had brought tears to her eyes to realize no one was left to make sure she drank her milk except Lex’s hired help.
She was desperately lonely and anxious. Security was diligent, but she knew as well as anyone that Lionel Luthor had plenty of money and power even in prison. He would try to kill her again when he found her. He might well succeed despite all of Lex’s precautions. Pathetically, Chloe knew that she needed to care more to survive but couldn’t find the fight that she had always used to prop herself up in times of trouble. She had lost so much, everything really, and it was her own fault.
Daddy, she thought, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t be a better daughter. Tears welled up and she stopped walking, miserably standing in the middle of the hallway clutching the glass of lemonade to her chest. Ragged breaths escaped as she fought the urge to sob out loud. It was all her fault, she had brought all this unthinkable misery upon herself with her ambition. Her wonderful father was gone forever and she was left with nothing. Even if she did manage to survive Lionel, Chloe was at a loss as to what she wanted from life. The years stretching before her seemed as interminable as the prison sentence her former employer was facing. Her crimes had been so much smaller, but she felt as if she was suffering one hundred times the punishment he would face, and all because of her own lack of foresight.
Stupid, stupid girl, she berated herself. Her fists clenched and the glass began to slip from her grasp. Chloe watched, detached, as her clumsy fingers tried to catch the falling vessel and broke it instead. Her hand was immediately damp with lemonade and the stinging sensation of lacerated flesh.
Lex heard the chiming of glass breaking as he stepped into the house. The two security guards with him made a move to follow the noise but he lifted a hand to stop them. They withdrew silently and he turned into the dim corridor.
The polished floor seemed to jolt underneath his feet as he saw Chloe, facing away from him with a spreading pool of what looked like blood around her feet. Before he got to her side at least three large drops of the ruddy liquid fell with disgustingly loud splashes.
“Chloe?! Are you all right?” He stopped short of touching her when he realized she was trembling. Not wanting to panic her, Lex looked at her carefully. Her clenched hands were still wrapped around shards of a drinking glass, blood welling up between her fingers and the jagged edges.
He put one hand on her shoulder and tried not to jump as she jolted. His other hand hovered near the glass, longing to remove its harshness from her poor hands but worried about causing more damage.
“Lex?” She responded slowly after her initial shock, looking at him vaguely before looking down at her hands. “It slipped . . . I’ve made a mess.”
From her tragic tone Lex knew she meant the larger situation more than the mishandled drink, and he was overwhelmed with sudden grief for both of them. No parents or siblings to count on and under the gun of a vengeful man with nothing to lose - it was hardly surprising they were both cracking under the pressure. He rued the day Chloe Sullivan had ever walked into the manor, for her sake.
He cupped his right hand under hers and tightened his left upon her shoulder. “Can you walk to the bathroom?” Her nod was laconic, but she stepped over the fallen glass without his direction and continued down the hallway.
Once he found a bathroom Lex sat her at the vanity and delicately placed her hands down on the surface, still curled around the broken glass. Digging around in the drawers he found a first aid kit and pulled out several rolls of gauze.
Chloe watched as Lex rifled through the medical supplies. Now that she was sitting down she felt less light-headed, and she asked him the question that once would have been the first of many lightening-fast queries she had to throw at him. Oddly, right now she could only think of the one.
“What are you doing here?” Her eyes traced his familiar form hungrily, even though he reminded her of happier days and incited a longing for her father that caused more tears to rise. His pleasant and subtle cologne reached her nose as she sniffed back the tears, and she deliberately drew in a long, deep breath to smell him again.
Mistaking her indrawn breath as a sound of pain, Lex turned back to Chloe. She was looking at him with some kind of fascination he couldn’t identify. It was different from her early curiousity as a journalist, different from the searching looks of recent months after his accidental revelation to her that he had always wanted his father’s love. Meeting her eyes, he was surprised to see the grogginess of a few minutes ago was gone.
“I’m going to have to open your hands off of the glass, Chloe. It’s going to hurt like hell,” he told her, gently grasping her hands again. At her nod he slowly pried her fingers free, watching as new blood rushed out. Finally, agonized by the process but unable to speed up, Lex had removed all the large pieces of glass. Guiding her hands under the cold running water in the sink he held them flat and watched as the tinier shards were rinsed away.
Chloe relished his gentleness as he applied disinfectant and bandages to her abused hands, letting her fingers curl lightly around his own. His tight smile would have discouraged her a year ago, perhaps even a few months ago, but she knew who he really was now. She knew they were both suffering the same way, from such similar pains and he was the only one who understood her.
“You didn’t answer my question,” she observed.
“Which question?” Lex continued to fuss with the bandages, even after they were all secured. “Do you want a painkiller?”
Chloe gave him a look that carried some of her old sarcasm, even if it was tinged with weary sadness a 17-year-old girl should never know.
“I don’t think there’s a painkiller big enough to make me feel better, Lex. Why are you here?” She raised her hands in front of her face and wiggled the fingers, watching the bandages flex.
“You. I heard you were . . . “ He trailed off, embarrassed to discuss a weakness even in someone else.
“Going crazy?” She pulled her hands down and faced him. “I’m not crazy, I just - when your life goes away what do you do the next day?”
Chloe’s voice dropped to a whisper and he bowed his head, wrapping his hands around her wrists and rubbing comfortingly.
“I don’t know, Chloe, but I promise you, you’re doing as well as anyone who’s ever had to do this,’” he said, before realizing how absurd it was. “Not that I know anyone else who’s had to do what you’re doing. But you’re coping extremely well. I just wish I could be here for you.”
She nodded and stood up, waiting for him to do the same. “ I wouldn’t want my father’s hard work at the plant to go to waste now. You have to be there. I have to be here. I’m grateful to you.”
Lex winced visibly. “Your gratitude is misplaced in me. I caused all this, my life-long rivalry with my own father. This is the very least of what I should do for you.” He dropped his gaze in shame. “We Luthors bring pain and trouble wherever -”
Chloe sensed correctly that he was about to launch into a self-deprecating rant and grasped his hands gingerly with her own injured ones. “Lex, stop it. You didn’t do this. I don’t blame you.”
She led him gently into the adjoining bedroom and perched on the edge of the bed. He followed but didn’t answer. Chloe studied his face and smiled sadly.
“Why can’t you recognize how different you are from him? You’re a good man, Lex.” She pushed herself up toward the pillows still holding his hand and giving it a shake when he shook his head in negation. “Yes you are. You are.”
Lex stood awkwardly, leaning slightly over in order to allow Chloe to continue holding his hands. He was in no shape to deny her anything, especially with the sacrifices she had made for him.
“I want to be.” Lex surprised himself with the choked declaration but she just smiled and laid her head back against the pillows tiredly. He fixed his gaze on their linked hands, his slack in her gentle grasp. She was thinner, drawn and wounded, but still radiant to him. The brown hair was an interesting but not unwelcome change and her tan made up somewhat by her subdued behaviour. The intellect and intensity that was Chloe Sullivan was still there underneath her pain.
He leaned heavily against the bed, slumping in weariness. It was such a long, lonely fight and he was so tired of being alone through it. He had been dreading the prospect of months without contact from Chloe when she told him the FBI was putting her into protective custody. She was the one constant ally he had in the past few months, unintimidated by his father and fueled by her convictions.
“Lex.”
He started, and accidentally pulled on her injured digits, giving her an apologetic smile. She pulled on his hands slightly, forcing him to lean further onto the bed until his face was hovering over hers.
“Would you do something for me?” Her face was serious, contemplative and showing her waning energy.
“Anything.” He was thrown by how eager he was to fulfill her request, whatever it was. She was his help, his confidant and the only one who could understand him.
Chloe felt shy but voiced her request anyway. She had nothing to lose, it was all gone. “Sleep here with me?”
Lex hesitated before nodding and levering himself up beside her on the large bed. Settling next to her, he carefully placed his arm around her waist and watched as she closed her eyes. Feeling her body go slack, he was surprised to find he was equally tired and relaxed. Before long both were asleep.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++
Back in the security room, Eddie watched the couple get into bed before turning off the bedroom camera. Whatever was going on between them and his personal feelings about it, they deserved privacy and Mr. Luthor would demand it. Still, some of his cynical suspicions melted at the way they stayed nestled together even in sleep. The girl looked peaceful at last and, Eddie suspected, Mr. Luthor was as close to peace as he had been in years.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++
oh. i really like this story. more, more, more. please?
:clap: Wow! This story.. Me like it! :chlexsign1: It's just so sweet! Update soon!!!
Great chapter.