-
Separation (NC-17) Completed 2nd September 2014
Separation
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I don’t own Smallville, hence the lack of Chlex action in the series.
Spoilers: I don’t think so.
Summary: Lex needs help.
A/N: Yes, I am aware that I have two other stories on this board which are unfinished and that my second original novel hasn’t got passed the first four chapters but the plot bunny was insistent so here it is.
Chapter One
The crisp autumn sunshine bore down on the city of Metropolis, glinting off the LuthorCorp sky scraper. It filled the penthouse apartment, a sleek luxury abode filled with thousands upon thousands of dollars of art and antiques … most of which were now strewn across the floor. Most of them damaged if not completely destroyed. In short, the apartment is in chaos.
In the centre of the warzone stood a tall man with a forbidding expression etched onto his features. His normally pristine dark slacks were wrinkled and bore signs of spilled liquid, his shirt was rumpled, the sleeves up rolled up around his forearms and his jacket long since discarded.
In an obvious attempt to reign in his fury, he took a deep breath before pursing his lips attempting to reign in his fury. It wasn’t an entirely convincing expression. Even if it had, the redness creeping up his exposed neck would have been a dead giveaway. The normally composed businessman stared the room’s other inhabitant down.
She returned his gaze, apparently unimpressed by his towering size, his impervious expression or the warning glint in his eyes. She was his heart. She was absolutely gorgeous. Her long blonde hair hung messily around her face, but it couldn’t disguise her blue/green eyes or her will of iron.
“I am not in the habit of taking no for an answer”. He gave her the look which had sent older if not wiser people than she, ones who had been hardened by years of business battles, for the hills.
“No”. The word was screamed loudly enough for the entire city to hear. If either of them had torn their gaze away from the staring match in which they were engaged, they would have seen the pigeons who had been resting on the balcony taking flight.
He was a little shocked by the vehemence of her reaction but refused to let it show. “I will repeat myself”, he spoke slowly and clearly, “one more time”, it was more than anyone else would have got. He received another “no” for his troubles, along with a cacophony of “’ hate you’s”, screamed at him as she tore out of the living-room she had destroyed towards her bedroom.
“Lillian Luthor you come back here right now”, his tone brooked no disobedience, yet disobey she did. Lex Luthor, one of the most revered and feared men in the world, was met with a mahogany door slamming in his face and a shrill proclamation that she would never forgive him, “Not ever”.
Lex followed hot on her heels, his hand on the doorknob ready to rip the door of its hinges. He would not be locked out of a room in his own home and he certainly would not be spoken to like that. She was going to come out, talk about this and then clean up the mess. Then … He froze; through the door he could hear the unmistakable sound of muffled sobs.
“Fuck”, he swore, hopefully not loudly enough for his daughter to hear. Suddenly feeling about a hundred years old, with a head which weighed more or less the same as the state of Kansas, he leant forwards. The feel of the hard wood against his forehead did little to cool him down. He could still hear her, her breath catching in her tiny body. He gripped the door knob. Pride be damned; he had to go to her. He had made her so unhappy.
He straightened, turned around, made his way to the settee, brushed aside a few of the objects now strewn over it, and sank down. He surveyed the apartment and the incredible levels of damage which his progeny had wreaked. Nothing had been spared. His eyes travelled from his broken laptop, his destroyed documents, and his ancestor’s portraits now besmirched with crayon across the toy laden floor to his expensive decanter of whiskey which she had smashed. Heaving himself up, he made his way through the obstacle course of expensive, smashed toys and family heirlooms to the kitchen.
He was faced with the shattered remnants of porcelain and the hunk of broccoli stuck to the wall, which had actually started the whole meltdown. With a suppressed growl, he flung one of the cabinets open and grabbed a bottle of scotch, ripping its top off in one quick movement. He leant back against the kitchen counter top, ignoring the sensation that something was sticking to his rumpled shirt that shouldn’t be, as he swigged directly from the bottle.
How the fuck had he ended up like this? He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. His head was throbbing and he was convinced that he could still hear the sound of his child in pain. “What the fuck am I supposed to do?” He asked the deserted room. Unsurprisingly, no answer was forth coming. The broccoli which remained stubbornly affixed to his wall, seemed to be mocking him.
He had no idea what he had done wrong. That day had been planned out like a military campaign - it was to be their first day together after all. He had arrived early to pick her up, giving him time to collect his bearings and make sure that he was looking his best with a big smile and a new pink pony cuddly toy under his arm. He had not got the huge hug he had been hoping for (and expecting), in fact she had seemed shy around him at first but he had hoped and trusted that she would open up once she had settled in.
The apartment had been done up since she had last seen it, and he had ensured that her bedroom was a little princess’ dream. It must have worked as she had seemed fine, if a little subdued, and had spent the rest of the morning at the coffee table in the living room colouring in as he worked on his laptop. He had planned to take her to the park after lunch, which had been nutritious and carefully thought out, but which had also proved to be her undoing. He had only suggested that she try some of the broccoli when she had erupted.
He was sure that she had liked broccoli, but even if she hadn’t her reaction had been completely unwarranted. There could be no excuse for the way that she had destroyed his laptop, his phone or his iPad. If it hadn’t happened in front of his very eyes he would have never believed it. It had reminded him of that Gremlins movie he had once seen at Prep school, his sweet little angel transforming into a monster. What was more, a monster of surprising speed. He couldn’t believe how quickly she had sped around, destruction in her wake, somehow managing to slip right through his fingers twice.
His bedroom was the scene of the next show down. He finally cornered her there, where she was attacking his passport with a pair of scissors she had found on his desk. She must have been possessed by the devil, that was the only explanation – a devil who had given her super speed. The second that he had released her, to place the scissors out of her reach, she had taken off once again, smashing, throwing or kicking everything in her path. If getting to his most prized painting hadn’t necessitated the arduous task of climbing up onto the mantelpiece, he doubted that he could have caught her again.
Lillian’s small body had been wrenched from the fireplace and tucked under his arm as he strode back across the room before, before being plonked down in the centre of the room a safe distance from anything that could potentially hurt her. He had been seething. Not only had she been rude, disrespectful, disobedient, made it impossible for him to continue with his work, and not eaten her broccoli, she had put herself in danger. She knew better than to go near the fireplace, climb on things and go near alcohol or broken glass.
He swore again as he began to pace, remembering the complete hash that he had made of everything. He hadn’t the faintest idea what to do and the mess (literal as well as figurative) was driving him crazy. At least one of them could be easily fixed. He ordered his staff in, and told them curtly to have the place spotless within twenty minutes before heading to his own suite of rooms (next to his daughter’s).
In his safe sat several emergency laptops, phones, tablets and copies of any and all important documents. He should have got straight back to work, but he stood there staring out of the window at the city which stretched out before him. All of this he could control, but one little girl had proved to be his undoing.
With no small degree of effort, he forced himself to calm down slightly; he was in no fit state to face her as he was. He went to shower and change his clothes, removing all evidence of her disobedience from his attire. Then he checked his reflection in the mirror, he was pleased to see looked more like himself. He was, once more, the slick, ruthless businessman who was feared all over the country.
“Back into the valley of the beast”, he said, his voice deceptively calm. He had decided to be polite and calm whatever happened. He marched out of his room and over to Lillian’s, noticing as he went that his orders had been carried out and that the place was not sparkling with what could be salvaged of her toys neatly stacked, all evidence of the tantrum removed and his prized painting covered up. He tapped on the door and took the muffled, “Go away”, as an invitation to enter.
“Lillian”, he started calmly, as he closed the door after himself. “I have come to talk to you and I hoped that this time we could have a mature and sensible conversation”.
He swallowed as he got his first good look at the room. The sea of pink was just as he had left it with only one small exception, there was tiny ball underneath the bed clothes and a unicorn’s horn sticking out of the top.
“Now”, he continued prosaically, making his way over to the bed. He considered sitting down on it for a second but then decided that that seemed too intrusive, he thought about remaining standing but didn’t want to tower over her, so he dragged a nearby, unfortunately child sized chair over, and did his best to be seated on it whilst maintaining the correct air of calm and patient authority.
“You know that your behaviour out there was not acceptable”, he continued giving her the opportunity to turn to face him properly. She appeared disinclined to do so. “And”, he tried to continue but stopped again, disconcerted. He was finding this hard enough without not being able to see her face; she might not even have been listening to him for all he knew. “Come on, sit up I can’t talk to you like this”.
“Don’t care”, she sniffled into her pillow, her voice still mulish and broken. The ball in his grew so large that he couldn’t swallow around it, he could barely breath. He supposed that he should have been happy for a proof that she hadn’t been ignoring him, but her obvious pain cut him to the quick.
“Lillian”, he repeated her name, “this is not going to work. We need to be able to talk about this to get to the bottom of the matter and start to forge a relationship”, apparently the book he had read the night before had had more of an effect than he had thought.
“Don’t care, hate you. Never want to speak to you again. Never going to forgive you. Want to go home!” Her normally eloquent (for her age) speech was garbled, the words either running into each other or punctuated with hiccups but Lex understood her.
“No baby, don’t say that”, he leaped up and reached over to the corner of the bed where she was hiding, and tried to pull her into his arms but she resisted, clinging to the bed with all of her might. “Princess, baby”, he tried again but met with the same reaction and, fearing that he might actually hurt her, he placed her back on the bed.
“Okay Lillian, you are clearly still upset. I will give you some time to calm down and then we will talk and try to put this all behind us”. ‘Put the mess behind them’, he snorted, that was code for ‘Please forgive me, I’ll forget about everything you did wrong, all of the naughtiness and let you get away with anything you want if you will just stop crying. If you stop hating me too, I will buy you a real pony to boot’.
He strove to remind himself that sometimes children needed time alone and that you weren’t supposed to give in to their every demand. That was what all of the books said. He forced himself to leave the room and wait for a whole hour – staring intently at his watch, just outside her bedroom door – before re-entering, but he had no more luck the second time around.
She still refused to even look at him. He tried to remain calm and not cave. Half an hour after that he returned with oranges, thinking that she needed to at least eat something but was met with stony silence. Twenty-five minutes later, he tried with bananas with the same result. Twenty minutes later, it was apples. Fifteen minutes after that, raspberries. Both were met with the same lack of response. By the time that he got it down to one minute intervals he had given up all thoughts of discipline, remaining calm and not negotiating. He was openly begging her to eat something, anything, and trying to sneak chocolate buttons into her.
Still she refused.
He retreated and grabbed his last hope, the house phone. He punched in the number he still remembered so well and held his breath as it rang once, twice and then he got the connection. In one breath, he let go of every last vestige of pride he possessed, “Chloe, I know that this is not a good time, and that I have no right to just call you up but I need you”.
A/N: If you would like me to continue with this story, please review so that I know. Also, feedback on what you think about Lex and the potential age of the child would be much appreciated (along with anything else of course). I know her age, but as witnessed before, the kids I know seem to be a bit smarter than the average ones.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
Very good start! I am hoping chloe is the mother...? I would estimate the child to be 5/6?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
This is an interesting start, I can't wait to read Chloe's introduction to the story and how she reacts to the chaos.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
I love the idea of Lex and his own Luthor hellion progeny. I can't wait to see how Chloe plays into this story.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
Great start, can't wait for more.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
interesting.can't wait to see when chloe gets introduced
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
Hmm, great beginning. Can't wait to see how Chloe will handle Lily.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
Thank-you to all of my lovely reviewers. :D
Trinna: Thank-you, I hope that you will continue to read. :)
Trckyrcky: Yay, hope that it won't dissapoint.
Cbrunberg: She is going to be introduced right now! :D
Tyrarose: Yay! Thanks for reviewing.
Tatie87: Oh Lilly is going to be so much worse than Lex. Hint for a couple of chapter's time: Lilly has Lionel wrapped around her little finger.
Welshy: He he Thank-you for reviewing, update coming in a few minutes.
Kaw: Aren' you clever. ;)
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
A/N: And here it is, the next chapter.
Chapter Two
Chloe was antsy. There was no reason why she should be: it was a beautiful day in Metropolis, she was with a handsome man, and was strolling along the sidewalk towards a lovely lunch, however she couldn’t rid herself of the nervous tension which had been plaguing her all day.
She was so tense that she almost jumped out of her skin when her phone sounded. “Sorry”, she shot her date an apologetic smile as she rummaged around in her bag, furious with herself for not having worn something with pockets. This was the last time that she was going to try to look good for a date.
“Don’t worry about it, I understand”, he smiled at her gently, supporting her bag to aid her frantic search.
As her fingers closed around her treasure she glanced up at him, and was struck by a warm, fuzzy feeling she had not experienced for quite a while. He was really quite handsome, not exactly tall but hardly short, with a reasonable physic and auburn curly hair, green eyes and an enthusiastic, heart-felt smile. He reminded her of a puppy dog. These pleasant thoughts disappeared as she flipped open her cell and felt her heart freeze: “Chloe, I know that this is not a good time, that I have no right to just call you up but I need you”.
Panic rose up through her, and she demanded, “What the hell is wrong Luthor?” without consideration for those passing-by.
“I need you”, his voice cracked with desperation but even had it not, she knew what it cost him to utter those words. He sounded exhausted, and more defeated than she had thought possible. He hadn’t sounded that bad when his father had taken everything from him.
“Are you both alright?” She got the question out somehow, fearing the worse.
“Yes”. Chloe breathed a sigh of relief as he uttered that one word. “I know that I don’t have the right but …”
“We’ll be there in five minutes”, she calculated the distance as she stuck her hand out to summon a taxi.
Even through his relief (which was by no means inconsiderable), Lex had noticed the ‘we’ and had been about to inquire about that when she hung up. He took a deep breath as he placed the phone back in its cradle and stuck his head back around his daughter’s bedroom. There was no change there; she was still huddled up with the covers over her head, flatly refusing to come out or to eat anything.
He hated feeling impotent. It was just typical that the two people he cared about most in the world were the only two that he could not bend to his will. He cleared his throat to signal that he was back and then asked if she would like something but was met with the same silence. He was not used to being ignored, anyone else he would have forced them to look at and speak to him – and give him the answers he wanted – but he couldn’t do that to his baby. He couldn’t risk hurting her.
In a much shorter time than had been indicated the door burst open. He turned just in time to see Chloe marching in, with a man in her wake. He had no idea whether security had recognised her or if they had just been too petrified to try to stop her. He felt a little nervous himself and was glad that he had had everything cleaned up.
“Chloe, I can explain”, he started, as he came out of the bedroom into the living room. She was every bit as gorgeous as in his dreams, her blonde hair was windswept, her cheeks pink and her eyes glinting with fury. Had he not been so concerned about his daughter, he would have felt himself stirring as he always did when she was angry.
“Where is she?” Chloe inquired in clipped tones, never directly looking at him.
“She’s through here, in her -”, he didn’t get out the word bedroom (thus being denied the opportunity to demonstrate that he had made provision for her), as he was pushed out of the way as soon as she found out the right direction. He narrowly avoided hitting the door jamb as she forged ahead.
Lex caught a brief glimpse of his rival making himself comfortable on his several thousand dollar sofa as he turned and followed Chloe inside, making a point of closing the door behind him.
Chloe scanned the spacious bedroom – it was about the size of the house she had grown up in and was filled with toys and various shades of pink, she wasn’t surprised, especially not after having glimpsed the pile of new toys in the sitting room – until she discovered the little lump under the bedspread with a unicorn horn that she recognised from that morning sticking out of the top.
“Baby”, she cried out, and Lex realised that Lillian came by her super speed honestly as Chloe bolted across the room. She failed to stop in time and ended up crashing into the bed clambering for the bump. Lex got a rather nice view of her bottom clad in her ‘bring men to their knees go to’ wrap around green dress, as she crawled across the enormous bed to scoop up the bump.
It was the kind of intrusion that Lex had hesitated to make, all things considered, but Lillian didn’t appear to mind. “Mommy”, she cried out, finally immerging as she wouldn’t for him and flinging her arms around Chloe, burying her face in her neck.
“It’s okay sweetie pie, I’m here, I’m here”, Chloe was almost pulled over by the little girl, but by reaching around to hitch her up with one arm and using the other to push herself back against the headboard and straightening her legs she managed to keep herself from falling forwards and crushing her.
Chloe bounced her up and down slightly and patted her back as if she were still a new-born, as fresh tears burbled up from the little girl.
Lex’s throat and chest constricted at the sight. He was so completely and utterly helpless. The bright light pouring in through the window highlighted just how terribly unhappy his angel was and that Chloe, as beautiful as ever, looked thinner than he would have liked, tired and upset too. He wanted to wrap his arms around both of them but that wasn’t his job anymore – his thoughts went back to the man he was dimly aware was waiting in his living room but he found him fairly easy to ignore.
“Does she need medicine?” He asked, as he perched on the bed, opposite Chloe as she whispered, “Sh, sh, it’s going to be alright. It’s all going to be alright”.
“Medicine? Why would she need medicine? She was fine this morning”, Chloe’s eyes snapped up to his face, in alarm, for the first time that day. She checked her daughter’s temperature with the back of her hand, only to find that she wasn’t overly hot considering how much crying she had been doing.
“She hasn’t been acting like herself”, Lex explained, reaching out his hand to stroke her long, blonde hair. Lillian clung even more desperately to her mother and Lex received a look, over his daughter’s head which stated that she had better get an explanation quickly and that it had better be the right one or she was quite capable of ripping his balls off and shoving them down his throat.
“Chloe, you can’t think that I hurt her”, he barked out in protest.
“I don’t think that you hit her, that is not quite the same thing”, Chloe muttered.
The ball of pain and guilt which had previously formed in his throat was now larger than said column, he was hot all over and sure that he was going a few seconds away from death. He actually felt slightly dizzy. His hands twisted in the coverlet to keep from throwing himself on both of them and trying to hold them, he felt a chocolate button beginning to melt under his hand and flicked it away. He felt Chloe’s questioning eyes upon him.
“She wouldn’t eat so I had to do something”, he explained, or at least, he tried to.
“Letting her eat buttons in bed?” Reproach only touched upon her tone.
“No, she wouldn’t eat them”, he sounded genuinely dismayed. “I was trying to get them under the covers”, prove position that he was a man at his wit’s end.
In spite of herself, she rolled her eyes. “That isn’t going to work”.
“Yeah, I worked that out”, he snapped.
There were both on edge, their daughter’s pain palpable and until she calmed down enough to speak there was nothing that they could do to help.
“She wouldn’t eat and then went berserk”, he offered by way of explanation.
“Thanks, that’s very helpful”, she snipped, and then closed her eyes. Great, that was the last thing that she should be doing. She couldn’t let her fear and anxiety for her daughter and her heartbreak over Lex lead her into acting improperly. Lex was the father of her most beloved child, and she wouldn’t be guilty of the impropriety of arguing with him in front of her. “Look”, she said, with a heavy sigh in her voice, “this”, she indicated to their seating arrangement, “doesn’t seem to be getting us anywhere. We have established that there is a problem, but not what it is and Lilly isn’t getting any calmer. Maybe you could wait outside?”
Lex blinked at her. Had she really just turfed him out of one of the rooms in his own home? His first through was to refuse but then he looked down at his baby, still crying and obviously wasn’t going to stop until he left. “As you wish”, he heaved himself up, a granite mask taking hold of his features.
Chloe felt her heart about to break all over again, she called out after him, “We will be out in a little while”.
He didn’t look back as he left, taking great pain to close the door softly. He felt as if he had just run a gauntlet, and then been rolled over by a pantechnicon truck. He was ready to sink into the arms of his constant companion, alcohol when he saw the man still sitting on his sofa.
“How’s Lilly?” He asked before Lex could open his mouth.
“I think that that is a family matter”, Lex snapped, “Jimmy, isn’t it?”
“It is”, the young man affirmed, apparently having no intention of leaving without Chloe. Lex scowled at the man who would probably end up raising his daughter, who he had seen with his arms around Chloe even back when they were supposed to be happily married.
The impertinent pup continued, “It might well be a family matter but Chloe and Lilly are both my friends and I would like to know if there is something seriously wrong with her”.
The concern in his eyes underlined the speech and Lex huffed. He couldn’t let anyone who cared about his child – however much he might hate him – suffer.
“We don’t know what is wrong with her yet. She wouldn’t eat her lunch so I am assuming the worst, I am considering calling the hospital just as a safety measure”.
“She might just not have liked it”, Jimmy suggested, “what was it?”
Lex shook his head, “It was roast chicken, potatoes, carrots and broccoli”. He watched as Jimmy’s face screwed up, and explained. “Lilly loves broccoli, strange I know but she really does”.
“No, she doesn’t”.
“Yes”, he stressed the word, “she does”.
“No”, he did a good impression of Lex, “she doesn’t. She used to like it until her third week of school when John Roberts threw up a load of broccoli right next to where she was sitting”.
“What? I never heard that”, Lex barked, still not sure that that explained the melt down but furious that no one had bothered to inform him of such an upsetting moment of his daughter’s life. He needed to be in possession of all of the facts, especially if random other people knew about them. Who the hell did they think that they were to keep information about his daughter from him?
A nagging voice in the back of his mind reminded him that he and Chloe had still been together then, that they had all been living in the same house. He sighed. He hadn’t had a business trip that week; Lilly should have told him herself. “Why wasn’t I told?”
Jimmy shrugged, “I don’t know. You were working, I presume. You were out of the country what, twenty-four, twenty-five weeks of last year?”
Lex’s teeth ground together for a second, before he answered in a dangerous voice, “Some of us have to work. I was here that week and when I wasn’t I called … I should have been told”. His words halted as he did the maths.
He had been away from home a lot last year and had not been too happy about it but it had been necessary he kept reminding himself. And when he had been in Metropolis he had had to work long hours, often from before Lilly woke up to after she went to sleep meaning that at least four or five days a week they hadn’t had any contact, he had gone entire weeks without having a conversation with his wife either. And when he had been away he hadn’t managed to call every single day. But it had all been necessary. It had just a temporary situation, once the business deal was over they would go back to being a happy family, or that had been the plan. It had never occurred to him that Chloe would leave him and take their daughter with her.
Over the last week since the separation had been decided upon, he had worked, plotted and drank a lot, but he had never managed to work out where it had all gone wrong. He hadn’t realised until that moment how separated he had become from his little family.
He felt sick … and like throwing something across the room. He guessed that he knew from whence Lillian had inherited that particular trait. He probably would have followed through on that desire had his ladies not been in the adjoining room.
“Come on now sweetie pie”, Chloe raised her daughter’s head, “you have to tell me what is going on. You are really starting to scare me and Daddy”.
She shook her little tear stained face.
“Daddy and I aren’t worried?” Chloe inquired, an eyebrow raised. She was not used to her daughter arguing with her. “Because I really thought that I was”.
“Not Daddy”, she managed to get out.
“Of course Daddy was worried, didn’t you see how scared he was?” Chloe had rarely seen Lex looking so genuinely terrified.
Lilly wasn’t having any of it. She informed Chloe of Lex’s long list of sins from that day which all proved that he didn’t love her and so she hated him. Her little chin wobbled. Lex’s future looked very painful in deed as Chloe began to mop up her baby and tried to convince her that it would all be alright.
Lex jumped to attention as his ladies reappeared. “Are you feeling better now Lillian?” He tried to sound composed and hoped that he looked business-like.
Lillian attempted to hide from him again, behind her mother’s leg. She was angry with him, furious in fact, but she wasn’t sure that she would survive another prove of his ambivalence towards her.
A flash of pain shot across his features and Chloe felt her heart lurch. She pretended not to notice her daughter’s attempts to hide and asked enthusiastically, “Would you mind keeping Uncle Jimmy company while I talk to Daddy for a moment, sweetie pie?”
“Uncle Jimmy?” Her head popped out, she spied him apparently for the first time and bolted to him, grinning and arms outstretched with a cry of delight. Chloe swallowed, wondering for a moment why she had thought that that would help diffusing matters.
“Hello there bright eyes, how it my most favourite-ist girl in the world?”
She giggled and planted a big kiss on his cheek as he scooped her up, but was apparently not so enamoured that she could refrain from correcting him. “Favourite-ist is not a word”.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes”.
He made a show of scratching his chin thoughtfully, a gesture which she copied, “What about pretty-ful most gorgeous-ist?”
“Nope”.
“Well that’s a shame”.
Lex, his heat ready to break in two, had been about snatch his daughter away from such a terrible influence and tell him to speak properly and then get out when he felt Chloe’s hand on his arm, pulling him, none to gently, into the corner.
Jimmy’s fascination was not great enough to keep Lilly from watching with interest, tinged with concern. They didn’t seem to be arguing but her parents never argued (at least as far as she knew) but something seemed off. She was just about to go over an investigate and demand that her mommy took her home when they appeared to end the conversation and head back over but then, Chloe stopped him. Lilly struggled to get out of Jimmy’s arms, straining to hear but was unsuccessful catching only the words “alcohol”, “baby”, “ balls off”. She wrinkled her forehead in confusion alla Lex. That made no sense, Daddy didn’t have any balls of fun things to play with but it seemed to make sense to him as he paled and looked about to apologise but Chloe wasn’t listening. She was marching back over to the settee and sat down next to Jimmy and Lilly, who was still sitting in his lap.
Lex swallowed, Chloe’s words ringing in his ears. Shit, he had fucked up royally once again. Had he been anyone else in the world he would have sat down and cried at that moment, begging for forgiveness and for them to come back to him. He would do anything that they wanted but he was a Luthor before anything else and so he forced himself to walk forwards calmly. He put his hands in his pockets, so that the ladies wouldn’t see the fists he was making, as he watched as Jimmy kissed Chloe on the cheek and then repeated the process on Lilly and added a hair ruffle. Lex scowled, especially as he stood up indicating that he was about to leave – he didn’t want Chloe and Lilly to leave with him – but then, blessedly, with a nod to Lex he left.
“Right”, Lex clapped his hands together, regaining everyone’s attention, and taking control of the situation, “now that he has gone we can get down to business”. He walked over to them and sat down on the coffee table, so that he wasn’t towering over either of them, “now hopefully we can sit down and talk about this like sensible adults”.
“I’m not an adult”, Lillian pointed out, apparently forgetting everything else in her need to correct.
Chloe glanced worriedly between the two of them.
He smiled at her fondly, “I know that. Now I’m not saying that I approve of your behaviour this morning or the fact that you refused to sit down so that we could resolve the problem but when I said acting like an adult I meant myself”.
He thought that he heard a sigh of relief coming from Chloe’s direction, but he couldn’t take his eyes off his baby even for her. His baby did not look convinced.
“You don’t like broccoli”, he stated simply.
She shook her head, although under his serious gaze she attempted to hide at least half of her face behind Chloe’s arm once more.
“I thought that you did”, he explained, feebly.
“No”, she proceeded to explain why and Lex nodded understandingly. “That must have been very traumatic for you”.
“It was”, she said, as if vindicated after some people (a school teacher) had said that it was time she got over it. She wouldn’t say that now that Daddy agreed with her.
“I bet that you would have liked to discuss such a terrible experience with your Daddy”, he suggested.
She nodded.
“But I wasn’t around enough”.
She shook her head.
“And then we all left our house and went to live in different accommodation. That must have been very hard”, he really should have been flogged as his father had suggested upon hearing of the break in the family.
She teared up a little and attempted burrow herself completely behind Chloe.
“And today didn’t go very well, did it?” He reached out and tugged her little foot, desperate for some contact. He liked her patent shoes, they were very nice. He figured that he should probably have told her as much. “I think that I have quite a good idea as to why, but I would like to hear it from you”. That absolutely wasn’t true, he didn’t want to hear (he wanted to stick his fingers in his ears and sing la la la repeatedly to avoid hearing how badly he had hurt his child) but he knew that it was the only way to forge ahead. He was not losing his daughter as well as his wife.
His heart ached as he watched her getting shy and scrambling into Chloe’s lap and burying her head again, once she had worked out that Chloe wouldn’t let her hide behind her from her father. He swallowed and moved over to sit on the settee next to them and reached out to stroke her back and felt her tremble, “Please sweetie”.
“Go on”, Chloe encouraged.
“Sweetheart”, Lex continued to stroke her hair, “would you tell me what happened, please? That is all that I want, that’s all that I have been trying to do since lunchtime. I want to understand”.
This met with no response.
“Please baby, I love you so much I need to understand”. He was beyond desperate now.
Chloe felt sick, dying to embrace the man who was technically still her husband and leant over to try to offer him some form of comfort when she was prevented from doing to by her daughter; Lex’s words finally sparked a reaction, although not the one he had been hoping for.
A garbled torrent of vehemence abounded and once again he was reminded forcefully of Chloe, ending in, “You don’t love me”.
“Yes I do baby, of course I do. You know that I do, I …” He realised that he had handed things badly but she couldn’t really believe that.
“You don’t love me and you don’t love Mommy and you are a bad man and I hate you and I hate broccoli and I will never forgive you”, she got out in one breath.
“Baby no”, he cried out, looking around ready to break, “you can’t really believe that. I love you both so much, more than you could ever realise. You have to know that”. He looked at Chloe in distress only to find her staring at him in complete and utter shock. She couldn’t help but remember how they had broken up.
As he looked from one angelic face to the other he realised that neither of them believed him. They both genuinely believed that he didn’t them.
His features settled into a hard, cold mask.
A/N: If you got this far down, thanks for reading now please review. Question for the chapter: what do you think of how both sides are handling the problem? Is Lilly naughty or just misunderstood?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
I feel so bad for Lex. How did it get so bad? :(
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
Very good chapter but jimmy???? I hate jimmy Olsen! He is such an annoying character! I think chloe should snog Lionel in retaliation! Poor lily is just mixed up due to the separation and because lex was away so much on business. Feel sorry for all of them and can't wait for them to reconnect as a family.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
Poor Lex:-( Looks like he really messed up the good life he had with Chloe and Lily. I hope he repent soon and show his girls that they are more important than his work.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
love the story please update soon i hope lex can fix things with his daughter and chloe.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
can't wait to see what lex does to fix things with chloe and lily.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
Once again, thank-you for the reviews. :D
Cbrunberg: Me neither!
Starmoon: I updated as soon as I could - I was inspired by the reviews. ;)
Trckyrcky: Yep, he did.
Kaw: Ha ha that would be funny and thanks for reminding me that I have another fic that needs updating.
Hfce: Work mostly. That and assuming that people know how you feel without you saying anything.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
Chapter Three
Lex’s mind whirred into action even as his face and eyes shut off. He was calculating. He hadn’t even worked out how to digest what he had just discovered, but he was already ready to manipulate.
He had had a plan this morning, it had failed; this would need to be far superior.
Lex arrived outside the Victorian fronted apartment block which had used to be a hotel until it had been converted a few years back. He had been there quite a few times in the past as it was Gabe’s place in Metropolis but he had never thought that he would be there to visit his wife and daughter.
Once again, he straightened his perfectly straight tie and checked his watch, he was still five minutes early. That wasn’t too bad he decided. He entered, slipped the doorman a couple of thousand to keep a special eye on his girls and gave his usual threatening look at the manager as he got into the lift. He was now only three minutes early. No one needed to know that he had arrived an hour before and sat outside in the car twiddling his thumbs. He had known that it was imperative not to be late.
He rang the Sullivans’ (according to the letter box) doorbell at exactly 8:30. The door swung open a second later to reveal his wife, dressed in her dark green dress, the one which wrapped around her figure snuggly and revealed a delightful glimpse of cleavage, and emphasised her hips. Her hair hung around her shoulders, a little longer than before and her face looking perfect like porcelain.
“Good morning Lex, Lilly is not quite ready yet. Would you like to come in for a moment?” She didn’t look at him.
“If it is not an imposition”, he said and entered as she moved to the side.
“Not at all”, she was determined to be polite.
The apartment was much as he remembered it, except with slightly more stuff. Chloe’s inability to keep things in their draws made his heart lurch in his chest. In the centre of the mess was Lillian Luthor (provided that Chloe hadn’t changed her name yet) sitting at the small table just for her colouring and watching the television, a glass of milk to her side. Her long blonde hair was flowing down her back and she was dressed in a pretty multi-coloured pinafore.
It always shocked him just how small something with such a huge presence could actually be, but he realised that she had grown a lot since he had last spent time with her. Had Lex realised that it had been a whole eight weeks since he had actually seen her – the day after his last return to the country – which would more than explain that.
“Lillian your father is here”, Chloe called over to her. “You will have to drink your milk up now”.
Lilly looked over, apparently noticing them for the first time, she had been so engrossed in her colouring project. She didn’t look particularly happy to see him, she looked back down at her drawing and then sighed but drank her milk up.
“Good morning Lillian, how are you?” He asked walking, along with Chloe, over to her.
“Quite well, thank-you”, she got up and handed him a picture. “How are you?”
“This is quite good”, he said examining it closely. He was getting a copy of this.
“Thank-you”, Lillian answered politely but without any apparent joy.
He looked up to show it to Chloe only to see her scowling at him and realised that he was hogging the picture and shouldn’t be just hanging around in her apartment. “I’m sorry I had better hand this over to Mommy”. He did so and she cooed over it before going to put it on the fridge so that everyone could admire it.
Lillian and Lex stood there looking at each other, he had rather been hoping for a hug but he supposed that she must be having a hard time and that the best thing to do was to get her back to his place where she could get settled in.
When Chloe returned and started to talk about getting Lilly ready to go, the little girl tried to hide behind her mother until Lex remembered the little friend he had brought for her. She came out to hug her new pink unicorn, rubbing her face against its soft fur.
In his stupidity at the time, he had thought that his plan to get her to settle in would work. He was as big an idiot as his father had always claimed. He had tried to do everything right. When she hadn’t given him a hug, he had given her space. When she had commented on her new drawing table he had set crayons out for her and used his laptop until she had finished. At the time, he had honestly thought that he had done the right thing, he had no idea that she might have taken it as a sign of him no longer caring about her.
He had done everything wrong, he had lost and hurt his family and at that moment he was quite convinced that he might actually die. He was a fucking bastard just like his Dad. In his attempts to be better, he had done everything wrong.
“Lillian”, tried to make her look at him, but she refused. “Okay”, he sad settling back against the sofa, “I mean it is probably better that it remains a secret”, her head perked up. “It is just so important and …”
“I wanna know”.
He looked surprised. “Are you sure?”
“Yes”, she bounced up slightly, but then stipulated, “but Mommy and Ursula Unicorn come too”.
“Of course”. He got up and held his hand out but neither of them took it. Fuck, he hoped that this worked. If it didn’t, he had no idea what he was going to do. Locking them up with him repeating that he loved them both until they stopped looking shocked by the idea was about the only other option which came to mind.
They went down one level until they were in his office, somewhere he had never brought Lilly and where Chloe hadn’t visited for over two years. He held the door open for them and ushered them both in, noting how timid Lilly suddenly seemed … until she saw a laptop. She trotted forwards, apparently intent upon harming it until Chloe scooped her up from behind also able to guess her daughter’s intent. Although judging by her expression, she wouldn’t have minded smashing it to smithereens either.
Lex would have smiled at their malevolent expressions (especially Chloe’s towards a laptop, the former love of her life) had he not been the one to cause it. Trying to ignore the pain in his heart, he strode over to his desk and opened his laptop.
As the screen flashed on Lilly cried out, “That’s me”. The desktop was a gorgeous image of her and Chloe all cuddled up on the settee at home, from last Christmas.
“Of course it is”, he smiled down at her, “it’s you and Mommy. Who else would I want to have a picture of?”
She was too busy scrabbling up into his chair to answer him. The laptop was less of a threat now that it had something to do with her. She reached out to click an icon which looked like a photo album and the screen was flooded with hundreds of images, all of her. She flicked through them until something decided that it had to take its time loading, and she couldn’t be bothered to wait. She spun the chair around to face his bookcase which contained even more pictures of her. “That’s me too and Mommy”.
With unrequested help from Lex, she got down and began to investigate the office in earnest. She spared a glance at Mommy – who normally liked to help her on her detective missions – but found that she was being very boring and holding one hand over her mouth. With a shrug, Lilly continued pottering around taking note of everything until she and Ursula came across something that looked like it could be played with. “What’s that?”
“This is a scale model of our newest plant”, Lex explained from where he was standing right behind her. He moved around to the other side of the coffee table and sat down on the sofa, before dragging it towards him. Lilly, as he had hoped, scampered around and sat next to him forgetting everything else in her need to discover and play. He felt a fist tightening around his heart.
Chloe, still looking pale and shocked, came over and sat beside her daughter.
“It is our plan for the first completely self-sustaining city. It runs entirely off solar power and recycled rain water. You know that Daddy owns every power plant in the developed world and all of the corn and grain?”
“Nope, didn’t know that?” She was staring at the model with interest.
“You didn’t? What did you think that I was doing when I was working?”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“Chloe?”
“I knew that you were in those lines and had obviously done some research but … no, I had no idea it was that far advanced. You always said … but …”
Lex swallowed, he had been so bloody preoccupied with saving the world, providing the best possible future for his wife and daughter that he hadn’t even told them what he was doing. He screwed his eyes shut for a few seconds as he remembered all of the times last year that he had come home stressed, too late to put his baby to bed but Chloe had still been up. She had wanted to talk, to help him but he had just told her not to worry and made love to her. Taking all of the comfort he needed from her. It was no wonder that they hadn’t known that he loved them.
He opened his eyes and turned to look at them both, “I have been attempting to create a better world. All energy, water and most human resources will be controlled by me thanks to some experiments on meteor rocks and a lot of manipulation. I wanted to make sure that I had so much power that you two would always be protected, that there would always be a future for you, and that no one could …” he looked at his daughter and so only mouthed k-i-d-n-a-p to Chloe, “so that you could both go out and about without escorts etc”. Once the level of power he had, which would be consolidated in two mere weeks was known, no one would hurt his family and he could essentially retire – as he had always planned – to spend more time with his family. He had never thought that they might sick of him before that happened.
Chloe stared at him open mouthed while Lilly was obviously trying very hard not to touch.
“It’s okay, you can play with it”, Lex told her.
Lilly immediately allowed Ursula to ‘drink’ from the reservoir.
“Now do you see what Daddy is spending his time doing? Making sure that the future is secure”, he tried to convince her.
“Congratulations, you are very important”.
He would take that as a no.
Lex sped over to his desk and took a huge book out of the second draw, returning to Lilly’s side with it. “But you think that I don’t care about you?” He was certain that he saw her chin wobbly a little, although she said nothing.
“Would you like to see my most important, top secret file?” Three pairs of eyes were immediately upon him, he thought that Ursula looked like the one most likely not to doubt his devotion.
He sacrificed his beloved file to his girls and watched anxiously as Chloe helped Lilly to balance the enormous file and then go through them one by one. Every single piece of art work Lilly had ever produced had a perfect replication inside that folder with date, time and other notes so he could watch her development. There were also school and nursery reports interspersed.
“See, I try to know everything”, he said, as they finally closed it and looked at him.
“Getting home on time would be easier”, Lilly would not be won over so easily. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, although a little girl with a broken heart came quite close. “So would asking not just walking away”.
“I didn’t mean to”.
She folded her little arms.
“Please give me the chance to make this up to you”, he begged, “to be the father I should have been all along”. He was beyond desperate; he couldn’t bare the idea of losing his baby.
Lilly waivered slightly, whatever she said she loved her father so much but she couldn’t bear to let herself be hurt again.
“I got you a lot of presents, maybe we could play with them together”, he suggested hopefully.
Lilly considered for a moment, then two, then three. She looked back over her shoulder at her Mommy.
Chloe was a mess of emotions which she couldn’t digest. The one thing that she knew was that she should stay out of it, then she looked at them both. They had identical hurt, desperate, needy expressions and she could see the word “No” forming on Lillian’s lips. Propriety went out of the window. “I really want to have a go on that rocking horse”, she announced, “but we haven’t had lunch yet and I am so hungry. I’m not even sure how I will make it home”. She put the back of her hand to her forehead.
“Daddy Daddy quickly do something”, Lilly turned to him with big eyes, tugging on his sleeve, “Mommy needs her lunch”.
“Yes, have to have lunch before playing”, Lex agreed, trying not to smirk at Chloe’s antics whilst being touched that she would do this for him. “What do you think that we should feed Mommy? The chef will do anything you want”.
“Lasagne!”
Twenty minutes later they were upstairs tucking into lasagne – Lilly had worked up an appetite since her last earlier lunch. It was the start of what turned out to be an excellent afternoon.
Lilly was a little reticent at first and Chloe seemed awkward, ready to bolt at any second, but then after a couple of minutes of uninterrupted playtime with her Daddy the attention went to his little angel’s head. She decided that she would inform him of everything that had happened in her entire life without taking a breath as they worked on a puzzle together. He smiled over at Chloe as his girl reminded him so much of her, only to find her sleeping. He helped Lilly – who carried her Mommy’s hair – to place her on the settee and cover her with a blanket. They continued to play for the rest of the afternoon, even after Chloe woke up, leading to an extremely enthusiastic game of Hungry Hungry Hippos, messy mini pizza making adventure and Lilly running around the room screaming that she didn’t want to go to bed, she wanted to stay up and play with Daddy.
She was normally good about going to bed on time, but she must have been over stimulated. Fortunately, Lex was able to wrangle her into the tub to play with her toys and get her cleaned and snuggled up into bed. Although her final worlds were still that she wasn’t tired and wanted to play more.
“Don’t worry sweet heart, we will play tomorrow”, he promised her with a kiss on her head.
As Lex walked back into the living room with Chloe he ran his hand over his smooth head. “I’m sorry about today Chloe, I didn’t mean to fuck up this badly, to upset her, to make you miss your date and …”
“Don’t worry about it, I’m glad that you called and you didn’t fuck it up. It was just … hard”, she tried to let him off the hook. “I’m sorry that I stayed so long”.
“Come on, we both know that I have made a mess of everything and you know that I love having you hear”.
“Well, yes”, she acknowledged, the words sticking in her throat, “but I know that you didn’t mean to”. She hadn’t known that that morning.
“Yeah, well that doesn’t make it alright but I promise that I am going to make it up to both of you”.
“You don’t have anything to make up to me”, she started but was stopped as he stepped forwards and took her hands in his. She stared up at him and could see an internal battle waging within him.
“I want therapy”.
“Therapy?” She repeated, it probably wasn’t a bad idea seeing what he had been through in his life, but she couldn’t see him going through with it.
“Yes, for us. Couples’ therapy. I know that I don’t deserve another chance, but I want to make things work out. I want us to be a family again”.
A/N: Sorry, this chapter didn't come out the way that it was supposed to. The next one will be better. We go to therapy, meet Lionel and find out how they broke up.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
I'm glad Lex is taking he first step in reconciliation and maybe couple therapy will help them see how much they still love each other.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
Chloe and Lex in couples therapy should be a gas.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 29th January 2014
At least it is a start. I am glad it was Lex who suggested the therapy. I hope she says yes.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 29th January 2014
I'm looking forward to reading more.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 29th January 2014
loved that lex took the first step and that he suggest couples therapy.that should be interesting.you can tell lex wants his family back
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
Cbrunberg: Yes he does. :D
Trinna: I hope that you like it.
Hfce: Don't worry, she will.
Tatie87: I hope so eventually.
Trckyrcky: Thanks for reading and reviewing. :D
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
A/N: Hello everyone, sorry that it took me so long to update and that this first bit is just setting it up so I thought that I would give you two tonight to make up for it - remember, this means that I expect extra long reviews! ;D
Chapter Four
Chloe woke up to hear a light tapping on her door. She made some sort of muffled noise and attempted to sit up and rubbed the worst of the sleep from her eyes.
“Hello sweetheart”, her father appeared from around the door, a cup of steaming hot coffee in his hand. “I hadn’t seen you this morning so I thought that I would come and see how you were”. He welcomed himself in.
“What time is it?” Chloe wondered looking around and saw that her clock was reading a quarter to six.
“Eight o’clock”, he informed her and then, noticing the direction of her gaze, “I think that your clock has stopped. Good job that it is Sunday”.
“Yeah”, she rested against her headboard, and reached out for the coffee as Gabe came to sit on the edge of her bed.
“I take it that you actually managed to sleep last night?”
“Yeah, first night in …” She couldn’t remember the last time that she had got even a semi-decent night’s sleep.
“Well, for the week you’ve been here with me certainly”, Gabe tutted caringly. He would have liked to ring Lex’s neck, and would have if he hadn’t known that it would hurt his babies even more. He had had to stop Lilly going in there several times over the last few nights when she could hear Chloe crying, trying to explain that it wouldn’t help. “I don’t want you to think that I’m prying but if you think that it would help to talk about whatever it was that happened yesterday then I’m here”.
“Thanks Dad”, she gave him her best smile but she was still tired. One night’s sleep and a nap on Lex’s couch did not make up for all of the nights before. “The coffee is helping a lot and thanks for waking me up, I don’t want to be late for therapy”.
“Therapy”, he repeated.
“Yes, Lex and I have decided to try couple’s therapy”, she explained, feeling oddly foolish admitting it.
“When I asked you about that possibility you discounted it”.
“I know, I never thought that Lex would go for it. I thought that he just wanted me out of his life and as quickly as possible but yesterday he asked me to go with him”, she stared into the cup as if coffee could hold the answer to all of her problems, “He said that he still loves me Dad. He said that he loves us both”.
“Well, I am very loveable”.
“I meant Lilly and I”, Chloe laughed and smiled up at her father.
“I always suspected as much”, he reached over and squeezed her shoulder, “I just want you both to be happy”.
“I don’t know if I can ever be happy without him, and I definitely cannot be happy without her. You know that last night was the first life I have ever been away from her”, Chloe said, feeling her throat closing up.
“Want me to go over there and lure her back with chocolate buttons?”
She giggled, “No thanks Dad”.
“Well alright, but the offer stands”.
~*~
Lex strode into the marble hallway of the premier hotel in Metropolis, dressed in an expensive dark business suit and looking somehow taller than normal. His hand was clasped around a little girl’s.
Lilly was prattling away to Lex wiggling her head from side to side, extremely proud of her French plates which her Daddy had, with painstaking precision, worked out how to do that morning when she had said that she wanted them, after he had been woken up a whole two minutes before he was normally up by her bouncing on his chest. In short, Lex had been having a pretty great morning although he still missed Chloe. He had no idea how or why he had gone without them for so long.
“Well, that is what we are here to find out”, he thought to himself, but only encouraged Lilly to go on with her story. The second that Chloe had agreed to therapy he had made the appointment for them, flying in a specialist who could be trusted.
“There’s Granddad!” Lilly cried out, interrupting Lex’s thoughts as she tugged him along anxiously until finally deciding that he wasn’t going fast enough, dropping his hand and scurrying across the marble floor.
Lionel grinned down at her as he swooped down to pick her up, “How’s my little Lilly Lion this morning?” He inquired, pressing a kiss against her temples.
“Grrrrrrrreat”, she beamed at him.
Lex couldn’t get over the change that had come about in his father ever since Lillian’s birth. His relationship with the old sod had always been strained at best, and had hit rock bottom just before he had got together with Chloe, he hadn’t even been certain that he was going to allow him near Lilly but he had somehow snuck passed security the night that she had been born. Lex had returned from the toilet to see Lionel Luthor bending over Lilly cooing over her. In slow motion, he had observed Lionel tickling her cheek and Lilly’s sleepy form reaching out one chubby little hand to smack him on the side of the face. Evidently she did not appreciate being awoken.
Lionel had burst out laughing and looked more in love with the little bundle than Lex had known was possible, “That’s my girl. My empire will be safe with you at the helm won’t it? Yes, it will! No need to strength you”.
“I stayed with Daddy last night”, Lilly’s voice brought Lex back to the present.
“Yes, I know”, Lionel did not look entirely approving. In fact, Lionel was very far from approving, he thought – no, knew – that his son was the biggest idiot alive and had once again refuse to take his advice even though it would have saved his marriage. Lionel would never have allowed his wife to leave him like that, all of the power in the world and Lex hadn’t got the faintest idea how to use it. A fact which he had reiterated the night before when he had got the call to be there bright and early on Sunday morning if he wanted to baby sit Lilly.
“Daddy loves me”, she repeated with a big smile which made Lex’s heart thud in his chest. He was glad that she believed him, but felt terrible that it was such a surprise to her.
“Glad to hear it”, Lionel bounced her up and down. “So, where’s Mommy?”
Lilly shrugged and Lex admitted that he was not sure either. They were a little bit early but he had expected Chloe to get there promptly as well.
Lionel shot him a disapproving glare.
“Did Granddad tell you that he is going to go to Japan next week on a business trip for Daddy?” Lex asked Lilly, anxious to make conversation hoping that it would distract himself from Chloe’s absence.
Lilly shook her head.
“Last night, your Daddy called me up and asked me to go on his next business trip away from home so that he could stay with you”, Lionel explained. By ‘asked’, he meant had been informed that he would do it and remain loyal if he wanted to keep his now nominal role in the company. He was only too happy to do it, he loved the thrill of the kill and wanted to help keep Lilly’s family together (he would do anything for his little Lilly Lion), his daughter-in-law and he was even becoming quite fond of Lex – idiot though he undoubtedly was.
“Really?!’
“Yes, aren’t you going to miss me?” Lionel gave her a puppy dog pout.
“Yes, but not as much as I would have missed Daddy”.
“Well, I guess that that put me in my place”, Lionel grinned at her. Yes, she would definitely have no problems when it came time to taking over the company. “I’ll bring you back something nice”.
“Aren’t we going to the toy shop today?”
“Lillian”, Lex chided.
“No no”, Lionel defended her, patting her head, “she was quite right, I told her yesterday that we were going to go to the toy shop today when she was looking after me, she was in fact showing a great lack of materialism, being surprised that I would talk of presents so soon after toy shopping”.
Lillian gave an affirmative nod even though she had actually just been making an observation.
Lex pursed his lips but didn’t say anything. He had brought her tonnes of toys only a couple of days before.
“Daddy is just upset because he doesn’t get to come to the aeronautical and space museum with us”.
Lillian and Lex spoke at the same time, “Why can’t Daddy come”, “It is closed, I saw a sign on our way here”.
“I know that it is closed, I’m the one who had it closed. Don’t want the riff raff disturbing our time together, do we?” He rubbed his nose against Lilly’s in an Eskimo kiss, as she agreed that they most certainly did not.
“Dad”, Lex rolled his eyes, “we are not trying to teach snobbery”.
“I’m not either, just basic minimum standards. Besides, she doesn’t need to be taught. You know that you are better than everyone else don’t you, Lilly Lion?”
“Yeah!”
“Oh God”, Lex groaned, “Lilly I think that you had better come back to me now”, he plucked her from his father and tried to explain that theory of equality, whilst not allowing his eyes to wander to the clock. Chloe was now a full five minutes late.
He was just getting to not being a snobby bear, when Lionel informed him dryly, “Wrong door”.
With a furrowed brow Lex examined his father and then turned to look in the direction he was indicating with his head. He thought that his heart would stop as he saw the vision walking towards him.
“You let her go? You’re more of an idiot than even I thought”, Lionel muttered once Lilly had scrambled down and scampered out of earshot. Chloe had arrived and she just bending down to scoop up her daughter. There were no words to describe just how gorgeous she looked, natural, fresh and with a short skirt which had any red blooded male thinking rather inappropriate thoughts.
Lex was relieved to see that she had come, he wasn’t sure that she would have. He couldn’t have blamed her if she hadn’t. Not after the way that he had acted.
“You, my boy, are a fucking moron. You’ve already fucked up once thinking too much about your patrimony and not enough about your family”, Lionel decided.
“Yes, Dad. I think that you have made your opinion perfectly clear”.
“I wouldn’t have let a woman like that walk away”.
Lex raised an eyebrow, “If I remember correctly, your solution was not to allow her to have the divorce and tie her up”.
“Would have stopped her leaving”, the elder man shrugged, failing to see anything wrong with his plan.
“You don’t know Chloe as well as you think you do then”.
Lionel smirked, clapped his son on the back and said, “Just remember that they can’t run too far if they’re sore”.
“Oh God you really are a perverted old bastard”, Lex groaned, still unable to take his eyes off Chloe, maybe his Dad did have a point. They were going to a therapy session, he for one would find a long hard fuck on the therapist’s couch very therapeutic.
“Certainly”, Lionel did not sound in the slightest bit offended. “I’m also a man, who whether you believe it or not, does love his son and always has. I worked all of the hours God sent, even though I didn’t have to, making sure that your future was secured only to end up losing your mother and having you hate me. I didn’t intend for it to end up that way, I didn’t intend to somehow end up fighting you for the company but it happened”.
“I am not going to follow in your footsteps Dad”.
“God I hope not son. For once in your miserable life, you have to be strong”.
“That’s what I thought that I was doing by letting her go. Giving her what she wanted”, had he known that she hadn’t realised that he still loved her then his reaction would have been very different.
“That wasn’t what she wanted, any fool could see that”, Lionel muttered.
Lex sighed, he hadn’t seen it. He hadn’t seen it at all. Too consumed by his desire to provide for them, he had ended up not giving them the one thing that they actually needed.
“But then again you always were a blind little git”, Lionel continued, “so I will help you out. They both want you, so be a man and take back what’s yours”.
“I’m trying to Dad. I’m trying to”.
~*~
Chloe’s breath caught in her throat as she saw him standing there. Her husband. It was a miracle that her knees didn’t buckle as she squeezed her baby and listened to her to explanation of her hairstyle. She had spent ages on her attire, not wanting to let herself down and appear old and frumpy around him but now she was worried that she had made a prat of herself. Lex’s face looked tense and continued to speak to his father but wouldn’t take his eyes off her.
She had been terrified that he wouldn’t turn up, she still couldn’t quite wrap her mind around the idea that he still loved her, all things considered, and who could blame her after their break up. She was just wondering if she should go over to them when Lionel closed the gap and kissed her on the cheek in greeting, “Hello my dear. You are looking especially lovely this morning”.
“I could say the same Lionel you old rouge”, she replied, handing her daughter back to him. “Be good and I’ll see you both once Daddy and I are done with therapy”.
“Yes Mommy, don’t worry, I will make sure he behaves himself”, Lilly promised.
Lionel nodded to say that he would and then she said bye bye to Lex who had followed him over, then to Mommy before informing Lionel that she wanted to be an astronaut and instructing him to fly her out of there. He tucked her under his arm and obeyed.
“Worrying how well she has him trained”, Lex laughed lightly. It was even more worrying when he couldn’t stack up against Lionel.
“Yeah she is impressive like that”, Chloe felt just as awkward as he did.
“I was afraid that you weren’t going to turn up”.
“I thought the same about you”, she admitted.
He was shocked and reminded her, “I’m the one who suggested counselling”.
“Yes, I know but … it’s talking to a complete stranger about your life, being open and exposed and …” She trailed off and looked away.
“I would do anything for you”, the words were out before he could think better of them. “Chloe”, he continued in a serious tone, he cupped her chin and moved it so that she had to look at him, “I know that things have been difficult to say the least but I do love you and Lilly, more than you know and I will do anything to prove that to you, to keep you and make you happy”.
“Then why did you let us go?” She whispered, tears filling her eyes.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
A/N: And as promised, another update! :D
Chapter Five
Therapy had not proved to be the resounding success that Lex had been hoping for. He had not expected for all of their problems to be solved in one fell swoop, nor had be really expected to be at home snuggled up as one happy family by that evening – their problems hadn’t occurred over night and they wouldn’t disappear overnight either – but he hadn’t thought that they would make so little progress.
The therapist had come out just at the wrong moment, as he was brushing the tears from Chloe’s eyes and about to explain himself, to see where her patients were. Chloe had pulled away from him, introduced herself blushing slightly and walked ahead of him into the room that they were going to be using. There were two armchairs for patients and a settee, she had chosen the armchair so he couldn’t even sit next to her. He didn’t know if it had been intentional or not, he sat in the centre of the settee so that she could always sit with him if she reconsidered her position.
Introductions had been made and the tension in the air was palpable.
“So”, Claire the therapist, sat in front of them, “why are you hear today?”
“Because we are so unbelievably happy and content in our marriage that we want to tell everyone about it”, Chloe said with a roll of her eyes. She was willing to go through therapy but seriously this woman would have to start trying to do her job more thoroughly than this, she wanted her husband back.
Lex smirked.
“Yes, of course I’m afraid that that was rather a silly question given the circumstances. Mr Luthor did inform me that you were separated as of a week ago and that you are preparing to divorce, what I meant was: is this session to enable to you to remain friends after your divorce or to try to repair the marriage?”
“Repair the marriage”, they answered as one.
“Very good”, she smiled. She always preferred dealing with people who were trying to make a go of their relationship. “Now, it is important that you remember that this is a safe place where you can feel …” she paused.
“Safe?” Chloe suggested.
“Well, yes. It is also important to have complete and utter sincerity for this process to work”.
“No”, Chloe feigned shock, “and to think that we were planning on wasting our Sunday morning, crowding each other, hurting each other by dredging up painful memories but then lying so that it was all for nothing”.
“Yes well”, Claire looked through her sheets, ah yes. First question, “Has there been any abuse in the relationship?”
Ten minutes later, Lex finally decided to step in, feeling that Chloe had probably told the therapist off enough, “Honey come on that’s enough now. I appreciate your extremely fervent defence of me”, he placed his hands on her hips and pulled her backward from where she was standing over the therapist, her hands pushed down on the desk shouting about the bloody liberty of talking about her husband in that way.
“Well you have never raised a hand to me”, she announced, outraged at the notion that Lex might have ever physically hurt her or anyone else.
“Well darling, that isn’t entirely true”, he whispered to her as she agreed to be brought back to sit next to him on the settee and she blushed. Lex’s decision to spank her for putting her life in danger had led to very many lusty romps in their earlier days together.
“She doesn’t need to know that”, Chloe whispered back.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know how that happened”, Claire apologised as she opened her note book and ticked off her first bullet point: get them on the same side and sitting together. She was good. “This has never happened to me before. Maybe it would help if you started by telling me how you two got together in the first place?”
Lex and Chloe traded a speaking, tender look but agreed.
~*~
“Come to gloat?”
“You know something Lex, you really had me fooled”, Chloe strode into the office. “You would have thought that with all of my impressive journalistic knowledge I would have seen right through it, but no”.
Lex took another sip of his drink.
“Lionel contacted me at The Planet about why you were running, talking about how you wanted a challenge, to get out from under his shadow etc”, she sneered.
“I wasn’t aware that you are my father were such good friends”, he finished his glass of scotch and refilled it from the decanter at his elbow.
Chloe did not bother to answer that allegation.
“But it was just about the power, wasn’t it?” She demanded.
“What do you care?”
“Call it professional curiosity”, she shrugged as she invited herself to sit down.
“No comment”, he drained the glass to the bottom once more and refilled it. It was an exceptionally fine bottle.
“Then call it morbid curiosity”, she settled back into her seat, making it clear that she had no intention of leaving until she got whatever it was that she had come for.
That got his attention.
“You see”, she paused it lick her lips, it really was extremely bad manners of him not to have so much as offered her a drink, “I find it hard to believe that everything that you have done up until now has been all an act. I mean, we all know that you are Lionel Luthor’s son, that you are cold, calculating, power hungry and will do anything to get what you want. But I thought that there was something more there. Hell, you told me that you wanted him to love you”.
He ground his teeth.
“I thought that you cared about some people, strike that”, she said certainly, “I know that you care about some people.”
“So I’m evil, but I care?” He snorted.
“I don’t think you’re evil … not yet at any rate. What I didn’t realise until now was that you were stupid”. Chloe observed his hand tighten around the glass and for a moment was afraid that it would shatter, although she then considered that it would serve the bastard right.
“How fascinating”, he said in a bored voice. “Care to tell me what this analysis of my character is leading to?”
“It’s what I do”, she shrugged. “I was just standing there at Mr Kent’s victory party thinking, I wonder what Lex is doing right now when everyone else is celebrating and surrounded by friends and family. You don’t have a family, although I know that you want one above all else. But you did have friends, ones that you deliberately tried to drive away”.
“Minions are far more reliable”, Lex poured himself yet another drink, thanking God for his ability to metabolise alcohol otherwise he would have been in serious trouble.
She rolled her eyes, “In case you haven’t noticed Lex, I am the only one here. Not one of your lackeys, groupies or servants is here with you”.
The flash of emotion which tinged his gaze before it was ruthlessly smothered was caught and deciphered by the aspiring young reporter. A kinder person than she was would have backed off and left him to lip his wounds in peace. Oh well. “You see Lex”, she continued as she raised herself to her feet, “the terrible truth is that what counts is how many people are around when you lose, not when you win. But I guess that you already knew that, that is why you are hitting the bottle so hard”.
She leant forwards providing him with an excellent view down her top, as she grasped the bottle by the neck and poured a measure into his glass. If he had been too badly brought up to offer a lady a drink, she would just have to help herself. She slowly swirled the amber liquid around in the expensive cut glass, as she considered her next words carefully.
To be kind or to rip into him, that was the question. Whether it was nobler in the mind to … oh hell, she would take a page out of Lois’ book and say what she wanted and damn the consequences. “That is why you were always trying to buy Clark, wasn’t it? And now Lana? You don’t think that anyone will be around when the chips are down” she looked around, “and it looks like you were right”.
“Did it ever occur to you that I might like the peace and quiet?” He inquired mildly. There was no need for her to know that the very silence he had just professed to prefer to human company had been soul destroying only a few minutes before and that he had longed for another person to distract him. For a brief moment he had considered calling his butler in to talk to him, only stopping himself because he didn’t want to be that pathetic.
“Then here’s to your peace and quiet Lex”, she raised her (or rather his) glass to him, “I’m sure that you will be enjoying it for years to come. Cheers, Lex”. She tilted her head back and took a sip of the rich, warming alcohol.
“Are you finished yet?” He asked, trying to keep his tone natural as he inspected her lithe form and the way that the firelight illuminated her creamy skin as she savoured the liquid with a sigh. Lex shifted uncomfortably.
“No”, she looked directly into his eyes. “I didn’t come here to gloat, I came because Lana wouldn’t and I heard your message and thought that someone should come and check on you. I know that we have never been friends, but you did save my life – although you fired my Dad – so I am going to give you the benefit of my vast store of knowledge”.
He let out a small huff of laughter. He wasn’t surprised that Lana wasn’t there with him, although he had always hoped that she would be whatever happened, but he was oddly touched that Chloe had come to see him. Anything was better than being alone.
“I don’t know why you wanted to run for office or what you want from it, because I have to tell you that I don’t think that you are going to get it just from power. If it really is that you want something to do and a challenge then there are plenty of other options. You could leave your mark on the world, you could solve world hunger, you could be greater than your namesake if you wanted, so make sure that you really want this office”, she said what had been bothering her ever since she heard of his decision to run. It just didn’t make sense for him to put so much time and effort into something that she doubted would make him truly happy.
“Anything else you want to get off your chest?” He did his best to look unimpressed by her insight.
“You should also make sure that whatever information you are trying to get out of Clark and those fucking stones is worth it. This time last year, Clark and Lana would have been here desperate to cheer you up. Mr Kent might not even have run against you, …”
“That’s all very nice Chloe, but what if I were telling the truth? What if I just want power? I just want the White House and damn everything else?” He snapped.
“Then you shouldn’t be sitting here drinking alone”, she brushed that off.
“I happen to like scotch”, he eyed the glass which was still in her hand enviously.
“You say that you want a challenge and not to be in your father’s shadow and yet you sit here sulking when you didn’t win”, she brushed off his answer as just being silly. She had another drink and decided that she was going to give him another piece of her mind. “Is that what you do? Give up when something doesn’t work out for you? You were winning this town around, you just couldn’t quite beat Mr Kent and then you went back to your old ways. Look at him. Work out what makes people vote for him, and change your behaviour to match. It’s just common sense”. She had never been able to work out why the most practical man she knew hadn’t been able to see the obvious solution to this one problem.
“Not exactly a Machiavellian response”, he preferred the thought of cursing his enemies. The town hadn’t voted for him, they should suffer rather than having him grovelling to them. He should close the crap factory down, that would show them.
With a sigh Chloe inquired, “Have you ever read Map and Lucia?”
He shook his head.
“I see that some books were left out of your classical education. It’s set in a little town in England at the beginning of the 20th century, two middle aged women take a dislike to each other and try to best each other to get the right social position and at one point both fight to be mayor”, she recounted, considering the decanter of scotch as she did so. She was thirsty and he didn’t have any juice or water sitting around. If she had to continue telling him off much longer she would have to drink to have some brought in.
Lex was also surveying the bottle hungrily, thinking that he was in need of sustenance of Chloe continued for much longer. He reached out for it but Chloe got there first, getting to her feet and yanking it out of his reach. It wasn’t good for him to drink so much.
“Anyway”, she continued her story, the bottle down in her possession, “Lucia is a well to do lady who is a new comer to the town with lots of money, whilst Mapp has been there for years and been friends with most of the people since childhood”.
“And Mapp wins”, Lex guessed. He had heard stories like this one before, the moral being that a newcomer would never be able to become part of the original community and shouldn’t try.
“No, they both lose. The difference is, that whilst Mapp sulks and bemoans her fate (remind you of anyone we both know Lex?), Lucia becomes more proactive. She invests her money wisely, she becomes a patron of the arts in the town, she helps the poor, she sets a good example and then the next time around she wins by a landslide”.
He looked at her intently.
“Are you telling me ‘If at first you don’t succeed try try again?’” He scoffed.
“No”, she shook her head. “That is a silly expression, if it didn’t work the first time it won’t work the second unless you change your approach”.
Seeing that he was now hanging on her words, even though it clearly went against his inclination, she decided to make him wait a little longer. She poured herself some more scotch and debated drinking it but didn’t. She really wanted some juice. How was it that a billionaire didn’t have anything decent for his uninvited guests to drink?
Lex examined her, apparently amused by her expression.
“My point is”, she started off again rather grandly, “that sitting, sulking and getting drunk will do absolutely nothing. You didn’t want your father’s help, and guess what, without it you failed! Most people do when they try something new. You think that ever article I wrote has been a success? You think that Lana wasn’t humiliated when she had to come begging to you to save The Talon? You think that Clark never tripped at football?” The last case had actually only been because of someone else interfering but he didn’t know that and that wasn’t the point so Chloe still felt safe using it as an example.
He just looked at her.
“People try, sometimes they don’t succeed. But you will only have really have failed if you do the wrong thing now”, she finally got to her point, the real reason why she was there that night – other than pity and nosiness.
“And, oh knowledgeable one”, he asked in a drawl, “what is the right thing to do now?” Because, to him, drowning his sorrows whilst plotting the painful demise of his enemies really had seemed like the only viable option.
“Well first of all you need to stop drinking, it’s a disgusting habit”, she ignored the fact she had had two glasses of the evil liquid. “Second you need to find your best bottle of wine and go over to the Kent’s tomorrow morning and eat humble pie. You have to congratulate your opponent and tell him that you know that things haven’t been going well between you and his son lately but that you hope that that will not affect the future that you two will have together. That you are committed to running your business ethically as you have done so far – for the most part – and that you are willing to earn their trust back”
“If you think that I am doing any of that, then those two glasses really have affected you”, he rose to his feet. He had had about enough.
“If you don’t, then you will lose your best friend forever, you will put Lana in a position of having to choose between you, are you sure that you can win that?” They both knew the answer to that.
He ground his teeth and placed both of his hands flat on his desk so that he was staring down at her, looming forwards. “I never said that I have any interest in Lana”
“Not in so many words perhaps”, Chloe shrugged. She was too thirsty to resist anymore, she poured herself some more scotch and took a sip. “This stuff does grow on you”, she admitted.
“Well that is about all the growing that it is going to do, until you turn 21”, Lex rounded the desk and took her drink forcefully, a sign that he was taking back control of her, the situation and his life.
“Hey”, Chloe pulled a face.
He tutted, unable to help himself. As angry as he was with her, as hurt as he was and as depressed he still felt a small smile tug at the corner of his lips.
“Ms Sullivan, what would your father say?” The smile vanished, her father was still probably having financial difficulties because of the position that Lex and his father had put him in. He had been so caught up with his father, the stones, Clark and now this damned election that he hadn’t spared a thought of the Sullivans. A wave of guilt crashed into him. First thing tomorrow he would put that right.
Chloe shrugged. “My father is hardly the strictest disciplinarian in the world. Besides, I am in college now”.
“No, that is probably why you always ended up in scrapes”, Lex thought to himself, remembering all of the times that she had nearly died and how hard it had been to resist the urge to put her across his knee several times after watching her charge into a situation and almost get herself killed. He did however resist the urge to say this, she had come over after all and she did love her father. Instead he focused on the second part of her statement, “Are you staying with your father for the holidays? Or are you going back to campus?”
“I’m splitting my time. I’m going back to campus as I’m working at The Daily Planet over the holidays, but tonight I will probably just crash at Lois’”, she shrugged.
He just nodded, it must be nice to have people you could just ‘crash’ with whenever the fancy struck one. He could not imagine doing that himself, the nearest he had ever come were those few days with the Kents when Lionel had appeared to disown him.
“When you go, I will have one of my driver’s take you, you can come back for your car in the morning. You cannot drive after drinking scotch if you are not used to it”, he stated purposefully. He would not brook any disobedience on that matter or he would be inclined to forget his attempts at civility and gentlemanliness and finally put her across his knee. He smirked at the thought.
The expression was wiped from his face when he remembered that once she left, he would be all alone again. He finished off Chloe’s drink in one gulp, which caused her to complain and try to take the glass away from him. He drained it holding her wrist in one hand, put the glass down and held her other one as well.
He pulled her up out of her seat and closer to him. He didn’t care if she thought that he was being heavy handed, it was easier to deal with her when she was mad.
Chloe would not be intimidated, she looked up at him, fire blazing in her eyes and for the first time that night he was reminded of just how small she was; even though she was feisty, she was at a distinct disadvantage.
Memories from the previous summer came flooding back to him. Guilt gnawed at his insides. When he had flown to get her, he had done it so that he could get information out of her not to be a good friend or because he knew that her father could not afford to do so. He sighed. He had: got her in over her head, he had risked her life, never bothered to see to her father financially after he was the reason for them losing their house, he had barely spoken to her after she had put his father in jail at his request, but had hounded her for information about Clark, put her in danger yet again and then spent the summer badgering her and reminding her that she was a third wheel. He deserved to be flogged!
God, it was no wonder that no one had voted for him. He really needed another drink, but that would have meant letting Chloe go, she was pulling against him but he would not let her go. He smiled, some control finally.
As much as he disliked her cousin Lois, he had to admit that the woman did have her uses. Ever since her arrival after Chloe’s supposed death the latter had been slowly dressing much better and allowing her hair to grow. He could not quite remember why he had always ignored her, other than a slight fear that she would find out too much.
She had been a terror as a reporter, he was certain that she would stop at nothing in order to get her story, she had even taken on his father. He was certain that she knew the truth about Clark … but she had stopped digging. She had stopped writing stories about him. He gulped. His insatiable desire for knowledge, to know the truth welled up in him. She knew the truth, they were all alone. He could get the truth out of her …
This was why he hadn’t won, or at least why he was sitting there alone – except for Chloe – after he had lost. Because he refused to let things go, this was his Pandora’s Box and he would destroy everything if he opened it.
He loosened his grip on her wrists slightly and ran his thumb across them gently. He was unable to resist a smirk, as she shivered.
“We are very much alike Chloe, we both like to get to the bottom of things. To know what makes them work. We were both fascinated with solving the mystery that is Clark Kent and I know that your relationship with him suffered for it, just like mine has. You have stopped looking.” He did not add, because you clearly know what it is. “Are you happier now? Having stopped the search?”
Chloe was shocked, she had been expecting threats, not that. She answered, “Yes. Everyone has their secrets Lex. I have chosen to trust Clark, we are friends again now and that friendship means more to me than anything else”.
“Thank-you Chloe”, not just for the first straight and honest answer that he had got from anyone for a long time, but also for coming and at least trying to take away some of his pain and need for alcohol, not that she had won. The second that she had gone he knew that this slight ray of light would disappear with her and he would get through another decanter of scotch, or possibly whisky, without feeling one iota better.
“You’re welcome”.
As he finally released her wrists she took a step hurried backward and wobbled slightly, before attempting to turn to leave.
Without thinking, Lex reached out to steady her. He watched for a second as her eyes regained focus.
“Chloe, have you eaten today?” He asked her, as something occurred to him.
“Oh yes”, she answered. Noting the penetrating look and his slightly firmer grip, she realised that she was not getting out of there until she provided him with more information, “I grabbed a muffin at The Planet before I came back here”.
Lex nodded, he had not noticed the slight puffiness under her eyes which her makeup did not which cover. An internship at The Daily Planet, college and worrying about her father and the Kent’s campaign must have taken its toll on her. He remembered having caught sight of her that morning at the press conference, that had been a 9 o’clock.
“So you left Metropolis at 5 o’clock and haven’t eaten since?”
Chloe shook her head but finding that that made her dizzy, simply said “No”.
“But you have drunk hard liquor”.
She had meant to eat but there had not been time, seeing as Lex appeared to think that her food consumption was his business and being too tired to argue she simply stated, “I will grab something later”, and ignored his comment about the liquor.
“Come on”, Lex said taking her by the top of the arm and leading her through the mansion, “I think that we could both use some to eat”.
If she though that she could just barge into his home, tell him basically to stop being such a baby and to suck it up then he was damned sure that he could make sure that she was getting enough to eat. She was not going to end up like one of those overly stressed freshmen who didn’t bother to eat or sleep for days only to then binge eat and make themselves sick. Tomorrow after he had reemployed Chloe’s father as manager for the entire plant at 150k a year plus an expense account, company car and large house rent free – congratulating Jonathan could wait - in an iron clad contract, he would hint at him that there were some very nice food delivery service that would locate Chloe and bring her nourishing meals and snacks throughout the day. Well probably better for them to deliver them to The Planet and her apartment, with some flapjacks that she could take with her. No one would be able to actually keep up with her. He would also have to have her car taken back to MetU, as he had just decided that she would be travelling in his helicopter.
A/N: So, what did you think?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
Two new chapters!!!! Great update, I loved how Lionel doted on Lilly.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
What a treat! Two new chapters and we found out how Lex and Chloe get together. I like this a lot better than Lana confronting Lex after the election.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
great chapters.lily knows how to handle lionel
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
A/N: Thank-you all for reading and reviewing, here is the next part:
Chapter Six
“I didn’t expect therapy to magically solve everything or for us to be reconciled after one session, but it took us an entire appointment to get through only part of how we got together”, Chloe complained as they excited the room.
“We could have extended our appointment”, Lex reminded her, he had suggested that a few minutes before.
“And have Lilly breaking down the door when she gets here and we are not ready?” Chloe asked, “She has been through enough without thinking that we have both forgotten about her”.
“Right”.
“I’m sorry Lex, you know that I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just …”
“It’s fine you don’t have to explain yourself I, ugh”, all of the air was expelled from his lungs as a very enthusiastic little bundle of energy ploughed into him, hugging his stomach tightly.
“Hello Daddy. Hello Mommy. Hello Daddy. Granddad and I went to the museum yes we did lots and lots of things and we went to the park and to the toy shop but Granddad said that we should send the toys home because they might not like the restaurant”, she babbled on.
“What restaurant?” Chloe enquired as her daughter came to hug her.
“The one we are going to for lunch”, Lilly informed her in a ‘well duh’ tone which earned her a pointed look from Lex. She buried her head in her mother’s skirt for protection against the look, if she couldn’t see it then it didn’t count; she hadn’t been reprimanded.
“Poor little Lilly”, Lionel stressed the words as he walked over in the firecracker’s wake, “was so hungry after our morning out – she only had three doughnuts and a chocolate milkshake – that I was forced to make reservations for her lunch in”, he checked his watch, “five minutes precisely. We really just came to collect the last of our party”.
“Is that so?” Lex inquired reaching down and picking Lilly up to show that there were no hard feelings, “Then I guess that you are too tired to walk and need to be fed post haste?”
“Yes”, she agreed amicably, deciding to forgive him as he was clearly sorry for the way that he had spoken to her. She smiled over at her mother, her eyes shining with hope.
“Well, okay I suppose. I will meet you afterwards and …” She was not thrilled about this, she had already been away from her daughter for longer than she was comfortable with but she didn’t want to limit Lilly’s time with her father and grandfather.
“No!”
Chloe felt as if she had been stabbed in the heart, tears filled in her eyes. “Alright, I know that you haven’t seen much of Daddy so maybe …” she tried to get out the words that she could spend another afternoon with him, without her.
“Darling”, the endearment slipped out before Lex could stop it and he had pulled his beloved wife to his side, squeezing her tightly, unable to bear the expression of pain on her face, “she means that she insists on your being present too”.
“That’s what I said!” Lilly said indignantly, and a little too loudly, as she patted her Mommy, wondering how she ever got such silly notions into her head, of course she was coming to lunch.
“Oh”, Chloe said, feeling stupid and embarrassed but oddly comforted. Of its own accord, her arm wrapped itself around Lex’s waist, as she breathed in deeply. He was warm, and snuggly and smelled of soap, cologne and Lex. If he could somehow bottle his scent, he would be even richer than he already was.
The Luthor family made its way to the restaurant and settled down, Lilly between her parents but still able to keep an eye on her grandfather. The situation was odd but they traded a glance and remembered the first evening they had really spent together.
~*~
“So, are you ready for a life changing experience?” Chloe inquired, a wicked gleam in her eyes.
“You certainly think a lot of yourself don't you Sullivan”, he teased.
“Oh, on the contrary I am extremely modest about my abilities”.
“I can handle anything you can dish out”, he promised her.
“I'll hold you to that”, she turned, “Two triple cheese burgers, two massive portions of fries (seriously, I want them delivered in a bucket), loads of those little chocolate doughnuts with sprinkles and a diet Pepsi ”.
“A diet Pepsi?” Lex snorted.
She rolled her eyes, “And his highness will want water in a blue bottle”, then in a stage whisper she added, “if you are out just fill a blue bottle up with water from the tap. He'll never know”.
“Yes, his highness will”, Lex snorted. “If the taste hadn't given it away all of the sniggering you did whenever you pulled that trick on me would have”.
Chloe looked put out, she had thought that she had been rather discreet and she had had to do something at those meetings to keep herself from going out of her mind with worry.
“Another coke will do for me”, he told the boy working behind the counter as he handed over a fifty, figuring that that would cover it. Then, he looked around the virtually abandoned fast food restaurant and checked his watch.
“Am I keeping you from something?” Chloe inquired, the only hint of her annoyance the way she drummed her fingers against the counter as they waited for their order. He had insisted on bringing her back to Metropolis and feeding her, not the other way around.
“Not at all, I was just thinking back to my clubbing days at MetU”, his face took on a slightly (and completely feigned) nostalgia expression, “and working out how long we have until this place becomes overrun with drunk freshman, which is how I imagine that you found it out?”
“You mean that I didn't bring you somewhere you've never been before?”
“No, sorry”.
“Damn it”, she pouted.
Lex grinned at her. “So, where do you want to eat? Here? Your apartment? My apartment? Or do you want to go to a fancy restaurant and give the chef a heart attack by bringing in our own food?”
“I don't know”, she thought, “I really do feel that stuffing your face should be done in the restaurant you brought the food from … but it is absolutely freezing in here, the other restaurant would be fun but I'm tired”, and couldn't wait to take off her high heels. She would really like to go to Lex's apartment and snoop but getting back to her apartment also sounded good; that's where her slippers lived.
“We can go to mine”, she decided.
“Alright”, Lex agreed as he grabbed their order and headed for the door, wishing that they had actually been going to his. He was sure that it was nicer than Chloe's apartment, although the nosey part of him was looking forward to seeing her new apartment.
He knew quite a bit about the housing situation in Metropolis, not just because his family owned the vast majority of it, or because he had lived there for years but because – trying to be a knight in shining armour which had clearly not been appreciated – he had listened to Lana whinging about Chloe's moving out of dorm rooms after a leak and in with her old friends rather than trying to find a place with her. He had then been dragged around the city for four Saturdays in a row until she had finally 'relented' and allowed him to just buy her something because his feet hurt. He hated shopping! Ha, he'd see how much she liked Clark and the Kents when she found herself homeless tomorrow.
“Don't”, Chloe warned him.
“Don't what?” He looked around, he was just holding the door of his car open for her. Didn't she like that? “Open the door? You haven't become one of those hardened feminist who whinges about good manners being a sign of oppression now that you have sampled the rarefied air of Metropolis University, are you?”
“No”, she rolled her eyes at him. “I meant don't kick Lana out”, she slipped into his car and took the food from him as he stared at her in a mixture of awe and confusion. “Seriously Lex, are you going to close the door or not? It's freezing!”
He did close the door and hurried around to his side of the car. As he started it up, he asked, “You haven't been sniffing any meteor rocks have you?”
“No, I haven't somehow developed super powers to read your mind from meteor rock exposure”, she informed him, although that sounded like an awesome power to have, might even be worth becoming a meteor freak for, “I just know you and how you think. Turn right here and continue until we get just past the University”.
Lex steered the car to the right, “Well why shouldn't I kick her out?”
“Other than the fact that it is mean?”
He gave her a look which she would have called petulant on anyone else.
“Because Lana is the adored princess of everyone around you. If you do something like that then you will only make Clark et al hate you even more, you will lose her friendship and knowing your luck it will end up in the papers. Lex Luthor boots out lover over tiff, leaving the girl whose parents were splatted by a meteor homeless once more, thankfully the brave, noble and hairy Kent family took her in”
“Bit wordie for a title”, Lex critiqued.
She snorted, “It also contained the word splatted, besides I thought that the mud rags wouldn't care. Oh no, I have a better one for that, “Lex Luthor moved my world”, she sniggered, “see that works because they will think that it is about sex but then when they read the article and see that it is actually about moving house …
“Yes, thank-you. Your oh so clever word play did not escape me”.
“Seriously Lex, you won't gain anything and you will just end up driving her into his arms. Is that what you want?” She asked.
“No, you?” He looked over at her until his attention was once again demanded by the road.
“Not especially”, she shrugged, “although at least I am no longer front row centre for all of their drama”.
He shot her a semi-sympathetic look, then covered it by saying, “I thought that you would have been over it by now. It’s been four years for God's sake Chloe”.
“Six and a half actually, but who's counting?” She snorted. “I am over it, I just didn't want have to listen to it every bloody day. Chloe, do you think that Clark likes me? Chloe, do you mind it Clark comes over and we make out in front of you for hours? Chloe, you aren't jealous are you? Chloe, do you have a boyfriend yet? Chloe, any potential boyfriends on the horizon? Oh Chloe never mind, Clark and I still love you. Chloe I know that you are busy doing your school work and internship at The Planet but would you mind going over the entire semester with me? Chloe, I love Clark. Chloe, I'm not sure about Clark. Chloe, Clark doesn't trust me. Chloe, do you think that Lex is in love with me? Chloe, how can I let him down gently? Chloe, you know that if you didn't eat junk food late at night and slept more you would look better and might get a boyfriend”.
“Chloe”, he imitated Chloe's imitation of Lana, “which way to your new apartment?”
With a laugh Chloe directed him the rest of the way, into a reasonably good neighbourhood closely located to both the university and The Daily Planet and Lex was pleased to see that there was a key card entrance, secured parking, CCTV, and a doorman. It soothed the irritation he had felt a little when he had heard how Lana had been treating Chloe.
“So, tell me the truth Chloe, did you cause the leak?” He teased.
“No, although that had been a good idea. It just happened. I shouldn't get mad;” she sighed, trying to be mature, “I know that she means it kindly.”
“Yeah”, he muttered, “and that is why she gets away with it”.
“What was that?”
“We had better get going before the food starts to get cold”, they had already been waiting five minutes and Chloe had implied that she was ravenous. He was half surprised that she hadn't snuck a few fries at least during the drive.
Within a few minutes they were inside and Chloe was undoing the third of the locks.
“A bit safety conscious, are we?” Lex teased.
“It came with one, my Dad added a second one and Teddy added the third – not realising that Dad had added one. Not sure how he missed it”, she laughed.
“Teddy? What's his last name, Bear?” Lana hadn’t mentioned that Chloe’s ‘friend’ was male.
“Yeah”, she grinned, “do you know him?”
“You have to be kidding me”.
She smiled as the door finally swung open and she invited him inside. “Yeah, I'm kidding. His name is Theodor Emmerson, the son of one of my Dad's friend from Metropolis I've known him forever”, she indicated for him to dump the stuff on the coffee in the centre of the room and put his coat anywhere. “I just call him Teddy Bear. For some reason he prefers Theo”, she shrugged as if she simply couldn't understand it.
“And yet he is allowing you to live with him?” Lex looked around the apartment. It was small by his standards – but then what wasn't? - but it was far bigger than what she had been sharing with Lana. It was a long rectangle with a neat white kitchen at one end, a dining table in the middle and a seating area made up of several worn and slightly 80s style sofas and armchairs (which he assumed had been acquired from parents) but with a huge plasma screen TV and PlayStation below it along with a staggering stack of movies.
“He insisted on it in fact”, she grinned as she came back with glasses, “he used to be my arch nemesis but now he is more like a big brother. He came over to visit one day, pulled the normal big brother 'this place isn't good enough' thing and then met Lana and whispered that I had to move in with him, the next day the pipe went soaking everything on Lana's side of the room and I got my money back and had to move. Luckily Teddy had a spare room”, she glanced over at an open door which apparently was the spare (now her) room to which she had been referring.
The room was brightly coloured and covered in various items of women's clothing and Lex thought that he could just about make out the 'wall of weird'. This caused him to smile as he busied himself serving up their food and Chloe went over to close the curtains against the dark and to grab the TV remote.
Lex took the opportunity while her back was turned to give the place another quick perusal. He noted that the windows were quite large, so there should be a good amount of light in the daytime which was rare for student apartments. In fact, in spite of the furniture, it did not appear to be a student’s abode at all. Lex guessed that Teddy had some money and was paying more than half of this, because there was no way that Chloe could afford it even with all of her housing money back. It underlined his decision to deal with Gabe the following morning.
“So”, Chloe started but then broke off to groan as she took a bite of her cheese burger.
Lex swallowed although there was nothing in his mouth. Chloe’s golden head was titled back, her eyes closed in ecstasy, no idea of the show she was putting on.
After a few moments of apparent bliss she returned to herself, “So … what was I going to ask? Oh yes, what do you want to watch?” As she asked this she pushed his food towards to remind him to eat.
Obligingly Lex unwrapped his food and took a bite - she was right, it was good even when not hung-over -, swallowed, and the replied, “Nothing political”.
“Right”, she had almost forgotten what had led to them being together like this: he had just lost his dream, his political aspirations, and had been left alone in the mansion without anyone to comfort him. She tried not to dwell on it or how oddly right and comfortable it felt for them to be there together. She flicked through the channels, “Documentary on Alexander the Great?”
“Pass, it isn't a good one”, besides he didn't need to hear more about his namesake, it just made him think of his father who had tried to destroy him.
“Um … real house wives of wherever the hell it is this time?”
“Pass, I could go out to see common tramps”.
She snickered. “Oh, Finding Nemo, but we are already halfway through”.
“Oh, however will we survive without being able to watch a cartoon”, upon being fixed with an evil glare he retracted that statement and suggested that they chose something from her profilic movie collection.
“Fine, you choose something”, Chloe said, in between stuffing fries into her mouth. She really was starving, she had to remember to start eating throughout the day. Now her tummy was going to be too fully to sleep properly, she would have to watch at least two films.
“My God you have acquired a large number of rom coms”, he sneered, as he crouched in front of the stacks.
“Oh no, those are Teddy's”, she did her best to look innocent – not wanting him to think that she was some romantic sap who was just waiting for a big strong wealthy man to come and sweep her off her feet – but couldn’t keep it up under the penetrating gaze he was giving her. “Fine, I like them.”
“You have classics as well”, he noted, amused.
“I do”.
“Alright, I need to laugh so The Saint”, he plucked it from the mountain of media.
“Good choice”, she shifted around to make sure that she was properly settled, finally getting to kick off her shoes and wiggle her toes around. “Oh God that's good”, she shoved her favourite bean bag behind her, and lay down on the floor, partially supported within easy reach of her food. She could hear Lex chuckling and offered, “You can take your shoes off as well if you like”.
“I don't tend to go around without shoes on”, he informed her, not unkindly.
“The no wonder you are always such a grumpy guts”, she heaved herself back up as he sat down on the settee and shuffled around the table on her knees to tug off his shoes. “There, isn't that much better?”
“Much”, he smirked, “I'll remove my jacket as well and see if I can reach the almost orgasmic levels of comfort you appear to have achieved”. His eyes were drawn to her as she settled back down.
Chloe smiled apparently unbothered by him from her semi recumbent posture, merely suggesting that he “Try a bean bag chair too”.
“Oh, I think that that might be too much for a beginner like me”, he declined as he continued with his burger.
“Fine, if you don’t think that you are up to it”, Chloe muttered, before taking her next bite.
He arched an eyebrow at her, “Do you really think that you can use such childish mind games on me?”
She took her time chewing and swallowing, before answering, “I don’t know, can I?”
“Yeah, you can”, he said as he got into position, and discovered that she was right; it was comfortable. “Damn it”, he uttered a second later as he got ketchup on his shirt trying to eat like that.
“Yeah, you need practice to be a true slob”, Chloe tossed him a napkin, “Oh, I love this episode!”
So, what did you think?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
Love the updates! Lana does whine a lot and I'm glad in this story that Chloe finally get out of the dorm and move to a place where she can be free and happy. I love Lilly attempts at playing matchmaking and the lunch together as a family is great.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
I finally caught up. Both updates were great. I loved their beginning. :)
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
A/N: Thank-you for the reviews. :D
Chapter Seven
“I haven’t had homework in years”, Lex confessed as he strode into Chloe’s bedroom at her father’s apartment (a very temporary bedroom if he had anything to say about it).
“Do you mind?” Chloe asked, almost nervously.
“No, of course not”, the denial came out a little more sharply than he had intended and he screwed his eyes shut in self-flagellation. He had told her several times now that he didn’t mind putting in the work, it had been his idea to seek medical help and her doubt infuriate him – although he knew that he had no right to feel that way. He had caused this situation, not her.
Silence stretched between them, both trying to wrestle with their hurt feelings whilst worried about their spouse’s. Not sure what else to do, Chloe decided to just try to breeze past it. She collapsed down onto her bed, keeping to one side, and patted the space where she wanted him to lay.
Lex stared at her with something akin to confusion. He had been expecting to be shown the door, not to sit next to her.
“What, are you afraid that I am going to copy your answers?”
“Of course not”, he grinned and kicked off his shoes, slipped off his jacket and gingerly lay down on the bed next to her not sure how close to her she wanted him to get.
All day long he had been trying to walk the fine line between being there for his family and intruding. He had been fully expecting (and dreading) losing Lilly the second that the therapy session was over until the following weekend only to discover that they were all going to lunch together and that she wouldn’t suffer him to leave after that either. As delighted as Lex had been by this development he had spent a good portion of the day staring over at Chloe trying to work out if she wanted him to stay or if he was just butting in. She hadn’t seemed to mind but he was concerned that she might just have been being polite. Still, she was still willing to work on their homework together even though she must have been as exhausted as he was after they had tucked Lilly into bed; she had required four stories that night.
“So”, she smiled almost nervously over at him, “first question. On a scale of one to ten (one being the lowest, ten being the highest) how important is your partner to you”. She scowled.
It was on the tip of Lex’s tongue to tell her that she didn’t have to answer if she didn’t want to although it cut him to the quick that she apparently wasn’t able to when she got her pen out and drew a thick line through the word partner, “We are not a figure skating team, I am not your ‘partner’”, she even put on a funny voice to utter the word, such was the contempt she felt it deserved, “I am your wife, you are my husband, if they want a gender natural term use ‘spouse’”.
Lex laughed in relief.
“I’m not that funny”, she stared at him quizzically and rubbed his tummy absentmindedly as if afraid that his laughter would cause him to pull a muscle. That caused his mirth to die away and his body to tense. They both stared awkwardly at each other for a second before Chloe realised what she was doing and with a slight blush removed her hand, cleared her throat and stared at her paper, “So, marks out of ten”.
“Ten”, Lex announced decidedly as he wrote it down in large characters.
“Really?”
“Really”, Lex repeated the word, hating that it still took her so much by surprise, it hadn’t used to. “Darling, you have to know that I love you more than anything”.
The heat of his gaze caused warmth to spread all over her body, before she confessed, “I want to Lex, I really do”.
They lay there in silence for a few seconds, neither sure what to say until Lex finally asked, sounding unsure of himself, “Chloe?”
“Yes?”
“Can I hold you?”
“I’d like that”, she agreed, moving over to him, so that his arm was supporting her neck and wrapped around her shoulder, she was snuggled against his side and chest, her leg slung over him, his other arm holding her around the waist. The way that they always used to.
Chloe closed her eyes, enjoying the closeness and warmth but also feeling as though her heart might break. “Lex”, she whispered, “tell me that we will make this work”.
He smiled and stroked her hair, “I promise you Chloe, we will make this work. Whatever it takes”.
~*~
“I wonder who that is”, Martha said laughing tiredly as she heard a tap at the front door. The party celebrating Jonathan’s election had stretched far into the night but he had still insisted on being up bright and early the next morning to run the farm and take on his new duties, which meant that Martha had to be up too to make breakfast.
“Probably someone else coming by to congratulate Dad”, Clark smiled proudly over the breakfast table at his father.
“Quite probably”, Jonathan removed his napkin from his lap ready to get the door but Martha was already up and halfway across the living room.
“Lex”, she gasped as she opened the door and forgot her manners in her surprise, asking “what are you doing here?”
Lex used his patented half, slightly deprecating smile, and held out a bottle of his best wine, “I came to congratulate my worthy opponent; I hope that I am not disturbing you”.
“No of course not”, Martha replied, genuinely touched. She accepted the bottle and moved to the side to usher him in. She didn’t trust him but he had been Clark’s friend and her motherly instincts got the better of her, “We were just having breakfast, would you like to join us?”
“Martha”, Jonathan gave her a reproachful look, on his feet and standing (with Clark) where the kitchen became the lounge.
“No thank-you Mrs Kent, I don’t want to put you out, I just came to offer Mr Kent my congratulations and support”, there he had got the words out, that had better satisfy Chloe. He felt as if he might throw up.
“You aren’t putting us out”, Martha insisted politely, “Would you like something to drink?”
“No thank-you, Mrs Kent”, he was actually smiling now.
“Okay then, I’ll just leave you and Jonathan to talk while I go wrap a muffin up for you”, she decided. She didn’t like how pale he was looking, as much as she appreciated Lionel’s support (she knew that her husband would never have won without it) she detested him as a man for having turned on his own son like that.
“I don’t need your support Lex”, Jonathan continued to use his given name as if he were just one of his son’s friends rather than one of the most powerful men in the country. Lex smiled again, giving no outward sign that he had noticed that man’s hypocrisy always going on about respect and then carrying on like that.
“Right, so you aren’t planning on dealing with the LuthorCorp plant which is entirely under my control even though 95% of the state is dependent on corn … or as I like to say, LuthorCorp”, Lex summed up the situation, “sorry for wasting your time then”, he nodded at Clark in greeting and turned on his heel to leave.
“Lex wait”, Clark rushed to cut him off, not daring to touch his former friend just in case he sent him through a wall, “you can’t mean that you are going to deliberately not work with my Dad. So many people’s lives will be ruined, so …”
“No”, Lex said, clearly and deliberately, “that is not what I am saying at all”.
“Clark, Jonathan, honestly he said no such thing”, Martha bustled over, “he came here specifically to say that he is willing to work with Jonathan so that when your father needs him – which he will – the lines of communication are already open and Jonathan will not have to beg”.
“Exactly”, Lex nodded, deciding that he should employ Chloe as the head of his public relations. She was brilliant.
“We are delighted to have you”, she assured him, handing him a basket of muffins – she thought that he looked a little pale –, “and will look forward to working with you. Shall we set up a meeting now or should I call your secretary?”
With that the Kent males were effectively side-lined as Martha and Lex planned a meeting schedule and the initiatives they would like to see implemented.
Lex left with the conviction that the only reason why Martha had let her husband run was because she thought that conservative members in Kansas would be more likely to vote for him that her. He was more determined than ever to keep the Sullivan’s on his side.
~*~
“What the hell?” Chloe croaked as an annoying ringing woke her up. She hated when people called her first thing in the morning. She fumbled around until she found her phone and jumped to attention when she saw the time, it wasn’t first thing. It was nine!
“Oh God”, she groaned as she scanned the name, hoping that it wasn’t The Planet, this was supposed to be her day off. “Oh, hello Daddy”.
“Hello Sweetie-pie. Did I wake you?”
“Yes”, she couldn’t lie to him and collapsed back against her pillows only then realising that she was still dressed in the same clothes from the day before and was on top of her normal comforter, covered with other blankets from the airing cupboard. She rubbed her blurry eyes with the back of her left hand as she had done ever since she was a child. She didn’t remember going to bed like this, actually she didn’t remember going to bed at all. She had been sitting in the living room with Lex watching the third episode of the Saint and then … She blushed furiously.
“Poor little baby, you’ve been working too hard again, haven’t you?”
“Dad”, she could hear the concern in his voice, “I’m fine. Honestly. You worry too much”.
“You don’t worry enough”, he countered although they both knew that that was a lie. She worried about him continuously. “Anyway, I was calling you because I just got a visit from Lex Luthor”.
“What? Sorry Dad, I think that I just drifted off. Who did you say you just got a visit from?”
“Alexander Joseph Luthor”, her father repeated, chuckling softly.
“What did he want?” She felt shiver of trepidation travelling down her spine.
“To offer me a job”.
“A job? Your old job?” She asked hopefully.
“Not exactly”, Gabe took a deep breath, “it seems that now that Lex is in charge of the whole of LuthorCorp – or LexCorp, as he likes to call it – he doesn’t have as much time as he once did to dedicate to the crap factory and would like me to take over full management at much higher pay than even Lionel offered”.
“Wow”.
“Indeed, I was sceptical at first but after seeing the contract I accepted, what concerns me”, it seemed strange to use the word concerned when he had just been given a job for life, early pension he could never have dreamt of, brand-new self-sufficient house with full health coverage for him and his family and a scholarship for Chloe, “is the interest he seems to be displaying in you”.
“In me?”
“Yes, and the fact that this decision seems to have come out of nowhere”, Gabe continued, “you two aren’t working together again? The Luthors aren’t trying to pull you bad into their world, are they?” If they were, he was capable of shooting both of them no matter how long he got in prison for it.
“No Dad, I just gave him some advice and I think that this is his way of saying thank-you”, Chloe said thoughtfully, “what do you mean ‘the interest he seems to be displaying in [me]’?”
“Chloe”, Gabe’s voice took on a note of warning.
“What Dad? I’m just asking”, Chloe adopted an innocent expression, even though he couldn’t see her.
“Hmmmm”.
“Daddy?” Chloe prodded gently.
“He appeared to be very concerned about your eating habits, whether you were working too hard and suggested a company which delivers meals so that you wouldn’t forget to eat”. Gabe had been infuriated about that.
“How strange”.
“That’s all that you have to say on the subject?”
“Umm … yes”. This answer was met with silence, so she opted for adding, “Love you”.
“Love you too you little madam. I’ll let you go now Sweetie pie, goodbye”, he said as he rang off.
“Bye bye”, Chloe said sweetly, then immediately punched in another number, “Lex, what the fuck are you up to?”
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
I love that Lex is concerns about Chloe's health and he is willing to take the first step. I know they will get back together so I can't wait to see what happen next.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
Loving it! Cant wait for more!
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Posted 17th January 2014
This is a great story, really enjoying it.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
A/N: Thank-you for the reviews, they inspire me to write. :)
Chapter Eight
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” Chloe squeaked as she shoved hard against Lex’s pliant body, trying to propel him from the bed. She had woken up barely a second before, her body preparing for the appearance of her little alarm clock.
“What?” Lex groaned, as he was unceremoniously shoved, his limps reluctantly releasing their pushy prize.
“Lilly’s up”, Chloe panicked. She could hear her thudding along the hallway towards her mother’s bedroom.
“Yeah, early riser”, Lex agreed, unusually unable to clear his brain from the mists of sleep, there was something that he wasn’t putting together but he couldn’t work out quite what it was. He was quite happy to just lie there until he worked it out, Lilly would probably know what it was. She was so smart.
“Yes, but she is going to come in and see us together”, Chloe scrabbled over him, tried to grab his hand and pull him up.
“If she wasn’t terribly scarred by the time when she was two and we had to explain why we were wrestling without our clothes on then I doubt that this will upset her”, he said. He heard the rustle of a piece of paper as he rolled/was rolled over.
“Yes, but she doesn’t know that you stayed the night. If she sees you here then she might think that we are back together back together not that we just spent the night together and then she will get her hopes up and then she will be hurt”.
Lex’s head snapped up. His baby? Hurt? Never!
He was up on his feet in a second, his recollection suddenly perfect. They had only got through the first question and then ended up falling asleep cuddling. He grabbed his shoes and jacket from where he had discarded them the pervious evening and dashed into the wardrobe that Chloe was holding open just before Lilly appeared.
“Mommy, you’re up”, Lilly sounded surprised.
“Yes”, Chloe agreed, shielding Lex with the door (although being careful not to fully shut it and deprive him of oxygen) just in time.
Lex breathed a sigh of relief as he realised that his daughter had not observed him – she would have been bouncing on top of him if she had – and leant against the side of the wardrobe, trying not to become distracted by the soft, Chloe scented material surrounding him, toying with his senses.
Logically he knew that he should stay still and make as little noise as possible but then there was his daughter and wife just outside the enclosure. He yearned to be with them, or at least see them. He craned towards the ray of light, creeping in from the gap which Chloe had left so that he could just make out the duo.
Chloe was sat back on her bed, Lilly clambering up beside her to give her mommy a big hug. He watched with tenderness clutching at his chest as Chloe gave both Lilly and Teddy the obligatory good morning kiss. Lilly had many, many toys but Pteddy would never be replaced.
~*~
Lex held a medium sized brown teddy bear in his hands, it was a lot smaller than he remembered. Ptolomy (Lex Luthor’s personal teddy bear) had been hidden away in a vault in a Swiss bank since his brother’s death. Lex had bequeathed it upon the youngest Luthor and when he had seen Julian buried had feared his father’s reprisal sent him off to safety.
Alexander had not had many friends or happy memories, even before he had lost his hair and had become a complete social outcast. Ptolemy had been his mother’s first gift to him, a normal gift from mother to son, until his father had named him. Just has he was Alexander the Great, his bear became Ptolemy his famous general.
Ptolemny (Pteddy for short) had studied, played and slept with him. He had kept him sane.
“Who’s this?” A soft voice enquired as female hands rested on his broad shoulders.
“Pteddy”, he informed her, the P being silent.
“He is lovely”, Chloe informed him as she circled him to sit on his lap.
“You don’t think that he is too old? I could get her something newer”, he pointed out.
“She will love it”, Chloe promised him, using her finger to trace the battle/hug worn face of the proud general.
“I hope so”, he smiled, “hello in there”, Lex made the bear to talk to Chloe’s swollen stomach the way that he had for Julian, “how are you?” Pteddy stroked the bump where his future playmate was housed.
~*~
“Mommy”, Lilly’s voice broke through Lex’s thoughts. She was still sitting astride her mother, swinging one foot and staring intently at Pteddy. Both clear inclinations that however carefree her tone, this was something that she had been thinking about for a while.
“Yes, sweetheart”, Chloe responded, her tone making it obvious to Lex at least, that she was aware that something potentially awkward was coming. Like the day she had finally asked if her friend was going to die because she had taken a bath with him and had noticed that he had an enormous growth outwards where he should have gone in.
Lex smiled at the memory and at having being discreetly pinched by Chloe when he couldn’t stop laughing.
“You know Daddy?”
“Yes, I know Daddy”, Chloe agreed.
“Well, …” Her foot appeared to require close attention, “I was thinking …”
“Always a good idea. What were you thinking?” Chloe inquired when her daughter just stopped talking, just in time to keep Lex from doing the same.
“He doesn’t live at home anymore”.
“No”, Chloe agreed, “he doesn’t”.
“Well we don’t live at home anymore either”, Lilly continued.
“Also, very true”, she had a terrible feeling that she knew where this was going.
“Well, why?”
“Sweetheart”, Chloe said with a sigh, “these things are complicated”. She had tried to explain this to her daughter before and clearly hadn’t done a very good job of it. She wracked her brains for another way of doing it. Why didn’t they teach you how to deal with these sorts of things in therapy?
“I know that”, Lilly said, sounding extremely put out. “Everyone loves me blah blah blah”, she knew when people were avoiding telling her things. “But why doesn’t Daddy live at home?”
“I …” Chloe wasn’t sure what to say.
“We live with Granddad, but Daddy hasn’t gone to live with his Daddy, and he isn’t at home. Don’t you think that he is upset not being at home?” She finally looked up at Chloe.
“No sweetheart, I don’t think that being away from home will upset your Daddy, I think that he misses you but …”
“That’s not good”, Lilly decided. “Couldn’t he come to stay with us?”
“No, sweetheart it doesn’t work like that you see …”
Before Chloe could say what it was that she should see she was cut off again, “Do you hate Daddy?”
“No of course not!” She sounded truly appalled, Lex was relieved to hear.
“Do you still like him?” She demanded.
“Of course!”
“And do you still love him?”
“I could never stop loving your father sweetheart but sometimes …”
“Is it because he doesn’t have any hair?” She wouldn’t let her mother get anything else out. She wanted answers and she was going to get them! No one was distracting her!
“What?” Chloe almost laughed at that.
“Because he’s not handsome like some other people”, Lilly wondered.
“I think that vast majority of the female population of the United States might disagree with that”, Chloe muttered but the words still reached Lex and he wondered if that was part of the problem, if she thought that maybe he hadn’t been faithful to her while he was on those damned business trips.
“Is it because he wasn’t around a lot?” Lilly asked her next question, “Because I was thinking, I was mad when he wasn’t around a lot because I thought that he didn’t like me anymore and I decided that I wasn’t going to love him if he didn’t love me back …”
“Oh sweetheart”, Chloe hugged her daughter close, that is to say she almost squeezed her to death, “You know that your father loves you so very much and that …”
“Yes”, Lilly agreed, “now I do. But he loves you too and if I forgave him, couldn’t you?”
“It isn’t about forgiveness darling”.
“What if he said that he was really, really really sorry?”
“Yeah, what if I said that?” Lex almost asked.
“It just doesn’t work like that sweetie. I’m sorry baby. I want to give you everything, including a stable home life and your Daddy and I are trying our best but I can’t promise that things will ever go back to like they were before”, Chloe said trying to stay strong.
Lex would promise that though, not like before with him working all of the time, it would be a thousand times better.
“Okay”, Lilly said snuggling up to her, “Daddy must be so sad”.
“Yeah”, Chloe agreed, holding on to her daughter for dear life, she had no idea how Lex got through a single day without their baby. Her eyes automatically strayed over to the wardrobe and she blushed as she felt sure that he could see her and she realised that he must have heard everything that had been said. “I love you both so much”, she declared, ostensibly to her daughter.
“So, can Daddy come to dinner tomorrow?” Lilly got out her request and Chloe suddenly realised that she had just fallen into a Luthorian trap.
“We can ask, although I don’t know what his plans are. He might have to work. You know that he will still have to work”, she reminded her daughter, hoping not to get her hopes up too high.
Lex opened the door just enough to nod his head at Chloe to say that he could indeed come before pulling it back closed before his daughter could turn. He would have to rearrange quite a lot of work but he would be able to make it.
“Actually, come to think of it I think that I remember him saying that he was free tomorrow evening”, Chloe covered. Lilly shrieked with delight and bounced off her to dance around Pteddy.
Chloe smiled at the display and wondered whether her being able to come to dinner if the situation had been reversed would have resulted in such ecstasy. “Tell you what, why don’t you go and get dressed and then we can call him after breakfast?”
“Okay”, Lilly danced her way over to the door only to come back through it without warning a couple of seconds later just as Chloe was opening her wardrobe to release her husband, thankfully she shoved him back in just in time. “Oh, Mommy I thought that I would just tell you that Granddad is in the living room”.
“Okay, thank-you for that piece of information Lillian”, Chloe said as her daughter once again left, unsure as to why her daughter felt the need to inform her of that fact until she came face to face with Lex and realised that the only way to get Lex out was through the living room. “She couldn’t know, could she?”
“No”, Lex assured her, “she would have dragged me out of there to play with her”.
“Good point”, Chloe tried to take a breath and relax, “but what are we going to do about this problem now?”
“Excuse me?”
“She can’t know that you are here”.
Well it was a relief to know that she didn’t consider his invitation to dinner as a problem, at least. “I’ll wait here until you all leave for the morning and then leave, as long as you get her to call me from anywhere other than your room she won’t realise. I have my phone with me”.
“Yes, but I have to get ready. I have to get changed and you need to get to work too”.
Lex shrugged it off, “I have a spare change of clothes at the office so as long as I shower here we should be fine. You have an en suite, right?”
“Yes”.
“Then what are we waiting for? You know, the longer we wait the more likely that Lilly will become suspicious and investigate. She gets that from you, you know”, he teased her.
“Oh please, I’m not the one who decided to keep a car and have it studied by scientists for decades”.
“It was years not decades”.
“Whatever, it was a bloody long time either way”, she said dismissively.
“Well, hang on a second, I think that it important and that as a lover of truth you really should honour the actual timeline”.
“She could have got it from either of us”, Chloe continued to protest.
“Nice way to change the subject when you know that you are losing the argument”, Lex smirked.
“I am not losing the argument, in fact we are not having an argument we are just …”
“Yes?”
“Nothing”. She pretended that it was over for the grand total of four point three seconds. “But, she could have got it from either of us”.
“Not a chance”, he grinned down at her, “I’m nowhere near smart enough. That is all you.
Chloe blushed slightly and tried to appear unmoved.
“So”, he placed his hands on her shoulders, “my delightful, extremely smart wife, what say you tell me why you are trying to avoid us getting ready together? I’m not suggesting that we wash each other – although that would be very nice – just use the same facilities. We have done it a hundred times before”.
She shrugged, hating that he could see right through her.
He smiled and rubbed her tensed shoulders, he could see exactly where Lilly got a good part of her temperament from especially when upset or troubled by something.
“It is different now, I don’t want you to see me …”
“I’ve already seen everything that you’ve got. From every angle imaginable”, they had had a very active sex life before everything had gone to hell.
“Lex”, she punctuated her protest with a slap on the arm, “you shouldn’t say things like that”.
“Why not? It’s true”.
She was colouring up. “That’s not the point”.
“Fine, fine. Can we just get cleaned up before Lilly returns and starts asking questions? I promise that I won’t look …”
“Okay”.
“That much”, he hastened to add.
A/N: So, what did you think? Did Lilly know the location of her Daddy? Will Lex look? Is Chloe right to be worried about Lex potentially seeing her naked again after so much time?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
No she didn't know Lex was there. Otherwise she would have busted him. Lex will look and see her naked. LOL! Great update.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
A/N: Thanks hcfe. I agree.
Chapter Nine
“You dirty, rotten, cheating bastard”, Chloe ranted as she marched back into her room, wrapped only in a towel another one in her hand ready to dry her hair.
“What?” Lex followed her out, “I thought that I was being helpful”.
“Helpful?” Chloe repeated in exasperation, throwing her second towel at him so that it covered his smug, smirking face. “You call that being helpful?”
He pulled the towel off his head and tossed it back onto the bed. He was still as handsome as ever.
The white cotton towel was slung low on his slim hips, extenuating the sleek muscles of his stomach which still shimmered slightly with water. Chloe licked her lips as her eyes continued to travel over his strong arms and broad shoulders up to his gorgeous, if extremely smug, smiling face. Her hands spasmed as she imagined running her hands across the smooth skin of his head once more. A move which he quite obviously noticed, he gave her a look which stated quite clearly that he wanted to eat her up.
Chloe swallowed. She focused on her annoyance, magnifying it and trying to convince herself that it was sole responsible for the heat travelling through her body.
“Sure”, he voice was seductive, almost a purr as he bridged the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her making her shiver. “There have been many accidents resulting from gorgeous women trying to wash their own backs”, his hands slide down along hers, the soft cotton tickling his fingers.
“I haven’t read anything about it”, Chloe tried to remain calm.
“Well, I imagine that I can have something written about it and published in a major newspaper by lunchtime”, he offered, as he cupped her bottom, bringing her closer to him.
“Lex”, his name came out as a soft moan.
“As a concerned member of the Metropolis public, I think that it is something that needs to be stamped out”, he pressed his erection into her stomach.
“Oh God”, she moaned. She had tried to keep her eyes to herself, she really had. After declining his offer to conserve water and shower together Chloe had let him go first as she washed her face and brushed her teeth, trying to keep her gaze fixed on the mirror. It wasn’t her fault that she could see a little bit of his reflection in there – his rather delectable ass through a ridiculously thin curtain to be more specific. Then when he had come out, naked and … she swallowed at the memory.
A few seconds before she had sworn to herself that she wouldn’t get into that shower with him still in the room, not when she knew how flimsy the curtain was, but as he moved towards her with the clear intention of cornering her against the sink, she jumped into the shower out of pure self-preservation.
She had thought that freezing cold water might help put a damper on her ardent arousal and she still maintained that it would have worked, had she not been able to see Lex’s broad shoulders and back, and lovely ass covered only by a towel as he used the sink. Then him turning around. She had almost jumped out of her skin when his warm, delicious hand and reached around the translucent curtain to stroke along her spine until he reached the curve of her behind and gave it a stinging slap.
He had then proceeded to turn the water heat up and warned her about the dangers of giving herself a chill as her legs clamping together, desperate to quell the ache. His insistence on helping her out of the shower and wrapping her in the towel had almost being her undoing. She couldn’t take much more of his attention without jumping his bones or melting away.
“No”, Lex joked, “just your adoring husband”.
“Please Lex”, she moaned.
“Whatever you want honey, I’ll give it to you. Just tell me”, he promised.
“I don’t know”.
“Well then let’s try. This?” He brushed his lips against her temples. “This?” He kissed her jaw. “Or this?” He nibbled her ear.
“Lex, we can’t”, she moaned. She wanted to, she felt like she would snap in two if she didn’t have him right then, right there, but nothing was more important than their life together and this wasn’t the right way. “Not if we want a strong lasting relationship and …”
“Okay”, Lex groaned, wrenching himself away from her.
“Are you angry?”
“No”, he smiled at her, “I’ll wait as long as necessary”, he promised, flopping back on the bed, hands linked behind his head, grinning at her deliciously, large feet crossed at the ankles. Very large feet. They wiggled slightly, impatiently.
“Aren’t you going to get ready?”
“I think that I’ll let you go first”, he smirked, “and you will see that I am right here ready to lend a hand if necessary”.
“I think that I will just grab my stuff and use the bathroom”, she decided.
“Ah, but the bathroom’s still filled with steam. Your clothes will get wet”, before she could say anything to the effect that she wouldn’t mind being a bit damp, he added, “so you will just have to get changed in here, I guess … unless you would rather discuss your penchant today for putting your health in danger by cold water and damp”. He patted his lap significantly.
“Lex”, she protested.
He quirked an eyebrow at her.
“Fine, but no looking!”
“I made no such promises”, Lex argued, his eyes glued to her.
Chloe coloured up. He had seen her naked before, a lot. He had got glimpses of her that morning but she liked to think that she had at least shielded her breast from him. She had been trying to slim down over the last year, since the last time that he had seen her undressed.
She got her clothes out and put them in front of her and then turned her back on him, she still felt embarrassed as she loosened the towel and then retied it around her waist, quickly shoving on her bra, dress and letting it fall over her towel before she pulled that off and slipped her panties up.
“Spoil sport”, Lex complained.
Chloe chucked her towel at him as she crashed down onto the bed beside and him started to dry her hair, “Then, show me how it is done then”.
He raised an eyebrow at her. “You know that I never turn down a challenge”.
With languid grace he arose and tossed all of the towels into the hamper revealing himself in all of his glory to her. He was absolute perfection personified.
She wanted to nibble him, really really badly. She tried to take her mind off it. She recited her times tables, thought about that article she had been reading last week when she was snuggled up with Lex’s … “I just remembered, I think that some of your stuff got mixed up with mine”.
“What?”
“Um”, wow, he really was impressive and hard. It had been a mistake to look directly at him again. “In the top draw”, she pointed from where she seated on the bed, the hum of her hairdryer surrounding her.
“Okay”, Lex went to investigate and Chloe hastened to add, “you know what maids are like. Overzealous packers”.
Lex smirked as he opened the draw and did indeed find some of his stuff, a couple of sets of clothes etc. “Useful, odd that you didn’t mention it until now though”.
Chloe apparently didn’t hear him and was studying the ends of her drying hair.
He dressed quickly and walked over and plucked the appliance from her fingers, turned it off and paced it on the bed spread. “Is there something that you would like to tell me?”
“No”.
“Okay, let me rephrase that”, he place a finger under her chin and forced her to look up at him, “there is something and you are going to tell me what it is, right now”. His voice was pitched in that low, smoother than chocolate, ever so slightly commanding tone which always got results.
“I may have noticed them on the first night we were away from each other and kept them”, she muttered. It was gaoling to admit that she had been so desperate for comfort and something that reminded of him that she had slept with the clothing that smelt like him.
“Oh baby”, he murmured and pulled her against him.
Twenty minutes later, Chloe was giggling, “Lex, I can’t remember the last time that we had to sneak around like this”, she giggled. She had given Lilly her breakfast (and snuck a couple of protein bars back into her room for Lex) and they had made the phone call, during all of which time Gabe hadn’t left the living room. He wasn’t going in to work that morning, he was reading the newspaper.
“I can, but last time was a lot more fun”, Lex shot back.
~*~
“Yes, Lana I am very impressed with how the business is running. Yes, Lana I’m sure that this is very important but I do also have a rather large multinational corporation to run and this is just your summer job”, Lex reminded her, “so if …” he trailed off as a familiar shock of blonde hair caught his attention.
“Lex, I don’t think that you are really paying attention, it is as if you don’t even care. This is important you know and I for one think …”
“No, it really isn’t”, Lex couldn’t have cared less about it.
“But”, Lana started again.
“Tell you what Lana, do whatever you want. Burn the place to the ground for all I care, it is insured and at the end of the summer I will sign whatever form you want me to say that you have some work experience and tell Clark that you are really trying hard and not living off me”, he said as he walked off.
It might have just been him but Lana had started to become a real pain in the ass since she had graduated (without honours) and had found that the world hadn’t suddenly and magically opened up to her, furnishing her with every opportunity that her vapid little heart could desire.
He could just about hear her still whinging but he tuned her out, he was on the hunt for something far more important and exciting. He had invited Chloe to come with him that weekend but she had refused. He had thought that he was going to be condemned to a weekend of boredom, but now there was a spark (or rather glimpse) of hope.
Lex knew that he had seen her and that she was headed in this direction, he grinned. There was only one place she could be headed.
“Chloe”, he called out as he entered the basement, locking the door behind him. He could smell her subtle perfume now. “Come out come out wherever you are”. He strode down the main aisle, his head swinging from one side to the other searching for her. There was a rustle, which he knew was deliberate – Chloe was an expert at sneaking around, if she hadn’t wanted to be found, he wouldn’t have been able to locate her. “I know you’re there”. He rounded the corner and then found nothing. There was a whisper of a giggle.
He growled. He could feel himself hardening at the mere thought of her, the smell of her, the sound of her. He swallowed. The taste of her. “What game are you playing?”
“A fun one”, she finally spoke, in a sing song voice which floated over to him and wrapped around him in a seductive blanket of desire.
“God woman come out here”, he demanded as he stalked in the direction of her voice only to hear her light footsteps, skipping away from him. He increased his speed, she increased hers. “Chloe!”
“Lex”, the footsteps stopped and he rounded the corner to see her. Her hair was slightly windswept, her cheeks were flushed and her breasts were heaving from exertion, as she splayed herself back against the wall, one leg placed back against it. As if she were trapped, which Lex realised with a wolfish grin, she was. The lightweight cotton dress she was wearing – he now realised specifically for the purposes of this game – was riding up high on her thigh.
“You should have known that you wouldn’t be able to get away from me Chloe”, he all but growled as he advanced on her. They had argued at length about the nature of their relationship the night before i.e. all of the sneaking around, but it appeared that she had forgiven him and decided to have fun with it, at least for that afternoon.
“I could scream”, she gave him a decidedly sultry look.
“Oh, I guarantee it”, he licked his lips as he surveyed her closely.
“Promises, promises”, she tried to purr but the second word came out slightly more of a whimper as he placed his hands either side of her head, pinning her in.
“Baby, by the time that I’m done with you, you are going to have screamed yourself horse”, he growled. He leant down so that his hot breath tickled her neck, “But first, you’re going to beg”, he grasped her hands and pinned them above her.
“Never”, she declared with overly dramatic zeal.
He grinned and used his foot to part her feet and then pressed his knee up between her thighs, she rubbed herself against him. She was already wet, having thought about all of the things that she was going to do to him on the long drive back from Metropolis.
“Beg”, he repeated, taking the lobe of her ear between his teeth.
“Fuck me”.
“More of a command”, he commented.
“So, what are you going to do about it?” She taunted, circling her hips and groaning with pleasure.
He gritted his teeth, trying to gain some self-control before he growled, “This”. With one smooth move he had his hands on her hips and had hoisted her up, her legs automatically wrapping around his waist.
~*~
Lex snuck out after Chloe, hiding behind the side of the bookcase. Lilly was waiting by the door, she needed to convince Gabe to walk them out of the house so that Lex could use those few seconds to slip out unseen. He couldn’t be late, he and Chloe had therapy again that morning – although how much help that was going to be as they hadn’t done the homework neither of them could tell.
Chloe grinned at the memory but then schooled her features as she focused on the task at hand.
“Mommy hurry up”, Lilly called from the doorway, “I’m going to be late!”
“No you’re not, we have plenty of time”, Chloe called back.
Gabe, without looking up from his newspaper, and loudly enough only for Chloe and Lex to hear, said, “Yes, you have a little time left before you have to go. Although how you are going to get Lex out without either Lilly or I seeing is a real head scratcher”.
“Dad”, Chloe squeaked, coming out into the open.
“Yes daughter?” He finally looked up at her.
“Have you been sitting there on purpose?”
“Of course, I wanted to confirm my suspicions. So”, he folded his newspaper, “am I going to have the pleasure of walking my two favourite little girls out giving Lex time to sneak out too? Or are you going to try to knot the sheets together?”
~*~
“So, how are we today?” The therapist inquired of her patients, both of whom were sitting together this time looking far more comfortable than they had before.
“Fine”, Chloe responded.
“Great”, Lex put in.
His better half shot him a look.
“Well, I am. My morning has been pretty good so far”, he said with a shrug.
She did what any self-respecting wife would in the situation, she elbowed him.
The therapist smiled happily. “So, shall we begin going through your homework?”
“We didn’t actually get around to it”, Lex confessed with a wicked grin.
“We did the first question”, this was the first time that she had ever not done her homework, “and we couldn’t help falling asleep”.
“Oh, well never mind. Sleep is good for you”, the therapist chirped. She took the somewhat rumpled sheet and read the first question and answer, “both tens. Well that is encouraging. So, what made the two of you decide to be together?”
“It was a combination of things really”, Chloe gave the sensible answer.
“Yeah, good old fashioned jealousy and lust”, Lex clarified.
“Lex”, Chloe protested.
“What, I’m just telling it like it happened …”
A/N: So, does anyone else love Gabe? Will smut get me more reviews? Did Lex have the right to look? Will he be happy when he works out that Chloe has lost a stone? Willl Chloe end up giving herself a cold? All reviews on any subject weclome and much apreciated. :D
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
Gabe is too cute. He knows Lex is in the room all along and I think Lilly knew too. She just did not want to make her mom feel uncomfortable by letting her know she knew.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
loved that both gabe and lily new lex was there. can't wait for next chapter.lana is annoying.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
Gab and Lilly are not right. LOL! I loved it. I can't wait to read more. :)
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
A/N: Thank-you for the reviews, they make me far happier than they should. :D
Chapter Ten
Lex glanced down at his watch and then back up to the door, it wasn’t like Chloe to be this late. Trying not to be too obvious about it he checked his phone for any new messages from her. Nothing.
“She only said that she might show”, he reminded himself. But she had said with that knowing, teasing look in her eye. That should stand up in a court of law as a definite promise to attend (at least in his opinion).
He drummed his fingers on the white linen table cloth. “Maybe I’ll show”, definitely meant that she would. He was worrying for nothing, she was just running late. He took a sip of his drink. She was probably just following up a potentially dangerous story which would get her in trouble. She could be being held by yet another psycho meteor-freak. Bastards! He knew that he should have had someone follow her.
Their relationship had been flourishing slowly but surely. They didn’t call each other every single day, sometimes not even every single week. They hadn’t suddenly started hanging out every single weekend or painted each other’s nails or whatever normal friends did, but they had grown closer. It had started out with the occasional visit when either one of them was in the area, the odd email when one of them got a lead they thought that the other one would like, then an IM when they saw something funny on the internet (Chloe had adored the otter picture he had sent her), then phone calls just to catch up followed by coffee dates. They had been on just such a (purely platonic) meeting only that morning, chatting about how their respective lives were going with Chloe advising him on his campaign and him telling her not to take too many risks when subject of that evening had arisen.
Lex had casually mentioned that he was going to see a really amazing band that evening followed by a reading by one of Chloe’s favourite authors – although he had not known about her preference at the time. She had used her big eyes on him, her pouty look and finally had come out and demanded to know what it took to get an invitation out of him. He had promised to put her name on the list and she had flipped her hair, given him a speaking look and informed him that she would pop in, if she had time.
Regardless of how they had got there, of how much muck still lay between them, of the problem which kept cropping up between them, they were friends now and he was damned if he was going to lose her. He knew that she would throw a tantrum when she found out that he had ordered his men to find her at all costs but that was what he was about to do. Forgetting all about appearances he grabbed his phone and punched in the familiar number just as the door to the restaurant doors swung open.
Chloe paused in the doorway, the soft light from the lamps making her hair glow like a halo, as she shrugged off her dark wool coat turning slightly as she did so. Lex swallowed. She was wrapped in a mulberry coloured dress fastened just over her hip with an antique broach highlighting the lush curves of her hips and ass and (he noticed as she turned back around) the swell of her firm breasts with just a hint of cleavage. When his eyes finally managed to focus on her face, he noted only cool distain.
He frowned as he watched her walking (with a distinct sway of the hips) over to the bar followed by a guy he didn’t recognise, without even looking around with him. Lex was not pleased.
“Lex”, the willowy brunette sitting across from him tried to get his attention.
“Not now”, he brushed her off. He had brought her along at the last minute to prevent Chloe from getting the wrong idea about that evening, but it didn’t mean that he could contemplate the idea of her with another man with anything approaching sanguinity. He tried to convince himself that it must just be a friend – as far as he knew she wasn’t seeing anyone, and he had seen off that little oik who had been sniffing around - but then found his eyes fixed on a very particular part of her anatomy in that dress. No, she wasn’t dressed like that for just a friend. The top looked as if it had been sprayed on.
The unworthy creature who was accompanying her pulled out a stool for her and she sat on it, crossing her legs, a long smooth strip of flesh drawing the avid gaze of every man in the room. Lex’s jaw clenched shut. He had noticed that she had grown since their days in Smallville, but fucking hell this was ridiculous. There were professional models who would have given their right arm for legs like that. They were perfect. He stifled a growl as he observed the other eyes upon her.
He drained his wine without tasting it and declared, “I need another drink”.
“Well, get the waiter”, his date purred and attempted to rub her foot against his leg.
“No, we are going to the bar”. He got to his feet and stormed over to the bar, trusting that she would trot along after him. In spite of the fact that he could not feel the slightest twinge of attraction of her, from a practical perspective, he knew that she was good-looking and wouldn’t embarrass him – not in the physical department, at least.
Katie? Candy? Kelly? Kaley? He really must try to remember her name before introducing her to Chloe was one of the hundreds of socialites who constantly hounded him, whispering descriptive (but rarely grammatically correct) suggestions in his ear in the hopes of becoming his arm candy for a few hours. Had he not been so sure that the only attraction she felt for him was his bank balance, then he might actually have felt guilty for the way that he was about to use her. As it was, the only thing that mattered was Chloe. The rest of the world could go to hell.
He stalked over to the bar, allowing his prey to sense his presence, before he spoke. She didn’t turn around but it didn’t matter. He knew that she was aware of him; he could detect the subtlest change in her body language. He could almost feel the tension pouring off her as she strove not to react. He smirked, she was angry, and that was stimulating even if he had no idea what he had done.
As much as he would have liked to make her look at him of her own volition, he didn’t stoop to clearing his throat. That would have been far too lowering. With practiced grace, he moved behind Chloe and placed his hand on her lower back, feeling her shiver as he did so.
“Good evening Chloe”, he greeted in silky tones.
Chloe had been excited all day long. She was finally going out on a date with Lex Luthor, even if he had asked her out in an extremely roundabout way. It didn’t matter, he had asked her out! In fact, the more that she thought about it, it made her feel all warm and gooey inside. Lex was always so careful about their relationship, her happiness and her reputation. This was probably just another symptom of the caring that she had come to associate with him. She was certain that he was into her.
That afternoon had been the first time since she and Lana had stopped living together that she had missed her former roommate. In most ways, Teddy was a far superior flat mate (he didn’t leave bras all over the place, he didn’t bug her, he was fun and he didn’t leave a trail of men and drama) however, he was absolutely awful when it came to the ensemble talk.
The series of grunts and monosyllables with which each of her carefully planned out outfits had met, had hardly been useful. Finally, after going through the entire contents of her wardrobe twice, in different combinations, she had found the perfect ensemble. It was her “I’m sexy as hell but not trying too hard” jeans, “I’m a capable woman but chic” black boots, “I might still be in University but I am a professional lady with sass” jacket, and “this might look casual but you really want to rip it off me” top, coupled with her best “really expensive but isn’t” jewellery.
It was a relief that she had found that combination as she had only just managed to arrive on time was it was. They hadn’t been an exact meeting time as she had been trying to be cute and laid back about the date, but she knew that she was on time as she arrived just in time to see his distinctive bald head slipping inside the club/bar/restaurant. She forced herself to wait a few minutes (doing a little dance outside that she just couldn’t help, she was so excited) so that he knew that she wasn’t over eager. Then, she entered.
She was barely inside when she started scanning the room for her date. She only just managed not to bounce from foot to foot with delight when she quickly spied him; he was beyond gorgeous and dressed in a dark suit with that lovely purple tie which she had brought him a few months ago … however he had another accessory that was less welcome. Her poor Lex was being bothered by a gorgeous, dark haired girl. It really was too bad that he couldn’t go anywhere without horrible, stupid, vapid bitches throwing themselves at him.
Chloe squared her shoulders and headed right for them, her conviction ebbing a little with each step as she witnessed that Lex was not batting her hands away. He was making eye contact. She was seated at his table and had a drink. She froze just before she came close enough to cast a shadow over them. Frozen. Heartbroken.
She wanted to scream. To hit him. To hit her. But she didn’t. She just stood there, feeling as if she might actually die at any second until Lex started to turn his head. Then she sprang into action. She might humiliated, hurt, and horrified but there was no reason why he should know that. She charged out of the restaurant, hopefully before she was noticed.
Outside in the cool night air the tears streamed down her face and she was seriously considering going home, eating a ton of chocolate and deleting Lex from her life. If she had been anyone other than Chloe Sullivan she might have done it. But she was not. She was a Sullivan. The daughter of Gabe Sullivan who had single handedly raised a baby girl whilst gaining his MBA, created an entirely new life for them (twice!), run an entire plant in a turbulent economic period keeping not only thousands of people employed in the factory but the rest of Smallville in the black, whilst perfecting his lasagna recipe.
Head held high, and her bottom lip only trembling a little, she stormed home, threw on her sexiest new dress – it had been on sale and just screamed her name – and made a phone call.
The second time that she had entered the establishment she had refused to allow herself to even cast a glance in his direction, she just headed straight for the bar hoping that she didn’t fall flat on her face and didn’t look too ridiculous in her new dress. She wasn’t as sure about it now that it wasn’t just her and her mirror. Her date had said that she looked nice, but he could have just been being polite.
She knew that Lex was looking at her, staring at her to be more precise, probably expecting her to come running over to drool all over him but she would show him! She focused all of her attention on her ‘date’ although it was hard work when she could feel Lex’s eyes on her. She sensed him getting closer to her and yet still almost jumped out of her skin when a large, warm, distinctly male hand was placed squarely on her lower back. She just hoped that she hadn’t squeaked.
Lex greeted her in a low, seductive voice which wrapped around her as his hot breath caressed her ear and neck. Chloe bit her lip. Lex ran his hand from her back around to her hip, and she had no choice but to turn to him, resting her elbow on the bar in an attempt to look casual, sophisticated and sexy. She wasn’t sure if she managed any of it. She had to turn her back on her date, she was now all Lex’s. He was good.
“What do you want to drink? Soda? Juice?” He inquired smoothly.
Chloe tried to look anywhere but him and unfortunately found that her eyes fell on his date, who was smiling smugly. Her opinion that Chloe was just a chubby baby who wasn’t even old enough to drink yet, was written clearly across her face. The worst part was that Chloe couldn’t deny it, but she could do other things.
“We were just discussing that”, she smiled, trying to get her date back in the picture and was pleased to note that he elbowed his way in and wrapped his arm around her; there was no danger of her becoming overly warm or flustered now.
“Yes“, her date played along well, “lemon tea, wasn’t it?”
“Absolutely Max”, she smiled up at him. Ha, at least she knew her date’s name. She would bet everything she owned – except her laptop – that he couldn’t even remember his.
“Champagne”, Lex’s date put in but was ignored. Lex nodded to the bartender to get their orders and slipped a quantity of money that Chloe and Max combined date could never have afforded to part with, across the bar as if it were nothing. Of course, to him it was. He seemed more concerned with Chloe.
“You are cutting it pretty close, aren’t you?”
She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Considering how desperate you were to come to this”, he added and received a scowl for his pains. It wasn’t the expression that he would have chosen, but it was the first time that he had got eye contact with her.
Whatever was bothering her appeared to pass (although Lex knew that it was an act) as she placed her hand on her date’s arm and smiled, “Yes, we have to thank Lex for getting us on the list”.
“Aww”, Lex’s date cooed and wrapped her arms around him, only to be shrugged her off. “It must be a change for you”.
“Go powder your nose or something”, Lex sent her away with an angry look.
“You know that you don’t have to thank me for anything, I was just wondering why, for a woman who was so looking forward to seeing her favourite author and seeing the band you cut it so close”, he reminded her of his original question.
Chloe quirked an eyebrow at him, realising that he was not reminding her of her earlier desperation to be with him but fishing for information about her normal activities. She smiled, “Worried that I will find some dirt on one of your business deals?”
“No”, well, partly yes, but she didn’t need to know that, “just worried that you got yourself into trouble again”.
“No, nothing like that. I had ummm”, she willed a blush to her cheeks, thinking of her earlier humiliation helped, “I had a problem that I needed a male perspective for”. Pretending to notice the slip of the tongue she hid her face against her date’s arm and covered, “Choosing an outfit, I mean”.
Max, to his credit, played his part to a t, wrapping his arm more securely around her and whispering into her ear, “I think that his head might actually explode”.
It might well have done so, had the bar tender not brought over their drinks at that moment only to pass them to a hovering waiter.
“Can we invite you to join us?” Max inquired and Chloe thought that, in spite of her heart ache, she might actually burst out laughing.
“Perhaps”, Lex managed through gritted teeth, “it would be more appropriate, not to mention practical, if I were to invite you two to join me as I actually have a table”.
“We would be delighted”, the younger man replied and Chloe surreptitiously elbowed him. She didn’t want them to sit with Lex, she wanted to show him that she didn’t care that he had a date and that … that … she wasn’t sure after that.
“Good”, Lex gave a nod and lead them over to his table sending the waiter to “fetch [his] date” with a hundred dollar bill tucked into his hand. He would need her back if he was going to deal with Chloe escort/upstart.
“Oh no, don’t bother him, I need to powder my nose”, Chloe stopped the waiter.
“Don’t be gone too long, I’ll miss you”, Max said with unbearable sweetness.
“Oh sweetie”, Chloe leant down and kissed him on the cheek, and whispered, “Don’t lay it on too strong”.
He smirked and purred (making sure that Lex could hear him), “Oh, just you wait until later baby”.
She shot him a warning look, which he cheerfully ignored as he smiled back and squeezed her bottom. As she turned to walk away, a swing to her hips, she heard a glass (which she was fairly sure belonged to Lex) shattering. She assumed that he had dropped it (as she heard no grunt of pain) and schooled her thoughts as she headed for the lady’s room. She didn’t actually need to relieve herself but she could use a few minutes to pull herself back together and check her reflection, and if she had to share oxygen with Lex’s date at the same time then so be it.
A/N: So what do you think? Does Lex love her? What is Max up to? Will we ever find out date's name? What will happen in the loo? Any other ponderings you feel like sharing?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 29th March 2014
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
A/N: You replied, so you got a new chapter! :D
Chapter Eleven
Chloe had been to various clubs in her life – both before and after she turned eighteen – but never one quite like this. Due to the tough economic market the owners had decided that it as far too risky to open either a bar, a tavern, a restaurant, a café or a club and so they had attempted to merge all of these ideas together and had become the talk of Metropolis. The odd mixture of styles and genres could be detected in every corner of the establishment, including the ladies’ restrooms.
The long, narrow room had stalls on one side (each door with a painting of a famous artist, singer or actress) and marble basins on the other with large mirrors above it, lit up like in old starlet’s dressing rooms. At the far end of the room there was a shabby chic chaise-longe which was as incongruous just like the woman reclining upon it.
Chloe held her head high as she continued into the bathroom and fixed her gaze on her own reflection. There was no reason why she should feel even as a smidgen of compassion for this woman. She was just like the rest of them. She had probably had everything she ever wanted in life handed to her, she was beautiful and wealthy and Lex Luthor’s date even though she didn’t care about him. Chloe’s eyes strayed back over to her, her snotty expression, the self-entitled look, the handbag that cost about the same as the Sullivans’ Smallville home and the hint of sadness in her eyes.
There was no way that she could go through with her plan to somehow get rid of her and then tell Lex that she had refused to come out.
“What is your name?” She inquired politely, even as she attempted to appear unconcerned.
The brunette’s head picked up and she seemed to be confused even though they were the only two people there.
“KC a.k.a. Kadie Chelsea“, she answered, obviously hurt that Lex hadn’t bothered to introduce them.
Chloe gave a nod. Everyone knew of the Chelsea family, whilst nowhere near as powerful as the Luthors, they did hold a certain level of power in Metropolis. She had actually done some research on them in conjunction with Morgan Edge as the head of the Chelsea family had run a bootlegging business with Edge before Lionel Luthor had even come on the scene. The family had gained a certain veneer of respectability thanks to the elder son’s marriage to a rich woman in the early eighties and then and even richer one (with a better reputation) in the later eighties. Lex’s date wasn’t old enough to be from the second marriage and as far as Chloe knew the younger son didn’t have any children (or at least, none that her chose to recognise.)
“I’m the only offspring from my father’s first marriage”, she explained, “Was that what you are thinking? It is what most people try to work out”.
Chloe thought about denying it, that as the polite thing to do. She opened her mouth to dismiss the idea, but somehow the words, “Yeah, pretty much”, came out instead. She wanted to kick herself.
“Well”, Kadie said with a laugh, “no one can accuse you of being less than honest”.
“Not as a general rule, no”, the blonde replied, warming to the girl in spite of everything. “I’m Chloe”.
“Yeah, I had figured that much out”, Kadie smiled at her, “he talks about you, a lot”.
“You guys talk?” Oddly enough, that bothered her even more than the thought of them dating; she was supposed to be the only one he actually talked to.
If Kadie was insulted by the idea that they wouldn’t talk, she didn’t show it. “At a party a few weeks ago”, she supplied, “But generally no, you should know that Lex doesn’t really talk with women. Well”, she considered, “not unless he is trying to get them into bed or giving orders in the bedroom”.
Chloe didn’t like to think of herself as a prude but she blushed at that and tried to scrub the pictures from her mind. She knew what he was like. She had played that recording of him in the lift at least a hundred times in an attempt to clear his name, and had imagined herself in his embrace a hundred times more. Trying to sound casual, she said, “Sounds like an interesting party”.
“Sure it was. They always are, I am the head of the most exclusive society in Metropolis”, she said. There was no need for this girl to know that she spent half of her life bored and the other half feeling desperately depressed and alone.
“Hmmm”.
“You think that it is a complete waste of time?” KC surmised.
This time Chloe really did try not to be judgmental and to be more polite, “It’s your life. You should do whatever makes you happy”. There, that was much more polite than a simple “Yes”.
“Is Lex waiting out there for me?” Kadie wondered, trying not to sound too needy.
“Yes, he … he sent me in here to get you back?”
“Really?”
“Well, sort of”, Chloe admitted, feeling a wave of sympathy for her rival. She as suddenly transported back to the time that she had been in love with Clark. Those had been a terrible five years.
“Right”, Kadie examined her nails and tried to look casual as she asked, “So, can I ask you a question?”
“Why not?” Chloe shrugged, bracing herself for the rich snobby girl passive aggressive attack.
“How did you get a man like that interested in you?” The question hung in the air between them for a few seconds and apparently KC realised how that sounded, “I don’t mean to imply that he shouldn’t be, it’s just … well, you know Lex. He isn’t exactly the easiest man to lock down”.
“Don’t I know it!” Chloe sighed, “I have absolutely no idea how we became friends and as for him liking me, I thought that he did but then you were here so …” Then, thinking she asked before she could stop herself, “Why are you with someone who doesn’t even treat you well?”
“He is handsome, rich, well connected …” She trailed off, then looked up at Chloe and saw her expression. “My father”.
“Ah”, Chloe walked over and sat next to her, although she wasn’t sure why. “I always have time for a good story of family intrigue. Off the record. I swear”.
Kadie laughed, and, for reasons she would never understand, began, “My father remarried when I was four years old, left the country to start a new life with his new wife and placed me in a Swiss boarding school. I rarely saw him, after that. It’s …” She shrugged, “a lot of stuff”. She had already shared more than enough. There was no need to tell Chloe that every night she went home to her apartment, swamped with loneliness and that it was easier to wake up with someone she didn’t even know or care about just for the attention and warmth of human contact than to spend yet another night lying alone, the weight of her unhappiness slowly crushing her.
“That’s awful”, Chloe commiserated, “My mom left when I was little too”.
“Some parents really suck, don’t they?”
“Tell me about it!”
“I am throwing a party next week, would you like to come?” Kadie asked, almost shyly.
“I’d love to”, getting invited to parties was still a new fun concept for Chloe, she didn’t have that many female friends for some reason. “Just out of interest, what do you do?”
“Oh, I don’t work. What about you?”
“I’m still studying at Met U”.
“Snap. I went there”, Kadie grinned.
“Really? I’m studying literature, what did you do?” They had more in common than she had thought, she really had to start giving more rich snobby girls a chance.
The older girl laughed, “I had pretty much every major going”, then her mirth died away, “I was only five credits away from graduating actually”.
“Then what happened?” Even being sprayed with a toxic serum that had led to her almost dying, discovering the truth about Lionel Luthor’s passed, almost dying again (twice), and then alienating most of her friends had not been able to cure Chloe of asking questions.
“Well, after studying Art History and Languages and Media Studies and getting no credit from my Dad as they weren’t business related”, she started, not without irony, “I naturally thought that I would start my own company”.
“That’s impressive. What’s its name?” Chloe couldn’t imagine doing anything like that.
“Oh, you would know it”, Kadie shrugged that whole year of her life off, “It’s long since gone. Not too impressive is it. You can see why I need to marry someone important”. The last time that she had attended a function on the arm of a Luthor (Lionel the first time) her father had actually come over to her and smiled at her and called her his good little girl.
“Sure, either that or march back in there tell Lex to shove it, go back home get an early night’s sleep, reenrol in Met U, finish that last course, then go on and do something with your life. They have career planners you know”, Chloe pointed out the other obvious (at least to her) option. “Oh, and then find someone who likes you for you instead of going for another random billionaire playboy”.
“Especially not when it is your billionaire playboy?”
“Exactly!” Lex was hers, even if he didn’t happen to know it yet.
It all sounded so easy, practical and obvious when Chloe said it. “But who will I eat lunch with on campus?” She joked.
“I know some people” Chloe laughed, Kadie would be a welcome addition to her lunch table.
“Deal”. They shook hands.
“Tell you what”, KC pondered how best to accomplish what she was now convinced she must, “you wait in here so that he doesn’t think that we are in cahoots. Then come out”.
Chloe paused for a second, this could all be a rouse. Kadie could go in there, seduce Lex and drag him off. She could tell Lex that Chloe had been mean to her. She could do a lot of things and the blonde’s overactive imagination came up with at least a hundred ideas, but she chose to keep the faith and just nodded.
With a brilliant smile, Kadie jumped to her feet, checked her reflection in the mirror and then headed for the door, before pausing. She had worked out that Chloe was obsessed with Lex and didn’t seem to be the type to lead another poor man along, so she had to ask, “What is your date getting out of this?”
“Oh, Max? I’m going to pretend to be his girlfriend in front of his ex on Monday. I’ll point her out to you at lunch, you wouldn’t believe the cruel way that she just dumped him”.
“What a bitch!” And with that the millionaires was gone, leaving the expensive scent of Chanel in her wake.
A few minutes later, after brushing her golden tresses, Chloe walked out to see that KC was departing looking extremely pleased with hers, Lex was shocked and Max observed the unfolding tableau with an expression of amusement. Enjoying Lex bewilderment, she walked forwards, taking in his gorgeous face, still marvellously unrumpled attire and … she stopped, her eyes filling with horror. In his large hand, there was a cloth napkin with a few drops of blood.
“What happened?”
“Just a disagreement, nothing for you to worry about”, Lex assured her mildly, assuming that she as referring to his date’s departure.
“Nothing for me to worry about? Nothing for me to worry about? You have quite clearly cut yourself”. She slid into the booth beside him and demanded, “Let me see your hand”.
“Chloe”, he sounded exasperated and pulled his hand away from her.
“Lex, you could get an infection”, she complained leaning over him, not noticing that she was pressed flat against him. Lex did though.
“Chloe, I’m fine, I have an accelerated white blood cell count”, he reminded her.
“Alexander Luthor I don’t give a damn about your meteor freak crap”, she dismissed, “give me your hand right this instant”. She held her hand out and he stared at her in shock for a few second but then, against all reason, did as she had demanded.
“Right then”, she held his wrist firmly as she gently unwrapped his hand and stared angrily at the cut. “What an earth did you do?” She signalled with her head to a waiter who had brought over a first aid kit.
“I just gripped the glass a little too tightly”, he dismissed it as she opened the box.
“Idiot”. She sniffed, “now this is going to sting so you will have to be a little solider”.
“Chloe I really don’t think that I’ll … ouch!”
“There”, she slipped the plaster on and kissed it better. “All better now?”
Lex smirked, “Yes, thank-you. I will have to tell hospital about your amazing abilities”.
“Hey, when you wake up tomorrow morning fully healed I am taking full credit for it”.
Lex wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into a slight hug.
“So, when is this show starting?” Her date inquired.
“They are waiting for Chloe”, Lex said as if it were obvious. How anyone could think that he would allow the show to start before Chloe was there to enjoy it was beyond him.
~*~
“So, when are you going to tell me what all of that was about?” Lex inquired in a manner that made it quite clear that she didn’t have a choice, as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her slender waist.
Chloe was standing in front of the large window, looking out over the canal, in the club’s attic. The rest of their evening had been far more successful, as Max hadn’t objected to Lex keeping Chloe on his side of the table, they had all enjoyed the reading and after one ceremonial dance with her actual date Lex had arranged it so that she spent the rest of the evening in his arms, swaying to the music until he had informed her of a ‘little surprise’ he had for her and all three of them had gone up to meet the author.
She had been fantastic, just as he had known that she would. She had bombarded him with pertinent questions and had been surprised/delighted upon discovering that he would be only too happy to give her an exclusive interview. The author had finally left as did Max, as he appeared to feel ill and had asked Lex to see Chloe home.
Lex wasn’t certain if he should hate the man for having the nerve to stand Chloe up, or love him for giving him this opportunity without the trouble of having him kidnapped or something.
“What was what about?” Chloe asked as she kept her eyes fixed on the scene before her and tried to ignore his proximity and the way that his warm, familiar scent wrapped around her.
“Chloe”, he growled.
“I don’t owe you any explanations, Lex”, she protested.
“We will have to agree to disagree about that”, he was trying to keep his cool.
“I just want to be left alone, Lex”.
He sighed, not wanting to push her. He didn’t want to make her feel even worse than she already clearly did. It was dark enough outside that he could just about make her reflection out in the glass. Her pale skin, the way that she gnawed on her lower lip and the shade of a tear in her eye were all visible to him and they were too much for him. He snapped.
“Well, that isn’t going to happen”, he declared as he span her around a held her against the glass, staring deep into her eyes.
“Lex please”, she whispered.
“Chloe”, he caressed her cheek, “tell me what is wrong”.
“Nothing”, her voice came out as more of a croak this time.
“Don’t lie to me!”
“It’s nothing”, she held on to her only defence.
“Damn it Chloe”, he slammed his hands down against the glass, either side of her. “You owe me more than this”.
“I owe you? I owe you?” Her voice came back with a vengeance, temporarily silencing Lex with her anger. “What the fuck do I owe you Lex? You kept me safe and I appreciate it but I have risked my life, my father’s life, my family’s well-being, I put your father behind bars, I have done everything I can think of. So what the fuck do I owe you?”
“I didn’t mean it like that, you know that I don’t …” Lex tried to explain but Chloe had got her second wind.
“If anything you owe me”, she declared. “I helped you with everything that I could. I have been there for you ever since you lost the election, I have always tried to help you but then you treat me like crap”.
“What? I never did that”, he felt his own anger rising to meet hers.
“You asked me out on a date, then you bring another girl on it and rub it in my face and …”
“I didn’t ask you out”, he protested.
“You didn’t?” Her voice cracked, she looked completely and utterly destroyed.
He wanted to die.
“Chloe I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant …”
“No, its fine”, she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands when she worked out that she wasn’t going to be able to hold the tears in. “I … I …. I … I was wrong again”, she sobbed as she fled the room.
She couldn’t believe it; she had got it wrong again! She had been so sure that if he could just spend more time with her that he would love her, just like she had been with Clark. But this hurt so much worse. Her heart felt like it had quite literally been ripped in two. She stumbled through the corridors which she was fairly sure lead to the exit.
She was so upset that she didn’t even hear Lex until he grabbed her by the arm and whirled her around.
“Chloe for God’s sake listen to me”.
She tried to rip herself from his arms but his grip as too strong.
“You are my best friend in the world and I’m not going to lose you for anything! Do you hear me, anything? I didn’t ask you out but it isn’t because I don’t care about you, it is about this”, he dragged her to the door and opened it a crack – enough to see out but not to be seen.
Chloe peered out. There was a sea of at least one hundred reporters.
He turned to her and asked, “Can you honestly tell me that this is the life that you want? That you aren’t going to care about losing all of your privacy? Having your photo in all of the newspapers? Having to give up any hopes of being a reporter? All of that is just fine by you? You can promise that you would never have even one tiny regret?”
She didn’t know what to say.
“That’s what I thought”, Lex let her go.
~*~
Lex and Chloe sat in their therapy session, looking at each other uncomfortably. It had seemed like a perfectly innocuous story to start with. They had somehow forgotten how it ended.
“Well, it is good that you at least new the potential pit falls before you entered into a relationship”, the doctor said, “but I think that that is all that we have time for today. Good work, I think that we are making some real progress”.
“Yeah, well we had better be after we just recounted one of the most embarrassing terrible nights of my life”, Chloe muttered as they got their jackets and headed for the door.
Lex helped her on with her outer attire and whispered, “Yeah, I didn’t enjoy it much either but if this is what it takes”.
“If this is what it takes”, Chloe agreed, as she turned to stare up at him. “So we will see you tomorrow afternoon, right?”
“Yeah”.
It felt odd to be parting again, it wasn’t what either of them wanted.
“So”, he stroked her hair, “take care of yourself”.
“You too, I’ll have Lilly ring you tonight”.
“Thank-you”, silence stretched between them yet neither of them moved away.
Finally Chloe, collecting her courage, rapped her arms around his middle in a quick, brief hug before scurrying off.
“Bye”, he called after her, slightly stunned but delighted.
Ten minutes later, he was still wondering how he was going to get through an entire day without her when he received an emergency phone call.
A/N: What do you think that the call is about?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
can't wait to see what happens next.i am sad that chloe was hurt.i was glad that lex did think how chloe would feeling regarding the reporters. you can tell they are in love.i hope when lex does ask chloe it is clear he is asking her out on a date and not miscommunication like this chapter. i don't know what the call is about
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
The call cold be about Lilly. More please....
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 25th February 2014
A/N: Thanks for the reviews. :D
Chapter Twelve
The silver Aston Martin was nothing more than a blur as it raced through the streets of Metropolis performing at least a dozen illegal moves and almost hitting two teenagers, before coming to screeching halt only inches away from the solid oak doors of the city’s most elite private school.
Lex Luthor leapt from the vehicle and tore up the front steps, paying no heed to the security guards who were stationed on either side (positioned just below the gargoyles who glowered at visitors but whom Lilly had always found funny).
The doors were opened for him just in time to stop him trying to run through the solid wood head first as he raced into the main hallway.
There were other parents milling around but they had the sense to get the hell out of his way as he slammed shoulder first into the door which lead to the auditorium. The room was so excessively bright that it hurt his eyes but that didn’t stop him, he sprinted through the rows of other parents who were chatting and staring at the stage until he reached the very front and collapsed into a seat. “I made it? Right?”
“Yes”, Gabe agreed from where he was sitting, two seats down, on the other side of Chloe.
Lionel examined his watch meaningfully, “Just”.
“Behave”, Chloe warned him, reaching over Lex, to smack her father-in-law on the back of the hand. “Don’t worry you are on time”, she assured Lex.
“Thank God”, he breathed a sigh of relief, “I was sure that I was going to be late”.
“I find that being organised and having a schedule helps to avoid these sorts of terrible near misses”, Lionel put in sagely.
Chloe scowled at him and he shut up, as she reached out and gave her husband’s hand a consoling squeeze.
“I’m so sorry Chloe, I swear I don’t remember ever being told about it. I know that this isn’t a good start but I’ll …” Lex said in a hushed voice.
“Don’t worry about it”, she whispered back to him, making sure that only they two could hear. “What matters is that you are here. Besides, to tell you the truth, I don’t remember being told about it either”.
“What?”
“Keep your voice down”.
“Sorry”, he whispered, “what?”
“I had no idea that Lilly was putting on a play this afternoon and that we all had to be here, there was no letter home or anything. I never heard her say anything about it, I wouldn’t have forgotten that. I only found out when Lionel called me post therapy to double check what time he needed to be here this afternoon. I then called Dad who also claimed to have known all about it all along”.
“Is it really possible that both of us just forgot something that was so important to our daughter?” Le wondered and they traded speaking, suspicious looks. Their gazes then travelled to both of their fathers.
“No, they couldn’t”.
“They wouldn’t.”
Once again they stared at them hard for a few seconds to see that both of their fathers’ gazes were fixed straight ahead, their features schooled into perfect neutrality.
“But it’s not possible”, Chloe muttered, “Is it?”
“Shh, both of you; the show is starting”.
As if on cue, the lights dimmed, the audience hushed and the curtain ascended.
~*~
Three hours later the curtain descended again on a show which even as devoted parents they had to admit, had seemed a bit rushed. Although Lilly, of course, had been spectacular throughout.
Speaking of the little devil, a few seconds later she barrelled out, still in her dance tutu, and pounced on both of them.
“Hello Mommy. Hello Daddy. Did you see me dancing? Did you? Did you?” She clambered to know.
“Yes, sweetheart, we saw you. Very”, Lex searched for the right word, “energetic”.
“Yes, you jumped far higher than anyone else”, Chloe agreed as Lilly settled down on top of her Daddy and accepted congratulations from both of her adoring grandfathers.
The other parents and their progeny began to trickle out of the school and Chloe asked, “Aren’t you supposed to be going back to class now?” There were thirty minutes left of the school day.
“Oh no, they said just to take the kids home after the performance”, Lionel explained. Oddly enough he had been there even before Chloe and Gabe and so seemed to know quite a lot about the proceedings.
“Okay, well that is great”, Chloe beamed at her daughter.
“Yep”, Lilly agreed. “What do you want to do, Daddy?”
“Sweetheart”, Chloe started, “Daddy isn’t coming with us today remember, he is working hard all today so that he can visit us tomorrow and …” She broke off as she saw Lilly’s face crumple.
“But it is my special day”.
Lex opened his mouth to console her and tell her that of course he would do anything that she wanted when Lionel spoke up, declaring that he would head into the office and take care of anything Lex was supposed to have done.
Gabe exited the scene hot on his heels declaring that his held might be required.
Over the head of their daughter Lex and Chloe’s eyes met. Once again, they had been had.
~*~
Lillian Luthor owned her own phone. She had for as long as she could remember even though she didn’t strictly need one as she could always have just asked one of her eight bodyguards to make a call for her. The main reason why she had one was because her Daddy was always playing with his, which had meant that she had decided to play with it and somehow it had ended up in a glass of Ribena. Ever since then, she had had her own. Not that she remembered this as she had been barely a year and a half at the time.
Lillian Luthor knew how to use her own phone. She had been hanging upside down from her favourite tree before the start of school with one body guard holding her legs and two with their arms outstretched beneath her, as was her want, trying to think of how to get her parents together that evening when a thought occurred to her. She hadn’t got the faintest idea how to manage it.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She had plenty of ideas of how to do it. She just wasn’t sure that any of them would work out. The problem was a geographical one more than anything else. Whenever her parents were together they never wanted to separate and the more that they were together the less time it would take before they got back together properly, but she couldn’t force them together physically.
She supposed that she could always fall – if her bodyguards allowed it -, that would bring them together but she didn’t particularly want to crack her scull open so she relegated that to plan B. If she were putting on a performance or receiving an award or something of that ilk then she knew that they would both attend but she wasn’t so it was back to the self-harm idea.
Then it occurred to her.
She whipped out her cell phone and hit speed dial seven.
Lionel Luthor had been sitting in his office, preparing for his departure to foreign climes the following day so that his son could spend more time with his family when the documents he had been perusing were tossed from his desk in his anxiousness to get to his phone. Only one person had that ring tone.
“Lilly, what’s the matter?”
“I have a moral deelama”, she informed him without preamble. If anyone knew how to fix it, it would be her grandfather.
“You aren’t hurt?” He doubled checked, sinking back into his office chair.
“No, I’m not”, she agreed.
“Thank God”.
“But we have to be quick because the bell is going to go soon”, she spoke hurriedly. It was such a shame that the idea hadn’t come to her earlier.
“What is your moral dilemma?” Thankfully he spoke fluent Lilly and had worked out the meaning of delama.
“Lying is wrong”, she informed him solemnly.
“That is quite correct”, he agreed. Chloe had warned him that if she even suspected him (never mind caught him) teaching her daughter anything less than perfect morals that no one would ever find the body and Lionel, shrewd judge of character that he was, believed her.
“So, if I were to call up Mommy and Daddy and ask them if they have remembered that we are putting on a show this afternoon at school and they have to come to it, sit together and then take me home together so that they can get back together, then that would be a lie and I would go to hell?” She checked.
“I don’t think that you would go to hell, but yes, that would be very wrong”, he agreed, thinking that he detected where she was heading with this.
“But if somehow someone made it so that we did put on a show then that wouldn’t be lying?”
“No, that wouldn’t be lying at all. Especially if I am the one to call Mommy and Daddy”, when had it become normal for him to refer to his son as Daddy? “Then that would be absolutely fine”.
She gave a giggle of delight and sang, “I love you”, over the phone.
“I love you too”, he said, his heart swelling in the way that only she could, “now I think that I hear the bell in the background so you just get going off to call little Miss”, there, who said he couldn’t be strict? “And I’ll take care of everything. Tell me, are grandfathers invited?”
With an “of course”, she rang off and left Lionel with a great deal of quick planning to do.
~*~
Chloe towelled off her little imp and wrapped her up in her dressing gown before sending her off to put her pyjamas on and get into bed.
Once she was out of the room Chloe held her hand up to Lex expectantly and he pulled her up. “So”, she started with a glance after her daughter to check that she wasn’t listening, “what are we going to do about this?”
Lilly had got her own way, they had gone back to Gabe’s apartment and had a nice family evening together, although Lilly had pouted slightly when both of her parents had taken out her maths, reading and spelling books and sat down with her to do an hour of them before dinner.
“But we do those in the morning, I didn’t miss anything”, had been her complaint but this had been effectively silenced by one raised eyebrow from Daddy.
“I don’t know”, Lex admitted. “I didn’t want to say anything to her until we had talked about it but we haven’t had a chance until now”, they had spent the rest of the evening playing together.
“I agree””, Chloe said, “I wish that we could just ignore it but we can’t and we certainly can’t let her think that she has got away with it all night”.
“Yeah, and I’m not leaving you to tackle this alone”, Lex said. Leaving it until the following morning was not an option.
“So”, Chloe ran her hand through her hair as she looked around at the bathroom, hoping for inspiration.
“So”, Lex copied her reaction exactly. He loved being a father, he loved Lilly more than he had ever thought possible, but there were some times when he felt like a complete buffoon. Not to mention completely useless and terrified that he would make the wrong decision.
Chloe wore the same expression. In fact, she looked no more sure of what they were doing when they entered their daughter’s bedroom – it was thirty minutes before she normally settled in for her story – but fortunately Lex was capable of schooling his features just well enough that Chloe thought that she was the only one who could read the fact that his heart was breaking and was afraid that their child might misunderstand again and think that he had stopped caring about her.
“Are you all tucked up?” Lex asked, even though he could see that she was as he sat on the edge of her bed, Chloe on the other side and they both stared down at their baby.
“Yes Daddy”, she said in a small voice, apparently able to tell that something was wrong. She tried not to draw attention to the book that she had picked out and left on her pillow to be read to her.
“Would you like to tell me what happened today?” He inquired politely.
Lilly appeared to be thinking very carefully about her words and Chloe thought that she might be sick.
“I woke up”.
Lex didn’t say anything and Lilly looked over at Chloe who nodded her head to tell her to continue, “And I went to school, and we came home and now I’m in bed”. She got out hurriedly.
Chloe wasn’t sure whether to be angry or laugh.
She guessed that Lex wasn’t entirely sure either as he took her book at stared at it, turning it over and over again in his hands so that he had an excuse not to look at either of them.
“Perhaps you would be good enough to tell me more about the show”.
“The show”, she repeated her voice getting even smaller.
Both parents clinched their fists to keep from hugging her.
“Yes, namely how long you have been rehearsing for it etc”.
“Not that long”.
“Not that long?”
Chloe swallowed that wasn’t good. There was a fine line between avoidance and lying and she feared that her daughter was about to cross it at any second.
Lex fixed her with a piercing look and it all tumbled out of her. Chloe hated to see her daughter so upset but she was thankful that at least she hadn’t lied. She didn’t think that she could bear to punish her. She had been lucky, she had never had to so far, and thought that it might actually kill her.
“I see”, Lex said slowly, carefully, thoughtfully.
“I’m sorry Daddy, are you angry?” Fear rippled through her tone.
“No”.
“Disappointed?” It was more of a squeak this time.
“No”, Lex shook his head, “you could never disappoint me baby but I am not pleased. I know that this is not an easy situation for you sweetheart and Mommy and I are doing everything that we can to make it better but you can’t interfere with your education, you shouldn’t be calling Granddad in the middle of the school day without reason, you can’t change the curriculum of the other students to meet your will, and you shouldn’t be trying to manipulate us”.
“No Daddy”, she hung her head and sniffled.
“Both Mommy and I were very upset, we thought that we had somehow forgotten something very important to you and had to rearrange all of our day to go to your play just so that you could see me tonight”, Lex continued, trying to sound neutral whilst only a hair’s breadth away from snatching his little girl up into his arms.
Chloe wasn’t fairing much better. There was already evidence of a few trickling down her cheeks.
“Don’t think that I’m not grateful or that I don’t like spending time with you”, Lex said, as he decided that he couldn’t hold back any longer and pulled her out of her bed clothes and into his lap. He began to rock her back and forth and he continued, “because you are and always will be my number one priority but when you want something you have to be a big girl and ask us directly and we will see what we can do to accommodate you. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Daddy”.
“Okay, good girl”, he kissed her head, and then said reluctantly (he didn’t want to let her go), “now I think that Mommy needs you to go and give her a hug too”.
Lilly did so willingly, happy to know that everything was made up. After several minutes of cuddling she looked up at him thoughtfully, “I should really ask if there is anything that I want?”
“Of course”.
“I want you and Mommy to make up”.
Chloe and Lex traded more helpless, distressed looks and after a long conversation, cuddle and even longer story were finally ready to leave their daughter to sleep for that night.
“Night night sweetie”, Cloe kissed her forehead.
“Night night Princess”, Lex followed suit, “and just remember that I will be by every evening this week … to help you catch up with all of the work that you missed today”.
A/N: So, what do you think? Was Lionel right? Was Lilly right? Was Gabe invovled? Was Lex too strict about the homework? Anything else on your minds?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
Edited: deleted. Posted wrong thing in wrong place.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
i enjoyed this chapter.it was wrong for lily to call lionel.but i did think it was cut that she wanted to help get her parents back together and that lionel wanted to help.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
Cbrunberg: Thank-you. Yes, I agree about the Lilly thing although I'm not sure what else she could have done.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
Chapter Thirteen
“Damn it, damn it, damn it”, Chloe swore as she hurried down the street, checking her watch every couple of seconds. There was no way that she was going to be on time.
“Great”, she thought to herself sarcastically, “we are both supposed to be trying to put our relationship back together and I am going to be late. What kind of example does that set?”
Chloe had barely got any sleep the night before but for once, not because she was thinking about Lex. She had been up until three o’clock in the morning finishing up her work and then Lilly had come to wake her up at five. She loved her daughter, and as much as she hated to admit it, Lex too but she really wished that they hadn’t both inherited the early bird gene. She blamed Lionel.
“Stupid Lionel”, she complained as she jogged up the last one hundred metres to the hotel – the fastest she could possibly move in the heels and skirt she was wearing – effectively putting paid to any hope that she wasn’t going to look like a complete and utter mess when she finally arrived.
The clock in the hotel’s foyer chimed the hour just as she slid to a halt in front of the office door. “I made it. Just”. She breathed.
“You made it”, a warm, rich voice agreed, kindly omitting the “just”.
She looked up to see Lex, reclining against the wall, two cups of coffee in his possession. As he extended one to her she croaked, “God bless you”.
After a couple of sips, accompanied by near orgasmic groans, she was able to examine at him properly and take in the fact that he looked very nearly as bad as she felt. Although, somehow, still unbelievably sexy. Damn him.
“Did Lilly put you really behind?” She asked, timidly.
Lex thought about lying to save her feelings but knew that that wouldn’t help their relationship so, instead, he answered honestly, “Yes”.
She winced.
“I had a lot of work to do even coming up to be semi-retirement and I am making time to come to these sessions. That plus the evening I am going to spend with Lilly tonight meant that yesterday was supposed to be pretty work heavy”.
“I’m sorry”.
“Don’t be, it was my choice and I know that you are in the same boat”.
She nodded. She was a writer of sorts and had gone back to work full time after she and Lex separated. Being effectively a single mother, moving house and having a career was no easy feat, especially not when she took a three hour chunk out of every morning for a therapy session.
There was silence for a few moments, neither of them sure what to say to that.
“It doesn’t matter though”, Chloe said with a shrug, “neither of like therapy but it is what we have to do in order to ensure our future. Everything will settle down, eventually”.
Lex grinned at her. He wanted to say something romantic, inspiring and poignant but one of the few times in his life, his oversized brain let him down. Finally, he opted for gesturing towards the door and asking, “Shall we?”
~*~
Chloe should have liked the therapist, she knew that she was helping them and that she was the best in the business but she just couldn’t feel comfortable enough with her. The woman’s ability to be so damned cheerful that morning however gave her a concrete reason for her dislike and distrust. Maybe she was a meteor freak.
“So”, the therapist clapped her hands together, “how are we both?”
“Fine”, they both replied, although the answer “tired” was written clearly across both of their faces.
“Good, so we should continue. I’m dying to hear what happened, clearly you both did get together in the end”.
“Clearly”, Chloe repeated the word, injecting as much sarcasm into it as humanly possible.
“Clearly”, Lex agreed with his wife.
~*~
Chloe drummed her fingers against the solid wood of her arm rest, the sound magnified in the marble cocoon. At any other point during her life she would probably have been delighted to get the chance to nose around the more private areas of Metropolis’ leading company but not today.
She looked around again, from the white marble floor, to the white marble walls, to the skylight above her; the only clue that they were on the top floor. She shivered a little in spite of the central air. As much as she hated to admit it, she was nervous.
Her eyes strayed back over to the giant silver sliding doors through which she had been shown almost (she checked her watch) three minutes ago. Three minutes ago, really? It had felt like much longer to her as her stomach flip flopped. At first she had been certain that she wasn’t even going to be allowed in.
For the last week, ever since the tense but silent, ride home with Lex she had been thinking about him. The fact that he cared about her meant the world to her, way more than the fact that she had made a fool out of herself in front of him, and she wanted to be with him whatever the cost but she knew that that would not be enough for Lex.
Finally everything had come together for her. All of those little looks that she caught him giving her when he thought that she wasn’t observing him, the touches and near hugs, the way that his voice sounded when he spoke to her. She had not been wrong about him.
She wondered whether it would hurt worse if she had been wrong.
Her heart had felt like it was breaking that night in the restaurant, but it felt bruising and broken now as well. After a week of not seeing him, not hearing from him, but thinking about him constantly and knowing that the reason that they weren’t together was not because they didn’t care about each other (more than that she was fairly sure, at least on her side) but because he was the man that she had always known him to be. A strong, careing, utterly loving and self-sacrificing fool.
So many times over the course of the previous seven days she had been on the verge of calling him, of telling him that actually he was wrong and none of the things that he had said were true and that … well, she didn’t know exactly what after that point. She supposed that it didn’t matter as he would have been able to tell that she was lying in less than a second and probably hung up on her after that – not that she would be able to blame him.
Kadie – who had enrolled, come to sit with them at lunch, and helped with making Max jealous – had become her confident in the matter and together they had planned out more than one crazy scheme to win him back only to realise very shortly afterwards that none of them would work. The problem was that none of their plans or the lies that she could tell (and would doubtless be found out) erased the fact that Lex was right.
Ever since Chloe had been a tot she had wanted to be an investigative journalist – Gabe blamed his mother for having let her watch His Girl Friday -, and that wasn’t an ambition that she was just going to go away. Especially not after all of the work that she had put in and all that she had sacrificed over the years to have even the merest shot of being where she wanted to be. She couldn’t be happy without achieving that aspiration.
She couldn’t be happy without the thrill of the chase, the joy of the discovery or her passion for writing. She couldn’t be happy being just being someone’s wife with nothing else to show for her life. She couldn’t be happy doing nothing with her days. But ever since she and dragged Lex back into her life she had realised something else, she couldn’t be happy being alone either. She couldn’t be happy without someone who was as intelligent as she was. She couldn’t be happy without someone who could challenge her. She couldn’t be happy without Lex.
The dilemma had been playing itself over and over in her head all week long until she thought that she would go crazy and had decided to go out and take a walk, to clear her head. It didn’t seem very likely, but it was the only thing that she could think of to stop herself climbing up the walls. As she pounded the pavements of Metropolis, her head well and truly occupied, her feet somehow led her to stand right outside the Lex Corp building.
She stared up at it, tall and imposing. Cold and unfeeling. She thought of Lex working there, every day for the rest of his life, a trophy wife on his arm and a few kids, falling back into the same patterns his father had created for him. He wouldn’t be happy. He would be miserable.
Before she even realised that she had made a decision, she was inside the building demanding to speak to Mr Luthor.
It was a testament to how well Lex had managed to keep her out of the papers that his staff looked at her and saw only a college student and almost showed her the door before she slammed her palms on the front desk and used the phrase she had never expected to hear coming from her lips. “Don’t you know who I am?”
“Um, no Miss, I’m sorry I don’t”, the man behind the desk admitted.
“Well, isn’t that just typical”, Chloe huffed, “Lex is going to get an earful when I see him”.
The staff traded confused glances. Lex? No one called their boss Lex. But it could all just be a rouse.
“You put a man’s father in prison and you would think that he would bother to put you on the list for today”, she complained.
“You helped put Lionel Luthor behind bars”, the words were whispered with something akin to awe, they had all met and been intimidated by the head of the Luthor family. There had been a lot of media coverage at the time and if they stared really hard at Chloe then they could just about see the blurry images of the young woman who had helped in the case around that time and whose picture had appeared in several newspapers – ones which subsequently got brought up by Lex Corp and dismantled.
“Yes”, she continued her role of indignation. She wanted to see Lex and she wanted to see him now, “I would have thought that Lex would have put me on the list”.
“Did you have an appointment?”
“Yes!” She said confidently. In her mind, at least, the fact that Lex had no knowledge of the fact at she was coming did not make their appointment any less valid.
Their eyes scanned down a column of a day planner and for one terrible moment Chloe considered the possibility that Lex wasn’t in the office that day, that he had gone off somewhere else and she would never find him and …
“I’m terribly sorry Miss …”
“Sullivan”.
“Miss Sullivan, there appears to have been a terrible oversight on our part. I don’t know how it happened, but your name is not on the list for today. If you will give me a moment, I will just ring upstairs and someone will show you up”.
Chloe had not trusted her voice enough at that moment to utter a word, and so it was with only a polite nod that she had ended up upstairs, waiting for Lex, after a few summery security checks by guards she already knew.
She was just checking her watch again, only to discover that barely another thirty seconds had passed, when there was a noise like the slithering of a snake and Chloe turned her head just in time to see the silver doors parting to reveal Lex.
Chloe gasped his name. He looked awful. Pale, rumpled and there was the faintest smell of whiskey even from where she was sitting.
“Chloe”, he whispered blinking his eyes blearily. This had to be a dream, after seven days he must finally have relented and gone to sleep.
“What the fuck have you done to yourself?” Chloe demanded getting to her feet and stamping over to him, she grasped his chin in her hand and pulled it down so that she could stare into his eyes – for medical reasons rather than romantic ones.
This wasn’t a dream. He realised.
“Working. Drinking”, he spoke slowly, as if afraid that the words would slur if he did not, “a lot of drinking”.
Chloe huffed indignantly and then informed him that she had not come to discuss matters in the middle of his waiting room so he could take her to his office immediately. Lex did so, still looking dazed.
She hadn’t been up to his office since he had opened the new Lex Corp building and would have been surprised at just how light and airy it was, with large windows which covered two entire walls and had a breath taking view of Metropolis. She would have at least, had her breath not already been taken away by the stretch of alcohol and the sight of at least one hundred bottles of pure, neat and empty whiskey, tidily (verging on compulsively) lined up along the floor.
It was a mark of her devotion to him that she consented to close the door, find him a cool wash cloth and lay him down on the settee before she began to scream at him, many of her insults being punctuated by the sound of a bottle crashing its way down the trash shoot.
“Stupid. Ignorant. Inconsiderate. No good. Jack ass”, she finished up the initial part of her tirade as she finally succeeded in ridding the office of bottles of alcohol and opened two windows creating a slightly whirlwind effect which made them both shudder and did Lex’s head no favours.
She stormed off, out of his line of sight and Lex tried to rise calling out, “Please don’t leave. I know that I don’t deserve it, but please don’t leave. Not yet”.
Chloe’s reply was in far more strident tones. “I’m not leaving you idiot, I’m getting you another wash cloth”, she came back in and unceremoniously dumped the freezing cold dripping flannel over his face. It seemed to revive him even more than the first.
“Chloe, I …”
She used the flannel to mop him up a bit, even over the roar of the wind, he was still rather ripe.
“If you weren’t a freak you would be dead”.
“What?” His brain wasn’t working as well as if should have been.
“You”, she poked his in the chest. “If you weren’t a meteor freak then you would be dead by now. One hundred bottles of whiskey Lex. Really? One hundred bottles? One would have been too much, even over a week. And I don’t see evidence of any food. And those are the same clothes that you were wearing last Friday. Did you just come straight here to work and drink yourself into an early grave?”
“Alcohol can’t kill me”, he said, almost dazed, “nothing can. I’ll live to be one hundred”. The thought had never seemed as depressing as it did at that moment.
“You had bloody well better”, Chloe continued the process of trying to cool down his head. “What were you thinking?”
“I … I was thirsty. Wasn’t hungry or tired. Just very, very thirsty”. He said it so pitifully that Chloe stopped what she was doing to hug her beloved, smelly lump before pushing way from him again.
“Well that isn’t good enough”, She got to her feet.
“Chloe no”, he reached out his hand and tried to get up once again.
“Stay there you idiot, I’m just getting you some water”, she went over to his mini fridge and opened it, “Would you look at that, liquid other than liquor which can be drunk when you are thirst”, she said helping herself to the entire contents. She then made her way back over to him and proceeded to pour about three litres of water down his throat along with some aspirin she found in her purse.
“Now”, she informed him practically, “I am going to move a whole five meters away from you to order you a huge dinner to be ready as quickly as possible, I will then come back, you will eat it and then we are going to do something about the smell and then you had better prepare yourself because I am through being nice”.
Lex nodded, it was all that he could do. He hated feeling weak, powerless, needy, but the alcohol had had more of an effect on him than he was willing to admit and he was just so damned scared of losing Chloe.
He lay, reclined on the sofa, freezing cold water dripping around his face, into his eyes and ears from the flannels Chloe hadn’t even bothered to ring them out, aching to be with her. As much as his head hurt, as depressed as he was - sure as he was that Chloe was going to tell him that she just wanted to be friends (if he was lucky) and he was going to have to spend the rest of his life separated from her, watching her be happy with someone else, knowing that he would break his heart every day just for the chance that she could have the life that she deserved – he felt better just knowing that she was near.
His angel appeared once more, looking pissed off with two armfuls of food.
“Eat”. The order was given and he heaved himself up and obeyed.
It was a mark of his immune system that, by the time that they had both finished, he was feeling quite a lot better.
“Shower”, the next order was given and Lex acquiesced to that too, he was rather ripe. He made his way into the bathroom and winced at what he saw in the mirror. How had he let himself come to this? A freezing cold shower went a long way to reviving him also, and he immerged (five minutes later) if not fully himself then at least doing a much better impression of it than he had been before.
“So”, he stared into his office; it was back to how it always way, neat, clean, windows closed and odour free. He looked as he normally did too, on the surface at least. The only abnormal thing about the situation was the fact that Chloe was standing there, looking equal parts concerned, angry and upset. He wanted to run over to her, to hold her in his arms and beg her to be his but he remembered the reasons why he did not. He reasons that had kept nagging at him for at least eight months now and said only, “I guess that we need to talk”.
“Yes, I guess that we do”.
Something of the spark of genius followed by righteous indignation of her earlier moods had been quelled now. She felt very small and unimportant, standing as she was in the middle of one of the offices of the most important men in Metropolis.
Lex nodded and stretched out his arm, indicating that they should sit.
Chloe chose the chair so that she would not have to sit next to Lex on the sofa. She thought that that might be too much considering the circumstances. She needed to get out what she had come there to say.
“Lex I”, she began, trying out her voice and wondering how to start. She stared at her finger nails, as though they would somehow furnish her with new ideas. “I came here today because … well I don’t really know why. I didn’t mean to come here and disrupt your day, although now that I have seen how you were dealing with things I’m glad that I did”. Peevishness lent stridence to her tones and Lex almost smiled.
“But I digress”, Chloe pulled herself back on topic, “For one whole week I have thought about nothing but how to get you”, she admitted. “I have come up with hundreds of crazy schemes, I even considered lying to you and telling you that you were wrong and that I didn’t care about those things”, she chanced a gaze over at him, “other than the fact that that would be completely wrong, I thought that you would see through it”.
His expression confirmed her suspicions.
“I then tried lying to myself, but I didn’t think that either of us would believe that”.
Once again she found that she had been correct in her assessment.
“I have always wanted to be a journalist, and I am aware that if we date, even for a little while and it doesn’t work out then that will no longer be an option for me (at least not in politics). I also know that you can’t be seen with me in that way whilst I am still in college and that you need a date that you can take to events etc”.
Lex wished that he could deny it, but he could not.
“I don’t want to give up my education. Strike that, I won’t give up my education. And I am not going to resign myself to having no career”.
“I understand”. He did understand, he couldn’t expect her to give up everything just for him. He wouldn’t have allowed her to do it even if she had wanted to, or at least he hoped that he wouldn’t.
“I haven’t finished yet”, she took a deep breath. “But I’m not willing to lose you either”.
“You won’t lose me”, he close the gap between them so that he was keeling in front of her, holding both of her hands, “Chloe look at me. You will never lose me; I will always be here for you. We can remain friends, we can …”
“Break each other’s hearts continuously?”
He swallowed but couldn’t manage to make a sound.
“It would never work and you know it. We are both just trying to convince ourselves that there is some happy medium when we both know the truth, it is a relationship or nothing”.
“A relationship or nothing”, he repeated. He guessed that this was goodbye then, he studied her face intently trying to etch it deep into his memory so that he could hold onto it until the day that he died.
“And I have never been good at doing nothing”.
He did a double take which was almost comedic. “WHAT?”
“We are both going to be miserable and heartbroken without each other so we might as well be together and work through whatever comes at us. We already both in too deep to get out of this without any scars”, she paused and then added hesitantly, “or at least, I am”.
The look on Lex’s face told her that she wasn’t the only one, more eloquently than words ever could have. With was fortunate as Lex wasn’t sure if he was capable of uttering anything.
“We can’t date in public, fine we will do it in secret until I graduate. You need another date for parties, so you find one and then call me afterwards and tell me how it went. I don’t want to give up any potential future career well … that one is a bit more difficult but if I get a job before they know that we are together then we will know that I got it on my own merits and they can hardly fire me afterwards on account of who my boyfriend is”.
“Boyfriend?”
“Yes, I mean. If you want to be”.
Lex grinned. He had never wanted anything so much in his entire life. He had never been a boyfriend before. “Boyfriend”, he rolled the word around in his mouth. It had a nice ring to it. He tried it out, “I am Lex Luthor, Chloe Sullivan’s boyfriend”.
Chloe beamed, “and I am Chloe Sullivan, Lex Luthor’s girlfriend”. Wow, she bet that no other woman had ever uttered that phrase (or at least, not with Lex’s consent).
Exhausted, delighted and both stamping on the realistic voices in their heads which told them that there was absolutely no way that this was ever going to work and that they were both just kidding themselves, they sank onto the sofa in each other’s arms … and promptly fell asleep. It had been a hard week.
A/N: Anyone else forsee some problems?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
Oh wow, I haven't been back in while due to finals but I am so happy to see two new updates to this story. I am glad Lilly really wants Lex and Chloe to get back together.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
Trinna: Will do. :)
Trckyrcky: I hope that they went well. Yes, she does.
*Hugs both of my beloved reviewers*
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
A/N: *To the tune of Bugsy Malone's "You give a little love and it all comes back to you"* You give a little review and it call comes back to you. :)
Chapter Fourteen
“Well, as a therapist I have to tell you that that wasn’t the best way to begin a relationship. But as a romantic I love it”.
The words rolled around in Chloe’s mind as she curled up on the sofa watching as Lilly and Lex put on a puppet show. They had had a pleasant evening together, and as Lilly had been such a good girl about doing the extra maths and science problems that Lex had set her he had offered that they could do her reading project as a puppet show (which they had researched while Chloe made dinner), but Chloe couldn’t help but worry that the therapist – as eccentric as she appeared to be – might have been right. They hadn’t had the best relationship to start with. You needed a strong foundation and as much as she loved Lex, the base of their relationship had never been the stongest.
~*~
It was a warm summer’s evening and the sunlight was streaming through large window of Chloe’s apartment, casting a perfect warm, almost ethereal, glow over the golden haired beauty. It really pissed her off. She was moody, depressed, and staring out of the window at the dome of the theatre where Lex was passing the evening in the distance. As such she felt that the weather should have reflected her dower mood.
It should have been pitching black with thunder and lightning. Or at the very least an over cast grey afternoon with rain trickling down against the glass to look like/symbolise tears. Just as she saw thinking this, she heard the sound of an ice-cream truck and looked down to see rosy cheeked children in brightly coloured shorts and t-shirts scampering to towards the van. This was getting ridiculous.
She heaved herself to her feet and gave the building an extra dirty look. She stretched and rolled her neck around giving her a chance to notice the large red marks on her legs from the heat of her sitting. “Just bloody brilliant”, she grumbled as she headed for the kitchen.
The brand new glossy fridge, which Chloe had fallen in love with when Teddy had brought it for them last week, generously supplied her with a delicious ice-cream of her very own to make her feel better and might have proved to be the one thing in the universe which was not subject to her ill-will, had she not made the mistake of checking how red her legs were and groaned. In the shiny silver reflection, she could see quite clearly that they were not only very badly marked, they were terribly chubby.
“I bet that she”, she spat the word out as if it were a cuss, “doesn’t get red marks on her thighs. Or have to worry about cellulite. Or have any body fat at all. Stupid bitch”, she harrumphed as she stomped back over to the window seat and continued to glower in Lex’s direction.
She checked her phone again. And again. And then threw it against the cushion on the other side of the window seat before scrambling over after it, checking that it was working and then kissing her baby better. She didn’t love it quite as much as her laptop, but it was a close second.
“You still love me, don’t you?” She addressed her pint of ice-cream as she settled onto her stomach and she opened it. She had to do something to make herself feel better.
She leant back against the wall as she swirled her spoon around her frozen yumminess. She wanted Lex, not ice-cream. She took a spoonful, okay, she wanted both of them … possibly together. The idea made her feel even warmer than before.
Then an image of Lex and that brunette together flittered through her mind. They were in bed. Caressing each other. Kissing each other. Licking ice-cream off …
She bit back a sob, slammed the lid back down on her frozen deliciousness (as much as possible seeing as her spoon was still wedged firmly in place) and put it on coffee table – having to lean so far to do so that she almost fell over. She was too wretched to play with her number one baby for the moment so she pulled herself forwards on her stomach and grabbed the remote control. Hopefully TV could cheer her up.
News report. News report. News report about Lex. She snorted. Kid’s show. Even worse kid’s show. The Taste. She liked cooking shows. They contained all of the accomplishment of cookery with none of the effort.
Chloe watched the people come … and most of them get rejected and tried to focus on their problems rather than her own. She would not look back over at the dome. She would not! With considerable effort she kept her eyes trained on the screen, but she could not stop her mind wandering.
She was being ridiculous and she knew it. She had not only agreed to this, she was the one who had suggested it. She remembered their conversation, Lex had asked since then at least a hundred times if she was really okay with him taking another woman to this theatre appointment and she had told him that it was fine. It had to be, she had to keep him. She knew that he cared about her, not that stupid, beautiful, tall … She needed to take her mind off this. She tried to focus on a happier time in her life.
~*~
Chloe had gone back home to Smallville for the half term holiday only a few days after Lex and she had come to their arrangement – she had planned to spend the holiday with her father and she didn’t want to disappoint him / she missed her Daddy / she needed to get some of her laundry done – but she hated being away from Lex.
It was her first morning back at home, her father had gone out to work just after breakfast, and she hadn’t bothered to get showered or dressed yet. It was almost lunchtime and she was still lying on her stomach on the soft carpet of their living room floor with her laptop out in front of her. She liked to write in this position, she always had, but it didn’t feel right anywhere but at home.
She had completed most of her school work already but she continued to plod her way through the outline for her final essay, her eyes flicking over to her email icon in the bottom right hand corner of her screen more often than they should. She still had no new messages. Her phone hadn’t rung either. Not that she had been expecting to hear from Lex that day. There was no reason why he should call her, he was at work after all so there was absolutely no reason why he should have and … and she was pathetic. She had only had a boyfriend for a few days and she was already incapable of thinking about anything else.
With a groan of complaint, she continued to perfect her plan and pondered writing it up that afternoon just so that she wouldn’t have to think about anything else. Then it happened, her phone finally rang.
“Hello”, she said, any hope of her not sounding overly eager dying in those two syllables.
“Hi Chloe”, Clark’s voice came over the phone.
“Oh, hello Clark”, she tried not to seem too disappointed. There was a time when she would have been delighted to receive a call from the burly farm boy. She had just grown up a lot since then.
“Hi”, he repeated his greeting, sounding a little unsure of himself. It wasn’t as cute as it used to be. “I just thought that I would call you. I mean, we haven’t seen much of each other since we started college and especially not since you and Lana stopped living together”.
She didn’t even think “Yeah, because you visit her rather than me”, so smitten was she with her new beau.
“I haven’t even seen your new place”.
“Well, we can arrange of meet up or something”, she offered gamely. There was no reason why she shouldn’t continue to have friends and relationships, just because they didn’t happen to be the people whose company she desired most to hear from.
“Yeah, that would be great”, she could actually hear him smiling. That was still sort of sweet. Like a little puppy dog. “I was wondering if we could meet sometime this week too, maybe even today. You are in town right? Smallville I mean? With your Dad”.
“Yep”, she agreed as she heard a noise at the front door, “just hang on one second, Dad said that he was expecting a package at some point this week. I think that it has just arrived”.
“Sure”.
“Oh my God!”
“Chloe, what’s the matter?” He asked, a vague whooshing sound coming through the phone as if he were suddenly travelling really fast in a car with the top down.
“Clark, calm down”, she said as she finally worked out that the sound meant that he was in the process of super-speeding his way over to her house. “It is just a messenger. Is it okay if I call you back later today, or tomorrow? I’m not sure, I think that my Dad might have plans for us”.
“Yeah, sure, no problem”.
Chloe hung up.
“Miss Sullivan?” The tall man in an expensive tailored suit enquired.
“Yes”.
“Here you are”, he handed her an enormous bouquet of blood red roses – dethorned –, the largest, softest teddy bear she had ever seen, and an expensive box of chocolates which she couldn’t manage to carry inside with the rest of her booty. She had make two trips into the living room – giving her teddy a little ruffle – and come back for the card that he gave her.
It was barely between her manicured fingers before she was ripping into it. Only one person could have sent her any of these things – even if they were all hopelessly clichéd, and in one case equally cute.
“My dearest Chloe,
I hope that these hopelessly clichéd tokens of my affection will be received in the spirit they was intended – mostly heartfelt with only a touch of irony - and that you will recognise this as a formal invitation to join me for lunch at the mansion today. Yes, this is officially a date and lunch because I couldn’t wait until dinner”.
Chloe giggled. Hugged herself. And then performed a dance which would have been humiliating if anyone else had been around to see it.
She was going out on a date with Lex Luthor … and he knew about it too!
She raced back out to her front door to see the man still standing there, a limo she hadn’t noticed before behind him. “Are you supposed to be taking me to the mansion?”
“Yes Miss”.
“Now?”
“Yes Miss”.
“Can you wait oh say thirty minutes for me to shower and get changed ect?”
“Yes Miss”.
“Would you like to come in and have some coffee while you wait?”
He gave her a smile, “No thank-you Miss”.
Chloe had pranced back inside and upstairs to get ready for what had to have been the best date in the entire history of dating. She had been met by Lex at the doorway, looking so handsome that even she could hardly believe it and been shown through into a room she had never seen before which had been decorated like a Parisian bistro.
Lex had looked almost nervous as he had pulled out her chair for her, he had joked, “I was going to fly us to Paris but then I thought that you would probably want to spend some time with your Dad”.
Chloe had giggled and told him that she loved what he had done. They had then proceeded to have a fairy-tale date, so perfect and magical that Chloe could hardly believe that she had been on it. Ending with the most perfect, sweetest kiss.
~*~
Chloe laid her head down on her arms and tried not to be too depressed as she remembered her first date with Lex. She wanted her Lex to be here with her now! She reached for chocolaty calorific comfort. For a few minutes this and Nigella’s voice soothed her. She was almost relaxing when she was jolted by a buzzing at the intercom.
“Meh!” She couldn’t be bothered to get up. It couldn’t be Lex (he was wrapped in the arms of a nymph), so why bother? She didn’t want to see anyone else.
It buzzed again.
Once again, she ignored it.
“Chloe”, a familiar voice called as the door opened, “are you home? I thought that you were … oh there you are”.
Chloe turned over to see Lex standing there, in her doorway, looking unbelievably handsome, in full evening wear, with two brown paper carrier bags in his hands.
“What are you doing here?” She asked pulling herself up, unable to help grinning at him.
“I managed to get out early so I thought that I would stop by”, he explained, closing the door behind him and crossing over to where she sat. “Why didn’t you answer the door? Are you okay?”
“Because I didn’t know that it was you and I didn’t want to see anyone else”, she explained, “I’m glad that you have a key”.
“I’m glad too”, Lex said leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. “Are you okay? You look a little flushed”.
“Um, yeah”, she wasn’t about to tell him that she had been moping around all afternoon, “I just got a little … hot”. She looked down at herself. Then back up at Lex’s cool, debonair form. Then back at herself. The contrast was horrific.
He was perfect and handsome, while she was in an oversized t-shirt which had used to belong to her Dad with short pyjama-shorts because of the heat, bare feet and her hair was in a messy phony tail. She brought her hand up to wipe her mouth just to check that she didn’t have any chocolate around her mouth.
“So I see”, he smirked as he rubbed his thumb against her lower lip to get the last trace of chocolate, “have you already eaten?”
“Only ice-cream”, she admitted, wondering what was inside the bags. She recognised the name of an expensive restaurant.
“Naughty girl”, he teased. “Do you have room for some proper food as well?
Always!” Her tummy could probably use something with some actual nutritional value as well.
“Ah my human dustbin”, he gave her messy head a playful ruffle, which destroyed what she was left of her pony-tail.
Chloe frowned.
“My adorable, loveable and entirely too damned sexy”, he gave her a squeeze, “human dustbin”.
“So”, Chloe started slowly, trying to sound casual as Lex started to lay out of the food on the coffee table, “how was your … afternoon?”
Lex sat down and looked up at her, giving her his full attention. “My afternoon, was fine thank-you. How was yours?”
“Good, I didn’t do much”, she admitted. “But, you went to the theatre.” She shouldn’t pry. She didn’t want to pry. She asked, “Was it a good production?”
“Probably, I don’t know”, he sounded casual. As if it had meant nothing to him. Maybe it hadn’t. “I didn’t actually see the play, I got an important call just as we were headed in”.
“Really?”
“Really”, his face was an impassive mask, “my secretary apparently felt the need to inform me of the exact time and that the take out I had ordered was ready and waiting at the Lex Corp building”.
“Which is on your way here”.
“Which is on the way here”, he agreed.
She sat down next to him, “What did you think of the new building? Was that nice at least?” She tried to examine the food, rather than him, but ended up with her eyes slanting back.
“It was fine”, he said, actually shrugging this time. “Not worth anywhere near the amount they spent on it”, it was on the tip of his tongue to say that he would take her there some time but then he remembered that he wouldn’t. Not for another two years at least. He hated this arrangement.
He looked at over at his girlfriend. His sweet, sexy girlfriend. His girlfriend who he couldn’t openly date. His girlfriend who would be flirting with other guys at MetU, who would hang out with guys who would put their arms around her. He wanted to scream. He wanted to pull her to him and shout that she was his. His. His. His and only his. But he knew that he couldn’t, they had a relationship only because they were together like this. They hadn’t even said that they loved each other, hadn’t even had sex yet. He couldn’t allow himself to get possessive and ruin everything.
“So you got the work you needed done?”
“Yeah”, he said almost absentmindedly as he stared at her. She wasn’t his, not really. She never would be. She was too good, too wonderful, too pure for him. He would love her always, she would be his heart but he couldn’t keep her, he knew that. She would find someone else, fall for them, have a perfect life, family, home, children without the hassles associated with the Luthors. And he loved her enough to let her. But he was so selfish that he was going to hold her for as long as humanly possible, which meant not talking about a lot of things.
“Then what?”
He was jerked out of his own thoughts and striving to keep his tone perfectly calm, without a hint of the panic that was rising up in him, he asked, “Is there something you want to ask or say, Chloe?”
“Yes, LOVE ME! LOVE ME! LOVE ME! LOVE ME! You’re mine, mine, mine and only mine. And I don’t want you to date anyone else even though I know that I said that I was okay with it. In fact, I don’t want you to even look at anyone else”. Chloe thought, but bit down hard on the inside of her mouth until she tasted blood to keep herself from uttering one syllable of that humiliating plea. If she did, she would lose him. A thought too terrible to be born.
“No”, she shook her head, “just making conversation”.
“Alright”, he pulled her over to him and kissed her forehead as he squeezed her.
He wanted to say something fantastic, that would solve all of their problems that would make her fall for him, but he couldn’t think of anything. So he just held her.
~*~
“So Mommy, what did you think? What did you think?” Lilly bounced over to her, puppet still firmly affixed to her hand.
“It was brilliant sweetie”, she gave her a hug and a kiss.
“Daddy was involved too”, Lilly pointed out pulling her mother up to her feet.
“Lilly I thought that we had a talk about not manipulating people”, Lex said, an edge of warning in his voice.
“I’m not manipulating”, Lilly turned her big eyes on him, “I was just pointing out facts”.
He tried to look stern but had to settle for an “Hmm”.
“You don’t want a hug and a kiss too?” Chloe inquired, trying to make a joke out of it.
“Well …” Lex said thoughtfully, “I guess that I wouldn’t mind”. He didn’t want to pressure her into anything that she didn’t feel ready for and … Oh God that felt good. Chloe had wrapped her slim, strong arms around his waist and squeezed as tightly as she could.
Chloe hid her face in his strong chest as an unbidden grin spread across her features as he returned the embrace. She breathed in his warm, familiar scent for a few seconds before she got her courage up. Her cheeks almost burning as she did so, she craned her neck back and rose up onto her toes.
Lex almost jumped out of his skin as she brushed her lips against his warm, smooth cheek, once, twice and then, on the lips.
“Ewww”, Lilly complained wiggling her way in between them, “on the cheek only please. I don’t want a little brother or sister!” Honestly, sometimes parents could be so irresponsible. Just going around kissing each other on the mouth once they were married. “Unless you’d get back together for a new baby”.
“Of course not”, Lex scooped her up and bounced her up and down a few times to quell the sad look which had in her eyes at the thought of a competitor. “We already have one perfect little angel, why would we want to have another one who would be inferior in every way?”
“Good point”, Lilly agreed.
“Come on you two”, Chloe wrapped an arm around both of them to rub their respective backs, “I know where there is some ice-cream with your names on it”.
“Is that so?” Lex played along.
“Yes Daddy, I wrote on them”, Lilly informed him cheerfully.
“You wrote on them?” He repeated with a warm laugh which made Chloe’s insides feel all warm and tingly.
“Yes”, Lilly agreed as she was carried through into Gabe’s kitchen.
“She did indeed, one for you, one for Granddad and one for Lilly”, Chloe explained.
“You get a whole one even though you are so little?” Lex inquired.
“I’m not little”, Lilly put her hands on her hips, her chin stuck out. Just like Chloe did.
“I’m sorry”, Lex kissed her forehead, “my mistake”.
“Yes”, Lilly agreed, her arms going back around her Daddy’s neck now that he had admitted her fault, “besides, it’s the only way that I will grow”.
“Good point. Wait, why doesn’t Mommy have an ice-cream?” He asked as he watched Chloe pulling them out of the freezer.
“Mommy doesn’t eat ice-cream or sweeties”, Lilly informed her in her patented ‘Daddy’s being silly’ voice.
“Mommy loves sweeties”.
“Nu-uh, Mommy never eats sweeties. Not ever”, she shook her head. It was true, for the entire last year Chloe hadn’t eaten sweeties and Lilly couldn’t remember every day occurrences from before that, only special occasions etc.
Lex stared over at Chloe with a furrowed brow, “Since when don’t you eat sweeties?”
“I’ve been trying to eat healthy for a while now”, she said, all of her attention apparently focused on finding the spoons which were right in front of her nose.
“How long Chloe?” Lex asked in the slow, clear manner which always got results. Lilly’s gaze ping ponged between her parents, she wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but she was fairly sure that Mommy was going to tell Daddy whatever it was that he wanted to know.
“Just over a year”, she said simply, her hands tightening around the spoons she had apparently finally found and was holding.
“Right”. His eyes were fixed on his wife. He knew that she had lost weight. He had known that something was wrong. Damn it. Why hadn’t he worked out what was going on before now? Feeling the tension creeping back into Lilly he tried to sound more jovial, “Well, then we will just have to remind Mommy how good ice-cream is and let her share ours, won’t we?”
“Yay ice-cream. Yay Mommy!” Lilly declared her support for this plan of action with enthusiasm.
They went back into the living room and Lilly wedged herself in between her parents in easy reach of all of the ice-cream. She pulled a face at the dark Venezuelan chocolate one which she was fairly sure Mommy had brought especially for Daddy, and opted for her own one. Lex consented, at her urging, to take a spoon full of her container of pink gunk but pulled a face, “Would you mind my asking what that is exactly?”
“It’s ice-cream Daddy”, she formed him. Sometimes he could be so silly.
He looked at Chloe.
“It’s ice-cream”, she informed him, “we made it ourselves didn’t we Lilly? And then we put it in a special pot Lilly drew on to make it look like premium brands. Would you like to tell Daddy how we made it?”
“Yes”, she was extremely proud of herself and her Daddy should know all about her achievement, “I took three frozen bananas out of the freezer and peeled them myself and then I put them in the blender, with frozen strawberries and soya milk and then Mommy turned it on and blended everything. It made a really loud noise but I wasn’t scared at all!”
“That is very impressive”, Lex nodded and extended his pot to Chloe, “You can share mine”.
“Really Lex, it’s fine. I ‘ve never been a big fan of yours anyway”. She smiled at him before realising that she had just admitted that she had gone out and brought it especially for him because she had had expectations of him.
“You’re quite right”, he placed both ice-cream containers on the table, popped their tops on and then stood up tossing Lilly over his shoulder and held out his hand to Chloe.
“What on earth are you doing?”
“The Luthors are going to get ice-cream”.
Chloe tried to protest but Lilly was squealing with delight and Lex had already succeeded in heaving his wife to her feet. “Lilly doesn’t even have shoes on, she is wearing slippers”, Chloe pointed to the woolly wolves which were sticking straight out behind her.
“Well, she isn’t going to have to put her feet on the ground”, Lex argued.
“Lex!”
“Fine”, he huffed and put Lilly back down, “Spoil sport”.
“Spoil sport”, Lilly repeated and Chloe gave Lex a dirty look which he ignored as he took out his phone and ordered ice-cream to be brought to them. Less than two minutes later, one of security guards that Lex had watching the place came to the door with the desert that had just been delivered.
“How on earth did you manage that?” Chloe gaped.
“Inexhaustible wealth”, Lex shrugged as Lilly wrested one of the pots from the bag of an exclusive ice-cream parlour out of the bag and got enough of the lid off to slip her strawberry tainted spoon in it. She took a mouthful of the decadent, sugar ladened chocolaty snickers and Nutella inspired ice-cream that Chloe had adored before and pulled a face.
“I don’t like it”, the baby declared with feeling and went back to her own. Honestly, the things that adults would eat if they weren’t properly supervised.
“That’s probably a good thing”, Chloe smiled down at her little angel, “it isn’t very good for you”. She breathed in deeply, as the smell wafted over to her.
“True”, Lex said, drawing out the word, “but it is so utterly delicious”. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t actually to his taste but he knew that she loved it and he had fond (extremely erotic) memories of licking it off her warm flesh. He swallowed. His daughter was in the room. In a slightly forced voice he said, “Come on Chloe, take a bite”. He scooped a huge wedge out onto a spoon and held it out for her.
“Lex …”
“Chloe …”
“Mommy … Daddy …” Lilly put in, just because she didn’t like being left out of anything.
“Fine”, Chloe moved to take the spoon from him but Lex wouldn’t let her, instead he just held it up to her lips. It smelled divine. She darted her tongue out to touch it, her first taste of sugar in over a year. “Oh my God”, she groaned opening her mouth for the spoon, sucking every morsel from it as the rich, velvety chocolaty taste exploded on her taste buds her reminding of her of everything she had been missing.
Lilly was about to offer to share hers with Mommy if she didn’t like hers when Chloe snatched the ice-cream and spoon from Lex and cramped several spoonful’s into her mouth at once.
“I think that she likes it”, Lex nudged Lilly as they all sat back down, Chloe was now blushing furiously.
“Why have you gone all pink, Mommy?”
“I … I haven’t”.
“Yes, you have!”
“No, I haven’t!”
“Yes, you ha…”
“I think that Mommy is just a little overwhelmed by all of the sugar, why don’t we just sit down quietly and relax and put on that movie we were going to watch”, Lex stepped in.
Lilly assented to this and as she was putting in the film – she could do it all by herself now, if given enough time – Lex leant over to Chloe, “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing”. She noticed his slip. It made her feel all warm and tingly.
His hand ran over her thigh and gave it a squeeze, Chloe groaned slightly at the contact after so long and moaned, “This is going to go straight to my thighs”.
“Good”, he whispered in her ear, keeping one eye on their daughter. “Chloe, just eat your ice-cream, it would do you good to gain back a few pounds and we will talk about all of this later”.
“Right”, Chloe said, taking another spoonful of sinfully delicious gorgeousness, mainly to avoid having to deal with Lex again. She managed quite well to avoid the conversation until they had tucked Lilly into bed that night and he caught her around the waist and pulled her into his arms, dropping a kiss on her head.
“We need to talk”.
A/N: Dun dun duh ... So, what did you think?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
Now why would Chloe wants to give up ice cream? She is already perfect and I hate it when people think they have to be a bony skeleton in order to be pretty.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
I have no idea. Why would AM have talked about being concerned about her weight? Some people do need to be stick thin to be pretty, others don't. *shrugs* Anyway, the reason why in Chloe's case will slowly be revealed. Thanks for the review, wuv uuu. :D
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
Chapter Fifteen
“We need to talk”.
“Wow, that sounds ominous”, Chloe tried to joke, feeling herself turning beet red.
“It doesn’t have to be”, Lex said quietly.
“I …” She tried to think of a way to get out of this talk, to bury it all so that they could continue like they always did. But that was their problem. They buried stuff. They were both so needy and unable to believe that anyone would love them that they clung to the people they loved too afraid to talk about the issues which plagued them until they were completely out of control. “My bedroom?”
“Sounds good to me”, Lex followed her through and closed the door after them.
Chloe wrapped her arms around herself against an odd, inexplicable chill in the air and sat down on her bed, leaning against the headboard with her legs tucked up beneath her.
“You needn’t look so scared Chloe, I’m not going to spank you or anything”, he joked.
“I know that”, she blushed, “I just …”
“I know”, he sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and cradling her against his chest. “But it will be alright, I mean this is what we are trying to do, right? Get the communication going again. Clearly there is something I didn’t know about, isn’t there?”
“Well, yes”, she admitted, turning her face into the crook of his neck. It was nice there. Comforting.
He didn’t try to force her into telling him anything, he just waited. It was important that they got this sorted out but it would take as long as it took. The fact that he had finally come to the realization that they needed to talk didn’t mean that she was necessarily ready to do so.
“Are you angry?” She finally succeeded in voicing the question.
“Not with you”, he assured her, holding her even more tightly.
She gave him a squeeze in return, “It’s not your fault”, she gave a small laugh, “I don’t know what I mean by it’s not your fault”. She moved her head to brush away the hint of a tear on her sleeve; she couldn’t bear to unwrap her arms from around him. “There is no fault because there is nothing wrong”.
“Chloe …”
“No, I’m being serious”, she pushed herself back just enough to look up and stare straight at him. He his handsome visage was schooled into a cold mask which would have fooled anyone else, but she could detect the flicker of fear in his eyes. He was petrified that there was something wrong with her and that he was the cause of it. “I’ve never been the healthiest eater and I’ve always been just a little bit chubby. Having decided to finally get off my ass and stopped eating so much crap and do more exercise is not a bad thing”.
He frowned.
“No, really Lex, it isn’t”, she tried to make him understand. “I’m not underweight, I wouldn’t allow that to happen. I had a BMI of 22.5 (perfectly healthy) and now I have a BMI of 19 (which is also perfectly healthy)”.
Lex knew nothing about such things but he would trust her assessment of the facts – until his specialists got back to him tomorrow afternoon with the full set of test results he planned on having her take – but that didn’t assuage his fears as it wasn’t merely a physical concern from his perspective. “It is a problem if you are doing it for the wrong reasons. If this diet started around the time that we stopped having sex”, he swallowed, he didn’t want to ask this question. He didn’t want to know. But he had to. “Was it?”
Chloe couldn’t raise her eyes to meet his.
“God Chloe, I’m sorry”.
“It doesn’t matter Lex”, she said pulling out of his arms. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be there, it was where she wanted to be more than anything else in the world, but she wasn’t sure that she could at that moment. She suddenly felt fat. Obese. Ugly. Terrible. She lay down on her side, looking away from him blinking away the tears.
Lex just sat there, staring at her back. She was so tiny. So hurt. And it was his fault.
He tried to swallow around the hard ball that was forming in his throat. Chloe was the best thing that had ever happened to him – other than their daughter – and he had hurt her so terribly. He had found out last week that she had doubted his love for her. Now he discovered that she had doubted his attraction to her for a year. He should just leave. Stop hurting her forever. Let her find someone else who could make her happy and … he lay down behind her, wrapping his arm around her waist, pressing his mouth against the side of her neck, kissing her until he could finally form words.
“I’m so sorry Chloe, I love you so much. I always have. I … The problems with our relationship have nothing to do with you, absolutely nothing!”
“Lex, that is sweet of you do say, but it must have had something to do with me”, she turned to look at him.
“No”, he grasped her face between his hands, “nothing at all. I love you, I have ever since we became friends but I have been attracted to you since long before that. The night that I lost the election and you came in with your eyes blazing and that wicked tongue of yours. You are lucky that I didn’t throw you down on the desk right then and have my way with you”.
“Lex …”
“I’m serious”, his eyes burned with intensity.
“I know that you loved me”, she admitted, she had had her doubts about recent events but not back then. “But we still waited ages the first time to have sex and even that was only by accident and …”
“For fuck’s sake Chloe, that is the one part of our relationship that I’m proud of. The one part that I got right. I was respectful, and waited, and …”
~*~
She flipped opened her compact and checked her reflection. She straightened her dark brown hair, relined her big brown eyes and pouted her red lips. Not perfect she decided, but definitely good enough.
The heads of several young men turned as she slid out of her black Lexus, her high heels hitting the pavement with as slightly bump.
A place roaming with tall, reasonably good looking, well-dressed men all of whom were at least politely interested in her. She couldn’t work out why she hadn’t come here before. Two men with dark hair and kind smiles actually sauntered over to her.
“Hi”, she greeted the one who didn’t seem to be able to keep his gaze at eye level. “Is this Bloom Industries?” She pointed a long manicured nail at the phallic tower which cast a shadow over all of them. It was an absurd question as everyone in the city knew what it was, but she didn’t think that this particular young man would recognise this fact. She privately thanked Gucci for creating such fitted suits for females.
“Yes”.
“Oh goodie”, she turned around, reached over onto the passenger’s seat and grabbed a huge number of documents; “I thought that I was in the wrong place for a moment there. I have been driving around for ages trying to find the entrance”. It was actually a rather difficult feat if you didn’t know exactly where it was located, or at least it would have been had she not been researching the place for months.
“Yeah, it can be tricky”, the second man moved over, reaching out his arms to help her with the papers she was obviously struggling with.
“Thank-you”, she smiled, almost demurely. “Such a gentleman”.
“Yeah”, the other agreed and took the rest of the papers from her. “Plenty of them in Kansas, you are from further south, right?”
“Right”, she agreed, “Texas. Is my accent really that obvious?”
“Yeah”, he grinned, “it’s cute. I mean”, he covered, thinking that that might not be striking just the right tone, “nice”.
“You’re so sweet”, she said, her arms now free to close her car door. “Would you mind showing me in?”
They, of course, were only too happy to help, carrying the documents right through security waiting for their dainty companion as she showed her visitor’s card and was summarily scanned and found to be clean.
“So, what do you do?” The less shy of the two, asked as they showed her into the main lift where they could finally resume a conversation after the noise of the foyer.
“I’m a student at Kansas State and I’m temping, or rather, my friend is temping and I’m helping her out. I have to take all of these folders down to the archive room and then find some stuff”, she explained as if the matter were of little importance and, quite frankly, a major bore to her.
“Some stuff?” The shy one repeated.
“Yeah, just boring documents and stuff”, she said with a shrug. “It’s boring, anyway, what do you two do? You must be important right, I mean if you just get to walk passed security”.
“Well”, the last one to speak started, blushing a little under her interested gaze, “Tom here is the deputy head of security and I’m an accountant”. Her smile broadened and he felt that he should think of something else to say. “We are both reasonably well up the ladder, for our ages, I guess”.
“Well, what good luck of mine”, she continued to smile at them both in a sweet, innocent yet strangely seductive manner.
“Not really, we always come back from lunch at this time”, the accountant (who had still omitted to give his name) explained, becoming more loquacious under such concentrated attention from a female and an attractive one at that.
“Well, imagine that”, she swung from side to side slightly as they lift doors finally closed, “My first week in Metropolis and I’ve already met two influential men”.
“Well, I wouldn’t say influential”, he blushed, in a way which she found adorable and reminded her of a friend of hers. They would be perfect together.
“Aww”, she cooed but then felt something strange against her scalp as she did so and turned (hopefully in a manner that appeared nonchalant) to face straight ahead. She stared at the closed metal doors in front of them, or to be more precise, at her reflection in the closed metal doors in front of them and noted with relief that her wig hadn’t slipped. She must have just dislodged a hair pin. Thank God!
It had taken Chloe ages to plan out this heist and she had blown a good chunk of her money on renting the Lexus for that day but it was the only way to get the information that she needed for her story. If something went wrong then she was completely and utterly screwed.
Although good, this wasn’t one of Chloe’s favourite plans. First of all, because there was no backup. Never a good start. And second of all, because there was no way that she could get in and out without help. She was relying solely on what she had learnt about men over the last few years from watching Lois: that they were easy to control if you were tall and a brunette with big boobs. Luckily everything seemed to be running smoothly.
Her two escorts carried her papers all of the way to the filing station and when they found that the secretary had already gone to lunch and she had looked about ready to cry, the security guard had quickly opened the locked office door, and stashed the papers inside for her under another pile which had come in earlier – so that no one would know that she had got there (and subsequently handed everything in) late.
Their helpfulness carried through when her stupid security card wouldn’t allow her access to the archive room. This time the accountant had swiped her in and given her his business card so that she could call him if she needed anything else, or just wanted a coffee or … he had trailed off.
Chloe (or Laura, if her card was to be believed) was profuse in her thanks and declarations that she was fine and that she wouldn’t keep them from their work any longer as she couldn’t bear to think that she had got them into trouble, until she had seen the door close behind them and she was left alone in the archive room cum cellar.
“What nice nice men”, she declared cheerfully to herself as she sauntered down the corridor further into the archive room, fully aware that the blocker device hidden in inside one of the folders which had just been stored next to the (theoretically inaccessible) security system in the sectary’s office would loop an image of her walking around doing what she had told them she would be doing and so she would be long gone by the time that anyone worked out that anything was missing. Being a kind girl who had conversed with everyone possible in High School (including the computer geeks) paid off when was an investigative reporter on the trail of a hot story.
Armed with her many gadgets and schematics, it took her only a few short minutes to find what she was searching for. She took her tiny camera out and took pictures of the required documents, checked that they had saved properly, and slipped the paperwork back into the correct folders and positions on the shelves. She wished that she could send the images to herself electronically straight away, so that she would have a backup, but she couldn’t risk it. There was always a chance that something like that would be picked up on the building’s grid and then she would be located and picked up before she could get safely out of there.
She hid her camera back between her breasts, took a deep breath, checked her clothing, rolled her neck from side and side and then headed back towards the exit trying not to move too quickly. She didn’t want to draw any extra attention to herself.
It worked. Within five minutes she had found her way back out of the archive room and up to the foyer just in time to see a delegation of people coming in. Security would be focusing on them rather than on her so even if somehow something on her did set off an alarm they would not be looking at her when it happened, so if she could just make sure that she went passed the detectors at the same time as one of the other people heading for the exit, there … she managed it. Chloe looked strangely at a man who now appeared to have been just behind her and as such the person to set off the machine.
She fought the urge to smile as she heard one of the guards coming over and telling him not to worry, they went off inexplicably some times and he would just have to step to the side and be patted down and then he could go. She was almost home free. Less than fifteen metres of go and no more detection devices to be faced with.
She was just about to push her way through the rotating door when she dodged to the side and scuttled a good twenty metres in the wrong direction. “Oh God”, she moaned.
Lex Luthor had just entered the building.
A/N: So, what did you think? Who's still reading? Do you think that he will see her?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
Chloe is in trouble. LOL!
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
lex has arrived chloe is so in trouble
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
Whatever Chloe is going to do, I'm sure Lex is not going to let her get away this time.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
Hcfe: Yes, she is. Thanks for reviewing. :D
Cburnberg: Indeed she is. Always nice to hear from you.
Trckyrcky: No, he does seem to be annoyingly observant, doesn't he? Well, most of the time at least.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
A/N: Thank-you so much to my beloved reviewers, you are the reason I am up an hour past the time I really wanted to be asleep just so that I can give you a chapter. Love you all. :D
Chapter Sixteen
“Eek”.
The annoying sound went through Chloe like a needle. She hated it. She loathed it. She thought that it was one of the most ridiculous sounds a human was capable of making and had told Lois so numerous times when her older cousin had forced her to read comics with her.
Chloe had always maintained that it was beyond ridiculous that when something went wrong and the intrepid heroine somehow inevitably ended up hiding somewhere ludicrous, with the crucial piece of evidence in hand, and her bosom heaving in an unrealistically well-tailored and fashionable suit, desperate not to be discovered as the one person who could blow their covered inched ever closer … that they would make a sound which was sure to give them away.
“It just wouldn’t happen”, Chloe had informed her older cousin at least a dozen times. It was unthinkable. Especially as it was such an unbelievably ridiculous sound which no one ever produced in the course of their daily life. Why not just get a large neon fifty foot sign saying “Look over here dummy” and wave it around whilst doing a strip tease? It would have virtually the same effect.
It spite of Miss Sullivan’s strong views on the sound “Eek”, eek she did upon spying Lex Luthor striding through the door to the office building, cool, calm and completely in control.
Her heart slammed against her ribcage and blood pounded in her ears, driving the remnants of her squeak from her brain as she tried to manoeuvre herself so that her back was to her boyfriend. She had noticed a section of the foyer, off to the side, with a small seating area and bookshelf full of flyers and headed there (hopefully not quickly enough to draw attention to herself) so as not appear too suspicious. If she could just keep reading them until he was gone then she could easily slip out without anyone being any the wiser.
They didn’t know that she had come to steal anything from them. There was no sign that anything had been taken, and, even if there were, they would never suspect her. The only way that she could be discovered would be if someone found the device in the stack of papers which was unlikely. Impossible, in fact, until the secretary returned from her lunch break.
Chloe glanced down at her watch. There, she had a whole five minutes until there was even the remotest sliver of a chance of her being discovered. She was worrying about nothing. She would just stand here for a few more minutes and then she would leave. No more machines to walk through. No more searches. No trail left behind. Even if in months to come someone worked everything out – which was next to impossible – they would be looking for tall, dark haired, dark eyed Laura, not little Chloe Sullivan.
She took a deep breath and pretended to be interested in a summer course which guaranteed to enhance her IT skills or double her money back. She was half tempted just to take that one, if they couldn’t teach her to hack into the CIA database (pretty much the only thing which still alluded her) then at least she would make some money. And if they could teach her that then it would be well worth the fifty bucks. Of course, it could also end up with her being arrested.
On balance, she slipped that leaflet back onto the shelve and moved over slightly to another one on the beauty of the Russian language which she pretended to examine with interest even as she really glanced furtively over her shoulder to see that Lex had not moved.
She was being silly, he wasn’t there looking for her. He was completing a business deal of his own (she assumed, he had not actually mentioned having anything to do with Bloom Industries to her lately); the chances were that she could walk straight passed him now, and he wouldn’t even notice her. It was probably actually the safest option. No one would be paying the slightest bit of attention to her with Lex Luthor in the room.
Retrieving yet another pamphlet, she analysed the situation. Lex and his entourage were standing just in front of the door way, well in front of the scanning machines, she had three minutes left until the secretary returned and she was getting jumpier by the second. The longer she left it, the greater the changes of her being discovered. With another brief glance at her chest – just to make sure that her camera remained well hidden – and a casual touch of her wig, she made her decision.
Remembering what she had once read in a spy’s autobiography, “When one does not want to be noticed, the worst thing that one can possibly do was to act suspiciously”, Chloe pushed her shoulders back, pocketed her broachers and headed straight for the door with a measured tread.
Twenty metres away. Lex wasn’t looking at her. No one was. She fought the urge to smile.
Fifteen metres. There was nothing to it. The need to beam grew.
Ten metres. She heard hurried footsteps and heard someone calling out “Miss”. She felt her blood run cold even though it was entirely possible that it wasn’t her being addressed. Either way she gave no indication of having heard the call anything at all, pretending to be lost in her own little world, trying not to tense up as she heard the rumbling around her. Other people were starting to wonder who the young man was calling and look around for the source of the commotion.
Five metres. The name Laura was called out after her, followed by the sound of running. People closer to her were speculating that she must be the Laura in question. She swallowed but continued as if she couldn’t hear them. If she ran, as she yearned to, then someone might realise that something suspicious was going on and catch her before she made good her escape. Lex’s men were well trained and would react in an instant. She didn’t dare to look over at her boyfriend, just in case he realised who she was and what was going on.
Less than one foot and she would be free. A hand closed around her upper arm. She gasped and spun around.
“Oh my God you gave me a heart attack”, she announced, in what she hoped was a convincing imitation of her earlier accent.
“I’m sorry”, it was the security guy from earlier, not the accountant.
“That’s alright, Tom”, she was relieved that she had at least remembered his name. She placed her hand over her beating heart and smiled, trying to pretend that it was merely from shock rather than fear.
“I did call out after you, several times”, he informed her.
“You did”, she looked around (although not in Lex’s direction) as if that would somehow help her to see the past, “When?”
“Just now”, he smiled down at her.
She was relieved to see that he didn’t seem angry or suspicious, but was no closer to working out what on earth he could want or how to get out of there quickly.
“Seriously? Oh God”, she hid her face with her hands, “that is so embarrassing. In my own little world as usual”.
“That’s alright, it happens to all of us”. Nope, he definitely did not suspect anything. Or at least, she thought that he didn’t. He still hadn’t released her arm.
“So, was there something that I could do to help you?” She inquired politely, moving so that her back was directly towards Lex.
“I was going to ask you the same thing. I noticed that your card wasn’t working earlier so I went to get it fixed”.
“Oh, you shouldn’t have”, she placed her hand on his forearm, attempting to hide the anxiety that was bubbling up inside her.
He blushed slightly. “It was no trouble. The reason your card didn’t work was because you aren’t on our system”.
“I’m not?” She looked stunned.
“No”, he explained, “I then searched for your name and found that they issued you a card without actually activating it. I’m terribly sorry, we had a lot of staff turnover recently and some of them don’t know what they are doing”.
Chloe looked politely interested. She knew about the staff turnover, she had paid one of them to make her a card but not run it through the whole system where it would be more likely to actually be checked. It was amazing what you could get done with a card which looked the part, even if it didn’t actually work. Everyone seemed to just take IT incompetence as a given, especially since she had uploaded a bug into the system the week before which stopped random cards working at odd times. If the rumours were correct, she had even stopped the CEO’s card working once.
“Anyway, that means that I can’t just activate your card. I need to issue you with a new one. If you just come with me we can go to the security centre and issue you a new one”, Tom continued.
The bottom fell out of Chloe’s stomach. Go to the security centre when she was so near the exit? Be calmly led back through into the belly of the beast through the machines again, with a secretary that could find her papers at any moment and realise that they shouldn’t be there, with a security system that could be sweeping for bugs at any minute? She stared up into his face. It was guileless. He was either genuine or an exceptionally good actor who didn’t want to alert Lex Luthor to the fact that anything might be wrong. Either way, she wasn’t going with him.
She was suddenly very aware of the fact that he still had his hand on her arm. She thought of declining and saying that it didn’t matter, or saying that she would do it the next time that she came in but stopped herself. That was how guilty people gave themselves away, by trying to get out of something.
“Oh really? That would be so great. I left the documents I was working on upstairs because I realised that I had actually forgotten to bring in separate ID card in and I can’t remember the number, can you believe it? I think that I need my head examined. They will need that too for the swipe card too, right?” There, someone who was guilty wouldn’t offer even more proof.
“Yes, it would be helpful, if you have it”, he admitted.
“Okay then, I’ll just run and grab it from my car and meet you back here in two shakes of a lamb’s tail”, she grinned at him. ‘Or rather I will get to my car and then drive straight out of here before you know what’s hit you’, she thought. There was a reason she had used her fake ID to hire the car. There would be no links.
“I’ll come with you”. He offered.
Damn it. “That’s so sweet, come on then”, she smiled up at him in an ever-so-slightly too bright manner. At least once she was outside she would have a better chance; there was still a chance that he didn’t know anything and … she turned and came face to face with Lex Luthor.
“Excuse me, Sir”, Tom said, politely.
Lex arched an eyebrow at her.
She had no idea just how long he had been looking at her, when he had noticed her or when he had worked it out but she knew that she was busted.
“Laura”, Lex was outwardly calm but she could detect the anger prickling just below the surface. It made her even more nervous, she wanted to run screaming from the room but her feet wouldn’t move. He had worked it out, or at least enough to realise who she was, the fake name that she was using and had apparently decided not to hand her over to the Bloom Industries Authorities.
Tom looked from one to the other, unaware of how Lex and Laura were connected.
In clipped tones, Lex politely requested that he removed his hands from “Laura”, only to replace it with his own and firmly escort her to the door without so much as a backwards glance or word of explanation.
As the cool mid-afternoon Metropolis air washed over and she finally saw the sky once more Chloe should have felt relieved to finally be extricated from the tentacles of Bloom Industries but something – possibly the hard feel of Lex’s fingers wrapped around her upper arm – made her think that she might just have jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Feeling that she probably owed him an explanation, or at the very least a word of thanks, Chloe opened her mouth to address her boyfriend only to snap it closed again instantaneously upon chancing a glance up at him.
He was livid. Beyond livid even. His features might as well have been carved from granite for all the warm and mercy they displayed. His jaw was clenched firmly shut and his steely eyes were fixed firmly ahead of them. He wouldn’t even look at her. She would have thought that he had forgotten about her very existence had he not been dragging her alongside him.
It was with apparent disgust that he let her go, pushing her into the back of a waiting black stretch limo and informed his security, “She does not leave and no one gets near her”.
Chloe, furious with such shabby treatment, scrambled back to the door just in time to see it close in her face and hear the sound of the locks clicking into place. She tried to pull the little knob up as she would have on her open car to be released but without success. It was no good, she was trapped. She banged her hand on the window, hoping to get their attention only to discover that she didn’t really want it. Lex turned back to her, his face a mask of fury, and he announced in a voice clear enough to be heard through the bullet proof glass – and so certainly by the other members of his security team who were standing by -, “Chloe, stay put. If you attempt to leave my team has my full permission to force you back into the car and believe me, when I get back you will regret such a foolish display of temper”.
She shrank back. She hated herself for it. She detested all signs of weakness, especially in females but at that moment self-preservation won out. She knew that he would never physically hurt her, that he wouldn’t ruin her chances or hurt any member of her family so she didn’t really know what he could do to her, but he sounded so ominous … she didn’t doubt that he meant what he said.
It was with a lump the size of Kansas in her throat that she watched as Lex turned around and his fine, tailored form strode purposefully back into the headquarters of Bloom Industries. He had business there. Oh God, how had she not known that he had business interests there? She had researched so thoroughly and now her boyfriend was about ready to ring her neck. She paused. She didn’t even know if he was still her boyfriend after finding her there. Please God, she prayed, let him still care about her after what she had done.
She blinked back tears angrily as she kept her eyes fixed out of the window, waiting for Lex’s return. Maybe he would have softened, she hoped. Maybe she would be able to throw her arms around him so that she would get to hold him one last time and … “Hey, that’s my car”.
A member of Lex’s entourage could just be seen slipping around the corner and appropriating the rented Lexus. She tried to get out of the car once again only to remember that a) she couldn’t, and b) she probably shouldn’t considering how angry Lex was. She tried to swallow and not to cry simultaneous as the reality of just how big of a mess she had created finally sunk in. She had got the information she wanted but the company would probably know who had done it by now so she couldn’t use it, her future at the Daily Planet looked like it was going down the drain, there could be potential legal consequences, she had let down Lex (although just how badly she did not yet know), and had, in all likelihood, just lost her boyfriend. The love of her life. And now she had lost the car she had rented to boot. She was in big big trouble, as her Dad would say.
She shivered and was reminded of the cold, hard piece of metal her breasts. The only thing that had actually gone right that day seemed to be haunting her. Her eyes darted back up to the buildings doors, searching for a glimpse of that familiar silhouette, knowing that no one else would dare to burst in on her. She slipped the camera out and with trembling fingers, and one eye fixed on the entrance, she uploaded the files to several online servers with a sigh of relief and deleted them from her camera permentant and just in time to spy Lex emerging. She shoved it into her bag and tried to look natural. Maybe, just maybe, there was some way that she could resolve the situation so that she wouldn’t lose everything, or at least not Lex.
The object of her desire nodded at one of his guards and the car door was finally opened, for just long enough to allow him entry before it slammed closed and the car took off, before he had even had chance to put on his seatbelt or tell them where they were going.
She straightened her back and placed her hands in her lap. She had no idea why but she seemed to think that that was the right posture to adopt when one was in the wrong and about to try to make amends; although God only knew how. She had no idea what he was going to ask her so couldn’t even begin to think of an excuse. Luckily for her, she did not have to. Lex did not say a word to her. Not one single word.
Chloe Sullivan had been accused of many things in her short but colourful and mischief filled life, but meekness had never been one of them. She had walked up to a boy on her friend day in a new school and demanded that he not only be her friend but take her home to see his farm before kissing him. She had brought down more meteor freaks than she could count. She had taken on and brought down (with help) not only Lionel Luthor but Morgan Edge as well. She was in a relationship with one of the most important men in Kansas and had started said relationship by telling him to pull himself and stop moping around. And yet, not one sound did she utter on that seemingly endless car ride. She didn’t dare.
Fury, heat, wave upon wave of fury irradiated from the man sitting next to her. The air surrounding him was charged, practically crackling with coiled anger and fury. His breathing was harsh and angry. She had never seen him like this before.
They wound their way through the Metropolis traffic and Chloe wasn’t sure if he was taking her to the police department or her home until he swerved onto another road and they somehow ended up underneath the new Lex Corp building. When they finally came to a halt, in the private car park where Lex kept a dozen or so of his city cars, he still refused to even look at her and she knew that that – rather than the somewhat roundabout route they had used to get there – was the real reason why she felt as if she had been locked up for hours rather than mere quarter of an hour it must really have been.
The chauffeur came around to the side and opened the door for his master who left without any sign to Chloe, making a beeline for the hidden, but oddly still guarded, lift.
“Do you think that I am supposed to follow him?” Chloe asked the older man in a whisper.
“I think that it might be wise, Miss”.
With a nod of agreement – and the help of his hand – she slithered her way out of the car in her far too tight skirt and began to walk after her boyfriend, becoming more and more annoyed by the second. She knew that she had acted horribly, somehow becoming involved in one of his business deals, and that he was angry but he could at least have the decency to speak to her and not just leave her sitting there like a … well, she didn’t know what. But it was not nice and she had a good mind to tell him as much. Then she caught another look at his face, so hurt, so angry, and she felt her heart breaking.
She clenched her fists and did her best to control her feet which were straining to attempt to run, not pleased with the limited progress she was making in her ridiculous skirt and heels. She controlled the impulse with an effort, she wasn’t quite so far gone that she would stoop to running after him. He could wait. Could being the operative word because at that moment she wasn’t sure that he would.
Thankfully he did wait, although he didn’t look pleased about it. Once she was inside, the doors automatically closed and the lift began its assent without apparently having been given any commands. Chloe would have been impressed and wondered how it worked – and if it was one of the inventions Lex was always tinkering with – had she not had more pressing concerns on her mind. He still flatly refused to look at her, not even her reflection in the silver doors.
The lift opened up into what she supposed was the living room of his apartment and she gathered from a slightly movement of his arm that she was supposed to enter. Although half tempted to refuse until he had the good manners to ask her in properly, she entered, her eyes immediately taking everything in.
This was her first time in his apartment so she had never had the chance to investigate before. It seemed strange that she had never been there before, she had been to his office once before - the Lex Corp building was so large that his apartment, office and waiting room could all be comfortably accommodated on the top floor alone, as it took up several blocks and had apparently been a nightmare to plan - but they normally socialized at her apartment instead. She knew that she was in disgrace with him and that there would be a reckoning, but she still couldn’t keep her eyes from wandering. It was simply too deeply engrained in her nature.
The apartment had obviously been designed by the same person who had done his office as it was same style, the same cold, hard, white marble everywhere with perfect walls even where she knew that the door to the lift had just been, with two walls completely made from glass and a perfect steel and of course white marble chef’s kitchen on the other wall. From a process of elimination she worked out that all of the other rooms must be located via the wall where the lift was hidden. There was no colour in the room. Not even an extremely overpriced piece of modern art. Even the few items of furniture which sat sparsely in the room were either white leather, chrome or glass. It was impressive but cold, sterile and singularly uninviting. She wrapped her arms around herself to ward off a chill she hadn’t been aware of before. She couldn’t imagine that it was a very nice place to come home to in the evening.
“Well, he always comes to mine”, she reminded herself. Never before had her apartment with Teddy and home with her father seemed quite so inviting, even the dorm room which she had shared with Lana seemed like a paradise compared to this. Poor Lex. She chanced a look over at him onto to see him still looking furious and stalking over to one of the walls.
Chloe’s brow furrowed, she knew that he claimed that his accelerated white blood count helped him a great deal but she doubted that even he could walk through walls. Unless he had been near any meteors recently, then anything was possible. He couldn’t really be about to smash his head against the wall or something equally foolish in his anger, was he? She was just moving to his side to stop him when she observed him sweep his hand across the wall and a key pad appeared, he typed in something and then the perfectly smooth white marble folded away to reveal the next room. Chloe gaped. That was sooooooo cool!
“How did you do that?” She couldn’t resist asking. “How?”
“Technology”, was his simple response as he stood to the side, indicating that she should enter.
“Thanks that’s really helpful”, she huffed but her complaint died on her lips as he turned his icy glare on her.
“Get inside and take that ridiculous wig off”, he barked and Chloe was about ot tell him where he could stick his domineering attitude when he raised an eyebrow and she got the distinct impression that he was more than capable of tossing her over his shoulder and carting her inside if she didn’t do as she was told. Under any other circumstances she might have tried it out, just for fun. But now didn’t seem like the right time to try to press her luck.
“I thought that you liked brunettes”, she quipped as she passed him.
Lex bit his tongue to keep from saying anything.
She walked into the next room and that was when Chloe realised her mistake. What she had taken from the living room must actually have just been the servants’ entrance and kitchen. The room in which she now stood was beyond enormous. Chloe had always known that it would be but this was ridiculous. It was a cavernous open plan room (about five times as big as her Dad’s house), designed just as the others had been but without the kitchen but still with the two glass walls and even better views. She stared around it hoping to see some more signs of life, something to say that this was his home rather than just an extension of his office but was gravely disappointed. Once again it was furnished (or just about) with modern, expensive, designer pieces. Chloe frowned. None of it looked like it was Lex’s taste. Admittedly, she had never actually seen anything that Lex had decorated personally, but he seemed to like it at or at the very least appreciate the mansion, being surrounded by the history of his family. This apartment had no history, no feeling of being either wrapped up in the warm blanket of the past, or of having a new and vibrant future to look forward to. It was just lifeless. Hopeless even.
Chloe wanted to embrace him and moved to do so, only to stop as she watched him walking away from her. Her arms fell back to her sides with a slight thud and she hung her head, feeling the snub as much as if it had been intentional. Slowly, tiredly, dejectedly and fearing the worst, she moved to the centre of the room where one settee and two chairs (of sorts) sat. She lowered herself onto the settee, trying to convince herself that she was doing it just because her feet were hurting, not because he had told her to. She scoffed at herself. Whatever Lex was going to do had already been decided, he wasn’t going to choose to keep her around just because she was being compliant now. She knew that, and yet she still held out hope that somehow they would get their happy ending. Just because things looked bleak now, that didn’t mean that they had no future. There was always hope. There had to be. Why, even this apartment could become a place filled with warmth and life … given a small miracle.
Her eyes fixed on Lex’s form as he stood stock still with his back to her, his hands by his sides, staring out of the window. There was no outward display of temper but Chloe could tell that he was still furious with her, so furious in fact that he was trying desperately to hang on to some semblance of calm. She could feel the waves of anger rippling off him.
Chloe stared down at her hands which sitting in her lap, her fingers entwined. She hated that he mattered this much to her. That his anger had the power to undo her so completely. She swallowed. This wasn’t the girl that she used to be. She used to be stronger, she used to be cowed by nobody, she used to … Lex turned around and she gulped.
His perfect patrician features were cool and aloof although oddly no less alluring. Apparently he had got himself back under control. Or under enough control to deal with her, at least. That should have made her feel safer than it actually did. He quirked an eyebrow at her, and in spite of her resolve not to be weak, her hands jumped to her hair, quickly unpinning the wig and shaking out her hair.
Lex studied her for a second before moving to the side of the room and procuring a blue glass bottle of water and two seemingly expensive napkins or silk clothes from an oddly shaped box, which Chloe thought was supposed to be a dresser. He calmly walked over calmly over to her, unscrewing the bottle of water and wetting one cloth with its contents as he went. He sank down onto the coffee table just in front of her and gently brushed the hair out of her face before using the wet towel to wipe the worst of the bold make up from her delicate features before using the second to dry her off.
Chloe was surprised by how gentle his touch was and leant in to him, remembering all of the times over the last few weeks that a moment of intimacy had been ripped away from them. Every time they were starting to get really close (physically) he pulled away. He didn’t this time. His task apparently accomplished he brushed his thumb across the skin of her cheek.
She moved her head against his hand and he repeated the action, his other hand going to smooth her hair. It was all that she could do not to emit a breathy, girlie sigh which would succeed in completely humiliating her. The possibility that he was about to chuck her suddenly seeming extremely remote.
Finally, he spoke, his voice soft and restrained, “Can you take your contacts out here or do you need to use the bathroom?”
Not the romantic words she had been hoping for.
“Um … I can do it here, I think”, she said before proceeding to take them out, with some work. She figured that she must have been blinking a lot at him or something (they certainly weren’t the most comfortable of things to be stuck with) for him to have noticed them. She popped them back into their little pot and found that Lex confiscated it, turning it over between his long, talented, pianist fingers. It was really rather hypnotic. Which would explain why Chloe was so startled by his next question.
“So, are you going to tell me what is going on?”
“Huh?” Chloe stared at him, the temporary cessation of hostilities having made her mind go soft. Now she blinked a few times and stared at him, perched as he was on the table, his face only a few inches from hers, his green eyes staring at her hard. Chloe swallowed. She was offended, angry at the way that he had treated her, and a little bit scared and yet none of that stopped her from wanting to grab him and kiss him senseless. She blamed the way that he had been turning her on recently and then leaving her high and dry. It was his fault. Not hers. She wasn’t some weird sexual deviant who got turned on by simple questions, she was just perpetually horney and it was all Lex Luthor’s fault.
There was no sign of amusement on his features, “Are you going to tell me what is going on?” He repeated his question slowly and in a manner which suggested most strongly that this was not in fact a request so much as a demand.
“What’s going on”, Chloe repeated slowly, there were various ways that she could take that but she opted to be purely pragmatic. She was hoping that if she could stall him for long enough that she might be able to think of a way out of this situation and convince him not to give up on her. “Well”, she reached over to place her hand on his knee, “You are sitting here, staring at me, looking very attractive might I say?” She blinked her long, silky lashes at him.
His jaw clenched even more tightly for a second and she was afraid that it might snap, until he sat back away from her and took a deep breath. His composure had been taxed too greatly. “Apparently it is too much to ask that you be sensible, so …”
“Wait a minute, who the hell do you think that you are to speak to me that way?” Chloe demanded getting up with a stamp of her foot. She was pleased that she was still wearing her incredibly uncomfortable shoes, as they allowed her to really tower over him. She was sorry that he had been involved but she did not have to allow herself to be treated like that.
Lex was apparently unimpressed; he rose to his feet and stared down at her hard. Distain written clearly across his features. “I am the person who just lost a business deal worth several million dollars because I had to bail you out of hot water and I would like to know why exactly that was”.
That stole the wind from Chloe’s sails. “Several million dollars?” She repeated the figure slowly, trying to wrap her mind around it. “Lex, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean … you were never supposed to be involved”, she tried to explain but he just looked even more furious at that. “It was for a story”, she added lamely.
“It was for a story”, the words came out as a mirthless chuckle, as he strode away from her, apparently unable to bare her presence any longer.
“It was going to be my audition for the Daily Planet”, she explained. “Bloom Industries was laundering money, has been since the eighties and well, to cut a long story short, I finally found the thread which tied it all together but I needed a copy of the bank numbers they had used to wire the money across the country. It was a dud account and well … I got it”. That last fact really didn’t seem to make it any better. Several million dollars. He had lost several million dollars! She would never be able to pay him that much back.
Neither of them seemed to be able to quite grasp the magnitude of the situation in which they suddenly found themselves and for several minutes the only sound in the room Lex’s tread against the cold, hard floor as he began to pace.
Unhappily, Chloe remembered that morning and how happy she had been when she had finally thought that everything was going to work out. She was going to bring a criminal to justice, get her dream job which they wouldn’t be able to take even after they knew about her and Lex, then she was going to go and tell Lex about it – because it had finally occurred to her that maybe the reason they hadn’t slept together was because he thought her too young and inexperienced. Ha, he wouldn’t be able to think that once she broke this story – the declaration which she had made as she had left her apartment that morning seemed to mock her now. He wasn’t telling her that he loved her, or holding her close as she had anticipated (before everything got shot to hell), there was just the sound of seemingly endless footfalls between them. Finally Chloe could bare it no longer.
“Please Lex, just say something. Anything”. It was a stupid thing to say; she didn’t want him to say anything. She wanted to hear him say that he loved her and that it would be okay and that they would work through this somehow. Something that didn’t seem particularly likely.
He paused mid step, his back currently towards her, and he didn’t bother to turn. In the second before he replied a thousand possibilities hounded her worried mind, most of them a variation of “Get out” and “I never want to see you again”. However, had she had more time, had a million things crossed her mind, she doubted that she would ever have guessed the words which were to come out of his mouth: “Whatever evidence you have hand it over to me, that and your story”.
“You want my research?”
“That’s what I said”, he confirmed, his back still to her.
Thinking that it was the least that she could do after she had destroyed a business deal she informed him that it was all safe in an online repository and gave him the number. He nodded and then headed for the door.
“Lex, where are you going?” She called after him as she tripped over her shoes to get to him before he left her, suddenly fearing that it might be the last time that she ever saw him.
“I am going to sort out your mess”, he informed her coolly, casting a brief glance over his shoulder at her, he sneered at her clothes and appearance. “I don’t know how long I will be. Make yourself comfortable. There is a guest bedroom through there”, he gestured towards another plain wall which Chloe had no idea how to open. Rest if you need to. Take a bubble bath or something”.
Chloe swallowed and the hand which she had reached out to hold his arm dropped.
“You hate me, don’t you?”
“What an absurd question”. With that he was gone.
Chloe crumpled. Of course he hated her, there was no other option. She had blown everything. She couldn’t work out how to get through a solid wall and she couldn’t leave – he might need her – so she did the only thing that she could, she went back to sit on the sofa and tried not to cry, thinking about how badly she had screwed up. This hadn’t been what she wanted at all. She had never wanted to hurt him. She loved him so much.
She wrapped her arms around herself and sniffled.
A/N: Did Lex mean it? Is Chloe too weak? Any other thoughts? What is everyone's favourite chocolate bar?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
That is a absurd question. Lex does not hate Chloe and he could never hate her. Chloe just needs to remember how much Lex loves her and get back together with him in the present.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
I agree and as always trckyrcky, thanks for reviewing. :D
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
Chapter Seventeen
At some point during her furious battle to keep all of her emotions inside, Chloe must have fallen asleep because she began to stir a few hours later as she felt the settee moving slightly beneath her. Long, strong fingers brushed through her fuzzy hair.
“Murh?” She mumbled although her throat was killing her and her heart still felt like there was a shard of glass in it.
“Good afternoon sleepy head”, the warm hand continued its caress.
“Lex?”
“Of course, who else would I be?”
She blinked her eyes open to see him smiling down at her warmly.
“Are you a dream?”
“No sweetheart, I’m not a dream”, he assured her as he continued to comb her tresses gently, the soothing gesture causing her to relax, if only ever so slightly. “More of a big ogre I’m afraid. I didn’t want to wake you but you are lying oddly”.
“Huh?” She was particularly intelligent at that moment.
He laughed, a warm, rich, delicious laugh as he slipped his hand underneath her neck and helped her to lie down on the settee properly. “Better?”
“Better”, she agreed, although she tensed as she remembered everything that had happened before she had fallen asleep and why she was feeling so miserably wretched. “I’m so sorry Lex”.
“That’s alright just …” He started to articulate but was interrupted by her declaration, “I didn’t mean to cost you all of that money and …”
“The money?” He looked genuinely confused and more than a little vexed, “I don’t give a damn about the money”.
She stared up at him.
“It’s only a couple of million and I’ll get it back some other way, business deals fall through all of the time. It’s no big deal”. Only about one in ten of the deals he strove so hard for ever actually came to fruition, but that was still more than enough to be CEO of an enormous company.
“Then what did you just go and do?” She wondered.
“I made sure that your evidence got to the FBI immediately and that the people involved were taken into custody, then called them and informed them that I was the one who did it. That their arch rivals sent me the information about something much worse that they were doing – I hinted that I knew what the laundered money was going towards – and threatened me into reneging on my business deal with Bloom Industries (which would have been a catastrophe for BI). However, as loyal as we both know I am to BI”, he resisted the urge to roll his eyes, “I turned the tables on them, gave the information to the FBI and Bloom Industries’ captain will get life after a long draw out court proceedings thereby showing their hand and neutralising the real threat i.e. that someone will discover what they were really doing and leak it to the papers”.
“But he still has to go to prison”, she wasn’t sure that that would really be that much better all things considered.
“Theoretically, but I won’t come to that”, he saw her disbelieving expression. “True, money laundering is considered a worse crime than murder at the moment but Bloom Sr will never see the inside of a jail cell. He is one-hundred and two, not in the best health and has some of the best lawyers in the world at his disposal. He will be granted bail immediately because of his age and infirmity and the trial will last far longer than his life expectancy. Something like this could drag on for a good ten or fifteen years. He will be long since dead before the trail comes to a close”, he stated matter-of-factly.
“And they will thank you for this because they think that you have prevented even worse knowledge about them coming to light?” She checked, awed by his manipulative ability.
“Indeed”.
“And do you know what it was going towards?”
“No, but I can guess and bluff well enough to make it seem like I do, and” he added sternly, “that is as far as we are taking it. You are not to take it into your head to go and investigate that. Got it?”
“Yes”, Chloe tried not to sound too petulant seeing as he had just wrangled her, rather impressively, out of any potential legal hassles even after she had cost him so much money and buggered up his afternoon. “But what about the other family you are pinning the blame on?” She wondered, she presumed that he meant the Suttons. Both families were known to have supported gang warfare for turf in the eighties but had since been confining their hostilities to the board room, mostly.
“What about them?”
She gaped at him. “What about them? What are the Blooms going to do in retaliation? What happens when they confront them about it? What happens when they discover that they don’t know anything about their money laundering activities? What happens when your name comes up?” The last question was asked with a quiver in her voice.
“How is it that you can be so practical and careful where I am concerned, but think none of these things when it is your safety which is at risk?” He wondered as his brushed his thumb against her cheek.
“I did think about them”, she grumbled, “it just all went wrong”.
“I’ll say. The Blooms will of course take this to be the end of their uneasy truce and bring out all of the dirt they can possibly find and fling it at the Suttons, who will reply in kind. Neither family has ever had to stand trial for their crimes; you might have inadvertently just sent half of both families to jail. They won’t confront each other about it, at least, not directly. It will all be in code ‘for your deception’, ‘your attempts to destroy us’, ‘those closest to you have turned on you’, stuff like that. All ominous but vague. And, as they are always trying to destroy each other on the sly, they will just attribute it to something they have actually done. I also guarantee that they not only know all about each other’s dirty investments but that they are actively trying to scupper them”.
“But your name …”
“Will not come up”, he assured her. “Bloom thinks of me as an alley, he won’t risk me being ‘discovered’ and the Suttons will just be happy that I am no longer going to do business with the Blooms. By tomorrow the press will be full of muck raking and scandal on both sides and I will simply say, to both, that at the present time I don’t think that it would be a wise decision for my company to invest with either of them due to the unfortunate circumstances. We are trying to get a large government contract and we would never get it with so much scandal and that it is simply a shame that with them gone I won’t be able to take it on by myself due to a lack of funds. Both sides will be so concerned that the other one might find a way to steal it out from under them that they will offer me the sun, moon and stars to secure it for myself and once the scandal blows over I will cut them in”.
“But once they have made peace won’t they realise that you have been playing them against the middle?”
“They won’t make peace. This will end when one family has been wiped off the face of the earth and the other is severely depleted. They will be only too happy to accept whatever scraps I have to offer”, he saw her expression, “don’t look so worried. We are no longer involved with them and their petty disputes, and, like I said, they would never have been brought to justice the traditional way. You have probably just done the world a lot of good”.
Lex was a business man, and a fairly ruthless one at times, he was the first to admit that. But he had never drabbled in the drug trade, slavery and prostitution all of which were definitely involved in the Blooms and Sutton’s activities. Not to mention their preferred pastime of running down certain areas in states all over the country, killing people, raping them, vandalizing homes and business until people fled the area accepting only quarter of their property’s value as they were so scared. Once the prices dropped and everyone had moved out, they would move in.
In a matter of days they would have brought up everything they could possibly get their hands on, and make any remaining residents pay for their ‘People’s Popular Preservation Programme’, a new word for protection, and then magically the problems would cease and people would return to their homes finding that what they had been happy to sell at 99,000 only a few months ago was now over half a million. The real-estate game was a messy business - at least the way that some of Lex’s competitors played.
Chloe gaped at him as she processed all of this and then realised that one word stuck out in all of it, “Wait, we? There’s still a we?”
“Of course”.
“So you aren’t mad at all?” She asked hopefully as she struggled to prop herself up on her elbow so that she wouldn’t miss a word of what he had to say. She must be mishearing things; hadn’t he said that he hated her when he had left?
“I didn’t say that”.
“Then you’ve lost me”.
“Evidently, because I couldn’t possibly be more furious if I had tried”, he informed her coolly.
“Oh”, she sat up fully, her legs outstretched behind him and tried to brace herself. He said that there was still a “we”, that meant that there was still some tiny ember of hope.
“Why the hell would you think that I wouldn’t be angry? After what you did I’m furious! Fucking hell Chloe”, he exploded, “you haven’t don’t something that fucking stupid since you decided to take on Lionel. I swear to God Chloe you ever try to pull a stunt like that again I’ll paddle your backside”.
He had said again, not that he was going to do it now but still Chloe shrank back away from him. It wasn’t the first time that he had said that about her getting into trouble, but it was the first time that she had ever believed him.
“I didn’t mean for you to get involved, I swear, I …”
He swore again, loudly before cupping her face and bringing it close to his, “You just don’t get it do you? I don’t give a damn about the money, about the fact that I just had to get involved with the FBI or any of that. I care about the fact that my girlfriend almost got caught snooping”.
She was so close that his hot breath covered her face, she could see the pores in his skin, the tiny lines around his eyes, and the glimmer of terror which still haunted his eyes. She wanted to scream back at him, rage at him for treating her like this, for making her think that he had stopped caring for her, but that was her undoing. “I didn’t”, was all that she managed to get out.
“I beg your pardon”, he said sardonically.
“I said”, she repeated, a little louder this time although she doubted that he had, in fact, not been able to hear her, “that I didn’t almost get caught. I mean, we don’t actually know that they knew. It was probably just paranoia”.
“They might have”, he managed to get out.
“But they might not”, she counted. It was stupid, she knew. She had done something wrong, she had caused Lex worry and potential loss of income and she was sorry for it, but that didn’t mean that he could just walk all over her.
“And if they had, how would I have known what had happened to you?” He demanded, “You didn’t even have the courtesy to tell me where you were going let alone why. When I went to sort you mess out, I even called Teddy, who hadn’t the faintest idea where you were either. He thought that you were at the library studying”.
“No, I didn’t tell him where I was going either”, she admitted, “although I have no idea why he thought that I might be at the library, that was last week”.
“Yes, well, regardless of Teddy’s inability to remember which week is which, the fact remains that you”, he stressed the word, “didn’t tell anyone where you were going”.
“I didn’t want to worry anyone”.
“You didn’t want to worry anyone?” He jumped to his feet and began to pace once again, apparently too worked up to keep still. As he attempted to wear through the marble he muttered to himself, “She didn’t want to worry anyone. Isn’t that just bloody fantastic?”
“I’m right here Lex”, she stood up and got in his way, “I told you that I am sorry so the least that you can do is talk directly to me”.
He stopped, staring first down at the hand she had placed on his chest to halt his progress, then up at her face.
The look of fury terrified her but she stood her ground.
“You sure about that?” His voice was like ice.
“Yes”. No.
“What the hell were you thinking?” He roared. He had been trying to keep his anger in check for the last few hours and the strain had threatened to break him but he wouldn’t bother if she didn’t even appreciate it.
“I was thinking”, she got back in his face, refusing to be cowed, “that I am a fully grown woman who moved out of her father’s house and runs her own life and that I don’t have to tell anyone where I am going or why. I do what I please and I don’t have to ask your permission or Teddy’s, is that clear?”
She didn’t give him the chance to actually reply to that, “I have wanted to be a journalist from the day that I first saw His Girl Friday. That was it for me. I have put in the time and the effort - not to mention the blood, sweat and tears - over the years and I’m not going to stop now just because we are in a relationship. This is the career that I want and this is how I was going to get it. If I had broken this story then I would have brought a criminal to justice, got my name on the front page of the Daily Planet, probably been offered a job and one good enough that they couldn’t just get rid of me the second that they found out about us because I think that we can go the distance. I think that we can be together forever and this way I can have a career and you. I know that today didn’t go as planned, I had no idea that you were involved because there was no evidence of it and you didn’t tell me. But it is not fair to say that I don’t take my safety seriously. I do, I always have done but sometimes things go wrong. Or at least in my world they do. Maybe you are so perfect that everything can be …”
“Shut up”, he growled at her. Her eyes were sparkling, her cheeks were pink and her chest was heaving. He couldn’t resist pulling to her him and crushing her in his arms as his mouth assaulted hers.
She struggled, she gave in, she kissed him back but finally pushed back, although still locked in his arms. “That might work in old movies but not in the 21st century”.
“Thanks for the tip”, his voice was thick with emotion. “You know that I’m not perfect and that things don’t always go right for me and that I don’t think that you’re some stupid little girl or that you can’t look after yourself …”
“Well that is how you are acting”, she complained.
“Yes, you are”.
“No, I’m not”.
“Yes, …”
“For God’s sake woman, would you listen to me for just two seconds?”
“How can I when you wouldn’t speak to me for ages then left me on my own for hours and then scream at me?” She protested but he was louder; “Do you know what would have happened if they had caught you?”
“Yes, of course I do”, she snorted, “I’ve been caught before”.
“That hardly fills me with confidence”, he snarled.
She fixed him with a piercing look and put her hands on her hips, as odd as that looked considering the fact that he was still holding her firmly against him.
“As I was saying. Yes, I know what happens when you get caught. They take you to their security office and ask you some questions, then you remind them that they have no right to do so. So, they call the police who come in, most of the time find it funny, and take you to the police station where they ask you more questions. If you don’t feel like answering them then you remind them that you need a lawyer, they roll their eyes and let you go. Easy peasy. Sometimes it is the quickest way of getting home if the traffic is bad. The only reason I was so scared this time was because a) that would mean that they knew who had actually broken into their system and stolen the information and that a couple of months down the line they might have decided to bring legal action against me, and b) I was worried that they would link the two of us and you would get in trouble”.
“Wrong”.
“What?”
“I said that you were wrong. That might have been what you got away with in Smallville, but this is Metropolis. Welcome to the big city”.
“I don’t need a geography lesson thank-you very much, I was born here”, she reminded him acidly.
“Well then you should know how it works. If you are taken into the police station then you will not only not be let go just because they can’t be bothered to go and find a lawyer, you won’t be a person just another possible convict and will be thrown into a jail cell while you wait. A jail cell, might I add, which will be filled not with the high school jock who was driving a bit too fast, but with prostitutes, pimps, and people who are just so off their face that they couldn’t care less about who they hurt”.
“I could scream if someone got too close to me”, she pointed out.
“And of course a police officer would come running”, he snorted, “you really are naive”.
“I’m not”.
“Yes, you are. Hopelessly so. Should you ever get into jail then what you will do is, in a very loud voice - paying no attention to whether you think that it will get me into trouble or inconvenience me, in any way - demand to see your lawyer Fairbanks. They will know that name, he is the top ranking defence attorney in the Kansas, if they doubt you then you inform them that you are a close personal friend of Lex Luthor’s. This, and only this, will secure your release, into my custody”.
“Into the custody of a man who had threated to paddle my ass if I get into trouble?” She said dubiously. She didn’t want to be spanked.
“Believe me, it’s still your best option”. An extremely warm, sore bottom was hardly anywhere near as bad as being locked up and harassed by Metropolis’ thugs and lowlifes.
She believed him. “Look Lex, it isn’t that I don’t appreciate you looking out for me”.
“You could have fooled me”.
“But”, she emphasised the word, “if I had been arrested and seen those conditions then, in spite of my desire not to involve you, I probably would have dropped your name”.
“Good”. She bloody well better have done so.
“So I would have been safe”.
“No”.
She rolled her eyes, “I mean aside from a sore bottom”. There was no need keep reminding her of it, her poor bottom was already tingling in fear and she wasn’t even going to actually be spanked this time.
“And I mean no, you wouldn’t have been safe because you wouldn’t have been arrested”.
“Then what’s the problem?”
He groaned, “You really don’t get it, do you?”
“Get what?” She was exasperated.
“That this is not Smallville. You aren’t Chloe Sullivan, intrepid reporter who everyone knows recognises and would hunt for if you got lost. You are special to me, you are everything to me, you know that, but to the rest of the city you are nothing. Just one more pretty blonde girl walking along. No one would know where you were or who you were. If they had taken you in and found out that you weren’t who they thought you were, then you wouldn’t have been given the benefit of the doubt. You wouldn’t have been let go. You wouldn’t have been given to the police. You wouldn’t have even got a phone call”, he had to try to make her understand the new world that she was living in.
“But …”
“These are bad people Chloe”.
“Yes, I had gathered as much”.
He held her even more tightly and pressed his lips against her forehead as he fought against the urge to grab her and lock her in his bedroom where she would always be safe. The images which had been haunting him since the second he had spied her in her disguise that day making him sick to his stomach. He didn’t want to have to admit them, as if that might make them more real, but he saw that he had no choice if he was to keep her safe.
“Quite clearly, you don’t. They would have taken you to a ‘security room’ somewhere deep inside the building, innocuous looking enough from the outside but sound proofed. They would have sat you on a chair in the middle of the room and played the good cop bad cop routine hoping to get the information out of you. With you, they wouldn’t have managed”. She smiled and he warned her not to be so smug about it.
“You would have stood up, thinking that you could leave now then been knocked back down”. His throat constricted so tightly that he could barely utter, “They would have beaten you until you were in an inch away from death, until they got all of the information out of you and then a week later your body would have been found burnt (beyond recognition) to death in your car. A terrible, tragic accident which stops anyone from looking for you, not that we would have had a clue where to start though as she didn’t see fit to tell anyone”.
“They’d have killed me”, she repeated. She burrowed closer to him for comfort, her life had been in danger before but this felt different somehow. Worse. And infinitely scarier. She just knew that she was going to have nightmares that night.
“No, probably not”.
“But you just said …” She really wasn’t following this, she was fairly sure that he was actually trying to give her a headache.
He squeezed her fiercely, protectively, possessively. “You are far too beautiful, they would have sold you. Once your bruises healed”.
The thought was too much for him. The idea of his Chloe, bruised, broken, alone, being exhibited and raped and, “You are not going to do something like this every again, do you hear me?” His hands were on her arms, shaking her. “I don’t give a fuck about your career aspirations, your feminist ideals or if you don’t care for me anymore. You are not going to end up somewhere … like that”, that was as close as he could get to saying it. “You will tell me when you are planning on doing something even halfway dangerous and you will have a full secret security detail”, as well as two others she didn’t know about, “and if you don’t like it well tough. If I have to compel your obedience then I will”.
As shocked and horrified as Chloe had been by his earlier words this was going too far and she was just about to say so when she just how utterly terrified he was. He looked like a lost little boy.
“Lex”, she ripped herself out of his arms and flung hers around his waist, squeezing him as tightly as she possibly would.
“I can’t lose you”, he said, his voice broken. “I’ve lost everyone that I’ve ever cared about. I can’t lose you. Especially not like that. I can’t”.
“I know baby”, she continued to hold him, “It’s okay, I’m sorry. You won’t lose me. I promise”.
She held on to him tightly as she moved back, bringing him with her, until the backs of her calves hit the settee. As their rage ebbed, so did their strength, and they sank down onto the soft leather together.
They clung to each other, Chloe lying against Lex’s chest, her leg flung across his waist as if even it wanted to hug him. She rubbed her hand down his chest and could still feel the tension rippling off him. “It’s alright baby”, she told him as she continued to rub his stomach, “It will be alright”.
“You have no idea how patronising that is”, he said but made no attempt to move.
“Not patronising”, she patted him, “just co-dependent and needy”.
“Co-dependent and need?” He pondered the words, “I can live with”.
“Good to know”, she snuggled down, “because I’m quite comfortable even on this ridiculous thing”.
“I don’t think that you should talk about my poor physique like that”.
“I meant this silly thing”, she would have pointed at the sofa, if that hadn’t required letting him go. “Your weird ass sofa”.
“What is wrong with my sofa?”
“It is white leather for one thing, but more to the point this”, she moved her leg to illustrate her point, “is the only sensible way of sitting on it”.
“I have to say I agree”, one hand slid down her back the other further up her thigh.
“I mean because you would hurt your back if you sat on it any other way. I hope that you know that I’m not actually that fond of you, I doing this purely for the good of my back”, she nuzzled his neck.
“Glad to hear it”.
“Hmmm. Who did your deign? It wasn’t you, was it?” She wondered.
“I would be horrendously insulted if it had been”, he teased, “now that I know your opinion of it”.
“Lex”.
“Hmmm?”
“Who did do your design?”
“Are you going to hunt him down?” He inquired. He could see her doing it to.
“Probably not”, she nuzzled closer, “I’m just getting comfy”.
His chest rumbled as he laughed, making her feel all warm and contented. “Gustavo, I think. Why?”
“So I know who to blame, this is crap”, she really really hated it. He couldn’t come home every day to see this ugly thing, it would be depressing for him. He needed light and colour and someone to cuddle him after a hard day.
“You know, this isn’t doing my self-esteem any good”, he tickled her back.
“Aww”, she giggled and kissed the side of his head.
“Mmm”, his mind was becoming increasingly groggy, “what are you doing?”
“Kissing it better. Your self-esteem that is”, she explained as nibbled his ear lobe.
“That’s nice”, he murmured as his hands moved to cup her bottom. “Exceptionally nice. Besides if you don’t like it, just change it”.
“Wha?” Chloe looked at him, “Sorry, I was distracted by your very cute ears”.
“I do not have very cute ears”, he protested. Nothing about Luthors was cute.
“Sure you do”, she nipped at one of them gently, just to prove her point.
“God Chloe”, he groaned as her tongue licked the sensitive strip of skin behind his ear. “As I was saying, if you don’t like the furniture then you can be my new designer and get whatever you like. I’ve been meaning to buy more furniture and stuff at some point but I’ve been busy”. Trying to spend as much of his time with Chloe as humanly possible.
“You don’t have to change everything just to please me”, she protested.
“I’m not, but I would like to decorate together. If you are up to it”.
“I’m up to it! I’m up to it”, she declared, rising the challenge.
“Good”, he gave her a squeeze.
“And it seems that I’m not the only one up”, she stroked her hand down his abdomen, not touching the hardened area but still making it clear what she was refereeing to.
“I’m sorry”.
“Why?”
“Because …” He couldn’t use language he needed to in front of Chloe.
“Because you apparently like having your very cute ears being kissed?” She supplied helpfully.
“Because it is inappropriate”, he protested.
“Why?” She finally stopped what she was doing and used her hands to brace herself on his chest, so that she could stare down at him. “It is only inappropriate if you aren’t planning on doing anything with it. I mean, if you plan on running away, and hiding yourself again that would be very sad”.
Lex swallowed, feeling himself hardening even more beneath her.
“Chloe, are you sure?” He didn’t want to pressure her, or rush her. She was younger than he was and less experienced and those thoughts evaporated as Chloe soft pliant lips covered his own. He tangled his fingers in her soft tresses as he pulled her down future on top of him until they were melded together.
Their hands roamed across each other’s bodies as their tongues duelled in a sensual, desperate battle. They were both close to completely losing control when Chloe’s brain turned on just enough to tell her that a kiss might not be counted as adequate clarity. And so, finally, with considerable difficulty, she pried herself away from him just enough to tell him, very plainly, “I Chloe Sullivan want you Lex Luthor to take me to bed … unless you let the designer who came up with this thing buy your bed. In which case, we will have to manage on the floor because I want you far too damned badly to take no for an answer”.
“Fuck Chloe”, he grinned, straining almost painfully against his trousers as they staggered to their feet, still holding onto each other and headed for his hidden bedroom.
Lex had been dying for her for weeks. Trying to be a gentleman. Not to push her or make her feel uncomfortable and now it was taking her too damned long to move in that bloody skirt. He let out a primitive growl as he looped his arm under her legs and heaved her up. Chloe let out a shriek of delight as he carried her bridal style into his room. She had no idea how he got the door to appear or what his room looked like as she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
He was without a doubt the most gorgeous thing that she had ever seen, and she felt compelled to tell him so, too filled with lust to be embarrassed. His face was tense, a mask of passion, his beautiful green eyes were smouldering and fierce. She wanted him more than she had ever thought possible and she had had more than a thousand naughty dreams about him.
Lex laughed at her as he splayed her out on the bed beneath him, her hair fanning out like a golden halo around her head, a look a pure ecstatic joy on her face as if she couldn’t believe that she was so lucky to have him. She was the most incredible person he had ever met. He had lain with a lot of women, a lot of women, but never with one who so clearly wanted nothing more than to be with him, who felt privileged to have him love her.
“Darling”, he breathed against her throat as he buried his head against her warm skin, “you are so perfect, so lovely, you have no idea how much I have been waiting for this”.
“Me too”, she let out of breathy sigh.
“Good”, he kissed his way down her neck and across her collar bone, his hands trailing down her top to rip it apart, leaving the buttons to fly all over the room. He’d buy her a new one. He’d have to buy her quite a lot of new clothes and lend her something to wear home when he finally released her the following day as her skirt because horribly ripped too as did her stockings until she lay out before him, clad only in a black lace bra and pantie set, the former of which could barely contain her heaving breasts.
He couldn’t believe how incredibly gorgeous she was. He climbed back up her perfect body, trailing kisses as he went until he was face to face with her once more.
“You’re blushing”, he noted in a teasing tone.
She was tempted to deny this but couldn’t so she settled for a petulant, “So?”
“So”, he kissed her nose, “it is utterly adorable. But, you’re not nervous are you?”
“Maybe a little”, she admitted, reaching her arms up to lock around his neck, just in case he got any silly ideas about running off, “but I’m excited more than anything. This is what I want, I promise”.
“Good”, he kissed and the promised, “I’ll be gentle”. And he was. He very gently removed what remained of her clothes and kissed every inch of her perfect creamy flesh – the several inches between her legs for rather longer than the rest – until she was flushed with passion and begging for him to take her and then he did. Slowly, tenderly, as if she were the most precious thing in the world, he tore through her maiden head and made her his forever.
~*~
“I guess that we had communication problems right from the start”, Chloe said as she hugged him.
“Unfortunately, yes”, Lex agreed, although he was privately a little angry. He had told her that she was beautiful, gorgeous, perfect and why he had waited so long at the time, it wasn’t his fault that she hadn’t believed him. He paused. Yes, it was.
“Whatever it takes darling, I will prove how much I love you, how much I need you, and how much I want you in every possible way. Chloe, if you let me I swear that I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you”, he squeezed her tightly as they lay together remembering their earlier relationship.
“You already are”, she told him hugging him back, “and it wasn’t all your fault, I could have spoken up more”. She had just been so afraid that she had just grasped onto whatever shreds remained of their relationship. She was just as guilty as he was. She had allowed their relationship to crumble around them.
They clung to each other.
“Don’t worry, we will get it right this time”, he whispered.
“I know”, she paused, “Lex?”
“Yes?”
“Please don’t leave me alone tonight”.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
Ooooh yes, Chloe asking Lex to spend the night. He has been so patient and it is time Chloe see how much Lex still love her.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
Trckyrcky: Thank-you for reading. :D Yes, she wants to cuddle - I can't say that I blame her. ;)
Cbrunberg: Thank-you. :D
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 4th April 2014
Chapter Eighteen
“Sweetheart, Chloe sweetheart”, Lex whispered as he sat on the side of her bed, fully dressed, stroking her hair. “Sweetheart, it’s time to wake up”.
“Umnum”, she complained and attempted to roll away from the petting, too groggy to realise what was actually happening. She was having a nice dream about her and Lex and was cosy and she had no intention of waking up until absolutely necessary.
Lex chuckled as he leant further over to role her back towards him and held her hands, keeping her in place before brushing a gentle kiss over her lips.
“Lex”, she moaned his name and arched up for another kiss but he pulled back. Finally she blinked her eyes open to see what was going on.
Her husband swallowed at the beauty that lay before him, all soft and rumpled in a tangle of bed sheets and warmth. He had no idea how he managed to resist having her then and there. She was the most incredibly gorgeous sight he had ever seen.
“Yes, it’s me darling”, he assured her, running his thumbs across the sensitive insides of her wrists. “I’m sorry to wake you”.
“That’s okay”, she said, resisting the urge to sit up just so that he could continue to touch her. “Where are you going? Why are you dressed?”
“It’s ten to five”, he informed her calmly, “I have to get going now if Lilly isn’t to find me, I thought about just leaving a note but after last night”, he paused as he remembered what she had revealed to him, but then he pushed on, “and the problems we seem to have communicating I thought that it wouldn’t be wise to just leave a note. You might somehow get it into your head that my leaving without saying goodbye meant that I thought that you should give up cereal”.
Chloe shifted uncomfortably and Lex felt like an even bigger bastard than he had before. It wasn’t her fault, none of this was however much she tried to take the blame. It was all on him. Every single thing. He still couldn’t believe that she could ever have thought that he didn’t find her attractive or that his love for her could diminish.
“So”, he said, pulling her hands up towards him, in an attempt to forget, at least for a few minutes, the guilt which was raging through him, “I thought that I had better make myself extremely clear”.
She longed to say something witty and cutting, just so that she didn’t feel like quite so much of an idiot just lying there and staring up at him adoringly like some love sick schoolgirl.
“It is with the deepest”, he kissed her knuckles, “deepest”, then her palm, “regret that I have to leave now”, he continued his way along her wrist, “so that we don’t get our daughter’s hopes up. But I assure you that there is nothing I want more than to crawl back into bed with you and make love to you until well until it is no longer possible” his kisses trailed their way down her arm.
Chloe suppressed a slight groan.
He transferred his attention to her other hand and nuzzled it before beginning the same procedure once again, as he explained, “I love you very much, more than I can possibly say and maintain that you are now and have always been the single most gorgeous creature on the planet … but you could do with gaining a couple of pounds and eating more”.
With that he pecked her on the cheek, told that he would see her in therapy, and was gone, leaving Chloe tingling all over and yearning for her beloved husband.
~*~
Chloe was still thinking about Lex as she sailed into the hotel lobby ready for her therapy session. Being awoken and kissed by Lex Luthor had a very positive effect on a girl’s outlook. The sun shone more brightly, the birds sang more sweetly and Lilly had seemed to make far less of a fuss than normal about having her hair brushed. She was even a couple of minutes early for their session as she caught sight of a familiar silhouette. She didn’t know why but she suddenly had the urge for a little childish nonsense.
Sneaking up behind him Chloe wrapped her arms around his neck and covered his eyes, “Guess who?” She had been hoping for a sultry voice but it came out decidedly more sing-song and girlie.
Any fears that she might have had that Lex would shrug off such a ridiculous greeting were baseless, she felt his warm body rumble with laughter for a second before he grasped her hands in his. Once again, she marvelled at just how large they felt. They weren’t as far as she knew extremely large, certainly not disproportionate but then always felt that way and made her way to giggle.
He appeared to be examining her hands and kissed the palms of both of them, “Well, judging by the perfection of these little fingers, I think that they could only be owned by one woman”, he turned around in her arms, “Oh, Chloe. What a disappointment”.
She punched him, good naturedly but hard on the shoulder. “Bastard”.
“Quite possibly”, he agreed with a smile and a peck on the lips, “You are in remarkably good mood today”, he noted happily.
“I slept well”, she informed him with a knowing smile.
“Really?”
“Yes, and I woke up remarkably well”, she almost purred.
“Really? Now, do tell”, he linked his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. Once again she felt herself giggling and reached up to peck him on the lips.
“I’m even inclined to give our therapist more of a chance than normal … although privately I think that an hour of us doing this would be just as good”, she ran her hands down his back.
“Only an hour?”
She laughed. “Depends on your schedule”.
“Well, it appears that she agreed with you?” He nodded towards the door.
Chloe pulled back at that, “I scared her off?” She may not like the woman but she didn’t want her to have lost her job because of her, she knew that Lex had be paying her a huge sum. He was always extremely generous with loyal servants.
“No”, he assured her with a laugh as he pulled her back snuggly against him, “you didn’t scare her off. There was just a lot of turbulence so I told her not to bother. She offered to drive but that would take three hours rather than half an hour so …” He caught the odd look in her eyes and hastened to add, “But I can ask her to drive here. I can call her right now. I didn’t mean to imply that I didn’t think that our therapy sessions were unimportant or that I am in anyway slacking off or …”
He was effectively silenced by her lips meeting his.
It was a cliché. And it wasn’t a responsible way for an adult to act – especially not when trying to rebuild a relationship - but Chloe didn’t’ care. She wanted to kiss her husband and stop him from saying such silly things. She loved that he was trying but she didn’t think that she had ever seen him as unsure of himself as she had in the last week. She wanted, no, needed, to comfort him. To love him.
Her hands came up and stroke over his head and ears as she kissed him passionately, before breaking away with a groan of displeasure. She didn’t want to stop, she wanted to drag him upstairs and have her way with him and she knew that if she let the kiss continue for another second that was probably exactly what she would do, consequences be damned. So, whilst she still had enough functioning neurons to remind her of the reality of their situation she stepped back, breaking away from him, before smiling at him.
“I know, don’t worry. Why don’t we just go for a walk or something?” She suggested, “Unless you need to get back to work?”
“No”, he shook his head, “I mean, I don’t have to get back to work. Almost everything I had to do is done and Dad is working like a maniac to make sure cutting through red tape. He actually called the Prime Minister of Great Britain yesterday and told him that he would cause a run on the pound if he didn’t deal with some civil servant who was causing problems for us”.
“You’re kidding?”
“Nope”, Lex laughed.
“And you trust him with all of this”. It wasn’t a question.
“And I trust him with all of this”, he affirmed. It seemed ridiculous that he could ever have got to this situation: finding but then almost losing the love of his life but having complete and utter faith in his dad … as long as that meant that his granddaughter was happy. It hadn’t seemed possible only a few short years before. “Do you think that that they are going to lock me up in Belle Reve?”
“Never”, she proclaimed, then added more softly, “I would never let that happen”.
He stared down at her and knew that she was telling the truth. Whatever had happened between them, even if they hadn’t found a way of making things work between them, even if he had done the unthinkable and cheated on her, she would still have been in his corner. She always would.
A lump formed in his throat and he had no idea what to say. And yet less of a notion how to form any words.
Chloe, on the other hand, seemed to know what she wanted to say and do. She was just a little nervous about it. After looking unsure of herself for a couple of seconds she reached out, almost shyly, and slipped her hand into his. When he didn’t pull away she gave it a squeeze.
A slow, cautious smile spread across her lips. Somehow this felt far more intimate and like a bigger step than even sharing a bed had.
“Let’s get going, shall we?”
“We shall”.
~*~
Metropolis had undergone a great deal of refurbishment in recent years, the level of crime had dropped significantly (from evil underhand conquests to littering) thanks to the high concentration of do-gooder cape-wearing vigilantes and Lex made sure to keep his family to the best parts but he didn’t think that the city had ever looked quite as beautiful as it did that day.
Even once they had got outside the hotel Chloe had not dropped his hand. They had walked along several of surrounding streets before arriving at the park where he noticed that Chloe had chosen the longest possible walk and hadn’t been making any particular effort to walk quickly. Lex didn’t mind in the least.
For the first leg of their journey they didn’t speak. They just enjoyed the scenery and the closeness of which they had both been so deprived until they came to the wishing fountain in the centre and found it deserted. That wasn’t particularly surprising as they were in the middle of the working morning, but it still felt like a gift.
Lex reached into his pocket and took out two one hundred dollar notes – the smallest currency he had on him - and handed one to Chloe. “To make a wish”, he explained.
Chloe stared at the note for a couple of seconds, trying to work out how on earth Lex thought that that would work, before slipping it back into his pocket – ensuring that her fingers didn’t slip to the side. “Here, have this one on me”, she gave him a dollar.
“Thanks”, he said, as he turned the small coin over in his fingers, he always found them strange.
She shook her head at him indulgently as she took a seat on the edge of the fountain which was fortunately quite thick and comfy.
Lex followed suit, refusing to release his wife’s hand. Together they closed their eyes and tossed the coins back over their shoulders. There was a squawk that sounded as if it had come from a disgruntled bird.
“That was yours”, Lex teased her.
“You can’t know that”, she protested.
“On the contrary, as much as I love you and as dear as you are to me, we both know which one of us has no sense of aim”, he deliberately provoked her.
“Just because I didn’t go to a private school with tuition that costs as much as a house in the suburbs, where we were taught fencing, and shooting and archery and old fashioned forms of war doesn’t mean that I have no sense of aim”, she huffed.
“No, the fact that you can’t hit anything that you aim for means that you can’t throw”, he pointed out. It was true, never once had she been able to hit anything. He had tried to teach her in the earlier days of their relationship, wrapping his arms around her to get her into the right stance, her butt brushing against him and then … well he had been pleased to note that there was nothing wrong with her ability to fuck him senseless in the grounds of his Smallville mansion.
Trying to drag his thoughts back from the past before he became uncomfortably hard, he joked, “I would let you have my wish but I’m selfish”.
“You aren’t going to share your infinity chocolate bars with me? Meanie!” Chloe complained with a nudge to show that she didn’t bear him any grudges for his disparaging comments concerning her limited athletic ability.
“Unlimited chocolate bars?”
“What”, she shot him an overly innocent look, “that isn’t what you wished for?”
“No”, he had wished, prayed, begged and beseeched whatever non-existent sprit which didn’t live in the fountain that Chloe would manage to love him again and that someone else wouldn’t come along and show her how much better suited they were for her.
“I thought that you wanted a chubby wife”, Chloe continued to tease only to stop abruptly as Lex grabbed her, dragging her into his lap.
“That is not exactly what I said”, he corrected her, their faces mere inches apart, “I said”, his hot breath puffed against her fair skin, “that I wanted you happy and healthy and eating what you want, not denying yourself for some stupid reason”.
“You aren’t a stupid reason”. Although she now knew that that wasn’t what he had wanted, she had been convinced that it was in the past and it had been a sacrifice that she had been willing to make.
“Yes, I am”, he gripped the sides of her head, “I am not worth it”.
She shoved him hard, almost sending them both crashing into the water. Lex grabbed onto the edge of the fountain just in time and hauled them back up to a safe seated position. Chloe didn’t seem to notice, still snuggly nestled on his lap. “Yes you are Lex Luthor. You are worth everything. Any sacrifice that I have to make to be with you I will make. So you take your stupid father induced insecurities and shove them up your ass because I don’t want to hear them”, this time she grabbed his head, bringing to so close that their noses were touching, their eyes locked, “do you understand me? I love you. And if I hear you saying crap like that I will kick your ass”.
Lex sat their shocked for a second before grinning like a fool, crushing her to his chest and kissing the life out of her.
She loved him!
Click!
They both turned towards the direction of the sound, both instinctively knowing what it was. This wasn’t the first time that something like this had happened.
Just as predicted there was a member of the paparazzi standing there with his camera, barely one hundred metres away.
Chloe was furious, upset, and desperate for more of Lex kisses but wasn’t surprised when she felt herself being unceremoniously dumped off Lex’s lap and onto the bench. She stood up, brushed herself off and thought to herself that the paparazzo was an idiot. Didn’t he know that Lex kept himself in great shape?
Surely enough the man had barely made it fifty metres when Lex was on top of him tearing his camera from him and exposing the film before smashing the offending machine to pieces.
That would probably have been the end of it if the idiot hadn’t complained.
“What a moron”, Chloe thought to herself as she watched him being dragged back to the fountain and chucked in head first. “Alright”, she conceded, “you’re right. Your aim is much better”. He had certainly got much better distance than she would have been able to, the little blighter had flown a good six meters.
“Sorry about that, rather ruined the mood didn’t?”
“A bit”, she shrugged, “but it wasn’t your fault”. She didn’t add that it was probably better that they had been interrupted before she was forced to have him out there in the open. Seeing that he looked really forlorn, as if he thought she was just going to walk off now, she held her hand back out to him, “Come on, want to go back to your apartment?”
“Yes”, Lex agreed as their fingers intertwined, “I was going to ask, what do you think about going on a little trip this weekend?”
A/N: Should they go on a trip? Any other thoughts? Feelings? Musings?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
woa- i just read the whole story in the last hours and im totally hooked!!! i just love everything about it! Lilliy is soo smart and adorable- just i imagined a Chlex baby!! ;) Lionel and Gabe are awesome and your Chlex are perfect :) cant wait for more! ohh, i really want the spanking memory, pleaseeeee ;)
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Bernstein: Hello, nice to see you. Thank-you for reviewing, it really made my day. :D Don't worry, that memory will be coming in a few chapters. I did write another short fic which included that theme though if you can't wait called The Spanking Of Chloe in the NC17 unfinished section (because I don't know how to move it into the finished bit. :D) Hope you continue to enjoy the site.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Chapter Nineteen
By the time that they got back to Lex’s apartment and the details of their trip had been discussed (all three of them would head out to California for the weekend leaving on Friday night and coming back early Monday morning – while Lilly was still asleep – so that they would have a full two days just to themselves away from everything), Chloe was back in her fantastically good mood.
She smiled around at his apartment. It had changed a lot over the years from the sterile monstrosity Lex’s so-called designer had put together, to the cool apartment she had helped to create, to its current state as a toy laden monstrosity.
As happy as she was to be there with him, she couldn’t wait for the day when they would move back to their proper home and all be together but she didn’t know how long away that would be so tried not to dwell on it.
“That is such a cool horse”, she admired the fine stallion, sitting in the corner, as she invited herself to walk around his apartment. She petted the horse’s pale pink nose affectionately before deciding that she didn’t care if she looked a fool. She hoisted herself up on the horse and heard Lex laugh from where he stood in the other room to the side of the kitchen, making them both coffee.
“Hey don’t laugh, I wore these jeans especially for you”, she called to him, knowing that he could still appreciate them from that distance.
“You did, did you?”
“Yes. They are my brand new good butt jeans”, she forced herself to be silly about it, acknowledging that she had to get over this body thing if they were going to move forwards with their relationship.
“Your what?” He asked, strolling through into the other room, sure that he must have misheard her.
“My good butt jeans”, she repeated slowly jumping back off the horse to turn and display her rear end for his enjoyment. Or she hoped, for his enjoyment. Her behind was much skinner than before, a nervous crawl went up her spine. “Of course I didn’t know that I was going to be riding a horse”. She was about to get back on the horse when Lex’s hands stopped her, warm and substantial on her hips.
“Very nice”, he murmured, his mouth moving against her neck, running his hands across her hips and squeeze her behind affectionately under the pretence of helping her back onto the rocking horse.
Chloe blushed as she regained her seat, although secretly pleased that he did definitely still fine her attractive. She looked around the room before examining the horse’s mane as she asked, “So can I ask what his or her name is?”
“No”.
She looked at him oddly.
“No, that’s her name”, he explained.
Her brow furrowed.
“I asked Lilly if she wanted to ride him. She said no. I asked her if she wanted to do anything else. She said no. I asked her what her name was. She said No. So apparently she is called No”, he elaborated.
“I’m sorry Lex”, she reached out and stroked his face, she knew how hard it must have been for him.
“It’s alright”, he turned his face into her palm, “I deserved it”.
“Well, maybe a little but I would still rather you never get hurt”, she leant down to peck him on the lips as his hands rested on her thighs.
“I know baby”, he couldn’t believe that he was so lucky to have her. The coffee maker pinged. “We keep getting interrupted today, don’t we”, he said with a smile as he moved back into the kitchen to get their drinks whilst Chloe started rocking on the horse.
“This is fun!”
“Good”, he brought the drinks back in and placed them down on the coffee table and sat down on the sofa to watch his wife as she bounced energetically.
He swallowed.
“Oh come on Lex, it’s hardly the first time that you’ve seen me having a ride in your apartment”.
“If memory serves me correctly darling”, and it damned well did, it was emblazoned on his brain and popped up at the most inconvenient of times, mostly during board meetings. “You were over here, on my lap, on this couch actually”.
“Yes, good point, I think that I’ve had enough actually”, she decided as she came to a stop, suddenly aware of the level of friction involved in riding, “I think that it is safe enough for Lilly”.
Lex just smiled at her, knowing that she didn’t actually doubt his ability to provide safe toys for his little girl.
“Do you?” She asked as she bounced off the horse and over to him.
“Do I what?” he inquired holding out a drink to her as she collapsed onto the seat next to him. He had the feeling that he had got lost again.
“Remember those things?” She looked at her hands, as they twisted together, “Us. Here. Together. Before we were married I mean”.
“Chloe”, he cupped her face so that she looked at him, “of course I remember. I remember everything, I never stopped thinking about you … other stuff just …. For what it’s worth baby, those days were the happiest time in my life. Up until that point”.
“Mine too”.
~*~
“All residents in the Metropolis region are advised to stay indoors. Only go outside if absolutely necessary and caution is necessary for all. Hurricane Chloe is about”.
“You know that gets funnier every single week”, Chloe announced as she charged back into the living room and dumped an enormous pile of clothes half in her suitcase, half on top of her flatmate Teddy.
“So do your antics”, he called back as she galloped towards the kitchen, “What are you doing now?”
“Putting a note on my milk to tell you to drink it otherwise it will be off by Sunday evening when I get back”.
“Do we have to go through this every Friday morning?” He wondered, “I will eat anything left on your shelf in the fridge so you don’t have to worry about waste and since when do you come back on Sunday afternoon?”
“That is always the plan”.
“Maybe it is”, he scoffed, “But that’s not when you get back. You turn up at class on Monday morning as if nothing has happened and your suitcase is delivered home by one of Luthor’s men. Monday, never Sunday”.
“Well, sometimes it’s hard to tear myself away”, she explained with a shrug. Who on earth would deny themselves an extra night in Lex Luthor’s arms?
“I’m sure it is”, he sent her a wink which she knew he meant kindly. He had interrogated Lex thoroughly upon first meeting then proclaimed him to be a good guy and gave his blessing which Lex had accepted without too much sarcasm.
Chloe stuck her tongue out for good measure once she got through with her post-its and grabbed her favourite box of sugary cereal to take with her. She closed it and chucked it at least vaguely in the right direction. Fortunately Teddy’s reflexes were excellent and he grabbed it and put it on the side while he set about neatly packing the rest of her belongings in the suitcase.
“Can’t you just leave some of the stuff there? You aren’t seriously telling me that he can’t get a box of your favourite cereal”, Teddy asked as he tried to find somewhere sensible to pack her teddy bear.
“I can’t leave stuff there”, Chloe balked, “I’m just a guest”.
“Uh Chloe”, he reminded her, “you work your ass off all week long to make sure that when you get out of your last class on a Friday – which is mercifully at 10 am – you come back here and do your impression of the Tasmanian devil throwing your stuff around just so that you can be ready to spend the entire weekend with him. Every single weekend for the last three months”.
Chloe smiled as she remembered the last three months. It had been a good ninety-two days. A fantastic ninety-two days, in fact.
“Whatever you are thinking about, I don’t want to know”.
She grinned wickedly at him.
“Nope, I definitely don’t want to know”, he decided.
“Nah probably not. You’re too vanilla”, she teased him and she remembered her bath stuff and scurried back to get it.
“Three, two, one”, Teddy hummed to himself as he checked his watch and strode over to the door, just in time to open it as Lex raised his hand to knock. They had decided that he shouldn’t go through the main entrance too often in case people started to get suspicious so he normally just headed straight up. “Right on time, as usual”.
“I try. Hello Teddy”, Lex greeted him, as he entered and looked around at the ensuing chaos. “She’s ahead of schedule today, I see”.
“Yup”, Teddy collapsed back onto one edge of the sofa and continued her packing for her. Lex started from the other end. “So, is business going terribly badly?”
“No, why would you think that it was?” Lex inquired.
“Well Chloe is apparently bringing her own breakfast cereal”, he held up the offending box, “and is in her bathroom trying to remember where she put all of her extra toiletries. I would have thought that you could afford to get her her very own box to keep at your apartment”.
“Subtle”, Lex snorted, not offended in the slightest by Teddy’s manner of plain speaking.
“I thought so”.
Lex liked him, a lot. In some ways more than he did Clark. It was obvious that Teddy cared about Chloe and stood up for her, but apparently had absolutely no romantic inclinations for her. In fact, Lex got the impression that Teddy looked upon her more as a baby sister than anything else.
“I did get her her own cereal”, he explained, “Organic, GMO free, sugar free, whole grain …”
“So she refused to eat it?” He guessed.
“Exactly. I was hoping that if she weren’t offered another alternative she would give it a try eventually and stop attempting to rot her guts”, Lex explained.
“And her teeth”.
“Nah, her teeth are fine. Besides, I can get her a good dentist if she needs one. Teeth can always be fixed, guts are another story”, Lex informed him.
“Either way, I wouldn’t bet on it”, Teddy mused, as he flipped the package over and read the ingredients. But maybe it is worth a shot”. He tossed it back over his shoulder where Chloe’s wouldn’t find it.
Lex snorted with laughter.
“I don’t know what you are laughing at. If she discovers it, I am telling her that it was your idea”.
“That’s alright, I can handle an angry Chloe”, Lex decided, considering the delightful possibilities.
“I’ll tell you what I told her”, Teddy groaned, “I don’t want to know”.
Lex just smiled and shook his head as he folded with anal precision.
“How many clothes does she even need? She is only going for a weekend, right? I mean, this isn’t a permentant move, is it?” Teddy double checked.
Lex shrugged, he had absolutely no idea why she always packed quite so much stuff. If it were up to him she wouldn’t bring a damned thing, it wasn’t as if they were going to leave the apartment that much. Besides, she should obey his dress code which was that she should be naked at all times in his apartment. It was just basic good common courtesy.
“So it’s not a permentant move?”
“No, of course not”.
Teddy bristled at that. Lex had promised him that his intentions towards Chloe were serious, and while he thought that they were both far too young to actually move in together, the idea shouldn’t have been inconceivable. “Couldn’t she at least have a draw?”
“A draw?” Lex looked up from his packing.
“Yes, you probably have one of those enormous walk in wardrobes with thousands upon thousands of the same exact pair of designer trousers, couldn’t Chloe at least get a draw so that she wouldn’t have to pack every single week?” Teddy asked.
“She has an entire room to her own use”, of course she never used it, she slept with/on top of him/wrapped around him but he thought that it was only right that she had options, “and it is stocked with everything she could possibly need including clothes. She just packs because well … she’s Chloe”.
“Oh”. Teddy might have said something else if Chloe had immerged at that moment announcing, “Found it. Lex you’re hear, why didn’t you come and tell me?” She went over to give him a kiss on the cheek.
“I thought that under the circumstances I had better help with the packing”, he said as he lined everything up, his fingers brushing against something red and silky. Maybe his nudity policy could stand to be tweaked, just a little.
“Oh, that. Yeah. I didn’t really get that far with the packing”, she explained, then wondered, “If I just shove it all in, crumpled up and hope for the best would you be so disgusted that you lost all attraction for me?”
“You think that I am that anal?”
“Yeah, pretty much”.
“You’re probably right but the sooner we get packed the sooner we can get back for lunch”.
“Lunch?” It wasn’t even elven o’clock yet and it only took five minutes to get to his apartment.
“Yes, I thought that we might go to the mansion”, he suggested, “that way we will have a bit more space, you can visit your Dad if you want and we have the pool and grounds all to ourselves”.
She shot him a devilish look, “What are we waiting for then?”
“I don’t want to know”, Teddy said once again putting his hands in front of his eyes.
And Theodore probably did not want to know. Now that their relationship had reached the level where was sex was involved, they had decided to take full advantage of that fact and Chloe’s suitcase did not get opened until she returned home on Monday.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
That is a great updates! I love that the horse name is "No." Chloe is so ready for Lex. I think the California trip will get them even closer together.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
can't wait to see what happens next.love that chloe and lex are getting closer together.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
TrckyRcky: Thank-you, I'mglad that you liked it. Yes, that is the horse's name - I 'm not sure how she feels about it though. The trip will have plenty of closeness but won't be in California.
Cbrunberg: Here you go then. As always, thanks for reviewing.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Chapter Twenty
Lex’s fingers flew across his keyboard as he finished up his last email for the day and closed his laptop down, with a sigh of relief. He had just made it. Logically he knew that Chloe wouldn’t object to him making a few phone calls and writing a couple of emails but he was trying to be on his best behaviour. He wanted this weekend to be absolutely perfect.
He slid along the side of the limo’s back seat to look out of the window. Through the tinted glass he could make out Chloe’s luscious figure as she chatted with some other parents as she waited for Lilly to get out of school. He wanted to be out there with her waiting for their daughter to get out of school but that wasn’t his place and he didn’t want to shock his baby. And so he waited, examining Chloe’s behind as he did so.
She was wearing her good butt jeans (as she called them) again and he liked to think that they were for his benefit although as she leant forward to pluck a flower which had caught her eye he was seriously considering throwing caution to the wind and getting out so that he could wrap his jacket around her waist. That was a view that should be for his eyes only.
Before his resolve could be too sorely tested the school bell rang and the air was filled with the sound of children’s delighted squeals and footsteps. It was an exclusive school, with fewer than 50 students (all from very good families), yet it still sounded like a heard of stampeding elephants. Much to his delight, he noted that his elephant and out at the front.
She careened along the covered porch way: her French plats (which had probably been neat that morning) flailing out behind her, her skirt hitched up just a little too far, one sock settled around her ankle, shoes scuffed, book bag dangling from one hand and crashing into things as she hurried past, and a massive grin on her cherubim face.
As she approached her mother she leapt fearlessly, trusting Chloe to catch her, which she did. A whoosh of air flew from Chloe’s lungs as the tiny lump hurtled into her. She clung to her little girl who returned the embrace, wrapping her arms and legs around her fiercely, and not noticing when her bag accidently swung around and caught her mother in the back.
Lex lurched forwards almost out of the car when he saw his wife catch herself and remembered why they had agreed that he would stay in the car. Lilly would get over excited and start asking questions – as would the other parents – as he was not normally there for afternoon pick up. That was how Chloe had put it at least. In truth Lex knew that he had never been there for afternoon pick up, he had only been there once when she had got out of school and that was because Lilly had called Lionel and forced him into it. He was disgusting and rightly disgusted with himself.
Through the glass, he watched as Chloe steadied her balance and bounced her daughter up so that she had a better purchase on her – a procedure which didn’t appear to bother Lilly in the slightest. In fact, as Chloe gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek, Lilly began to babble. Lex’s heart began to swell. Just watching her lips move he could practically hear her little voice, her expressions so much like her mother’s, telling her all about her day. He couldn’t believe that he had missed out on so much over the last year and a bit. He hadn’t meant to. He didn’t know how it had happened. But now, seeing her here, she knew that he couldn’t bear to be separated from her for another minute.
His hand was on the door handle when Chloe turned and started making her way back to the car, Lex slid back further into the car and tried to compose himself.
The door swung open just as Lilly was declaring, “It’s Daddy’s big car”.
“Yes, sweetheart”, Chloe agreed, a touch of incredulous amusement. She, little Chloe from Kansas, had a daughter who referred to stretch limos as ‘Daddy’s big car’s as if it were nothing. Well, Chloe supposed, the child did had a personal fortune of around 50 million already so it was nothing to her.
Lilly barrelled into the car head first leaving her mother to ensure that she was not inadvertently displaying her panties to the entire playground. “Daddy”, she shrieked and somehow performed a rather impressive feat of acrobatics which left her squarely in his lap, hugging him as if she hadn’t seen him in a year.
“Good afternoon Lillian, I hope that you are well”, Lex said, with absurd formality as he tried valiantly not to let his emotions get the better of him.
“Silly Daddy”, Lilly patted him indulgently and looked over at her mother who was attempting not to snigger at Lex as she closed the door and sorted out Lilly’s school bag the strap of which had somehow become wrapped around her ankle.
Lilly allowed herself to be untangled with great patience as she bombarded her father with questions. “Hello Daddy, what are you doing here? Have you been here long? Are you here to see me? Do you like my new bobbles?” This last question was illustrated by her holding out the end of her braids to him so that he could admire her strawberry inspired bobbles – which he did with a level of appreciation which she seemed to feel proper.
“And yes, of course I am here to see you. Mommy and I have”, he was about to say a little surprise for you, but then second guessed himself. She could think that that meant that they were getting back together and he didn’t want to get her hopes up even for a second. “Only for this weekend”, he prefaced so that she wouldn’t think that she was getting out of school, “we are going on a little, mini holiday”, he explained, inelegantly.
Lilly gaped up at him, not entirely sure what to make of this statement. She stared at him, then shifted her eyes over to her mother just for confirmation, erupting into squeals of delight - which were a little too loud considering the close quarters in which they were seated -, upon receiving such.
“We are really going on holiday?”
“Yes”.
“Really? Honestly? Truly? On holiday?”
“Yes, yes, yes and yes”, he answered with a laugh.
“I’ve never been on holiday before”, she announced with childish innocence.
Lex almost chocked. She had never been on holiday? His sweet little princess, one of the most privileged (financially speaking at least) children in America, had never been on holiday?
“Yes you have”, Chloe interrupted, placing a consoling hand on her husband’s shoulder. “You just don’t remember it, you were too young”.
That didn’t make him feel much better. He hadn’t taken them on holiday since she had actually been old enough to remember.
“Do you remember the day that we got Hippolyta Hippo?” Chloe asked.
“Of course”, Lilly adored her purple tutu bedecked hippopotamus amphibious.
“Well, remember going to the sea life centre and being on the beach that same day?” She continued.
“Yes”.
“Well we were on holiday then”, Chloe informed her. “There aren’t a lot of beaches in Kansas”.
“Oh”, Lilly thought for a moment, “are we going to a beach now?”
“No sweetie”, Lex started but then paused to consider, he could fly them out to somewhere with a beach, he could have the private jet ready in …
“No, not this weekend; it takes a very long time to get somewhere with a beach. The commute would simply be too long for a weekend”, Chloe took over the explanation. She could see what Lex was thinking but they had agreed not to go too far out so that Lilly wouldn’t get too over tired.
“Oh”, Lilly seemed a little confused.
“We are going to stay in a hotel”, Chloe informed her which made her perk up.
“I’m going to pack the second that we get back to Granddad’s”, Lilly decided, already thinking about everything she would need. Books for Daddy to read to her, sweeties, ice cream, Teddy, toys, her toothbrush … and maybe some clothes.
“Actually, I’ve already packed for you”, Chloe explained, “so we can get going straight away”. They were, in fact, already on their way going in the opposite direction to Gabe’s apartment.
Lilly seemed rather affronted by this. She wanted to pack for herself. She was a big girl and Mommy might have missed something.
“But what about Teddy?” She asked, she had heard tales of parents packing before and missing out key things.
“He is safe in the boot”, Chloe promised her.
“In the boot”, Lilly screeched. “The boot?”
“Yes, in the boot”, Chloe wondered where else he would be.
“But he won’t like it in the boot, he won’t know where he is. He will get scared!” Her tiny voice rose in pitch and indignation.
“Peters”, Lex said calmly, as he pressed the intercom button, “please pull up as soon as it is safe and procure Miss Lillian’s Teddy from the boot”.
Within a few seconds the beloved bear was in Lex’s hands as he examined him, “Look at that, he is fast asleep. Well, that’s a bear for you. He hasn’t even realised that he isn’t still on your bed at home. I think that he had better go over to Mommy to sleep for a bit while we do our homework”. He handed the bear over and Chloe cradled it appropriately making it seem as if he were indeed fast asleep.
“I don’t have any homework”, Lilly complained as she reached for her bear, which Chloe would have given her had she not been leant forwards rummaging in her bag for Lilly’s afterschool pick me up.
“Possibly not from school no, but remember we are doing an extra hour every night this week to make up for what you missed on Monday”, Lex reminded her. Lilly’s ability to forget things when it most suited her really was remarkable.
“I didn’t miss anything on Monday because everyone else missed it. If I learn too much then I will be too far ahead of the other students and then they will feel bad”, she tried to explain to her father once again.
“I don’t really care about what the other children are doing, we agreed so we are going to do our maths homework now”, Lex turned his computer back on as that was where we had stored the new information.
“But”, she pointed out, “we already finished my whole maths book yesterday”.
“I know, that is why we are moving onto algebra”.
“I can’t do algebra, I’m too little. Even mommy can’t do it, I heard her telling Auntie Lois so”.
Lex almost smiled at that, it was so different from the normal refrain of “But I’m a big girl”, but he couldn’t let her get away with it. He had set a punishment and it had to be carried out.
“Well then, we had better make sure that you are very good at it so that you can help Mommy, hadn’t we?” He decided.
“No”.
“Lilly”.
“No”, she folded her arms in front of her chest, and stuck her chin out, a mutinous expression adorning her features.
“Lillian, we are going to do this work together so we can either do it now and get it out of the way quickly so that we can have fun when we arrive at the hotel or”, he paused for dramatic effect, “we spend the entire weekend on it. It is your choice”.
Her chin wobbled. But she looked no less defiant.
Lex knew that she didn’t care for extra school work or the fact that it reminded her that she had got in trouble in the first place, but he couldn’t understand why she was suddenly making a much bigger deal out of it than she had all of the rest of the week.
“Lillian”, Lex tried again, although he had no idea what he was going to say.
“Here”, Chloe handed her daughter her juice box and oatie bar.
Lilly’s eyes widened with delight as she saw them and muffled something before cramming the bar into her mouth.
Lex raised an eyebrow and reminded her, “What do you say?”
She turned angry, hurt eyes upon him.
“She did say thank-you”, Chloe informed him gently, “she never forgets to say please and thank-you. That would be rude and a horrendous thing. She can’t believe that some children have to even be prompted, she was quite shocked when she first heard of it”, Lilly’s head nodded, “you just didn’t hear her”.
“Oh, I’m very sorry Lilly, I should have known that you wouldn’t forget something like that”, Lex said stroking her head but found that she was now hiding in her mother’s side, sucking on her straw of her juice box as if her life depended on it.
Chloe tried to shoot him an encouraging smile. It could be hard when Lilly didn’t get sugar immediately upon release from school, Chloe blamed herself. She shouldn’t have allowed herself to become distracted by their conversation and the change in routine. It was her fault. Her baby hadn’t eaten since lunch (almost four hours ago); she was bound to get upset more easily. She squeezed her baby and stroked her arm until the contents of the first juice was gone and she handed her the second one – luckily Chloe always watered them down (3:1 juice to water).
After a few more sucks, Lilly was considerably calmer and offered her mother the straw.
“That’s okay sweetie”, Chloe declined graciously.
Lilly didn’t bother to offer it to Daddy - as he was being so mean and unreasonable - before popping it back into her mouth and sucking gently.
“You know”, Chloe started gently, “I’ve always felt very dumb”.
The little cherub blinked up at her in angelic surprise.
“Not really understanding algebra always made he feel like a failure and I fear that it is something that is just never going to get any better”, she sighed, “And now, I’m too old to learn”.
Lilly shook her head angrily and turned to her father and poked him in the arm.
“Am I to take that to mean that I am going to teach both of you algebra?”
Lilly nodded. Of course she wasn’t going to leave her Mommy alone at a time like that, she reached over and grabbed Teddy as well and seated him on her lap so that he could learn too. It was time that he stopped being a lazy teddy bear, woke up and leant some algebra.
Half an hour later – Lex decided to let her off the last thirty minutes as he was fairly certain that she had no idea whether it had been an hour or not – they stopped.
“Well that was easy, wasn’t it?”
“Yes”, Lilly agreed, her straw having been removed from her mouth the first time she had felt the need to shout out an answer – she wasn’t in school after all, no need to be too quiet.
“I think that I got it this time”, Chloe agreed.
“What does Teddy think?” Lex wondered, from where he now had his arm around both of his girls.
Lilly held him up to hear ear and listened before announcing, “Easy peasey limey squeezey”.
“Limey squeezey?”
“We prefer limes to lemons”.
“Well, now I know that it all makes sense”, Lex smiled as he stored his laptop away. They still had a little way to go to the hotel and he didn’t want her to get fractious though so he tried to think of a new conversation in which to interest her. He was about to ask her about her day – although not sure if he would get told off as she had already obviously told Chloe about it outside and seemed to feel that telling one parent something was enough and that the other should just have magically known it as if there existed a magical invisible line between their ears.
He was saved, however, by Lilly looking around as if realising something for the first time. “Where’s Granddad?”
“He is staying at home, catching up on his sleep after that game of twister someone made him play yesterday”, Lex explained, punctuating the end of his statement with a conspiratorial nudge.
“I didn’t make him”, Lilly protested. She never made anyone do anything, she just used her look on them and they chose to do as she wished.
“Sure you didn’t”, Lex teased, dropping a kiss on her head and noticing that she was suddenly silent. “What’s the matter?”
She twisted her hands together and examined her feet, which were sticking out in front of her.
“You do like Granddad, don’t you?” She turned to him.
“Of course I do. He is just a little tired and I thought that it would be nice for us three to spend some time together, that’s all”, he was privately trying to calculate how soon he could have Gabe on the scene if necessary.
“You love all of your teddies, don’t you?” Chloe interjected, “And they all know that but they are not all coming today because you don’t really need them and because they need to catch up on their sleep as well”.
Lilly nodded at the truth of this statement, but explained, “Because someone at school said that their Daddy and Granddad don’t like each other and”, she looked like she might actually cry at any second.
Lex wasn’t sure exactly who she was talking about but nipped it in the bud. “That is not the case with us. I like Granddaddy Gabe. He and I have known each other for years, I even knew him before I met Mommy”.
“Really?”
“Yes, really”, he said with a laugh.
Seeing that is was distracting her, he smiled over at Chloe who was nodding at him encouragingly.
“And I wouldn’t worry about that other boy. Is he a bit silly?” From what he knew about boys of that age, they usually were.
“Yes, he is!”
“I thought that he might have been”, he tried to hide his smile. “Well then, he probably just misunderstood. Sometimes Daddy’s are overprotective so it seems like they don’t get along when really they do.”
She seemed to be thinking this over for a moment before going back to her original line of questioning. “You really knew Granddad before Mommy?” It just seemed like a very strange notion to her.
“Yes, I knew both Granddads before Mommy”.
“Of course you did”, she rolled her eyes expressively at him, “one of them is your Daddy”.
Chloe sniggered and Lex shot her a warning look.
“Yes, very clever”, he stroked his angels head. It was a silly subject but it had stopped her being upset.
“How come you met Granddad?
“Well, I was born and …”
“No, silly Daddy. Mommy’s Daddy Granddad not your Daddy Granddad”.
“That’s a lot of Daddies”.
“Daddy!”
“Okay, okay”.
~*~
Lex’s silver Porsche sailed through field upon field of corn, to some people the life blood of the state and a thing of beauty, to him just another reminder that he had been exiled to this hick town as punishment for his past. He pressed his foot down even harder on the accelerator, not caring if he met his death.
It wasn’t as if he had done anything that bad, just neglected his school work, partied a little too much, had a few too many women. Hardly anything. Certainly nothing that everyone else his age – with his money – wasn’t doing.
The car sped along even faster.
It wasn’t fair that he was being sentenced to live (or rather, exist) in a town which had nothing in it. He was already bored out of his skull and he hadn’t even got out of his car yet. He saw the factory in the distance, an ugly silver building with absolutely nothing to recommend it. No style, no grace. It was just big and silver, almost grey. It was with no great feeling of enthusiasm that he skidded to a halt outside it. He missed crashing into the wall by only a few millimetres but he wasn’t sure that that was a positive thing.
The smell assaulted his nostrils as soon as he left his Porsche and he sneered, “Welcome to Smallville”.
He stalked through the factory, not bothering with security. Most people recognised his distinctive bald head and scurried out of his way, he didn’t pay attention to them. Some of them whispering something about finding Gabe.
Lex wondered who Gabe was.
He was just coming up to the end of his wanderings when he heard someone say, “And watch out for Daddy’s precious little boy. Lord of the manor was supposed to arrive at nine and it’s eleven now so expect to see him in a couple of hours, probably coming to shut the place down because he lost a bet or something”.
He almost burst out laughing. The man had balls.
The man he was talking to coughed, upon seeing Lex.
The auburn hair man turned about and although he looked shocked, he clearly wasn’t scared and recovered quickly. “Mr Luthor”.
“Please call me Lex”.
~*~
“Ohhhhhhh”, Lilly gasped, “You were really naughty before you went to Smallville?” Lex had of course told her that he had refused to tidy his room and eat his broccoli in his retelling of the story.
“I had my moments”, he admitted it, before tweeting her chin and informing her, “That is where you get it from”.
“I’m not naughty”, Lilly protested.
“Neither was Daddy, just misunderstood”, Chloe assured them both.
That seemed to satisfy Lilly, who continued, “So, you met Mommy through Granddad? Did you go to tea?”
“No, not exactly …”
~*~
Lex stood in front of a wall of pictures, article clippings, and what looked like a police report in one case, trrying to wrap his mind around it. He had come to the small town less than a month ago and had been desperately searching for some way to mend the reputation of his plan and it had been right under his nose (or on top of his head as it were) the whole time. It was all because of the Meteor shower.
Who would have thought that trying to be friendly and attempting to pay a visit to his plant manager’s daughter while at her school would have yielded such results. He continued to read headline aafter headline, marvelling at her genious until he heard someone come in. The footsteps were too heavy to be a womans so he didn’t bother to turn around.
It turned out to be Clark, who after some initial questions about why he was there, chose to enlighten him as to the mystery that was Chloe Sullivan. Lex was about ready to go and hunt the intrepid reporter down when he heard another person entering the room, a woman this time, and knew from the accent that this must be Chloe Sullivan.
“Mr Luthor”.
He turned and a smile broke out across his face. Gabe had talked about his daughter. A lot. He had shown pictures and examples of every single article that she had written and Lex had been impressed by her ability and talent. He had known logically that she was fourteen and exceptionally smart but the way that Gabe always talked about his “little girl”, “baby” and “Chloe bear”, Lex had expected her to be well small.
Instead he came face to face with an eclectically attired, young woman with a bright smile and even brighter eyes, not to mention short blonde hair. That picture of her on Gabe’s desk must have been years old.
“It’s Lex”, he informed her as he strode over to her. He held his hand out to her and she took it immediately with a firm grip. He was even more impressed. “Clark was just telling me your meteor theory, I like it”.
“Thanks”, she looked over at Clark, seeming surprised.
“Espeically since most people think that my company is secretly behind everything that goes wrong in Smallville”, the first time he had refered to it as his company.
“That’s the reigning theory”. She continued to smile up at him.
“Are you the only one who blames the meteors, instead fo me?”
She seemed to concidre this for a moment. “Pretty much”, her brow furrowed, “Well, there is Mr Hamilton”, she turned to Clark and Lex’s interest started to wander.
~*~
“So you all got along …” Lilly summed up.
“Sure”.
“Snd you and Mommy got married.
“Not right then”.
“Boyfriend and girlfifriend?”
“No, sweetheart. Not forquite a long time.
“Oh”.
“Wasn’t it weird being Mommy and Daddy and not being together?”
“Well, no, not exactly because we didn’t know each other that well then. It was far stranger when we di dget together and had to tell Gabe, I mean Granddad”, Lex corrected himself.
“Why?”
“Well, Daddies have a tendency to see their daughters as little girls, even when they are fully grown” He saw the look on her face, “But he was happy for us … sort of”.
~*~
“Daddy, I have something to tell you”, Chloe said, her hands twisting in her jammies as she sat at the breakfast bar. Her date with Lex had been amazing, beyond amazing and she needed to tell her father about this important development in her life – without details of course.
“What is it sweetheart?” Gabe inquired as she finished flipping the pancakes and plating them up. He had thought that he would prepare something special as it was his little girl’s second day at home. He settled himself on a stool and tried not to panic, she couldn’t have got in trouble already, could she? What was he thinking, of course she could have. It only took her five minutes.
Chloe had thought over a thousand possible ways to tell her father, to let him know as gently as possible without it come out as “I’m dating your boss”.
“What?”
She swallowed. Realising that she had said that out loud.
“Please tell me that you mean Lex, not Lionel”.
“Of course Lex”.
“Oh, thank God for that”.
“Dad, how could you think …?”
“Well, I don’t know you made such a big production about telling me”
“I thought that you would be shocked and I was trying to break it to you gently”.
He snorted.
“I didn’t mean to come out and just tell you”, she explained.
“Yes, I had gathered that much”, he took a glug of coffee, trying to restore his equanimity. “But it’s just Lex that you are dating?”
“Well the terms girlfriend and boyfriend were discussed”, she informed him blushing.
“I should bloody well hope so”, he
“And what do you mean just Lex?”
“I have been expecting you to get together for at least a year”, Gabe explained prosaically. “I can’t say that I am thrilled about it but …
“Hang on a second. A year?” She hadn’t even known for a year.
“Yes, ever since he gave me my job back and was so concerned about your eating habits. Then you started mentioning him all of the time so …”
“I do not mention him all of the time”.
“At least twice a telephone conversation”, Gabe said. He noticed these kinds of things. In fact, only a few months ago he had had a conversation with Lex about not interfering with her school work.
“it’s not that often”, Chloe said, blushing.
“Sure it isn’t. So, when do I get to meet him?”
“Meet him? Dad, you knew him years before I did”.
“Yes, but not as his perspective father-in-law”.
“Dad, you’re not his perspective father-in-law, we are not that serious we are not …”
“When Chloe? This lunchtime or this dinner time?”
With a sigh of dread Chloe got her phone out and called Lex.
“Luthor”, Lex answered without even looking at who was calling, as he sat at his desk in the office of his Smallville home.
“Hi Lex, it’s me”, Chloe started, the butterflies swarming in her stomach.
“Oh hello”, he immediately brightened. “Why do you sound so nervous? Is something wrong or did you just tell Gabe?”
“Yeah, I just told Dad”.
“Let me guess, he wants to meet me?”
Gabe, able to hear both parts of the conversation, chimed in. “Yes, as soon as possible”.
Lex checked his watch, “I have a conference call at 10, but I can come by now if you want?”
“Perfect”.
“No, I’m not dressed yet”.
“Lex”, Gabe took the phone from his baby, “that will be just fine thank-you, see you then”. And with that he hung up and returned the phone to his daughter. “Don’t worry sweetheart, it is always better to get these things out of the way as soon as possible”.
“Better for whom?” Chloe wondered as she calculated how long it would take Lex to get there verses shower and changing time.
“You don’t have anywhere near enough time … not the way that Lex drives at least. Besides your pancakes will get cold”.
Gabe had finished his and got up to make a second stack so that there would be plenty for Lex when he arrived, which happened a mere five minutes later.
Chloe wanted to go to the door but Gabe beat her to it.
“Good morning Gabe”, Lex said presently as he took in the head of the Sullivan household’s pyjamas.
“Mr Sullivan if you don’t mind Lex”, Gabe corrected him, he was his daughter’s boyfriend after all, a bit of respect was called for.
“Mr Sullivan”, Lex corrected himself with only a hint of a smile.
Gabe nodded, “Well, as I’ve worked with you for years so we can dispense with the ID and the threats that you will end up at the bottom of a pile of manure if you hurt her, because we both know that I’ll do it”.
Lex didn’t doubt it for a second. He had especially enjoyed that threat when given to the whole of Chloe’s class on their field trip.
“Where did you got to school and what grades did you get?” He already knew most of that from passing but it never hurt to check.
“I went to Excelsior academy in Metropolis and got top marks in everything. I also went to MetU were I fell in with a bad crowd, did drugs but I did get full marks on the end of year exams. I never finished my degree but I only lack the thesis and have been working to complete it and writing an MA and PhD in my spare time in the last few years”.
Gabe resisted the urge to snort at the idea of Lex having any free time but was pleased to hear that he had been honest and that he was doing something about it. And there was no doubting that he was smart so at least his grandkids wouldn’t be idiots and he already knew that he was the only man who could keep up with his Chloe Bear.
“Current occupation and pay grade”, he continued through the list of questions that anyone hoping to take his daughter out must answer.
Lex did smile at that. “Head of Lex Corp and for that I get about 10 million per year, then another 50 million from my investments. The latter could never go lower than about 10 million even in an economic crash. It would be a blow, I’ll admit, but I imagine that Chloe could help me economise to meet it”.
“Probably. Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?”
“Dad”, Chloe’s voice came complaining from the kitchen, “haven’t you grilled him enough yet?”
“No, eat your pancakes”, Gabe called back. “Where was I?”
“Five years’ time”, Lex reminded him and then proceeded to answer, “I see myself still working at LexCorp and expanding the business and continuing to campaign for state senator”.
“And in ten years?”
“Hopefully by then I will be a senator and planning my move to the White House”.
“You don’t want much, do you?” He snorted. Then he looked uncomfortable as he thought of what he knew he had to ask next, he really didn’t want to.
“You are wondering how to ask me about my family when you know that I lost my mother and brother and that my father and I don’t get along with my father?” Lex guessed.
“Don’t forget your criminal grandparents who Lionel killed”, Chloe called from the kitchen, hating being left out but deciding that as there was no way that she could clean herself up before he saw her she might as well eat her pancakes whilst they were still hot.
“Thank-you Chloe”, Lex called back. “Don’t worry about it G… Mr Sullivan, I would ask the same questions myself. My father comes from Suicide Slums and after killing his parents managed to start a business which I took from him – more or less. My mother was a socialite from a good family but I think that they are all dead now”.
“I’m sorry”.
“Don’t be”, Lex shrugged. He had always wondered if his mother would have made the choices she had had she had a family to support her rather than just an aunt who from all that he could tell had as good as sold her when Lionel’s offer had come along.
“Religion and politics, then”, Gabe continued. He was fairly sure that Lex was Christian and a little right wing.
“I’m Protestant but I’m the first to admit that I don’t go to church as often as I should”, he didn’t add, didn’t do as he should half of the time either, “as for politics. I’m a Luthor. I’m on whichever side aids me”.
“Me too”, he was technically left wing but if the Republicans ever did something good, ha big if, he would vote for them. Probably. “So, we come down to it. What are your intentions towards my daughter?”
“Would Chloe like to come out for this or just listen in from around the corner?” Lex inquired politely, but ensuring that his voice would travel.
Chloe appeared, grinning sheepishly. She hadn’t been listening in, she had just been eating her breakfast when they had started talking. She couldn’t help overhearing, her ears were excellent. Better than Clarks’ when there was information around.
“I intend to date your daughter and do my very best to make her happy, for as long as she will have me …”
“Smooth little git, aren’t you”, Gabe snorted, but felt that he had done his duty, “So, have you had your breakfast yet?”
“Does black coffee count?”
“No, it bloody well does not”, honestly he didn’t know what the youth of the day was coming to. “Would you like some pancakes?”
“Yes thank-you Mr Sullivan”, Lex accepted as he stepped into the house and saw Chloe and her pyjamas. She was cute in her brightly coloured shorts and tank top and sticky out hair. He could get very used to a sight like that.
“Mr Sullivan?” Gabe snorted, “What kind of kiss up are you?”
Lex started at Chloe as Gabe went into the kitchen to make some more pancakes. You heard him say earlier … didn’t you?”
“Yes sweetie I know, let’s go get you some pancakes”, she patted him on the arm.
~*~
Thankfully they arrived at the hotel before Lilly could ask any more questions and she was awed into silence. The little girl was used to the very best that life could possibly offer but even by her standards this was opulent. The hotel was designed to look like an old Italian villa but set in lush gardens.
She continued to be awed until they got her into bed ready for the following morning and Lex and Chloe could finally occupy themselves in other ways.
A/N: So, how is everyone?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
A/N: As the chapter above didn't have that much in it, here is a second one.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Hmmm, this is nice”, Chloe decided as she wrapped her arms around her husband’s waist and rested her head against his shoulder.
Lex ran his fingers through her hair and dropped a kiss on the top of her head, “That’s very true”, he agreed as the warm water of the Jacuzzi swirled around them. This had definitely been one of her Chloe’s best ideas: to come out onto her private balcony and enjoy the warm, sweet night air, the blanket of stars and each other’s arms. Between the night sky, the view of the private gardens which twinkled with fairy lights and the pale outline of the hills in the distance he was spoilt for choice for beautiful scenery, but he couldn’t take his eyes off his beautiful wife.
Chloe must have noticed because even in the dim light he could observe her cheeks flushing. He grinned at her as she turned her head and pretended to observe their surroundings, “This really is a very nice hotel”, she said thoughtfully, “Lilly really likes it”.
“I’m glad”, he had put a lot of thought into where exactly to take them and was delighted that he had finally settled on this place. It was different enough to be exciting but close enough that the commute wouldn’t kill them; and most importantly of all, it was secluded.
“Yeah, there is only one problem”, she laid the ground work for the piece of news she had to give him. She felt her cheeks get even warmer. She hadn’t been this shy around him since … well since she had been a fourteen year old girl in Smallville and then she had masked it with bravado. Still, it felt strangely good - even if she was suddenly painfully shy - just to be around him and have his attention.
“What?” He snapped to attention, sitting up properly and dislodging Chloe slightly.
“Nothing bad”, she assured him, placing her hand more forcefully on his chest to get him to recline again, “or, nothing for you to worry about, at least”.
“Well, that’s something”, he conceded. “So, what is it?”
“Well”, she drew the word out, she had been trying to work out how to broach the subject ever since she and Lilly had discussed it. She looked up at him through lowered eyelashes and he smiled with relief, he could recognise her ‘I want something’ look. “We were looking around the entire suite”.
“I know, I was there”.
“Yes, well we continued while you were on the phone”, she felt his tense up, “I’m not getting at you. One phone call doesn’t ruin the vacation”, she assured him with a kiss on the cheek, “we looked at your room”.
“Go on”.
“We both noticed a terrible patch of damp on that one wall”, she laid particular stress the word terrible.
Lex had noticed a patch which looked like someone had flicked some water on the wall, not exactly what one would call a damp patch and had wondered how it had got there.
“Well, Lilly and I were discussing it and decided that you simply couldn’t sleep in there; who knows what terrible things you could pick up in a room like that?” she continued, trying to look innocent, “And we decided that the only sane solution was that, just for the holiday, you should come and sleep in my room”. There, she had got it all out.
Lex attempted to smirk down at her in a knowing, urbane manner but it came out as slightly more of a delighted grin.
“You know Chloe, if you wanted to get me into bed, all that you had to do was ask”.
She elbowed him, destroy the moment.
“I probably deserved that”, he admitted, pulling her into a hug as she rubbed the presumably sore spot.
“Yes, you did”, she agreed.
“How about I make it up to you with a shoulder rub?” He suggested.
“Oh Lex, you don’t have to”, she said politely, even as she turned around to allow him to do it.
“I see that you’re really putting up a fight about it”, he teased her as he stroked his hands over her shoulders.
“Yeah, big fuss you shouldn’t blah blah blah, more rubbing please”, she patted his hands.
“I adore you”, he kissed the crown of her head as he began to knead her shoulders gently.
“Oh God”, she let out a throaty moan, “this is heaven”.
Lex made some noncommittal sound in the back of his throat which she took for agreement, he was privately thinking that, as much as he was enjoying this, heaven probably didn’t allow such dirty images to plague him.
He had been having semi lascivious thoughts about her all day which had only increased at her suggestion to use the Jacuzzi. Thankfully she had already been fully submerged in the water by the time that he had come out so all that he could see were her creamy shoulders with a thin black straps of her bikini. He thought that much more might have sent him over the edge.
Chloe moaned and leant back, nestling against him. Lex felt himself stirring.
“You are far too tense”, he informed her, as he moved her forwards slightly so that he could knead his way down her back and she wouldn’t feel the effect that she was having on him.
“And you’re far too delicious”, she replied.
Lex laughed warmly.
She forced her brain to examine what she had just said, searching for any hint of humour but it was all cloudy. Finally, she settled on complaining, “Your own fault if I can’t come up with a good come back, brain not working”.
His warm mirth seemed to wrap around her as he nuzzled her ear. “Poor brain”.
“Umm … poor brain”, Chloe agreed. She would probably have agreed with anything that he had said as his hands reached her lower back, right where a great deal of her tension was.
“Poor poor little Chloe’s brain”, he kissed her temple.
“Yeah”, she said, dazedly, “poor smutty brain”. The heat of the water, the feel of Lex’s hands on her skin, the warm breath tickling her ear and his words which floated around her was all too much for her. She was ready to melt into a big pile of mush.
“Smutty?” A jolt went straight to his cock at that word.
“Oh yeah, very smutty”, she almost purred as his hands skimmed the top of her buttocks. “Oh God so good”.
“Tell me”, he got out, his voice horse.
“So good”, she repeated.
He chuckled thickly, “I meant about the thoughts”, he promoted, although he was obviously always pleased to hear how much she enjoyed his technique.
“Oh yeah, smutty brain. Full of smutty thoughts of you”, she sighed, “of your hands on my body”.
“Like this”, he ran his hands back up her spine.
“No”, she shook her head.
“Oh”.
“That’s good”. His hands brushed her there again, “very good”, her voice was almost a whimper this time, “but not exactly the same as my dream …” She trailed off.
Lex waited a second, then another one, hanging on her words He wanted, needed, for her to tell him exactly what she had dreamed of but she was not forthcoming. He took a deep sustaining breath, trying to keep his lust and temper in check, it didn’t work. “Are you trying to kill me? Tell me what the fuck you want”, he demanded.
She giggled; amazed that she had so much power over him, even in her current drowsy state. “Breasts”.
He grinned. He had been trying to respect her limits and not hurry her but he chose to take that as an invitation/demand.
“Lex”, she whimpered as he continued to massage her shoulders for a second teasing her, before slowly inching his hands down over her collar bone, skimming over the top of her bikini to finally fill his hands with her breasts.
Desperate not to appear weak and needy she strangled the mewing noises in her throat, but couldn’t control her hands. They grasped at his thighs as she shifted her hips back and brushed against his engorged organ. Her reaction to his simple caress was embarrassing and ridiculous but it had just been so long. His large, strong hands felt so much better against her poorly neglected flesh than her hands ever had.
Gently, hardly believing that he was in this position again, he massaged and squeezed her soft mounds. They were smaller than before, but still had the ability to drive him crazy with lust.
Chloe’s nailed dug into his legs as she hitched herself up slightly, rubbing herself back against him and whimpering piteously as his thumb brushed against her nipples.
“You like that?” He demanded, not caring that he sounded like the protagonist of a bad dirty film.
“Yeah”, she panted as she tried to work up some friction against him, even if it wasn’t where she needed it.
“What about this?” He flicked her hardened nubs of flesh.
“Oh fuck yes”.
He tugged.
“Argh!” He was going to kill her.
He went back to kneading her firmly, whilst rubbing tight circles around her nipples as he kissed her neck. “Tell me what you want”.
“Harder”, was all she managed to pant out as she writhed against him.
He bit her neck and pinched her and her erratic grinding suddenly stopped, her hands covering her mouth just in time to muffle a scream as she jerked forwards. Lex smirked, not in the slightest afraid that he had hurt her. It might have been over a year but he still knew her body, what it wanted, needed, and just what to do to make her scream and beg for him. He wanted her with a desire that even he had never known before, he felt like he was going to burst at any second but the desperate desire to make her want him was terrible.
“Do you want me?”
Chloe may have been trying to speak but no words came out as he continued to fondle her soft flesh.
He nipped at her ear and tweaked her before taking his hands away.
“Lex”, she turned in complaint. Her breath catching in her throat as she saw his expression: pure lust.
He advanced on her, pushing her back against the other side of the Jacuzzi. He wanted to devour her whole, he was almost consumed with passion but there was still a nagging voice reminding him that this wasn’t his right anymore. He needed to be absolutely sure.
“Tell me what you want Chloe”.
“I need you to touch me”, she begged, too far gone to worry about her self-respect. “Please, I … oh fuck yes!”
Lex was on top of her in a second, his mouth devouring hers, his hands grasping her ass and pulling her up so that her hot, wet core was pressed hard against him.
“Show me, show me how you want me to touch you”, his ravenous gaze feasted on her (captivated by her sparking green eyes, flushed cheeks, heaving chest, and swollen parted lips) as her trembling fingers caressed her chest, trying to put on a good show for him and tease herself but then snapping. Her hands squeezed and fumbled as best as she could, it wasn’t as good as Lex but the look in his eyes was enough to get her off by itself.
One of Lex’s hands continued to grab her ass while the other snuck around to brush her sensitised flesh, the fabric of her bikini petting her gently. Her legs were handing over his thighs and her feet slipped against the bottom of the tub as she attempted to get a better purchase, desperate to rub herself against him.
“Oh baby”, he groaned as his fingers stroked her, finding her clit and pressing his thumb against it. Even though the fabric, she came, jerking up and biting his shoulder to muffle her scream of ecstasy. Her hips rocked against him. It was hot and powerful and the best one she had had since the last time that she had been with Lex. It was fantastic, but no way near close to satisfying her after so long.
Lex was not fairing much better. He let out a snarl as he felt her teeth against him and he came. Hard. He was mortified.
They collapsed back against the side of the Jacuzzi. Lex almost squashing her and yet Chloe’s arms and legs still wrapped themselves around him, wanting to keep him close.
“Love you”.
“Yeah, you too”, Chloe agreed once their breathing finally returned to normal, as her hands travelled back over his broad, gorgeous shoulders and down his chest and flat stomach to his now softening cock. He growled, his cheeks flushing with colour. “What’s the matter?” She wanted to know, “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
He could hear the nervous tremor in her voice and wanted to kick himself – and might have done so had it not been physically impossible in his current position. “Of course it’s what I want. But I didn’t want to come so soon”, he tried to sooth her even though getting the words out was much like ripping teeth; he was so embarrassed. He had wanted to bury himself inside her. Wanted to drown in her. Not come in his swimming trunks like a pubescent pimple.
“It doesn’t matter”, she consoled him as she began to stroke him through the dark material. “We have all night”.
“All night?”
“What’s the matter?” She taunted, “Not up to it?”
He raised an eyebrow at her and she bit her lip to keep herself from grinning.
“Are you trying to provoke me?”
“Maybe”, she shot him a coy look.
“Well, we will just have to see about that”, he said, taking both of her hands from where they were pleasurably massaging, kissing them both and placing them on his shoulders. It wasn’t that he didn’t like where they had been, but nothing was going to happen for a good ten minutes or so (considering how many times he had had to jerk off in the last week just to be around her) and that was more than enough time to make her come again.
“Teasing, provocative wife”, he growled as his mouth attacked hers, his hands hoisting her back over him, his arm them wrapping securely around her waist before his other slipping inside her panties. Chloe moaned, groaned, whimpered and screamed against his mouth as his impossibly skilled fingers stroked her intimate flesh, sneaking between the folders to find the numb of flesh which could bring her to climax every time.
Chloe thought that she might die at any second. It wasn’t possible to bare so much pleasure, the memories she had had of Lex had been nothing compared to the reality.
“Think that you can control yourself enough for a few seconds?” He whispered against her lips.
“Sure”, she wasn’t some kind of helpless … her hands flew to her mouth as Lex bent down and lapped at her breast. She would have ripped her bikini off completely, just to get the full sensation if she had been able to risk removing her hands from her mouth. They weren’t in their home now with a nice sound proofed bedroom, they were only a couple of hundred meters away from Lilly’s bedroom. They had to be quite or risk a visit from a very curious, grumpy and tired little girl.
Pleased to see that Chloe could, with a great deal of effort, control herself, Lex slipped a finger inside her pulsating channel.
Her head thrashed from side to side, tears trickling down her cheeks, as tension coiled within her. Lex inserted another finger, stretching her. She bit down on her knuckle. Then a third as his thumb circled her clit. She wasn’t going to make it, she was going to die at any moment. Just as she was thinking this, Lex’s arm moved; going up to her breast, pinching her nipple as he nipped the other, her full weight falling on his fingers as they curled within her, brushing against her g spot and his thumb circled her other sweet spot.
The tension which had been rapidly building within her suddenly broke. Her body jolted. Her eyelids snapped shut. And she saw fireworks.
Lex grinned with primitive pride, as he stroked her through her orgasm, trying to prolong it for as long as possible, relishing his power, the feeling of her in his arms and her warm heat enveloping him – even if not the part of his anatomy that he would have preferred.
Thank God Lilly was a heavy sleeper. Not even Chloe’s hands could silence the scream that ripped from deep within her.
Five minutes later, Lex carried Chloe’s boneless heap back to their bedroom and deposited her on the bed as they both wrapped themselves in towels.
“That was … wow”, she finally managed to form words.
“Yeah”, he agreed, crashing down next to her.
“And you didn’t even get any of the good bits”, she teased, rolling over to cuddle him. They would fuck again a little bit later, but for that moment cuddling was enough.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that”, he willingly wrapped his arms around her.
“You’re sweet”.
“That isn’t what you will be saying later”, he promised her.
“You were always sweet”.
“This is not good for my reputation”.
She laughed and kissed his chin, the only place she could reach from where she was lying, and she didn’t have the energy to move, “Don’t worry, I’m the only one who knows and I won’t think any less of you … or your sex god ways”.
“That’s nice”.
“I’ve missed you so much”, she confessed, “In general, but also just the incredible sex”.
“Yeah, we were always good at that - or at least I was”, he teased her. He had to get her back for her unmanly way of describing him.
She poked him.
“Okay, you weren’t bad either”.
“Oh please, I was awesome”.
~*~
“Thank-you for making time to see me Mr Luthor, especially considering your well documented abhorrence of reporters”, a smooth female voice thanked him as she was shown into Lex’s office.
“Not all”, he closed the door behind them and showed her to a seat, giving her a practiced, urbane smile designed to make a woman’s knees go weak. He had a shock coming if he thought that he could get around her like that.
She sank into the chair indicated, opposite his, at the main desk. She smiled as he sat suavely behind his desk, the position of power.
“Exceptions, Miss Sullivan, can always be made. Especially, I might add, when dealing with the number one blog in Metropolis”.
“Flattery will get you absolutely no where”, she informed him in a pleasant, and only slightly flirtatious, voice.
“That’s not my experience”, he gave her a penetrating look and she had to force herself not to squirm in her chair, “but I will take your word for it”.
“Are we going to play games Mr Luthor or are you going to answer my questions?” She crossed her wrists over her note pad, indicating that she was ready to get down to business.
“Are you genuinely asking for my personal preference or …” He noted her expression and, with a sigh, lent back in his chair. “I suppose that it will have to be the interview”.
Chloe gave a nod. She put her tape recorder on the desk, gave it one last check and then said, “Would you please confirm for the record that I may record this interview?”
“I suppose so”.
“A ringing endorsement”, she muttered.
“What was that Miss Sullivan?”
“Nothing Mr Luthor, just clearing my throat”, she covered, trying not to squirm under the look he was giving her. “So”, she composed herself looking back down at her notes, “what finally made you say yes to this interview?”
“I was informed (very politely) that I had welshed on it long enough and that I needed to man up and do it. Especially considering the amount of money I have made recently on a certain nosey reporter’s advice”, he had in fact been rather touched that she had taken the time to do such a thorough job researching something which could be of no use to her, just to give him the edge on another company. Besides, he was powerless not to give in to her every whim.
“What do you have against reporters?”
“They make their living out of other people’s miser, misconstruing the truth and whipping people up into a frenzy about nothing”, he said honestly. He had promised to be completely honest, but still he stared at her, hoping that she wasn’t hurt.
“Not all of us, besides you have spun the media to your own advantage a few times, wouldn’t a good publicist be the better option than hatred?” She wondered.
“Possibly. It is just a personal disgust I have … with a few exceptions, of course”.
“Why?” She couldn’t help herself.
He fixed her with a look and the shutters came down over his eyes, “When I was twelve I was walking from one class to the other at boarding school and I was suddenly pounced on by a reporter (I have no idea how he even got in there) who asked me how I felt about my mother’s death. I didn’t know that she had died until then, I had thought that she was recovering”. His face betrayed no emotion and neither did his voice, and that told Chloe more than anything else ever could have. She knew that it had destroyed him.
“Oh Lex”, she gasped, ready to leap out of her seat and hold him, forgetting about their interview. She knew that he wouldn’t appreciate her sympathy but she couldn’t do this to him and needed to hold him and show him how much she loved him. Nothing was worth hurting him, not even the truth.
“Miss Sullivan”, he corrected her and she froze. His eyes were hard and told her clearly to stay where she was.
She swallowed and remained seated. “Well, you are known as being a very private man (normally) but I want to get to the bottom of you”. She tried to recapture some of her earlier arrogance.
“In only an hour?”
“If needs be”.
“Alright”, he smirked slightly, “Go ahead”.
She cleared her throat, never one to back down from a challenge. “How do you respond to accusations against your company?” She hadn’t got a response to that question last time either.
“Well, according to a recent article in the Inquisitor, they disappear in dark and mysterious circumstances, I believe that they were implying that I had something to do with it”.
“Did you?”
He smirked at her. “Not according to an anonymous blogger who appeared on the scene a few months ago. He or she argued very persuasively that actually the people in question had embezzled money and were living on a private island in the pacific”.
“And you believed him or her?”
“As they were found last week and I got the contract as a result, I have to say that I do”.
“Hmm”, she pretended to be making a note. “What are your plans for the company?”
“LexCorp will consolidate and expand”.
“How effusive”.
A huff of laughter escaped him. “Fine, how about this? I plan on building a strong base so that I won’t always have to work so hard and can plan for a very prosperous and secure future. Is that more along the lines of what you wanted to hear?”
“Maybe”.
Their eyes locked.
“If you mean it”.
“I promised not to lie”, he reminded her.
Her notes became extremely interesting once more. He smirked.
“Your view on the economy?”
“It’s going to the dogs”.
She nodded in agreement. Reading the newspaper was getting to be depressing.
“What would you like to see happening in our fair city?”
“Less corruption. There is more than enough money raised in taxes to do practically everything that needs to be done but it gets … redistributed”.
“You would stop that?”
“I’m already rich. I have no reason to skim the cream off the top”, he reminded her, although they both knew that she didn’t doubt him.
“Good”, she turned over the page, “Now for the interesting questions. Your private life”.
“My private life, Miss Sullivan, is private”, he fixed her with a warning looked. It was fierce and should have had her running for the hills, as it was she just wondered if someone had turned up the thermostat. She ran her fingers around the neck of her top, trying to get some air to her overheated flesh. He found his gaze following her fingers as they (apparently carelessly) traced the edge of her collar, then down casually over her breasts finally coming to rest on her smooth pale skin of her legs as she crossed them, her skirt rising just enough to give him a glimpse of creamy thigh.
“I know that that is your normal response, but I thought that you might make an exception, in my case”.
“You did, did you?” Impertinent little minx.
She apparently took this as him giving his permission, as the next words out of her mouth were, “Favourite colour? I’m starting you off easy”.
“Based on your attire, I would guess that you already knew that it was purple”, he perused her formal deep purple wrap around dress. Professional yet extremely sexy, especially when she leant forwards just that little too far and he glimpsed a hint of cleavage.
She studiously ignored him, and willed her cheeks to stop flushing. It didn’t work.
“Favourite book?”
“Just one?”
“Yes, and you can’t say The Art of War or something else that you found useful. It has to be your actual favourite. One that you are absolutely in love with”.
“Winnie The Pooh”.
Her head snapped up at that.
“It was the first book that I read all of the way through when I had just turned three”, he remembered it with an odd combination of joy, pride and sadness as he remembered how proud his mother and even father had been of him that day. The next day his father had given him a copy of the oxford English dictionary, saying that if he could read Winnie the Pooh it was time that he expanded his vocabulary.
Sensing that she probably shouldn’t ask any more on that particular subject, she moved on. “I always liked Piglet. Film?”
“Don’t have one”.
“Come on Lex”, she huffed.
He smirked, “I don’t, I like a lot of stuff, the only one I ever really really liked as Peter Pan and that was as a child. I thought that it would be cool to fly off to Never Never Land”. Again he stopped there and Chloe could imagine that it would have seemed amazing to a boy with Lionel as a father to fly off somewhere where you were actually allowed to be a kid.
She swallowed and tried to think of something to say, “But not with Wendy, right?”
“Of course not”, he huffed. “Wendy was no fun at all. What is the point of going off somewhere with no parents only to have a want to be mother spoiling all of your fun? Peter should have stayed with Tinker Bell”.
“That’s what I always thought! Wendy is a home wrecker and I bet that she wouldn’t have risked her life for Peter after he had been horrible to her like Tink did!”
“No”, he tried to hide his mirth, “probably not”. It was odd, as a child he had always wanted his own Tinker Bell and now he had one. He didn’t know why he had gone off the rails during his late teens and early twenties and thought that he wanted a Wendy.
She gave him a decidedly Tinker Bellish grin, “Historical period? And please say something more interesting than Alexander the Great”.
“I really wanted to meet Leonardo Da Vinci”, there was a boyish glint in his eyes, “I would have helped him build his helicopter. Can you imagine that? Meeting him? Getting to create things like that, I mean, I know that he never finished anything and never actually got to create things but that was because he didn’t have someone like me to help him”. That had been his favourite day dream as a child. When his own father was angry with him and had locked him in his room for hours on end without food, or water or human companionship so that he could “dedicate himself more fully to his studies” Lex had taken refuge in a world of make-believe. There, there was no domineering father, no knowledge that however hard he tried he would always be a failure, no sense of his ultimate unworthiness, unlovableness and doom. There, he was the apprentice of the smartest man in history, someone he could look up to and admire who had chosen him. Leonardo Da Vinci would have made a great mentor – in a purely paternal sense of course.
Chloe really wanted to hug him and kiss him all over. He was so cute when he got involved in designing or building something. It was such a shame that Lionel had never let him pursue his obvious talent. He could have got someone else to manage the family business. Lex was going to be a fantastic father. She could already picture him sprawled out on the rug with their little toddler playing with the building blocks trying to teach it to make a Cathedral. Not that she was thinking about things like that just yet.
“So, does that mean that your favourite country is Italy?”
“Probably”. Why hadn’t he taken her there yet? Chloe would love Italy. Especially the pasta and hot chocolate.
“Time of year?”
“Summer, holidays”.
“Art?”
“Leonardo again”.
“I might have guessed”, she rolled her eyes to disguise the affection in them. “What about food?”
“You know that it is steak”. He loved steak, he was always trying to convince her/slash remove when she wasn’t looking to eat it instead of burgers.
“Yes, I am aware of your ridiculous need for steak”, only the night before he had emptied her fridge of the budget burgers she had brought and replaced them with organic fillet mignon – threatening to tell her how burgers were made if she didn’t start eating properly. “Pizza toppings?”
“Traditional”. He really hated it when people messed about with his pizza. Whoever had thought of creating the Chicken Tikki pizza should be shot.
“Boring”, she muttered.
“Philistine”.
She resisted the urge to stick out her tongue, reminding herself that she was a serious journalist. “Favourite childhood toy?”
“Building blocks, Lego, Meccano and my toy castle”, he stated. “Anything you can build with”
“Papier mache?” She had loved that stuff as a kid, except for that time when she had somehow papered her hands together early in the morning when she had been using it unsupervised to make her Dad a surprise present. He had been quite surprised to be awoken by a sobbing Chloe with hands bound in grey goo.
“Never allowed it”, Lex shrugged and then observing Chloe’s appalled expression, elaborated, “too messy”.
Her hands gripped at her note book and she was half tempted to storm out of there and go and thrash Lionel to within an inch of his life, but that would mean leaving Lex alone.
“I’m sorry”.
He wasn’t having that. “Tapped already?” He challenged her.
“Not quite yet”, she assured him. She crossed her arms on her knee and leant forward, allowing him a fantastic view. The kind of view that would make most other men lose control of their faculties and do whatever she wanted. “How old were you when you lost your virginity?”
“Tapped was the wrong word, I see”, he smirked.
“Has anyone ever told you that for a very intelligent, articulate male you have the sense of humour of a fourteen year old boy?”
“Yes, one woman repeatedly so”, he settled back in his chair. It wasn’t his fault that the word tapped had become slang for fucked. Had he exploited the coincidence? Of course he had.
Chloe struggled not to blush as she remembered the last time she had told him that, he had been enjoying creating double entendres concerning the verb ‘to come’ whilst nestled between her legs. That had been a fun weekend.
“So”, he drew the word out, enjoying just how much he could make her squirm, “You wanted to know how old I was when I lost my virginity”.
“If you feel like telling me”, she added for the sake of politeness.
“Hmmm”, they both knew that he had absolutely no choice. He wondered if she had actually saved his ass just so that she could stipulate that she could have an interview and pepper him with questions. He wouldn’t put it passed her. Hell, he wouldn’t have put it passed her to manipulate the other companies into causing the crises to save him so that she could ask questions. Nosey minx that she was. “I was thirteen”.
“Thirteen”, she chocked.
“Yes, it is worryingly not an uncommon age at which to have sex for the first time”. That had been one of the things that he had wanted to tackle once he reached the senate – although he guessed that Jonathan (or rather Martha) would also do a good job of that too.
“I know but I thought that you were …” she searched for the right words, “you know, geeky and unattractive then”.
He laughed. “Thanks for the flattering description”.
She shrugged, “I’m sure that I would have found you adorable, anyway”. She had seen pictures from him at that age, he had looked so lost and lonely. She would probably have attached herself to his side in an attempt to cheer him up, but that would have effectively stopped him from ever becoming attracted to her.
“No, you wouldn’t”.
“Well, clearly someone did”.
“Chloe, my dear … Miss Sullivan”, he corrected himself, “prostitutes don’t tend to care about those sorts of things”.
“A prostitute?”
She wasn’t shocked that he had used one of those services over the years, it would be easy enough for a man like him to get company for the evening, the hard part was getting them to leave. It didn’t bother her too much in theory, she knew that he would never have used someone who had not been completely willing, however, she didn’t think that it could have been very fulfilling for him. He needed someone who was going to hold him at night, whether he liked it or not, and make him all hot and sweaty.
“Yes, does it bother you?” He tried to sound nonchalant, as if it didn’t actually bother him what she thought. As if she didn’t have the power to wound him.
“Not massively”, she paused. “Although where you found her, does concern me. And what made you decide to seek one out”.
He snorted. “I didn’t. It was my father’s idea”.
“I’m going to kill him”, Chloe was on her feet. She slammed her notebook closed, forgetting about her tape recorder. “I am going to beat the living daylights out of him and then rip his heart out of his chest and …”
“Not you’re not”, Lex said, leaping up and tearing around his desk to pull her into his arms. “You are going to stay right here with me”. He sat back down on her chair and pulling her with him so that she nestled in his lap.
“But he …”
“It’s alright baby, it’s alright”, he stroked his hands through her hair, trying to convince himself that he was merely amused by how much she obviously cared about him. Not touched.
“It’s not alright, how could he do that to you? You were only a little boy? Your mother couldn’t have been dead more than a year and your brother”, she looked heartbroken, “you needed kindness and love and affection not to be forced into the arms of some dirty, horrible whore”.
“She was quite nice actually”, he rubbed her back, “and not dirty, Dad would never have allowed that. He sent me off to an all-boys school and then are rather worried about the effect that that might have had on me (he hadn’t realised that the women in the comic books I liked where hotter than hell) so he got me a prostitute. Honestly, it wasn’t an emotionally traumatic experience. It was useful, you can get very good feedback from a professional”, he tried to joke.
“I still want to really hurt him at least”, Chloe buried her face into the side of his shoulder.
“I know”, he chuckled as he rubbed her back. “Come on, I’ll cheer you up by answering the rest of your questions. Are they all that intrusive?”
“Pretty much”, she didn’t object when he took her booklet and began to thumb through it.
“You know, I’m starting to believe that this was all just a rouse to get to have ‘the talk’ without being ‘that girl’”.
“If it were, would you mind?” Her voice was muffled by his shoulder.
“Whilst we both know that I find it damned near impossible to say no to you, if it were really important I’m sure that I would find a way”. He was, in fact, sure of no such thing.
“Sure you would”, she did not sound like she believed him. Lex settled for tickling her back slightly before returning his attention to her notebook.
“How many partners”, he read the next question off her list. This really was well thought out. “I am assuming with a mind as smutty as yours”, he gave her a nudge, which she returned, “that you are referring to sexual partners?”
“Of course, besides since when is my mind a negative?” She allowed her breath to tickle the soft flesh of her throat, “I thought that you like my ideas”.
“I do”, he assured her as the hand that had been nestling around her waist slipped a little lower. “Does it concern you?”
“That you have probably slept with a lot of other women?” At one time it had, she had never thought that he could want to be with her after so many, much more beautiful, talented, experienced women, but then he had wanted her and she had decided that he must know his own mind. “No, you chose me, right?”
“Right”, although in his mind it was the other way around. She had chosen him and then he had been powerless to resist.
“I’m just curious”, she shrugged, attempting to sound casual and failing miserable. She changed tactic, trying to be funny, “rounding off to the nearest thousand”, but he could see the real concern in her eyes.
“Less than a thousand”, he thought over the string of faceless women, “four hundred maybe. But only four of them were ever more than once. Victoria, Desiree, Helen and you”.
“Did you love any of them?”
“If you don’t know the answer to that, then you are not as smart was we both think you are”, he kissed her nose. It was the nearest that either of them had ever come to saying those three particularly special words. She grinned and kissed him and kissed him and kissed him. She probably would have continued indefinitely if Lex had not finally broken away, remembering that there were two questions left.
Chloe busied herself with his neck, nibbling on a particularly yummy tendon which she had discovered.
“What is your favourite position and have you ever done it in your office?” Lex read aloud, “Well, those are leading questions of ever I heard/read them”.
“Leading?” Chloe batted her eyes innocently at him, or at least that was what she meant to say and do. Seeing as she was a little preoccupied there was a chance that it had not come out that way.
He grinned wickedly at her before lopping his arm underneath her knees and standing up, lifting her with him to perch her on the edge of his desk.
“Any position which includes you”, he growled, “and yes. Now, what is my reward for answering all of whose questions?”
“What do you want?” She inquired, running her hands over the soft fabric of his shirt. “Something … I hope”.
“I feel like turning the tables”, he grinned wickedly down at her as he grasped her hands and pulled them from his front. He knew that she was far too skilled with her hands to allow them to roam over his body at will if he wanted to get any answers out of her. “I think that it is my turn to ask the questions”.
“That isn’t how an interview traditionally works”, she pouted.
“Traditionally you don’t blackmail people into giving your interviews”.
“Shows how little you know”, a combination of impertinence and blackmail was how she got the vast majority of her interviews (and quite a few of her stories). “Besides, I didn’t blackmail you. I just pointed out that I saved your ass and you welshed on my last one”.
“I saved your life”, he reminded her.
“Plus, I gave you the best advice in your career”. That should count for something.
“True”, there was no arguing with that, “but, I made you scream my name only last night”.
“So?”
“I just thought that it deserved to be mentioned”. In his (not so) humble opinion, it should be mentioned (and repeated) as often as possible.
Chloe rolled her eyes.
“Come on Chloe, fair’s fair”.
“But …”
“Fair”, he reminded her with a kiss, “is fair”.
“Fine, ask your questions but then I want sex and lots of it. Quite possibly on this desk”.
He smirked. “You can count on it”.
Lex decided to be ‘fair’ as he thought of it, and ask her only those questions which she had asked him. It didn’t take as long, as he already knew most of the answers, and the only one that really mattered was the one about love. He waited anxiously as Chloe pretended to think carefully about her answer – he might have known that she would take the opportunity to tease him.
“If you don’t know that then you are not as smart as you think you are”.
“That’s not fair”.
“Yes it is”.
“No, it’s not. Tell me properly”.
“Make me”.
Lex draped her back over the desk and did his very best to do so. The office rang with the sounds of wood creaking, skin slapping together and harsh breathing and grunting. He had her arched back on the hard wood, her hands clawing at the polished surface for purchase, her legs bent over his shoulders stretching her wider than she had thought she could go, her head thrown back in ecstasy, her mouth hanging open. Lex pounded into her, desperate to make her scream. She did. With considerable vigour. His name. But not the words he longed to hear.
A few hours later Chloe was straightening her clothes and collecting her affects.
Lex brushed his hands down his shirt, smoothing out the worst of the wrinkles, as he walked her to the door.
“Thank-you for your time, Mr Luthor”.
“Any time, Miss Sullivan. Do you have any more questions?”
“Not at the present time, but I might ring you later … say tonight?” She used her practiced seductive look, the one where she peered up at him through her long, mascaraed eyelashes, “If I think of any”.
“I’m always at your disposal”.
“Good”, she broke out of character for a second, to give him a kiss on the cheek, “I really do appreciate your taking the time out to talk with me on Thanksgiving.”
“Think nothing of it”, he couldn’t resist giving her a brief hug before she left.
~*~
Chloe crept through the mansion later that day anxious to find her Lex. She had been at the Kents with her father that afternoon for Thanksgiving and couldn’t help but feel guilty that Lex wasn’t there. She wanted him to be, but she knew that that wasn’t a possibility. Not when their relationship was still supposed to be a secret. But that was no reason why he couldn’t come to her house for dessert. Gabe wouldn’t mind. In fact, he would probably insist upon it.
She snuck all of the way through the mansion until she spied him through a slightly open door. She should have known, silly bugger, he was working. It was a good job that she had distracted him that morning otherwise he would have had a terrible holiday.
“So nice of you to make time to come all of the way to Smallville Dad, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”
“Well, you are my only son”, Lionel said looking around the office as he always did.
“Legitimate one possibly”, Lex didn’t take his eyes off his sire.
Lionel ignored that.
“Just trying to see if you are running my company into the ground”.
“LexCorp isn’t yours Dad and LuthorCorp is doing fine. But you know that from the board meetings, don’t you?” He said with a smirk. He knew just how furious it made his father that he now attended those meetings as a charity case with no power and had to watch everyone bow down before his son. It was a shrewd plan from Lex’s perspective not merely because it humiliated him on a daily basis but also because a man with something (even a very little) to lose, was far less likely to attempt to betray him than someone who could sink no further.
Lionel snarled, 5% it was ridiculous. He had created that company. He had killed for that company.
“Beware son, when you turn your back on your family, things have a way of coming back to haunt you”, he delivered this threat whilst studying a vase before turning to leave.
Chloe swallowed and pushed her back against the wall, making sure that he wouldn’t see her as he stalked out of there. There were good reasons why they weren’t letting anyone know about their relationship. It could destroy them both. She waited outside the room, for a few seconds, debating whether or not to go in but then turned her back. It was just one holiday. She was being overly emotional. It didn’t matter.
Half an hour later Lex smiled as he received an email, “Just to let you know that you were missed … and that we are having apple pie at exactly 3pm at the Sullivan family residence. Your attendance is mandatory”.
A/N: So, two chapters in one day. That means that I expect reviews! :D
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
great update love it please keep going I can't wait for more.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Lionel is such a bastard. I can't believe that Lex and Lionel is getting along in the presents and Lionel is a doting grandfather to Lilly. I wonder what happen that makes Lionel change?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Hiiiii I'm back
Hopefully my Chlollie obsession is gone and I'll be able to handle all the ships at the same time lol
That's an amazing fic. Love Chlex family and that both granddaddies are so sneaky and funny :)
And a horse called NO? Only a Chlex child would do that lol
:)
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Malugargula: Hello! There you are, I was getting worried. Are there even any good Chollie fics, I mean, as good as Chlex. Is there a Zannie or BlueSabby of Chollie?
Glad that you like it. Yes, she called him no accidentally.
Trckyrcky: Yes, he is. I will give you a clue, it was very very painful.
Starmoon: Yay, nice to see that you are reading. :D
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Okay, I’ll agree that you are pretty damned good”, Lex said as they cuddled on the large double bed in Chloe’s hotel room.
“Pretty damned good? I was very damned good”, she bragged, nuzzling his neck softly – as she didn’t have the energy at that moment to do anything more -, “and so angelic”.
He let out a huff of laughter as he squeezed the soft flesh of her ass, pulling her even closer, “Fantastic and the sweetest person I have ever known … but hardly angelic. In fact”, he just about had the energy to turn his head and give her a little pat, “I seem to remember more than one occasion of extreme naughtiness”.
Chloe adopted her most innocent expression, “I have no such recollection”.
“Lying, I believe would also count as naughtiness”, it was just a shame that neither of them had enough energy to do anything about it at present.
~*~
The lift came to the top of the LexCorp building and Chloe’s hand shot out to hit the emergency stop button just before the carriage came to a halt, preventing it from making the pinging noise which was both annoying and disastrous if one was on a secret mission. Carefully she typed in the override number which allowed her to open the doors manually and silently, just enough to poke her head through it.
Her face split into a wide grin. Her rouse had worked; Lex’s secretary had left on a wild goose chase leaving Chloe’s path clear. She almost giggled with delight. She was a genius. Getting in had been beyond easy as all of the security personnel knew that she was allowed free reign of the place – even though they did not know what her relationship to Lex was -, her lift trick had worked like a charm, and the only fly in the ointment Natalie the Nosey - as Chloe had taken to calling her last week, earning her a laugh and accompanying swat from Lex – had fallen for her ploy as well.
Anxious not to push her luck, she flew across the deserted waiting room and punched in the code to Lex’s office which she now knew by heart and she was in.
“Well, that was easy”, she decided as she strolled around the large expansive room. It was a luxury to be able to take her time spying and really relish the entire process instead of running all over the place and she was determined to enjoy herself. She moseyed over to stand by the window placing her hands on the cool glass and leaning against it to get the best view out over the city and down directly onto the pavement below. There was blessedly no sign of Lex’s car yet. He would be in the limo today.
With a sigh of relief, she took in the prospect. She had always loved the view of Metropolis; the feeling of power that it gave one was almost heady. With a little giggle she sauntered into the en suite to check her reflection in the full length mirror therein, it was unfortunate that so often the necessities of spying played havoc with one’s appearance. Apparently her (not entirely necessary) dash across Lex’s deserted waiting room hadn’t caused too much damage and after having brushed a few stray hairs back into place, she was satisfied with her looks and sauntered back out into the office to sit behind Lex’s desk.
Chloe availed herself of the irresistible opportunity to swivel around in Lex’s chair a few times before pulling herself under the desk properly and taking in the view. She studied everything from the sleek sitting area to the piece of modern artwork which she knew hid a separate room full of files, as if she owned the place getting a glimpse of Lex’s perspective. It did make her feel oddly powerful. She smirked and wondered if she came off as intimidating as Lex did. Somehow she doubted it.
She reached out and ran her fingers across the cool surface of his desk. He had a very nice, large, neat, glass desk. It wasn’t to her taste but she could tell that it must have been a very expensive piece – although probably not from Lex’s perspective. The shape and perfection of the glass structure was highlighted by its owner’s methodical approach to everything, including the placement of his possessions. Everything was tidy and in its place with nothing conspicuous lying around.
There were only a few items on the surface, the only ornamental one being a picture in a sleek platinum frame which sat facing Lex (or rather her at that moment). It must have been a recent addition as she hadn’t noticed it before. She considered the image for a moment, with a soft smile flittering about her lips. It was an extremely beautiful photo of her which she hadn’t even known that he had taken, when they were at the mansion, outside lying on a picnic blanket. She looked radiant and so in love.
It almost made her change her mind about what she was about to do … almost. Then she considered that it was actually a good job that she had decided to break in and spy on him, otherwise she would never have discovered her photo sitting there grinning at him all day long. Besides, it wasn’t as if she were really doing anything wrong. Lex had after all only been angry about her acquiring information and spying on people from other companies as they might hurt her. He had never (specifically) said anything about not spying on him.
It was with a wicked grin that she leant forwards and appropriated the only Luthor ‘document’ on the table and turned it over in her fingers. This was going to be fun.
She was just debating sitting back and putting her feet up on the table, just because she could, when she heard Lex’s voice.
“Natalie, why is my office door unlocked?”
“I don’t know Mr Luthor, Sir. I have only just got back”. Lex must have been fixing her with one of his patented truth demanding looks as she explained in a rush, “They got a note for me downstairs. They said that I had to go and deal with it now. I don’t know what happened to your office”.
“I pay you, among other things, to know what happens to my office”, he reminded her.
“Yes Sir”, she didn’t know the combination, only Lex did and one other person.
That other person was currently sitting in her boyfriend’s chair, enjoying hearing Natalie the Nosey getting in trouble for once. Maybe that would teach her to keep her mind on her work and off her Lex. There was no excuse for the way that she dressed; Natalie’s ‘work clothes’ were almost as tight and short as the dress that Chloe was wearing herself. Disgraceful.
“I had better not find anything amiss”, Lex warned, thinking that this was rather an odd thing to say as he had just come up to find his door unlocked. He had good security though and he had no idea how a thief would even had entered to start with. Not sure what he was going to find, his hand went for his inner pocket – where he always carried his gun – and the other for the door.
Chloe jumped to her feet, thrust both hands (and the slip of paper) behind her back and adopted what she hoped was an innocent expression.
“Chloe”, he should have known. He eased his grasp on his gun and closed the door after him, locking it from the inside. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” He hadn’t been expecting to see her today and never in his office without him, she always waited in his apartment.
“Oh, no reason”, she start unconvincingly, “I just missed you so much that I couldn’t bear another minute away from you”.
He let out a huff of laughter. He believed that she missed him, possibly almost as much as he always missed her when she was away, but not her act.
“It is a good job that you are an investigative journalist Chloe – or at least, you will be after graduation – because you suck as an actress”.
“I do not”, she huffed indignantly.
“Don’t try to distract me by an “are too”, “am not” style debate”, he said calmly as he walked over to where she was standing, next to his desk.
She gave him a challenging look, as there didn’t seem to be much point in denying it as he could apparently see right through her.
“I saw what you were doing”.
“What I was doing?” She blinked.
“No, defiantly not an actress”, he smirked, “What are you really doing here Chloe?”
“Oh, nothing”.
He raised an eyebrow. “Care to elaborate?”
“Not really”, she twisted her arms behind her back and slipped the paper into the waist band of her skirt, she slipped the note inside the band of her skirt, hopefully without him noticing.
Lex could read her like a book.
He reached forwards across the desk and hit the intercom, “Natalie”, he spoke to his secretary, “I will be dealing with a security matter of the upmost importance; let anyone disturb me on pain of death”.
“Yes, Mr Luthor Sir”.
Chloe swallowed as the call ended and he fixed her with a penetrating stare. “I take company security very seriously Chloe”.
“I know that”.
“And I believe that you have taken something from me”.
She adopted her innocent expression once more. Apparently she needed to find a new one as this one wasn’t working for her.
“Hand it over”.
“I don’t know what you are talking about Lex”, she tried again. She studied his expression intently and was certain that she saw the glimmer of a smile.
“Hand it over Chloe”, he moved forward so that he was looming over her, his warm breath sending shivers down her spine, “or I will be forced to search you”.
“Well then, I guess that that is why what you are going to have to do, most reluctantly, I’m sure”.
He smirked at that and grasped her hands, leading her out into the centre of the room. He examined her appearance with considerable interest: she was dressed for seduction rather than espionage. Her dark top and skirt combination hugged her curves deliciously and her heels made her legs look as if they went on forever. He barely resisted the urge to lick his lips as he unfastened the pins which held her bun in place, discarding them on his desk before running his fingers through her long silken tresses drawing a throaty moan from his beloved.
His hands continued down her swan like neck, then over her slim shoulders and smoothing them down her arms to stroke her hands.
“Nothing so far”, he commented as if he were really just trying to frisk her.
“Cheeky bastard”.
He smirked, as he continued his hands finding her plump breasts, kneading them through the cloth, “Not hiding any concealed weapons, are you?” He teased.
“Nu uh”, she shook her head with a whimper, then changed her mind, “actually, why don’t you keep searching?”
He laughed at her and ran his thumbs across her nipples before moving him warm palms down across her stomach and then around to squeeze her behind. It took all of Chloe’s self-control not to throw herself on him. He continued to stroke and caress her until he came across what she was hiding. It was almost as if he had known where it was all along.
“Look what we have here”, he tutted, plucking the piece of paper from her waist band and placing it down on his desk, blank side up, without looking at it. “How do you explain that?” Without giving her the chance to explain anything (not that she could have) he decided, “If only I could be sure that this was all. Unfortunately, I can’t be. I think a strip search, just to be on the safe side”.
“Lex”, she gasped, not sounding in the slightest dismayed by the notion.
“Can you do it yourself or do you need my help?” He enquired as he wrapped his hands loosely around her waist.
She grinned at him. With a considerable amount of fondling and petting from Lex – just to make sure that there was nothing concealed anywhere, of course – she was standing naked in the middle of the room as Lex made his way over to the sofa and sat back, very well pleased with what he had accomplishment so far. She really was the most gorgeous creature that he had ever seen.
“Care to explain to me why you had one of my documents concealed on your person Chloe? Or why you were in my office?”
“Not really”.
“Chloe”.
“Fine”, she added a roll of her eyes, for dramatic effect, “I spied on you, but you only said that I wasn’t to do dangerous things. You aren’t dangerous”.
“I’m not?” He fixed her with a look which made her squirm.
“No”, she taunted, “you’re a big teddy bear”.
“I’m not sure whether to be flattered or angry at that”, he smiled at her, unable to maintain the pretence of annoyance. “But I have to disagree, I like to think that I am very dangerous and I believe that I have made my feelings on you getting into trouble perfectly clear”.
“That if you catch me doing something dangerous again you are doing to spank me?” She licked her lips, “Yes, I believe that you did”.
“And yet here I find you”.
“Here you find me”, she agreed, grinning from ear to ear. Damn it, she was supposed to be looking contrite. She would have to try harder.
“You know, espionage is extremely dangerous business”, his voice was low and husky, a smirk touching his lips as he watched Chloe’s tights clenching together.
“Yes”, she agreed in a sweet sing songy voice, “or at least it would be if the company weren’t owned by my delightful, delicious, delectable, darling, dear boyfriend”, she said as she advanced on him and stroked the side of his face.
He stroked his hand over hers gently, “True, we both know that I’m not going to send you to prison or worse”.
She grinned down at him.
“However”, he grasped her wrists.
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to start a sentence with a conjunction?” She couldn’t resist taunting him.
“However”, he stressed the word and gave her wrists a gentle but authoritative tug, “it would hardly be a wise business move for me to allow you to just walk out of here with important business information unchastened and clearly wholly unrepentant”.
“Probably not”, she agreed, “but I would appreciate it none the less”. She would appreciate a good deal of things considering the way that he was looking at her. She tried to keep her hips from undulating at the thought.
He raised an eyebrow at her again, “Would you now? But answer me this, Miss Sullivan”, he placed her hands on his shoulders and placed his hands on her hips, “would you let you just walk out of here, if you were me?”
She batted her eye lashes at him and in a honeyed voice proclaimed, “Of course I would”.
He laughed. A rich, warm sound which reverberated around the room.
“You know, we are really going to have to do something about that lying tongue of yours”, he patted her behind ominously.
“What are you going to do about it?” She taunted as she allowed herself to be pulled into his lap, straddling him so that they were nose to nose.
He shook his head, silly smile on his face.
“Incorrigible”. He nipped her ear.
“Possibly”, she allowed.
“Probably”, he counted, kissing her cheek.
“Definitely”, she relented.
“Absolutely!”
His hand slapped against her bare flesh.
“Oh”, she gasped and braced her hands against his shoulders as she craned around to see his hot, red hand print glowed against her pale flesh.
Lex grazed his fingers across the mark proprietarily.
“Meanie”, she complained as she turned back to him and nuzzled his neck, moaning against his flesh as he spanked her again.
“You asked for it”, he squeezed her.
“No sh… oh, oh, ah, Lex”, she whimpered as a barrage of stinging swats rained down against her bare flesh, putting on a good show of a suitably punished woman in spite of the fact that he was barely patting her.
Her nails travelled down his chest, through the thin fabric of his shirt, knocking his tie to the side.
“Behave yourself or I’ll tie you up”, he threatened , groaning as the images crowded his already lust filled mind.
“What kind of deterrent is that?” She wondered as her hands clawed at his shirt, trying to rip it open so that she could devour more of his warm, smooth, salty skin.
“Chloe”, his voice held an edge of warning.
“Sorry”, she said, without so much of a trace of repentance in her seductive purr. Deciding that that amounted to lying he slapped her ass again and was pleased to note the way that she lowered herself to grind against his erection.
“I should hope so”.
She looked up at him through her lashes, “I’m really, really sorry, get out of these clothes and I’ll prove it to you”.
“Well, I suppose”, he decided as she rubbed herself against him again, “that you have been punished enough so”. He managed to perform a set of movements which Chloe was fairly certain must have been meteor powdered, contorting himself into weird and wonderful shapes to discard his jacket, tie and shirt in under three seconds.
“Good boy”, she settled herself on top of him, her wet entrance leaving marks against his trousers as she began to rock back and forth. She was in charge now and she wanted him to know it.
“Don’t get too sure of yourself”, he warned her as he placed his hands on her breasts and massaged them firmly, causing her to arch her back and whimper.
“But …”
He pinched her nipples.
“Oh fuck yes”, she whimpered before trying to remember her previous train of thought.
“Don’t swear”, he warned her, reluctantly releasing her breasts to pat her bottom, only to grip hold of them again and massage them firmly. Poor breasts, no need for them to be neglected just because of Chloe’s wicked tongue.
“Lex”, she pleaded, “I … I … I can’t remember what I was going to say”.
He laughed. She was incredibly sensitive everywhere but especially her breasts. She could never think straight once he got his hands on them, which worked out well because he could never think straight when they were out of their cloth confines let alone in his hands.
“I believe, my naughty darling, that you were about to give me some claptrap about you being the one in charge here and being unrepentant for your misconduct”, he squeezed her milky orbs as he thrust up against her.
She ground herself against him, the fiction almost enough to send her over the top. She could probably come like that but she was afraid that he might as well, judging from the colour of his face, and then she would be denied the ride she really wanted.
“Oh yeah”, she dragged her nails down his chest and reluctantly sat back a bit, although she continued to try to ride his thigh as she grappled with his belt. “I’m in charge and I’m taking off your belt now and then I am going to ride you hard and fast and listen to you beg me as you ah ah oh fuck yes”.
Lex had unbuckled his belt, pushed his trousers and down to his knees to reveal a decided lack of underwear, and delicious large and extremely hard cock. Which he promptly rammed into her, holding her roughly by the hips, too lost in the sensations to even remember to castigate her for use of foul language whilst being punished.
“Fuck baby so tight”.
“Yeah, all for you. All for you”.
“It had fucking well better be”, she was his. All his.
They rocked together, hard and fast until Lex thought that he was about to explode. He wasn’t going to make it without cheating. He slipped his hand between them and Chloe almost screamed the place down. She came. Hard. Her walls squeezing him to hard that he thought that he would break in two when he came.
After a few more muttered grunts and expletives, they collapsed together on the side on the sofa, panting and sweating terribly.
“God that was good”, Chloe groaned, keeping him inside her for as long as possible even as he softened.
“I’ll say”. He held her bedraggled form close to him, not caring for anything but the feel of her. He didn’t know when it had happened, when he had gone from the man who racked up notched on a bedpost to a snuggler. Oh well, at least his cock still worked so he couldn’t have become a woman completely.
They stayed like that for far too long. Finally dragging themselves up and over to the en suite bathroom to clean up, get dirty again and then squeaky clean. Chloe waked back in, naked but for a towel, and looked around for her clothes.
“What do you want for dinner?” Lex asked, as he watched her with interest, also wearing nothing but a towel.
“I’m don’t mind, Italian? Wait, am I staying?” It was a week night; she never stayed on a weeknight. She didn’t even normally see him on a weeknight.
“Aren’t you?” He seemed surprised.
“Sure, why not”, she smiled, she could use some more time with Lex. She could always use more time with Lex.
“Good”, he said smiling to himself. “What was your article going to be about?” He inquired.
“My article?” Her mind wasn’t functioning properly, still in the pleasant post-sex haze.
“Yes, your article”, Lex strolled over to the desk and picked up the slip of paper she had stolen. It as a post-it and it as blank on both sides.
“Oh, that”, she shrugged, “there was no article”.
He raised an eyebrow. “Care to repeat that?”
“Whatever made you think that there was an article or that I was in any kind of trouble?” She inquired, “I never said any such thing. I was just passing by and thought that I would borrow a post-it”. With that she got dressed and headed for the door, feeling smug. Honestly, Lex’s paranoia was getting a little out of control.
She was almost at the door, so she didn’t see the wicked smile which spread across his features as he bridge the gap between them and braced his hands on either side of the door, cutting off her escape.
“What are you doing?” She wondered, spinning around and finding herself pinned against the door.
“Rethinking my policy”, he studied her expression. She looked interested, flushed and hot. “You know that my stance is to be very tough on crime”, he explained, even though they had been through that together so she already knew his views – and had helped him write some of them.
“What did you have in mind? Setting an example?” Her breath caught in her throat as he pushed her hips back against the door. She felt herself getting wet again, she loved it when he unleashed his inner caveman.
“Oh yes”, moved to that their noses were touching, “I think that I am going to start with giving you a thorough tongue lashing, then a spanking followed by a good, hard f … round of discipline”, he caught himself at the last second.
“Hard discipline?” That was the best synonym for fuck he could come up with which fit in with their game.
“Oh yes, very hard. Across my desk I think … unless you have any better ideas”.
“No, that sounds like a pretty good to me”, she whimpered as she felt something very hard against her hip, “You know, I think that with ideas like this, you are definitely going to become senator”.
“Damned straight”, he announced as he hauled her up over his shoulder and carried her back over to his desk upon which he placed her, ripped her clothes off, and warned her to keep her hands on the desk and away from her own flesh until he told her.
He left her only long enough to grab a cushion on the floor to protect his knees before he went to work. Chloe tried her best to keep quiet, that was what you were supposed to do under torture, but she only managed a few seconds before her hips were rocking against him and she was panting. Then moaning. Then keening. Then outright begging. She could feel the warm hum of Lex’s laughter against her intimate flesh, sending a particularly delicious tremors of pleasure right to her core. He was brilliant.
She was overly heated, panting, sweating and ungainly but she didn’t care as he finally sucked on her clit and she came with a scream. He was definitely the most brilliant man alive. If he didn’t become president then there was something wrong with the world.
“That was”, she panted, leaning back on her elbows as he came up wiping his mouth and chin from her juices and taking a sip from one of the bottles of water he always kept on his desk. “That was …” She tried again.
“Just the beginning”, he supplied, placing the cushion on the desk and flipping her over so that her hips were high. He leant forwards over him, nuzzling her ear and whispering to her about how gorgeous she was, how perfect and absolutely his.
He trailed his hands back over her sooth skin until he reached the still pale globes. “So perfect”, he muttered again, before patting them gently. She wriggled, not at all displeased by the sensation.
“I know that you like to play games Chloe”, he enjoyed them himself, “and that you are independent but I’m serious that I will spank you properly if you ever put yourself needlessly in danger”.
“I know”, she craned her neck to look at him. She knew how much he cared about her and she wouldn’t cause him to worry if she could possibly help it, and if she did … she would make sure she hid it really really well.
“Good”, he said as he began to spank her gently taking time to massage the flesh in between swats, occasionally allowing his fingers to slip lower teasing her sensitive opening. When her skin took on the vaguest hint of a blush he stopped, although she was still moaning his name. He wasn’t going to risk actually causing her a second’s pain or even discomfort. He loved her far too much for that, and prayed that she would never put herself in danger so that he would never be forced to punish her or lose her.
She was sopping wet and begging for him by the time that he let her up only to work out that over the desk wouldn’t actually work as a method of love making unless they both wanted to cause themselves permentant back pain. Neither would against the window. It was Chloe who finally solved the problem by slipping out of his reach and getting onto the floor on all floors.
“What’s the matter Lex, too old and rickety to get down on the floor?” She looked back over her shoulder at him, teasingly as she transferred her weight onto one hand to stroke herself with the other.
Lex let out a pained groan at the sight, she was temptation itself. “At least get onto the rug so that you don’t hurt yourself”, he said barely giving her time to do so before he was on top of her, inside her, fucking her senseless as he reminded her that he got to tie her up if she touched herself … which she just had.
They screwed each other into oblivion before falling into a deep sleep on the rung, tangled in each other’s arms. When they woke up they spent the afternoon together and that night he did indeed tie her up to tease her and make love to her tenderly over and over again until they were both sated. That night he breathed the words she had so longed to her to her, just as she was drifting off to sleep.
“I love you”.
~*~
Lex and Chloe lay in each other’s arms, on top of the bed clothes, still in their bathing suites and towels, fast asleep. Both too exhausted to do more than sleep and dream of each other. The actual sex would have to saved until the following evening.
A/N: The first time that the L-word was used. So, what do you think?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Thanks God it's a really cold night today because, damn, that was really hot lol
Amazing chapter, thanks for sharing
Love how the L word was used
There are amazing Chlollie fics to read. And some good Chlean around there too.
I've been shipping them really hard (chlollie) then I found 4 brazilian friends just as obsessed as me and we ended up starting fanpages and fantwitters to both JH and AM lol
But Chlex will always be my first passion no matter what :)
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
great chapter can't wait to see what happen nexted. yeah the love word was used.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Cbrunberg: Thank-you. Yeah, they love each other.
Malugargula: He he Thank-you. Really? I didn't know that. Good to know that you are first and foremost a Chlexer.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chloe was wrapped in her husband’s arms, her head resting on his warm, well-muscled chest. She should have been happily in the land of nod but she moved around as she dozed fitfully.
“Chloe?” Lex asked in a tired whisper, as he stirred. He stared blearily around the still dark room and surmised that it was the middle of the night and that she must be having a bad dream. She rubbed her head against him. A really bad dream.
“Sweetheart”, he wrapped his arms around her more tightly and kissed her temple, “Come out of it sweetie”, he encouraged. That normally worked, just feeling him wrapped around her, hearing his voice could somehow transfer her dreams into something nice and comforting. It didn’t work this time.
“Lex, Lex please don’t leave me, please don’t leave”, Chloe moaned incoherently as she grasped at his naked torso.
“Baby”, he moved his grip to her shoulders and shook her gently. “Baby, you have to snap out of this”, he said as if the authority in his voice could somehow influence her subconscious.
“Lex”, she continued to cling to him.
“Come on”, he gave her a little shake, “honey you have to snap out of this now, come back to me Chloe”, he coaxed a little more and she began to mumble, a sure sign that she was beginning to awaken.
“Lex?” She croaked.
“I’m right here, baby”, he assured her, hoisting her up a little bit so that her face was in line with his, he would have turned on the bedside lamp but he didn’t want to release her at that second. “It’s alright, I’m right here”.
“What happened?”
“You tell me”, he whispered as he ran his hands through her hair.
“I was having a bad dream?”
“That would seem to be the likeliest explanation”, he continued to stroke her hair. “Do you remember what it was about?”
“No”, she thought, “I …”
“You what?”
“It’s nothing, I’m just being silly. Go back to sleep”, she rested her head back down on his shoulder.
“Chloe”, his voice was firmer now, “we aren’t going to get anywhere if you keep hiding things from me”. He knew that that was unfair, he knew that over the whole course of their relationship, probably even their respective lives, he was the one who had been less forthcoming, it wasn’t right that he picked up on it only when it was her. But he couldn’t let it go. He couldn’t make her feel better if he didn’t know what was wrong. He was going to get to the bottom of this.
“Don’t turn the light on, okay?” She asked, as she felt him move beneath her and guessed his intention.
“Okay”, it seemed an odd request but he would abide by it.
“I was just dreaming about us …”
“Go on”, he could sense that she was hesitant and he had a terrible feeling that she was doing it to spare his feelings.
~*~
Chloe moaned and rolled over, taking the bedcovers with her. She reached out her arm to try to locate her cuddly toy cum water bottle, without bothering to open her eyes, fully intending to drift back into complete slumber once her errant possession was discovered.
“Mehu”, she mumbled as she was met with nothing but empty space. She really did not want to open her eyes. That would be like admitting defeat. She was not ready to wake up yet!
“Mehu”, the word (of sorts) was repeated in a low chuckle.
“Hh”.
“Ah, an expansive explanation. I see that I was in error but have you considered the possibility of ‘Donuh’? I believe that that was your response yesterday, is this symptomatic of a significant shift in your belief system?” Her personal keep warm device said prosaically.
“Nuh”. She managed to get out as she felt his presence next to her, although the mattress was too well sprung to shift. She could smell him: the scent of his soap, his aftershave, his laundry detergent wafted around her. She moaned. He was up. Properly up.
She smelled his minty toothpaste and mouthwash as he leant down. His hot breath tickling her ear.
“I see that we are not in favour of getting up today”, he teased her. Chloe was never in favour of getting up. She hated it. Especially when she was in his bed. It was enormous and like sleeping inside a cloud.
She made some response but it was lost in the pillow into which her face was now stuffed.
Lex stretched out, on the bed, and stroked his hand through her poufy tangle of blonde tresses, once more admiring the way that her hair managed to fluff up. It was really most entertaining. To him, at least.
The petting convinced Chloe to move her head to one enough that she could be heard.
“Bed comfy. Inhuman to get up this early”.
“Yes, you tell me that most mornings”, he reminded her.
“Meh, wouldn’t have this problem if you would just stay where you are supposed to be”.
“And where would that be?”
She patted his leg, where he was actually presently sitting but he got the point anyway.
“Five am is still night-time!”
“Sure it is”, he kissed her head fondly. He imagined that had his father not trained him to rise so early in spite of how tired he was, or had he not had an elevated body he would have required as much sleep as did his little slugabed.
“Tis”. She pulled herself a little closer to him so that his thigh became her pillow. “Besides, this is a clear dereliction of duty as my personal and much beloved radiator”.
“You have all of the covers”, he reminded her. She was wrapped in his enormous 30 by 15 foot duvet – he had taken to storing his own duvet by the side of the bed to use when she managed to taken every single inch of covers after only been asleep for a couple of seconds, only to find that he didn’t need even the lightest of sheets as she then migrated to his side of the bed and snuggle.
“Yeah”, she agreed sleepily, “but I still need my Lex radiator, especially after the sacrifices I have made for you?”
He raised an eyebrow, she could sense it.
“Do you know how unsexy it is when you are lying there after an intense round of love making to have your boyfriend whip out a pair of fuzzy socks and slip them onto your feet?”
“May I remind you that they last time that icicle that you call a foot somehow managed to slip out of the cocoon of covers it found its way onto my leg and you were very upset when my shrieks of pain and shock woke you up”.
“Baby, they are not that bad”, she muttered.
“I beg to differ”, he grumbled. He had been really worried about that, but fortunately his doctors had checked her over and found that there was nothing actually wrong with her. She just had cold feet.
“Baby”, she closed her eyes once more.
Lex took a sip of his iced water that he had left on the side and thought for a moment, then another one until his hand was freezing and slowly, gently, slipped it under the covers along her naked back.
His ears were still ringing with insults an hour later when he left the apartment, rumpled but grinning. This was going to be a great day.
Chloe stretched out in the bed, still naked but for her socks even though she certainly wasn’t cold now. She loved her life. There was only one thing that could make it better: being a graduate, being in an open relationship with Lex and some coffee.
“Awwww”, she cooed as she noticed the thermos that Lex had left on the bedside. How had that escaped her notice before? He really was the most perfect man in the entire world. And she would get everything else she wanted by the end of that day.
Chloe Sullivan’s life was utterly perfect!
~*~
Chloe beamed as she dashed across the manicured lawns of Metropolis University towards two familiar looking men, her diploma now firmly grasped in her hand.
“Did you see us waving?” Gabe asked as he flung his arms around his little princess.
“Yes, I did”, Chloe laughed, “and unless my eyes were deceiving me, you also changed cameras twice”.
“Yes, flimsy digital cameras, only have space for two hundred pictures”, he squeezed her tightly.
“He’s got through two just in the car park”, Lex teased.
“It is an important day in my little Chloe Bear’s life”, Gabe reminded him, “besides, you are the one who hired two separate photographers”.
“You can hardly expect me to place all of my faith in one person”, Lex answered, grinning when Chloe was finally free from her father so he could embrace her.
He breathed in her fruity, flowery scent and kissed her forehead as she rocked up onto her tiptoes. “Not to be corny”, he whispered, “but I am so proud of you”.
Chloe decided that she would forgive the lack of proper kiss. She was about to respond when she noticed that she no longer had his undivided attention, his eyes were fixed at some point just over her right shoulder. He gently removed her arms from around him and ran his hands down her arms.
She glanced at her father to see if he had noticed but his eyes were also fixed a point on the horizon, although a different one to Lex, as they always seemed to be when they indulged in semi-public displays of affection.
Chloe affixed a sunny smile to her face and turned around to see what he was observing but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He was probably just being a gentleman, they hadn’t discussed bringing their relationship out into the open – it was just taken for granted that they were only waiting for her to graduate to be together openly.
“You okay?” She tried to sound breezy.
“Of course”, the corner of his lips quirked up.
She slipped her hand into his and gave him a tug, as she told him and her Dad, “Come on, I’ll show you where I went to class”.
Lex smiled and followed along with Gabe, he allowed his hand to drop from hers. It was interesting to be in the campus with her, it was one of those times that he wished that he could have been a full eight years younger and not the Luthor scion. It would have been great to be able to walk around with her there for four years. These thoughts were disturbed as someone he didn’t recognise came over and hugged Chloe, the girl was clearly not that good of a friend as Chloe stiffened, looked surprised, but returned the embrace.
“Hi Katie, let me introduce you, this is my Dad”. They shook hands.
“And this”, she paused for dramatic effect; it was the first time that she was going to present Lex as her boyfriend.
“I’m Lex, Chloe’s friend”, he said, stretching out his hand as Chloe didn’t seem to know what to call him.
She was not going to be overly dramatic. She wasn’t going to think that it was like a knife being plunged into her chest. She wasn’t going to cry. She wasn’t going to let this ruin her day.
“Chloe, what’s the matter?” Both the men in her life were staring at her with concern.
“Nothing, I think that I might just have breathed in a little too much pollen”, she brushed the matter off, wondering what had tipped them off.
“You don’t suffer from hay fever”, Lex frowned.
“Not normally, no. But sometimes, around freshly cut grass”, she prevaricated.
“Yes”, Gabe agreed, he got her antihistamines out of his pocket. She hardly ever needed them but ever since that terrible sneezing attack in 1994 he had always carried them about his person. You could never be too careful. He had an entire first aid kit including monster plasters in the car too.
“Here you go”, he handed her one as he studied her intently. He was happy to back up her story, but he didn’t believe it.
Lex on the other hand, appeared to. “We can go if you want to”.
“Oh, yeah”, she tried not to let her disappointment show, “I mean I think that Dad and I will probably hang around a little while longer, we only have about a thousand pictures, but if you need to …”
“I don’t need to be anywhere”, he assured her, stroking his hand down her arm, “I was just worried about your allergies. The restaurant will be ready whenever you are”.
“What restaurant?”
“Your favourite. I hired it for today for your party”, he explained, surprised that she hadn’t already guessed as much. Lois’ surprise birthday party for her had apparently been discovered months before it came to fruition.
“Glad to hear that you are treating our girl right”, an annoying – to Lex’s ears at least – voice, came up behind them.
“Lois”, her name was said by all three members of the party – as well as Teddy and Clark who were trailing along behind her – although each with different inflection.
“I didn’t know that I was so popular”, she joked as she embraced her cousin; “wait a minute, yes I did”.
Chloe laughed. Her cousin was always the centre of male attention.
“Congrats cuz. I can’t believe that you are finally out of college, it seems like it has been so long”, she complained.
“That is because you quit after only two months”, Lex reminded her.
“I didn’t quit, I was kicked out”, the brunette corrected him.
“That is somehow better?”
“It’s more accurate, plus fun”, she shot back.
Lex rolled his eyes. He was used to Lois by now and she loved Chloe, so he could put up with her. Most of the time.
When Lois finally realased her cousin she held her hands and looked her up and down,“Loving the gown Chlo, but it seriously does nothing for your figure”, she whipped out her camera.
“Lois, isn’t that from the Daily Planet”? Clark inquired.
“Shh Clark, didn’t your mother ever tell you that it is rude to interrupt people when they are talking?” Lois rebuked him, “Now, Chloe. Give me a sexy look”.
“Look away, Gabe”, Teddy advised him with a clap on the back.
“I think that I will take that advice, oh, look at that, there are some ducks on the pond. I will come back when …. When … Well, call me when you are ready”. He decided.
“Yes, I’ll come with you”, Teddy followed him as Clark dithered.
“Oh come on Smallville, we need you to work the camera as you are so concerned about ‘Daily Planet’ property”, Lois rolled her eyes and she shoved the camera at her boyfriend (of sorts), “we need to you take pictures”.
“Now”, she stood next to her younger cousin, “this”, she made a circle pointing motion at the younger girl’s face, which was forced into a comic pout, “is rubbish. Come on, I know that you can do better”.
They vogued as the camera snapped and Clark blushed.
They did this for a few minutes, Clark’s cheeks getting redder and redder and a dangerous smile creeping across Lex’s features. Lois was being serious with her attempts, whilst Chloe … well, Chloe was doing comedic versions of her cousin’s stances. Unfortunately, Chloe’s derriere thrust out, whatever the reason, even within the confines of a voluminous gown, attracted attention.
“Okay, I think that you too have tortured the poor male population enough for one day”, Lex decided, taking out his own camera. “Do I proper one for Gabe”.
They both smiled angelically for the first one, and gave each other bunny ears for the second.
“Well, I think that we know which one will be on Gabe’s desk next year”, he smiled as he observed the last image.
“Good, hopefully it will take the place of the one of my naked baby butt”, Chloe said.
“Ah, I liked that one”, Lex gave her a teasing look.
The image of Chloe, naked as the day that she was born tearing towards something with her chubby little arms outstretched before her, had been a favourite around LuthorCorp’s Smallville factory for years. Apparently Chloe’s Grandmother had been giving her a bath when Gabe had returned. Chloe couldn’t wait for to see him … Hence the pictures her grandfather had taken.
“I’m sure that I can find something on you Luthor”, Chloe warned.
He snorted.
“You doubt my abilities?” She moved over to him, placing her hands on his chest as she met his eyes challengingly.
“Not for a second”, he said in a voice which verged on a growl. He lent his head down. It was obvious where this was headed. Clark averted his eyes. Lois watched intently. Their lips were only a couple of inches apart when Lex pulled back and away and patted her on the shoulder. “We should get going”.
“Um … yeah”, Chloe agreed.
“What’s the matter with you Luthor, you ouch, Clark why did you pinch me?” Lois complained.
“I don’t know what you are talking about”, he looked innocent.
“Anyway”, she turned her back on her male friend, “Luthor you … Smallville”, she spun back around, “what the hell in your problem why do you keep pinching me”, she rubbed her hip.
Clark adopted his patented innocent look.
“Don’t try that look on me Smallville, I’m immune”, she huffed.
“Lois”, he whispered, with surprising authority and firmness considering his placid nature, “but out”.
“But …”
“But out”, he repeated, making sure they couldn’t hear him, “you don’t know what is going on between them and this isn’t the time to discuss it”.
“But if he is hurting her …”
“Then I’ll pin him down for you”, he offered seriously.
“Aww, you say the sweetest things”, she melted.
“You are weird”, he announced, but looked quite besotted with her.
“You just don’t understand girls”, she patted him on the arm.
“Not crazy ones”.
She gave him another pat.
“Everything sorted out?” Lex called over to them.
“Yup, how about you?”
“No problems at this end. So, what do you want to do?” Lex asked Chloe.
“Go and get Dad, wander around a bit more, take a few more photos then lunch?” Her stomach grumbled. “Definitely lunch”.
“Whatever you want”, Lex handed her an energy bar that he had thought that she might need.
“Yum”.
“How come you don’t carry energy bars for me?” Lois demanded of Clark.
“Who says … hey, what’s that?” All three of them looked in the direction he was pointing but the only odd disturbance that they seemed to notice was an odd wooshing sound, but that seemed to be coming from Clark’s direction.
“What? There is nothing there Clark, what are you doing?”
“Nothing”, there was the innocent look again.
“Anyway, getting back to the matter at hand: how come you don’t carry energy bars for me?” Lois placed her hands on her hips.
“I didn’t know that you wanted me to”.
Lois pouted.
“I thought that you would prefer a donut”, he pulled the packet from his large flannel pocket. Lois fell upon it, some thanks escaping her as she stuffed it into her mouth.
“Peparing to have the talk, huh?” Lex teased his friend.
Clark shot him a scowl.
The rest of the afternoon passed more comfortably. Everyone continued to gush over Chloe – just as they ought – and Lex warmed up once there was no one around from who there were supposed to be hiding their relationship. Her hopes perked up. By the time that she was climbing into his car that night – the limo as they had both drunk – she asked, “So your place?”
He looked at her oddly but agreed, giving the order to the driver.
“So, how does it feel to be a graduate?” Lex asked, his arm stretched over the back seat as Chloe leant against him.
“Great”, she sighed. “It is like a whole new chapter of my life is opening up before me”.
“That would be the general idea”, he chuckled.
“Smart arse”, she nudged him.
“I loved college but I am so glad to be done with it. To be able to get a job. Take the next step out of the shadows into adulthood”, ‘and into an open relationship’. She peered up at him.
“Wee bit over excited about that, aren’t you?” Lex wondered. Having a job wasn’t all that great.
“I guess that it just seems exciting to me”, she wrapped her arms around his stomach.
“Why do I get the feeling that I’m missing something?”
“With your enormous Luthor sized brain and ridiculously advanced intelligence?”
“You’re right”, he gave her a squeeze. “I’m not missing anything”.
Okay, so he wasn’t quite as smart as Chloe thought.
She tried not to think about it, he was probably just tired, or thinking about something else. She wouldn’t think about it. She rested her head against him and watched the bright lights as they sped through the city back to his apartment. It would be better when they got home – to his home, that was. It would all work itself out. They would hug and kiss and she would be as cool as a cucumber and then he would ask her to be his girlfriend – the kind that accompanied him everywhere and everyone knew about. It would all be fine.
When they got up to the apartment – bypassing security as per usual – they did not head straight for the bedroom as she had hoped, instead, Lex grabbed a couple of bottles of water and pre-popped popcorn before seating himself on the sofa.
“So, what do you want to watch?”
“Watch?”
“Yeah, or do you want to do something else? It’s only six-thirty. We could go out or …”
“No, a movie would be great”, she beamed at him and snuggled up by his side, slipping her shoes off so that she could pull her legs up underneath her. “I just lost track of time”.
“You thought that it was later?”
She nodded.
“Well, it’s been a long day”.
“Yup”, she trained her eyes on the screen as Lex flicked through his movie channel trying to find something that would satisfy both of them. He stroked her shoulder absentmindedly as he did so.
She didn’t want to be needy but as the silence stretched between them she felt that she had to say something, “Lex”.
“Chloe”.
“I know that we don’t say it much because we aren’t like that”, not entirely true, she would say it every single day, several times a day, but she knew that it made him uncomfortable, “but I hope that you know that even with all of these huge life changes that I am going through, I love you so much and that I’m really committed to you”.
She could feel him freezing up next to her.
He flicked down three more channels; he wasn’t in the mood for a romantic comedy. “You only graduated Chloe, you aren’t being shipped off to a war overseas”, he chuckled (although it sounded a little forced) as he kissed her forehead.
“I know, but sometimes I feel that it is important to say”.
“Chloe”, he gave her his full attention, “you can always tell me anything that is on your mind, you know that”. He paused, seeming to be debating what to say for a moment.
He wasn’t sure what to do. He knew that they could not have a relationship out in the open until she was a graduate but had also been trying to keep his hopes in check. The fact that she had thought that she would be ready to have an open relationship with him when she graduated in her second year didn’t mean that she would once she knew more about him. He had told himself this every single day since they had got together, but his hopes had still been steadily creeping up. Now, it seemed like she was telling him that she wasn’t ready but that she still loved him.
He strove not to look disappointed. He didn’t want to put any pressure on her but he didn’t know what to say so he settled for giving her a kiss on the forehead.
They ended up watching a Bond Movie. It wasn’t particularly interesting, both of them holding onto each other with their minds filled with questions they were both too afraid to ask.
~*~
A few days later Chloe still felt terrible. Her emotional turmoil had taken its toll on her immune system. Her head was pounding. Her throat was raw. And her feet were killing her.
“I don’t like this one”.
“You don’t have to like it Lex”, she reminded him, “I am the one who has to live here”.
“Over my dead, stinking, rotting corpse”.
“What a lovely image”, she sighed, wanting to sink down onto their couch only to find herself being pulled back up to her feet by Lex.
“Don’t sit there, it looks mouldy”.
“Lex, it’s fine. You don’t have to manhandle me”, he was being unbearably bossy that day.
“Fine”, he pulled his hand away from her.
“Sorry”.
“It’s fine”.
They had been snapping all week.
“You know, you don’t have to come with me”.
He stared at her. “You know if you would just let me buy you somewhere then we could save ourselves all of this trouble. I know that Teddy is going but …”
“No”, she shook her head firmly, “I’m not going to live off you”.
“I don’t mind”
“Well I do”.
They both made angry faces. He thinking that this proved her desire to distance herself from him, she thinking that he didn’t want her to live with him.
A thunderstorm of emotions was crackling in the air. They both tried to repress it but it would only take a spark to end their relationship. That spark came only a few days later.
As Chloe looked back on it that evening, alone in what was still her apartment for a few more weeks although before that she hadn’t slept there for more than a month, she couldn’t remember what the spark had been. Couldn’t remember what she had said until those final words: “We might as well call it quits”. Flung at him petulantly, as she had stormed out of the restaurant.
She hadn’t turned back. She wished that she had. She wished that she had run back to Lex to tell him how sorry she was, that she loved him and that she would do whatever it took to make their relationship work. If he needed more space then she would give him more space. If he needed more love then she would give him that too. She would give him anything that he wanted, if only he would agree to share at least a little part of his life with her.
Chloe stared at her phone, waiting, willing it to ring.
When it finally buzzed to indicate that she had received a message, it wasn’t the one that she wanted to read. It was from Lex. It was cool, and calm, and rational. He wrote that he had thought about what she had said at the restaurant and was in agreement, their relationship was at an end.
Chloe broke into tears, having no idea how many hours of soul searching and drafts Lex had gone through before he thought himself capable of doing the right thing and giving her the life she so clearly wanted. A life free from him.
~*~
“Ah, when you were making me miserable”, he recalled, holding her close.
“I think that I was making us both miserable”, she sighed. “Wait, you were miserable?”
“Verging on suicidal, the only thing that stopped me was how sad you would have been if I had gone through with it”.
Tears welled up in her eyes then she hit him, hard.
He grasped her hands.
She didn’t know what to say, she wanted to scream at him and tell him that he was a bastard that he should never have thought that let alone ever told her of it but then again, she wanted and needed the truth.
“Whatever happens, don’t ever do that!”
“I won’t”, he promised.
“Good, because I’d kill you”.
He laughed.
“That was by far the hardest letter that I ever had to right”, he said into the darkness, “that sounded like a line from a cheesy love song, didn’t it?”
“Yup”, she agreed. “Why did you write it then?”
“I wanted to salvage something of our relationship, I wanted … I wanted to let you be free”.
“That was pretty much the last thing that I wanted it”, she propped herself up so that she would have been looking into his eyes had it not been so dark, “I’m not say that it was some grand manipulative trip to try to wring a proposal out of you or anything”.
“I know”.
“But … I don’t know. I didn’t know what to do and we weren’t great at communication. If I had it all to do over again I wouldn’t make that mistake twice … three times”, she corrected herself, remembering that she had requested the divorce, “I would talk it out with you, properly”.
“Good”.
“What would you do?”
“Probably have given you the ring that I had been carrying around, burning a hole in my pocket for so long”.
“You had the ring then?” She had never even considered the possibility of a ring, she had just wanted him to be able to be a proper partner to her.
“For months”, he admitted.
“You would never have known from the way that you acted, especially the next time that we saw each other. You were so cold”.
“I was so cold?” He expostulated, “I was barely holding onto a shred of self-control, I swear everyone around knew that I was crazy about you and dying inside. You were a fucking ice queen”.
“I wasn’t, I was barely holding onto myself”.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Quote:
Originally Posted by
HotCrossedBunny
Cbrunberg: Thank-you. Yeah, they love each other.
Malugargula: He he Thank-you. Really? I didn't know that. Good to know that you are first and foremost a Chlexer.
Oh yeah, chlexer since 2002
I even wrote 3 fics and had a chlex site :)
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Great chapter
I liked seing more of their relationship after she graduated :)
Thanks for sharing
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Wow, that's a long time. I didn't even know that Smallville existed back then.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Chapter Twenty-Four
Three months after graduation Chloe’s life had not taken her down the path she had expected. The more she had delved into journalism at University the more she had realised that it simply wasn’t for her. There were too many rules, too many restrictions, too little actual desire to discover the truth – especially when it was uncomfortable. Not to mention the fact that she detested having to kiss the ass of a bureaucrat.
Private investigating, however, she loved. She loved it so much that she would have done it without being paid – but fortunately for her stomach and land lord, she was receiving cheques on a weekly basis. With a first class degree in business and journalism, an impressive set of articles to her name, glowing letters of recommendation and the distinction of having put one of the most powerful men in the country behind bars, she had found it easy to get her first job.
She had been with Harrison and Sons now for exactly eleven weeks, not wanting to take any time off after college, and had plunged head first into her work. She was a machine, dealing with more work than anyone else and only two days earlier had been taken off probation and made a full member of the team. She had been pleased, but not delighted. Nothing delighted her these days.
As she got up that morning, she shuffled from her bedroom into the study/lounge/dining room/kitchen of her new apartment wondering as she often did why no one had ever created a programmable robot to create and bring coffee or an intravenous drip. It really was inhumane to expect someone to get up without coffee.
She patted her coffee maker on the head so that it knew that she still loved it in spite of the fact that it didn’t turn itself on or serve the steaming nectar to her in bed and then went and plonked herself down in front of her laptop to check her emails while she waited.
It was not an unusual thing for her to do as they got new jobs at all hours of the day and night and Chloe had been getting a fair few of them recently. The vast majority of them so far had involved going through records and stuff – things that she could easily do from home on her computer – which was what she was supposed to be doing today if nothing else came up. There was nothing there other than a forward from Lois so she headed back to collect her now full and steaming cup and debated whether she should be a super sleuth first, or have some breakfast. That was when she heard the tell-tale ping.
She returned to the screen and raised an eyebrow at what she saw there. She had a message marked urgent from her employer. It was hurried but it apparently required her to drop whatever else she was doing, get dressed and come into work as soon as humanly possible. Chloe glanced at the clock, hmmm, a disaster and it was only 6 o’clock in the morning. She perked up. She hoped that it was something political. Something that she could really sink her teeth into.
Chloe did not know how right she was.
When she arrived half an hour later, washed, dressed, coiffured and wearing her very best navy blue business suit she was surprised to see the head of the company was there.
“Good morning Mr Harrison I was expecting to see your sons”, it must really have been important for him to be present.
“They are already here, they are with the client”.
Chloe nodded understandingly, but did not bother to peer around the small white square which passed for a reception. None of the offices were open, it would have been bad for business. There were just a collection of white doors scattered around the room and as yet vacant desk for the secretary in a few hours. Although a prestigious firm, they invested little into their offices as opulence merely drew unnecessary attention.
“I’m so glad that you could make it, I think that you are our best chance with this client”, the owner said, as he straightened his lapels.
She raised an eyebrow and, although flattered, wondered who and what on earth it could be that she was apparently better matched than one of the more senior employees. She did not have to wait long to find out, as once he was satisfied with his appearance the boss opened the door to the appropriate office. She recognised a familiar figure.
“Good morning Miss Sullivan”.
“Mr Luthor”, she inclined her head as she entered the room, hoping that she succeeded in smothering her shock, at least a little.
“Yes, we were aware that you two knew each other”, Harrison Senior said, looking slightly more comfortable now. Well, less terrified at least. Chloe couldn’t blame him; an account with the Luthors could be worth more money than he had ever dreamed of, especially as she knew that Lex had never used them before. She had made sure, so that there would be no conflict of interests.
“We are”, Chloe sought for the words, “a little acquainted”. She had made sure to downplay her relationship with the Luthors and had refused several other jobs when it seemed like that was a deciding factor in the decision. No one knew that they had dated but they had been seen together enough to know that they were … Friends?
“Right”, Lex just nodded his head and moved to the head of the long oval table, not bothering to sit down. Everyone else, Chloe included, took a seat, as Lex clasped his hands behind his back and stared at them with an impassive mask. It was the first time in all of their acquaintance that he had not pulled her chair out for her. Chloe didn’t let it faze her; she placed her notepad and pencil on the table in front of her. She leant back in her chair and crossed her legs and regarded him expectantly.
They studied each other and Chloe thought that she saw a hint, a tiny quirk at least, of his eyebrow. It was as if he remembered that he was the one who had taught her to sit like that.
The associates just stared at one of the most powerful men in the city, trying to read his expression.
“I am running for office”, he informed them, knowing that this probably wasn’t new to any of them. He had tried once, it was obvious that he would try again. “Someone is supplying my competitors with information which could be damaging to me …”
“What information?” Chloe was pleased to hear that her voice sounded almost calm and was actually audible.
Lex fixed his eyes upon her, everyone in the room did.
“We can hardly be expected to get to the bottom of the matter if you don’t confide in us”, Chloe stated confidently.
“Very well, Miss Sullivan. I have been promised that everything said within these walls will be kept in the strictest confidence …” He gave her an enquiring look.
Chloe resisted the urge to get lunge across the table and slap his smug face only with considerable difficulty. She had never betrayed his trust and never would, with or without contract. “But of course”, was her only reply.
With something that approached a huff or a sigh depending on the interpretation, he relented and sat down and informed them icily of the charges which were going to be levelled against him and the slurs which would soon going to be smeared across every single newspaper page in the country.
There were a few seconds of silence as the information sank in, before Chloe asked, “So, how much of that stuff did you actually do?”
“I beg your pardon”, Lex’s voice cut through the air like a shard of ice.
“I said”, Chloe repeated in a detached, professional tone, “how much of what they are accusing you of, is true?”
“There are other private investigation companies, who would be only too pleased to have my account”, he reminded her, getting to his feet.
Neither of the Harrisons had breathed a word but Chloe could feel them staring at her, probably frantically panicking that she was about to destroy their company. They needn’t have worried, she wasn’t going to lose this account for them.
“True, but you aren’t going to go to them. You came here and you will stay here because this is the best company for the job”.
She sounded so sure of herself that Lex was simultaneously incredibly turned on and irritated, but more than anything else he was hurt. She was still so beautiful but so icy, so oblivious to him while he felt as if there were a knife protruding from his chest.
He lashed out like a wounded beast, “True, but that does not mean that I am sure that you, Miss Sullivan, are the right person for the job”.
“Yes, you are. Now cut the crap because I have work to do”.
~*~
It took Chloe approximately an hour to discover what was going on and who was behind it all. She had always been good, but this was ridiculous. She was extremely proud of herself and feeling distinctly cocky. Her knowledge of Lex, his situation, and some of the other research she had done for him (without his knowledge) meant that she hadn’t followed the paper trail which could have taken weeks and been too late when she did find the answer, she followed a lead she had discovered six months ago but hadn’t known what to make of it at the time.
An hour after that, she walked into the lobby of a plush hotel just outside of Metropolis and asked for, “Mr Cesar”.
“Very good Miss …”
“Livia Drusilla”, she answered, resisting the urge to roll her eyes when the young man actually took her seriously. He couldn’t really believe that anyone was named Mr Cesar. Apparently someone else at least got her sense of humour as after only a couple of seconds of conversation on the phone, it was announced, “You may go up”.
She sincerely wished that Lex were actually President, maybe he could actually do something about the apparently terrible school system in the country. It was a shame that it was never to be. Lex Luthor was never going to be President and what she was going to do there that day would ensure it.
It was strange, she was about to do something, so terrible, so unforgivable and yet she was completely calm as she strode through the hotel and into the valley of the beast.
“Miss Sullivan, to what do I owe this delightful pleasure?”
“I think that you can imagine, Lionel”, Chloe said coolly as the butler showed her to a seat and excused himself.
“Ah, well you see Miss Sullivan, at my age the imagination is an extremely fertile creature”, he strode over to his liquor cabinet although his eyes continued to be trained on her, “but not a particularly obedient one. It likes to go its own way”, they trailed up her legs.
A few years ago Chloe would have debated running out of his hotel suite, but now she sat there with an expression of apparent boredom.
An amused half smirk licked at Lionel’s lips as he strode back across the room towards her with two glasses in his grip. He offered one to her but she refused.
“Always so mistrustful, Miss Sullivan?” He inquired archly.
“A trait that you admire?”
“One of many”. He gave her an appraising look.
She didn’t shrink under it as she had years before. In fact, she seemed to enjoy the attention.
He took a sip from her glass and then handed it back to her, proving that it wasn’t drugged. “It’s good”.
She took it with a smirk and sipped it, pressing her lips where his had been, “Scotch, not bad”.
“You are an authority on that are you now? How grown up”, his tone serious but there was a faint glimmer of mockery in his sharp, blue eyes.
“I’m an authority on many things now”, she took another small sip of the liquid.
“Is that so?” He reclined in the chair opposite her.
“Detection being the main one”, she continued.
“Not seduction?”
Chloe had the distinct impression that he could see right through her dress to the lacy bra and pantie set below. It was the one she always had around Lex as well, but it didn’t have the same effect on her with the father as it did with the son. Still, she tried to pretend that her skin was tingling, rather than crawling as she drawled, “That is more of a hobby”.
Lionel let out of a huff of laughter, “So, what is it that I am to have the pleasure to do for you?”
“Well, since you ask, how about an interview?” She asked cheekily.
“You are still chasing interviews? I thought that you had …” he licked his lips, “moved on from that”
“You mean going into the private sector and my work as a junior/aspiring detective, I presume?” There was no point in denying it, they both knew that they knew exactly what both she and Lex had been up to, it was his nature.
He smirked. He would have been handsome had he not been such a bastard. “Yes”.
“Well, that is actually why I am here but you asked, and old habits die hard”, she gave a shrug.
“I would be only too happy to give you an interview, Miss Sullivan. A deep, in depth look into a complex man”
“That is how you see yourself?”
“It isn’t to you?” He pretended to be shocked by this news.
“It’s not what immediately springs to mind”.
He sank back in his chair. It was a move that he had got from Lex, or Lex had got from him. “Would you care to elaborate?”
“I think that you can guess”.
“Come to tell me that you think that I am bastard for mistreating your poor little Lexy Poo?” He asked, in a voice which was polite but held the edge of a sneer.
“Well at least I know that your surveillance isn’t in the penthouse if you think that I ever referred to him as Lexy Poo”, Chloe tried to remain calm.
“You wound me Miss Sullivan. Do you honestly think that I would do something like that?” The expression which graced his features was almost one of perfect, bland honesty yet with a flicker of hunger in his pale eyes. It chilled Chloe to the core to see the similarities between father and son (even if they were only skin deep).
“Lionel”, she made her voice deliberately soft as she leant forwards, crossing her wrists and resting her glass against her knee, “I think that you are a perverted old bastard who would not only do anything to get your own way, but would probably enjoy watching my ride a Luthor cock”.
“Wrong Luthor”. It really galled him that Chloe had chosen to team up with Lex all of those years ago instead of giving in and exploring her deliciously wicked dark side with him. They would have had fun together.
“Possibly”.
There was The Eyebrow again. “I was, of course, aware that you and my son had broken up, unable to satisfy you? Ah, these young men nowadays don’t understand how to take their time to please a woman”.
It was a test, and they both knew it. He knew everything about their relationship; he was just playing with her to see how much she would divulge.
“On the contrary”, her tone was only slightly brittle, “I would have been very happy were it not for the lack of one item”.
He shot her an inquiring glance.
She supposed that that had been too subtle and she wasn’t going to get into what was actually wrong with their relationship so she opted for the most stereotypical option which was close to the truth: “A certain item of jewellery which was not forthcoming”.
“Ah”.
She should have known that that would satisfy him. He would naturally think her just another fortune hunter after the Luthor money.
Silence stretched between them.
“So, you left him?” He summed up.
“I like to think so”.
“And yet he employs you or rather your company …”
“I knew that your surveillance wasn’t that rusty”
“Not rusty at all. So to return to my original question, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit? Do I take it that you are here to win him back?”
“More like here to say that he can’t win”, she forced the words out.
Again he raised the eyebrow. Why had she never noticed just how terribly annoying it was when Lex did it constantly?
“I am not going to insult your intelligence, I’m not going to pretend that I like you or dear God that I’m attracted to you”, she shuddered, “or that I am not hurt. I am”.
“That’s a pity”, he said, for the first time sounding sincere. She found that far more disconcerting that his open lust.
“I loved, no”, she admitted with a sigh, “I love Lex and I don’t want to watch him suffer”.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes”.
“You don’t sound sure”.
“I’m not”, she shook her head and placed the still mostly full glass of liquor on the table, “I can never be sure when it comes to him, but that is how you raised him, right?”
“So you are here to berate me?”
“I am here to save him”, she confessed and then watching his expression snapped, “For the love of God stop raising that bloody eyebrow. It is infuriating but slightly endearing and sexy when Lex does it, but with you it is just pathetic”.
“I see that my son has finally excelled at something”, he took great delight in her disgusted expression, before adding, “How do you think that I can save him?”
“You are going to destroy him, we both know it”.
“Miss Sullivan …”
“Before you start some sanctimonious crap about love and strengthening him”, she cut him off, “we both know that you don’t care about him you want to destroy him”. He looked really shocked. Almost appalled at her words, but she continued. “You … you’re like a cockroach, somehow you always survive and come crawling back up from the wreckage however many times you think that you have stamped on it. You will win, you always do, in the end. I want to be on the winning team. And … I don’t want Lex to be hurt.
“So …”
“So I suggest a compromise”. There, it was finally out in the open.
“You believe that you have something that I want?”
“Aside from the obvious?”
He laughed.
“You are old”.
“Flattery will get you everywhere, Miss Sullivan”, he sounded more amused than offended.
She controlled the urge to snort, “You enjoy the battle the skirmish, the feeling of control as things slowly fall into place, watching people squirming …”
“You know me very well it appears”.
“But you are growing older. Possibility the convenience of one swift blow would be preferable?”
“What is your offer?”
“Lex’s political career on a platter and what was LuthorCorp, but you leave LexCorp alone”.
~*~
Lex paced around his office, unable to concentrate on his work. Everything that he had worked for was hanging in the balance and Chloe had looked at him with indifference. This was ridiculous, he was about to lose everything and he was worried about his ex-girlfriend. He was pathetic.
He stared at the picture which still sat on his desk. She smiled back at him, a sweet torment. God how he loved her.
He was just reaching out to caress her smile when his phone rang. His secondary business line. The number he had given Chloe that morning to be used for the duration of the investigation – of course she always had his intimate number.
Before he could think better of it he had grabbed the phone and was speaking into it, “Luthor here”.
He knew that she had been to see Lionel. His men had not stopped following her even after they had broken up and although he didn’t torture himself by demanding to know every single detail about her life as he knew that they were keeping her safe, they had felt that that particular piece of information deserved to be related.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Chapter Twenty-Five
Lex Luthor sat back in his chair, his eyes fixed on his computer screen. He had been staring at it for more than an hour now, unable to wrap his mind around what was happening to him. Barely three months ago his life had been perfect, now it was crumbling around him. He should have known that it would all end. Some people just weren’t meant to be happy.
He took a sip of his drink. Chloe would hate that. Or rather, she had detested the unhealthy habit but he doubted that she would care anymore. He drained the glass to the bottom trying to numb the pain.
Eleven weeks wasn’t that long really. Only seventy-seven days. That amount of time had passed him by before without anything really changing.
He scanned the contents of the email again, a detailed review not just from the people who were following her but also the ones who were tracking his father. They were staked out in the hotel across the road and were working on trying to lip read at that moment – their bugs had been discovered a week before – but they had got enough of their conversation for Lex to be absolutely certain of one fact. The woman he loved had betrayed him.
Lex poured himself another drink and exited his emails in favour of a different draw. His screen filled with images of Chloe. Smiling. Grinning. Smirking. Sticking her tongue out at him. He felt his chest tighten. That sweet, amazing woman was manipulating him, working with his father against him. He swallowed with difficulty. Dear God how he hoped that she was manipulating him. If she wasn’t manipulating him then it meant that she was being manipulated, again, by Lionel.
He placed his glass back down on the table before he risked breaking it and flicked back over to the information which Chloe had sent him after their last telephone conversation an hour or two ago. He had already been through it several times and had it examined by several of his other people but they couldn’t find any flaws in her investigation or in her logic. There was no hint of a lie, betrayal or manipulation in what she had written. It was enough to make him hope, but not believe.
“Stop being a wimp”, he told himself. “There is only one way to tell with Chloe and you know it”. With that, he picked up his phone once more and rang the number which was more familiar to him than his own. “Miss Sullivan”, he addressed her, not bothering to inform her of his identity, “I wish to discuss your report with you. In the next half an hour. No, here”.
~*~
Chloe was beyond anxious. Try as she might to appear calm she was almost trembling with nervous energy, her mouth of bone dry but her palms were seating. She wiped her hands down the sides of her best blue suit and hoped that it wasn’t too wrinkled as she tried to take a deep breath. It didn’t do much to steady her nerves.
Lex smirked. He had been informed the second that Chloe had stepped foot on his property, through the power of security surveillance he had watched coming in looking nervous and dissected her minutest expression as she rode the elevator up to the top floor. She constantly amazed him. He could practically see her trying to pull herself together by sheer force of will. It didn’t matter though, he would break her.
There was a ping and the sliver doors parted before her and Chloe stepped out into the reception area. She thrust her shoulders back and headed towards his office door.
“Miss Sullivan”, a female voice drifted across the void.
Chloe turned, an expression of extreme hauteur on her features.
“Miss Sullivan”, Natalie repeated, “Do you have an appointment with Mr Luthor?”
“I was not aware that I needed one”, Chloe answered coolly, turning back towards the office door.
Lex smirked as he observed the exchange.
Natalie ignored that comment, fairly certain that she would lose her job if she were less than polite to Chloe, whatever her relationship to Mr Luthor currently was. “I don’t have you scheduled in and …”
Chloe ignored her and stalked over to the office and knocked three times. A completely different door opened.
“Miss Sullivan”, Lex greeted as he came out of his apartment. “Good afternoon. I thought that we would talk in here”, he took a step to the side so that she could enter, “if that is alright with you?”
“Fine”, she straightened her spine. She really didn’t want to go in there, into the apartment where they had spent so many hours together which she had almost considered her own home. At least with his office she could pretend that they had never been anything to each other. She moved past him, avoiding his eyes but catching a whiff of him. She thought that her heart would actually stop beating.
Lex watched her walk in and closed the door after her, shutting the world out. He had no idea how he was going to go through with this, he wanted to hug her to hold her to tell her that everything was going to be alright, but he knew that that wouldn’t work. If she hadn’t come to him in the first place, there must be a reason.
Chloe stared about the apartment, everything was just as she had left it. She could feel the tears stinging her eyes. She didn’t want to think about him sitting there, every night, all alone. Well, he wouldn’t be alone would he. He would have Natalie all over him not to mention hundreds of other women.
“We can go through into the living room to talk”, he suggested as he walked her through, pretending that he didn’t see her brushing a tear away. “Would you like something to drink?”
She was about to refuse when she realised how awful she felt, it might help to have some liquid. “Could I have a glass of water, please?” It seemed so odd to ask for something rather than just going to get it for herself, she wasn’t even sure if she could sit down.
“Here you go”, Lex handed her the large glass of water and motioned for her to sit down.
Chloe tried to take a sip of water but it wouldn’t go down.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine”, she managed a tight smile, “just a little unusual to have a business meeting in someone’s apartment”.
“Right”, he agreed. “And generally I would never advise it, they are probably trying to take advantage of you”.
“Quite”.
“But I wanted to meet somewhere more neutral and I hope that you trust me not to hurt you physically or to force myself on you”.
She blushed, did he really think that she was implying that he was unable to control himself around her? She knew better than that. He no longer cared about her. She knew that.
“Of course not Mr Luthor”.
They were not off to a good start and their overly formal interview did not get any better. Lex asked his questions, probing deeper and deeper into what she was suggesting that he did in her report and was impressed by her answers and reasoning but he just couldn’t quite believe her but he couldn’t work out what game she was playing either.
Finally, Lex moved from the chair to the coffee table in front of her. “Chloe”, he finally used her name, as he took her hands in his and stared deeply into her eyes, “Tell me”.
She blinked and tried to pull her hands away but he wouldn’t let her.
“Chloe”, he repeated her name.
“There is nothing to tell that I haven’t already said”, she lied. She couldn’t look at him as she said those words, as she betrayed him.
“Chloe”, both of her hands became trapped in one of his large ones as he cupped her face, raising it to meet his eyes. “I know you. I know when you are lying to me”. A flash of pain crossed her features and it cut him to the quick. “We may not be together anymore but that doesn’t mean that I have stopped caring about you. I will never stop caring about you. If you are in trouble, I will give everything I have, my company, my money, my life to protect you. You know that”.
She looked up into his eyes, he saw the flicker of indecision. Just like every other woman who had he ever cared about, she was about to lie to him and betray him.
“Baby”, he choked the word out.
She managed a tight smile, blinked back tears, and somehow managed to articulate, “Just do as I asked Lex. It is the right thing”.
Lex felt as if the bottom had just fallen out of his world, again. However good her proposal was on paper for getting out of the situation in which he found himself, he knew that something was wrong.
“Lex, darling, please just trust me”. She brushed her lips against the soft skin of his cheek.
~*~
Lex and Chloe snuggled together in their large hotel bed, “You have no idea how much I loved you”, Chloe gave him a squeeze.
“You had a pretty funny way of showing it”, Lex replied, but kissed her temple.
~*~
Two days later Lex was once again standing outside Chloe’s apartment, his back pressed against the door waiting for her to come home. He had no idea what he was doing there. He had known that something was wrong and had been waiting for the axe to drop all day long and then when it finally had, when his father had come in to deliver the news himself, Lex had beaten him to a bloody pulp then headed straight for Chloe’s new home.
He had no idea what he was doing there and even less what he was going to say to her, but he had to see her.
“Lex”, he heard his name spoken softly and looked over to see Chloe, standing at the top of the stairs ladened with bags of groceries. She looked beautiful, dishevelled, pink and sweaty but not shocked.
“I brought your favourite pizza”, she informed him.
He snorted, so she had definitely known what was going to happen. He had lost everything to his father and Chloe had played a part in it. She had even known that he would turn to her for … comfort?
“You know that I never eat frozen food”.
“Sure you don’t”, she rolled her eyes. She had introduced him to the delights of junk food and snuggling, and he had indulged her with exotic holidays and other pleasures.
He moved over to her and took the bags from her, but didn’t respond to her smile of thanks as she walked ahead, opened the door and motioned him inside, saying, “Just put the bags down anywhere”.
Lex nodded as he looked around the apartment. It was tiny. It was smaller than his en suite. It was a rectangular room painted some shade of cream with only one wall dedicated to windows and some sort beige carpet on the floor. All of the furniture looked to have been acquired second hand from Gabe. There was a small table by the entrance and mismatched settee and arm chair around an old fashioned TV acting as the living room. A large but old dining room table housed one of the only two expensive items in the room: her computer which had pride of place. The other was her beloved coffee maker which sat on the small L-shaped kitchen unit where he deposited the groceries. It all looked clean enough but it was nowhere near good enough for Chloe. She should have been somewhere better. She should have been with him. It didn’t matter what she had done.
The woman in question appeared to be completely oblivious to his thoughts as she locked the door, slipped her shoes and jacket off and came over to stand by his side. She preheated the oven and started to unpack, unconcernedly.
“Is it alright …”
“If you ask if it is alright that you are here instead of sitting around your penthouse moping and drinking I swear that I will hit you”, she shot him a look, “very hard”.
He smiled. Slightly. In spite of everything. It felt a little bit like trying to break cement though.
“You know … I’ve lost everything”, he tried to broach the subject.
“I brought French fries”, she held up the bag to show him as she sprinkled them out onto a baking sheet.
“To cheer me up?”
“Exactly”.
“My father took everything that I own, and you think that French fries will make it better?”
“French fries make everything better”.
“Everything?”
“Well, what they don’t cure there is chocolate for”, she produced another item from her bag.
“Penury?”
“You are not in penury, Lex”, she actually had the nerve to roll her eyes at him. “Plenty of people manage to survive on a measly 54 million dollars in gold bullion tax free in a Swiss bank account. Less even”, she informed him, “you just need to economize a little”.
He knew that he had told her about that money just in case something ever happened to him, but he had no idea how she knew that that hadn’t been touched. It had come as a surprise to him.
“Besides, there is also the money from your mother’s family. Can’t forget that”, she popped the food in the oven and set the timer.
“So just my politely career is ruined? My pride is wounded? And billions lost?” He knew that he was still better off than most but that didn’t change the fact that his world had been turned upside down and he had lost about 90% of his wealth today and everything that mattered to him three months ago.
“Not lost, just transferred”, she said casually. She didn’t understand why people said that things had been lost as if they had been destroyed when they had actually merely changed hands.
“To my father”.
“Chocolate”, she broke him off a piece and handed it to him.
“This will solve losing everything to my father?” It was a good job that he still had some money as he was going to have to make sure that she saw someone about the junk food addiction of hers.
She nodded. “You still have more money than you need”.
“What about the houses?”
“You never liked them”, she reminded him.
“LuthorCorp?”
“Wasn’t what you wanted to do with your life”.
“Politics?”
“Would only have made you miserable”, she checked on the food.
“LexCorp?”
“Is still yours”, she reminded him.
“It is stripped of most of its assets Chloe, it is worthless”, he swallowed as he came to the worst part, “You?”
She straightened up and stared at him hard. “That bothers you the most, doesn’t it?” She realised.
“I just don’t get it. I’ve been over it all a thousand times and I just don’t get it. I know you too well to believe that you did it for revenge. I can’t believe that you care for my father. Or that you want to see me destroyed”, he ignored the fact that Chloe didn’t seem to think that he actually was destroyed, “So, I just don’t get it”.
“That bothers you the most?” She repeated.
“Losing you and having you apparently betray me? Yes, that bothers me the most”, he confessed in a voice thick with emotion, “That kills me”.
She blinked away a tear, before asking, “What’s the time?”
He stared at her in disbelief before checking his watch and informing her. “4.45”.
“Fifteen minutes before the close of the business day and three minutes before our food is ready. You might want to check your phone”.
Lex did as she suggested and stared in shock. He couldn’t comprehend what had happened. “Chloe, what the hell is going on?”
“Elementary my dear Lex”, she walked over to him and placed her hand on his arm. “You know that I can’t resist sticking my nose into things, especially when they concern you. When you told me what was happening, a lot of things started to slot together so I went to see Lionel”.
“I know”, he wrapped his arms around, ignoring the fact that the timer had just sounded. “I was so terrified that you were getting involved with him again and then you wouldn’t tell me anything …”
“I’m sorry, but I had to protect you. Lionel knew that I would never betray you and that I must be a double agent and so naturally stole my agenda including the differences between the figures I had given him and the real figures, for some reason which is quite beyond me he didn’t think to look for the third set of figures”, she gave him a mischievous little smile.
“You couldn’t have told me that you were going to do that?” His voice was frosty.
“No, because you wouldn’t have let me do it. You would have risked everything to protect me and I couldn’t have that”, she informed him and he felt torn between his love for her and his desire to lock her up somewhere nice and safe so that she would never get hurt again.
“Don’t even think about”, she poked him in the chest. “Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, ergo, when we made the deal that he would leave LexCorp alone he thought that he could plough more money into the rest of his venture and overextended himself. Somehow the other company got wind of this and his share prices fell. LexCorp, naturally brought up everything. You own your father, his company, everything he has ever worked for, he is actually in quite a lot of serious debt to some rather nasty pieces of work”. It was amazing what misinformation could do.
Lex raised an eyebrow, he knew that he had contacts with the mafia but not that he had borrowed money from them.
“Like I said”, she continue, looking extremely pleased with herself, “in an effort to bring you to heel he over exerted himself. Now, seeing as he is over a barrel I imagine that you could offer him a very small stipend, say, a nice apartment and a couple of hundred thousand a year to live on and wipe out his debt – a mere 1. 5 million but these aren’t the sort of men you want to be indebted to and he would drop all opposition to your running for senator. In fact, I imagine that he would drop most of his objections to everything. If that is really how you want to spend your life …”
“Let’s get our pizza and fries out of the oven now, we can worry about everything else later”, he grinned down at her.
“See, I told you, junk food makes everything better!”
~*~
“You know, you are amazing and I love you”, Lex told her as he stroked her arms glad that she was calm once more. He hated it when she had nightmares.
“I never get tired of hearing that”.
“Good, now get to sleep, we have a long day tomorrow”, he gave her a kiss, “and an even longer night”.
A/N: Anyone still reading?
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Yes, I am still reading. Just needed time to get caught up since work and school is keeping me busy. I love that Chloe outsmarted Lionel and Lex is none the wiser. She is definitely a good match for Lex.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
Wow Chloe is so smart and sneaky
I loved what she done with Lionel lol
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 23rd April 2014
great update loved it please keep going.
-
Re: Separation (NC-17) Updated 7th June 2014
A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Love you all. :D
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lionel Luthor reclined on the sofa in his hotel room, unable to drag himself all of the way to his bedroom in his current state. With a pain filled groan, he reached out the reached out clumsily for the glass of scotch that the maid left for him when he had called for her.
He raised the glass to his lips and took a sip of the amber nectar, relishing the way that it burned its way down his throat, only a small amount trickling down his chin due to his current supine position. He didn’t care that the doctor had given him strict orders not to consume any alcohol whilst taking medication. He needed both.
His next sip was somewhat more successful, resulting in at least 90% actually making it into his mouth. He closed his eyes against the light which flooded the room and considered yelling for the maid to return and close them, but then thought that it might cause his head to pound even more and he would rather avoid the maid’s return at that moment. He didn’t want anyone to see him at that point – even a menial employee -, he was sure that his bruises had become even more pronounced over the course of the last hour.
Whoever would have thought that Lex had it in him?
~*~
Lionel sauntered into the living room of his hotel suite, not surprised that he was being called upon at that time in the afternoon. He had been waiting for his son for the last twenty minutes, expecting to see him from the second that he had taken over his company and relieved him of almost every cent in his bank accounts. Or at least the ones that Lionel could access.
“Ah Lex my boy, to what do I owe this pleasure?” He asked with a beneficent smile.
“I think that you can imagine”, Lex said, as he stood in the centre of the room, his eyes trained on his sire, his hands at his side, his business suit still remarkably unrumpled considering the advancing hour of the day.
“Well, as you have never seen fit to visit me before”, he sat down in a relaxed manner and crossed his ankles, “I can only assume that you need something from me”.
The side of Lex’s mouth quirked up, but without humour. “Hardly, if I need to be stabbed in the back I will walk alone in Metropolis at night”.
“Never a wise idea, son”, Lionel said, as if he had been seriously considering this as an option. “A very dangerous place Metropolis”.
“And of course my death would perturb you”.
“Of course”, Lionel said, entirely without irony. He had absolutely no wish to see his son die. In fact, such a development would probably kill him too. He had high hopes for his son and not only had he been disappointed time and time again by Lex’s unwillingness to embrace his destiny and had recently noticed his son pulling away from him. Lionel’s actions that morning would ensure that Lex returned to the fold and went on to greatness.
A huff of air escaped Lex.
“Always so sullen Lex”, Lionel tutted.
“Would you expect me to be jumping for joy after you took away my company? My money? Basically my life?” Lex enquired.
“We come now son, let’s not be overly melodramatic. That was always your problem; you are far too emotional and weak. Now, let’s look at this sensibly”, he indicated for his son to take a seat, upon seeing that Lex’s only response was to remain standing but cross his arms, he continued, “or be petulant if you chose. I have always tried to give you the best of everything and bring you up to be a great man. You were pissing it away on drugs and alcohol so I sent you to Smallville. You stood up to me, got a bit of a backbone but then pissed it all away again. I will admit that over the last few years you have begun to build up a little empire for yourself but let’s be honest, shall we?”
“There is a first time for everything with you Dad”, Lex replied.
“Ah, so bitter for one so young”, Lionel remained calm, “you are going to screw up again. You always do”.
“And that isn’t my choice?”
“Not when you are my son, no”, Lionel’s eyes crackled with fire, “I did not haul myself up from the gutter and create a company, make our name something to be respected, give you everything on a silver platter just for you to throw it back in my face you ungrateful little bastard”. He was on his feet and in his son’s face before he knew what he was going.
“Careful Lionel”, Lex smirked, “you are letting your emotions get the better of you”.
“I am your father”, Lionel barked. It always pissed him off when Lex referred to him by his first name. It was what he had started to do with his father just before he and his mother had died in that tenement block fire. He hadn’t started it as so many believed, but of course he had taken advantage of it and he could hardly be expected to be sorry for the loss of people who had treated him as badly as they had.
“You will have to forgive me, it is sometimes hard to remember that fact”.
“You ungrateful little bas …” He started his insult again only to be cut off by Lex.
“You have left me with nothing and you expect gratitude? That is going a bit far, even for you D – Lionel”, the D-word had almost slipped out, he was so used to it. “You have attempted to destroy me”.
“No son”, Lionel reached out and placed his hand on his shoulder, “I have given you an opportunity. I have saved you from yourself. Now, I have the companies and I will run them and start training you properly once again”.
Lex stared incredulously from his father’s face to his hand and back again, “You must be out of your mind”.
Lionel’s brow furrowed.
“After everything you have done to me, to everyone that I care about, a strategic campaign of terror for over two decades you expect us to be able to work together?” He asked. This had to be one of Lionel’s tricks.
“Of course. We will make LuthorCorp great again”, Lionel gave his son’s shoulder a squeeze, “Together son”.
“You are out of your fucking mind”, the younger man decided with a laugh of disbelief. “You should be in a sanatorium somewhere. The only problem is that Belle Reve wouldn’t take you, they would say that you are too far gone for them to do any good”.
“You have to come back to me now son, or else you will be ruined”, Lionel summed up.
“No”, Lex moved away, causing Lionel’s hand to drop from his shoulder.
“Lex, you have no choice”.
“There is always a choice, Lionel. Just not one that you are going to like”, Lex walked over to the window and stared out at the view from there. They were just outside the city, clearly Lionel had been trying to lie low there until he could deliver the fatal blow, which had come barely an hour ago now. Lionel Luthor was now the owner of everything of any importance to his son, except for one thing and the reason that Lex was there.
“So what, you are here to beg me for a loan to start all over again? You are here to berate me? You always were a disappointment of a son”, Lionel came to stand next to him.
“You were no great shakes as a father either”, Lex replied without much feeling. It was odd to know that he had lost everything that he had ever worked for, that he was no longer a man of business, that he could no longer afford the life to which he had become accustomed and yet he was still standing there living and breathing.
“I did what I had to do”, Lionel shrugged the accusation off. “I’m not the one who has lost everything”.
“Very true, and”, Lex began to roll his sleeves up. “I think that you will find that that was a mistake”.
“Ah, so we have come to the point in the conversation when you make some semi-menacing and wholly clichéd ‘I’ll be back’ threat?” Lionel enquired blandly.
“No, not at all. Merely a reminder that if someone has lost everything then they have nothing left to lose”, Lex turned to his maker.
“You will never be a philosopher son”, were the only words that Lionel got out before he heard the sickening sound of his nose being broken as Lex’s fist slammed into it and pain ripped through him.
Lionel attempted to stand his ground, his hands going up to cover his nose which was oozing blood, but went down like a sack of potatoes when Lex aimed another blow at his stomach.
“Wow”, Lex smiled thoughtfully to himself as he stood over his father, shaking his hand out, “that felt even better than I thought it would”.
“Lex”, Lionel finally spluttered through the blood which he was rapidly wiping away. This was going to require surgery. “What …” He couldn’t get any more out, he was too shocked and in far too much pain.
“Upsie daisy”, he continued cheerfully, as he pulled his father up by the now blood smattered designer shirt, and slammed him back against the window, “You want the company, you have it. My money. Everything. But you leave Chloe alone”.
“Lex …”
“No”, he transferred his grip to his throat, seeing that Lionel wasn’t getting the point. He moved his face so that it was only an inch away from his enemies, his hot breath assaulting him. “You made a huge mistake, I have nothing else left to lose except her”
“From what I’ve heard, you’ve already lost her”, Lionel got out, regretting it when Lex’s grip tightened and he was chocked of breath.
“Yes, but she is alive and well and happy. You do anything to alter that fact … No,” Lex reconsidered, “if that fact gets altered in any way for any reason then I will kill you”
Lionel opened his mouth to doubt his son, but then stopped. Lex was serious. He assented although he wheezed as he did so.
Lex let him go and headed for the door, not even bothering to check on the elderly man as he slumped to the floor in a bloody beaten mess, no longer able to hold himself up under his own steam.
Lionel gurgled something, it didn’t make much sense. He watched as his son strode towards the door and knew that if he left then he would have lost him forever. He had to stop him. “You can’t just leave”, he called out after him, hating how feeble his voice sounded. Even he could not convince himself that it rang with authority.
“We are done”, Lex said simply.
“Son!”
“Lionel”, he turned back, feeling forced to do. He had to make himself clear. They would never see each other again.
“I can give you back some of your money”, Lionel offered.
“No, it’s actually kind of freeing. Not to be under any obligation to you at all”, Lex declined the offer; nothing was worth being involved with Lionel again.
“I am your parent -”
“And you killed my mother and brother”.
“I didn’t, your mother had …”
“My mother”, Lex ground out the correction, “was a very sick, very depressed woman who was locked into a loveless marriage and needed help. You bullied her. You made her so miserable that she wouldn’t even eat near the end. The mysterious illness she had, the one that you put so much money in front of the press into curing, it wasn’t cancer, it wasn’t some unidentified debilitating disease. It was depression, remorse and starvation”.
“Lex, I …”
“We are done!”
As Lionel watched helplessly as his only legitimate son left, the realization struck him: he had just lost the son he loved.
~*~
“What a way to end the day”, Lionel sighed to himself as he remained reclined on the sofa.
“Drama, drama, drama”.
Lionel put his hands to his temples and rubbed them gently, wondering what on earth was in that painkiller he had taken. He was beginning to hear things.
“Oh, we don’t have to go through all of this again, do we?” A low, almost sultry female voice mocked.
His brow furrowed. It couldn’t have been his imagination that time, it was far too clear. There was no mistaking that voice even if the tone was all wrong.
“Lillian?” His eyes opened slowly, even the dim light of the room seeming bright in that moment.
He didn’t know what he had expected to see. Logically, probably absolutely nothing. In the recesses of his mind, his long since deceased wife hovering over him anxious for his health. He saw neither. There was a woman there, reclining on the other sofa reading/examining something.
Even in his weakened state, Lionel’s eyes were keen and hungry. He devoured the female form inch by inch. She was a tall willowy woman with long pale legs, hips which were just wide enough to be womanly and a waist that could be spanned by one hand, small pert breasts and a wave of sleek brown hair. And, as always, she was dressed in the finest Chanel.
“Lillian”, he repeated her name although he knew that he must be dreaming.
“So you remember my name”, the vision spoke once again. It was a low, refined, educated voice. “Funny, you haven’t spoken it in years”.
“Lillian”.
“You haven’t visited my grave side”, she continued without bothering to look over at him.
“Lillian, I …”
“Ah, another word I see. Knowing you I might have known that it would be the personal pronoun. Some things never change, I see”.
“Lillian …”
“Either say something else or stop wasting my time”, she snapped.
“Lillian, that isn’t you”, he came to the abrupt realisation.
She turned, for the first time allowing him to see her face. She was just as beautiful as the day that he had met her and appeared to be exactly the same age.
“You couldn’t be. You couldn’t be this cruel”. She had always been sweet and kind and patient with him, even when – he could admit with hindsight – he might not quite have deserved it. Knowing that the only way that he could clear this delusion from his mind was to see (or rather feel) that she wasn’t actually there. He heaved himself up and staggered over to the vision. He wanted to reach out to her, destroy the vision but something kept him from doing so.
“I couldn’t be this cruel?” She looked at him, almost surprised. “I am being cruel?”
He stared at her incredulously, as she continued, fluttering her eyelashes, “But I’m just repeating what you said to me, so many times”.
Lionel opened his mouth to argue with that. He had never been deliberately cruel to her, he had treated her well, he had given her everything he had … the memories came flooded back to him. He had indeed said those words to her many times, along with asking if they had to “go through this again” and other variations. But it had been different when he had said it; she had been acting up and inconveniencing him.
“What happened to you?” He croaked.
“I don’t know”, she said thoughtfully, “Could it have been the years of oppression? The constant put downs? The crippling depression? Killing my son to save him from you?”
“Lillian -” He was not going to stand for that, he had not had a hand in his son’s death.
“Or”, she turned on him, “could it perhaps be having watched for years as you singlehandedly destroyed my son”.
“Our son is fine, I was strengthening him”, he shouted, she was the one who had left him. “Have you seen what he did?” He indicated to his face. She should be comforting him and asking if he needed an icepack.
“Yes, thank God, it was way past time”, she retorted. “If I could, I would do far worse”.
“I’m going insane”, Lionel put his hands over his face. “One of my enemies must have ….”
“Do we have to go through this every single time?” She collapsed back onto the settee, looking bored and once again quoting him to him.
He stared at her in horror.
“I get that you want attention but …”
“This is not you”, he repeated severely.
“No, but it is you isn’t it”, she smiled, a completely mirthless expression. “So many hateful things you said to me, so many times you made me hate myself and you can’t even remember it”.
“Lillian”.
She rolled her eyes, “Can’t you widen you vocabulary at least a little?”
He did remember saying that to Lex, when he was four. Lex had asked him if he would like a biscuit. Then if he would like a cake. Then if he would like something else. Honestly, Lionel could hardly be expected to listen to the word like being repeated so often without trying to better his son at least a little.
“I just wanted to make you stronger, Lex too”, he protested.
“Alexander was a child”, she hissed at him, “and I was supposed to be your wife”.
“Lillian”.
“Trying to make up for years of neglecting me by saying my name as many times as humanly possible?” She mocked him.
“Lillian, I was just trying to help you be the best that you could be. I wasn’t trying to –“
“The best that I could be? In what way did I let you down to start with that I needed so much bettering?”
“You know how”, Lionel started stiffly, “you know what problems we were having. When things started to go wrong …”
“Just come out and say it Lionel. You mentioned it often enough at the time”, she hissed.
“You wouldn’t give me a son at first”.
“I couldn’t give you a son at first”, she corrected him, “And, we could have adopted”.
He blinked at her.
“I mentioned that to you at the time if you remember”.
“I needed an heir”, he stated simply.
“Yes, you needed an heir so much that you harangued me about it every single day”, tears stung at her eyes.
“I got us Lex”, Lionel reminded her. Everything they had been through was worth it for Lex. He couldn’t understand why she had never loved him as he had.
“It is so easy for you to forget, isn’t it?” She could barely wrap her mind around it.
“I have never forgotten”, he sank down beside her, suddenly feeling a hundred years old.
“Somehow I doubt that very much”, she couldn’t even stand to look at him anymore. Maybe visiting him like this had been a mistake, some people couldn’t chance, they simply didn’t want to.
“They were our children Lillian”, he sighed, “Of course I remember them. Every single one of them”. It was true, the sights of his children were burned into his brain, he saw them every single day. He couldn’t forget them even if he had wanted to. Everyone thought that attempting to wipe Lex’s memory had been an act of cruelty on his part, but in truth, remembering was the worst punishment of all.
She let out a hollow snort of laughter. “Six years of torturous hormone treatments, all to get you a son. I carried and lost five children and yet you wanted to try again. That last one before Lex, I was so hopeful. Eight and a half months I carried him. He should have been fine. Eight and a half months when he was still born and less than a week later …. “ She broke off.
“We conceived Lex. Our son. My Heir.” He reminded her sternly. “You needed to get over it”.
“I needed my husband to be with me to understand”, her jaw quivered as tears trickled down her cheeks.
“I was with you”, he protested, he had done everything that he could for her. He had been grieving too.
“On top of and with are not the same thing!” She screamed.
“We tried, we failed, we tried again”. Why couldn’t she get that through her head? When you failed, you tried again. You never admitted defeat. He had done the right thing, he had got them Lex.
“We lost children they were not experiments, or at least they weren’t to me”, she had no idea how she had ever been married to the creature standing before her.
He stared at her.
“You never cared did you?” She asked in a soft, almost defeated tone as if she were just too exhausted to fight anymore.
“Lillian how can you say that?” His heart felt like it had been ripped in two. He had buried child after child and watched his dreams die a little more with each one and she thought that he didn’t care?
“Years of hormones injected into me? Years of intrusive exams. Being poked and prodded and put on display? Years of your put downs? Those sly looks at parties”, she started a list.
“Lillian”, his voice was barely audible now.
“I did everything that I could to please you. I did everything that I could to give you the heir you wanted. We had barely been married a year when we found out that I couldn’t conceive. Nine months later, when I was doped up to the eyeballs with hormones your first bastard was born. You didn’t even give me a chance”.
“People grieve in different ways”, he extended his hands towards her, “And I tried not to let you find out about that”.
“You tried not to let me find out?” She raised her own hands in exasperation, but then slammed her eyes shut and clenched her fists. She was getting emotional, she always did and then he always dismissed her. She didn’t want to be emotional, she needed to be calm if she were to get her point across.
“I didn’t want an heir, I just wanted a child. I would have been a mother to any of them: Livia, Lucretia, Lavila, Lucas, Lutessana any of them. All of them”. It wasn’t a false claim, Lionel could have filled their home with bastards and she would have been raised everyone single one of them as her own with as much love as she felt for Alexander and her poor little Julian.
“You knew about Lucas and Lutessana?” He sounded shocked.
“I knew about them all”, she hissed, “every single last one”.
“Lillian -”
“Say something else”, she demanded. She was sick of hearing her name on his lips after so many years of neglect.
“Darling”, he tried.
“I think that I preferred Lillian”, she commented dryly.
“Lillian, I loved you so much”.
“Ha!”
“I did, I do. I … those other children, any child that we could have adopted it wouldn’t have been ours. Yours and mine. Our blood running through its veins”, he stepped forwards. Reaching out to her. He didn’t know what she was but he could smell the scent of her perfume, feel the warmth of her skin even before he touched her.
She pulled away from him. “I just wanted a child”.
“We got one, the perfect ones. Lex and Julian”, he said their names with awe.
“You hate them”.
“I don’t”.
“You do”.
“I don’t”, he grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her. Finally touching her.
“Ah, there’s the husband I know and detest”, she didn’t look phased. “When things don’t go your way, resort to violence. It doesn’t matter if it is a woman. Doesn’t matter if she is your pregnant wife. Doesn’t matter if it is your son”.
“That was one time Lillian”, his fingers bit into her soft flesh.
“And that makes it alright?”
“My father used to knock me around all of the time, left me to starve, had me out on the streets works before I was ten years old”, he shook her. “I gave Lex everything, I only shook him once. I wouldn’t have hurt him”.
“And the fact that it was only one time makes it okay?” She spat at him.
He paused, that was a question that he had never asked himself.
“One time that you laid hands on him but every single day you chipped away at his self-esteem, every time that you bullied him and told him that it was for his own good, when you sent him away to school”, the list was never ending.
“I had to, you were being …
“I was being what? Hurt? Emotional? Grieving for my children?” Lillian demanded.
“You acted as if you didn’t even love them. When Lex …” It was too terrible to even think it. The day that Lex had taken his youngest from him.
“You mean when I”, she corrected him.
His head shot up.
“You knew”, she sneered at him.
“I never even suspected”, the words flew from his lips.
“You knew”, she repeated the accusation. “You always knew. All along you knew. It could never have been Alexander. He was the sweetest boy until you got your hands on him but still … he could never have killed his own brother”.
“He said that it was an accident”, Lionel said, in a dazed tone.
Lillian Luthor would never snort. She was a lady. But it came pretty close.
“Lex could never”, he agreed, something breaking inside him. “But you, you never loved our children, did you?” That was why she had been able to speak so badly of Lex at times. Why she hadn’t wanted to continue with the treatments. Why she had brought up adoption, because she knew that he would never allow it.
“I loved them so much”, she corrected them, still held by the shoulders. “I still do, in spite of everything you made Lex, but I couldn’t watch you destroy them. I started to have premonitions of the future. I told you about it, about what I saw …”
“You were just overly emotional”, he dismissed her then as he had at the time.
“I was depressed, hormonal and desperately unhappy. I saw you making enemies out of our boys already at that age. I couldn’t let it happen”, she thought back to that day, an odd expression on her face, “I don’t remember doing it. I know that I did it. I can feel it deep inside. But I don’t remember it. I just …”
“Lex reckons that you had post-partum depression”, he ran his hands down her arms, “he mentioned it once, years ago”.
“Hmmmm”, she had that far away expression again, the one which made him want to shake her back into the present.
“Lillian”.
She looked at him.
“Lillian!”
It was a relief that at least she was no longer spewing vitriol at him, no longer imitating him, she was the woman he had once known. Once loved.
“Lillian, my love, I didn’t know what to do”, he finally confessed, “I saw problem and I fixed it. That is what I do”.
“You destroyed us”.
He let her go and she walked away. She sat down before his computer and flicked through his files.
“Do you know what it is like to watch your son growing into something you hate”, she enquired conversationally.
It was on the tip of his tongue to repeat her name because it was the only thing that he could think to say. His soul was being torn from him. How could anyone say such a thing about their child? About his child.
She cast a glance back over her shoulder at him, “Perhaps you do. That Chloe is a nice girl, far too young for you but a lovely girl for Lex. She is slowly putting everything back that you sought to destroy”.
“I never wanted to destroy Lex, just strengthen him”, he protested.
She looked up at him, her eyes filled with hollow mockery. “Then God help the people you hate”. With that she stood up and walked over to him and caressed his cheek. She stared into his eyes and he thought that she could peer right into his soul, that she would forgive him, and she would love him, and she would hold him and then … she patted his cheek condescendingly. “There’s a good boy, got over your latest little tantrum. Go and buy yourself something nice”.
And with that she was gone. Lionel reaching out to grasp hold of his fleeting love, the words he had told her long ago when she had needed him thrown back in his face.
~*~
“Lillian”, he called out into the darkened room as he bolted upright.
It had just been a dream. Of course it had, what else could it have been? Those painkillers must have packed as much of a wallop as his son did, he touched his nose gingerly. He wasn’t insane and his wife wasn’t back from the dead. He was just on drugs.
“I should probably have listened to the doctor when he said not to take alcohol with the medication”, he mused to himself as he walked over to the other settee in front of his laptop and sat down, just to convince himself. He found that it was open on a picture of Chloe and that there hung in the air the faintest trace of his wife’s perfume. No, he must be imagining things. He didn’t believe in any of that nonsense.
Besides, he hadn’t done anything wrong. He hadn’t. He loved his son more than his own life; he would never really allow any harm to come to him. In spite of what Lex had said, he would not really walk away from his father. He knew that he had been trying to for the last few years and it had bothered him. Had he been anyone else he would have asked his son over to dinner, but Lionel could not show that kind of weakness. Now he had his son on his knees before him, Lex would come back to him. He would be a benevolent father. He would give him his company back, he would look on Chloe in a purely paternal role, he would help them get married and have children and he would … he checked his emails.
“Oh God”, he saw the news. He was broke. Somehow, his son had out manoeuvred him. “I’ve lost everything. I’ve lost him”. Pride mixed with the humiliation and despair. He took another long swig of whiskey. He had lost everything.
He once again slipped into unconsciousness to be tormented by his dead wife, but when he awoke he had another plan of action.
A/N: So, is that what you thought had happened in Lillian and Lionel's past?