Apocalypse (NC-17) Completed 4th March 2014

Apocalypse

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything.
Summary: An AU version of Apocalypse - the one where Clark sees what the world would have been like without him. For the purpose of this story the whole meteor shower never happened - I don’t see how it would have without Clark - so no Clark, no Lana, no mutants. In spite of all of this, Lex ends up in Smallville and he isn’t impressed.
A/N 1: My plot bunny went mad and several things happened which I didn’t think were going to. It is going to get a little dark (so consider yourself warned) but nothing really bad happens.
A/N 2: This was originally written for Secret Santa Chlex 2014/2015 for Chleansmile.

Apocalypse, Part 1

Lex Luthor hated parties. He hated inane conversations. He hated Hick Towns. And he hated champagne. He was particularly aware of this final hatred as he took a sip of the pale, bubbly, girly liquid and strove to contain a snarl. What he wouldn’t give for a glass of well aged single malt at that moment. A cackle of laughter and a whiff of cheap but pungent perfume assaulted his senses. Make that a decanter.

Internally he vented his spleen against his father for most of their dysfunctional relationship and most especially for having banished him to the middle of nowhere. He poured down scorn on Smallville and every single member of its ridiculous population, particularly on the ones who were buzzing around him like bees. He firmly believed that one of their number - the idiot who hadn’t secured his truck properly that morning, resulting in Lex totalling his favourite Porsche - should be left to rot in jail and he consigned whoever had come up with the idea of this party to the devil.

At eight o’clock on the dot, the doors to the only castle in Smallville had opened and every plant worker, their family, and town officials had swarmed in. They had succeeded in doing the impossible. They had brought warmth and life to the old place, turning the cold, echoing ballroom haunted by the ghosts of his ancestors into a hot, sweaty, cramped mess. It wasn’t an improvement.

The only small mercy was the fact that his butler had come over to him a little while before, using the excuse of ‘a matter which needs sir’s most urgent attention’ to furnish him with a few minute’s respite from the head splitting chitter chatter of a load of simpletons. But it wouldn’t last. He had three more interminable hours of this. Lex was used to boring soirées, but at least there was normally (in Metropolis) a bevy of beauties to distract him and he knew that he would get lasting business contacts from it. This was just pointless.

“Sir?”

Lex’s head jerked up from where he had been absent-mindedly staring at the fireplace.

“I am terribly sorry, sir”, his butler apologised professionally.

“Not to worry, Benson”, Lex assured him, he liked the old fellow. “I just got lost in thought”.

“Yes, it is rather a great problem, is it not sir?” The elder gentleman continued. “But nothing I am sure that can’t be remedied if you were to speak to them directly. Over the phone. Now”.

Yes, Lex definitely liked him. In fact, he was getting a raise. “Quite right”, he said loudly enough for the wasps - he had had them demoted - swarming around him, anxious to catch every breath, to hear. “I had better handle it immediately. A quick word is all that will be needed, I’m sure. Make my apologies, will you?”

“Of course, sir”, these words were accompanied with a dutiful nod.

This established, the Luthor scion strode out of the room, the sea of people parting as he went, whispers rippling through them.

“Who was it that he was calling?”

“A president?”

“A King?”

“He was calling the King”.

“He and the King were going into business together”.

“He was blackmailing the Queen of England”.

“He had had an affair with Diana”.

Lex was so used to this that he didn’t even smile at the absurdity of it. He would probably be dealing with the consequences of the rumour - God knows what it would be by the end of the night - for months to come. He doubted that the number of canopies that they were shovelling in would make them any kinder to him.

He headed down the hallway towards his office, or more specifically, towards the liquor cabinet in his office hoping for a few minute’s peace and quiet when he saw it. A scrap of red fabric disappearing around a corner further down the hallway. None of his staff would wear anything of the sort, which left only one explanation. A spy from his father. Apparently this evening was not going to be as interminably boring as he had thought.

This wasn’t the first time that it had happened. The on-going war between him and his father included a whole host of weapons, many of them sexual. The kinky school teacher. The prostitute. The potential wife. To name but a few. They were all just par for the cause when battling for control of a multi-billion dollar empire.

He turned the corner and got a better view of his target. His footsteps increased in speed but remained as silent as before. The years of martial arts and self-defence training he had been subjected to his High School seemed to pay off every day in the business world.

Tiny lines formed between his eyebrows, as a frown crinkled his brow. Something was not right. He knew it even as he caught up to his prey. She was heading towards a room of little consequence and was not the normal type that he would be attracted to. His father had discovered his son’s preferences before Lex had even been aware of having them - and had exploited them ever since.

Tall, willowy brunettes. Exotic and beautiful with fierce dark eyes. Always older than himself and worldly. They normally came gift wrapped in silk and lace in his preferred shade of purple surrounded by an expensive air of perfume. That was not the case with this particular woman. She was barely above average height, maybe even less without heels. She was pale with very blonde hair which had been pulled back into a bun. Her face was hidden from them but figure was not. She was certainly more curvaceous than he normally preferred, but he could very happily make an exception. Her age remained a mystery as were her intentions, the only thing he could be certain of were her socio-economic standing and the fact that she was not working for his father; Her bright red dress was long, sexy and vintage but not the dress of someone planning on seducing a billionaire. Furthermore, the scent his mother had been known to prefer was notably lacking. This woman smelled of soap. She seemed clean, wholesome and mysterious. His appetite was wetted.

She crouched down and actually tried to see through the key hole. Then straightened again, not taking the time to smooth down her dress properly before pressing her ear against the thick wood. Her face still in opposite direction to him.

Lex reached out, his hand wrapping around the warm, soft flesh of her upper arm. She released a squeak as she whipped around, her eyes filled with anger which changed, in a flash, to horror. He knew the feeling as he was forced to confront a horrific fact himself. She was young. Definitely under aged. That had the same effect as a cold shower on his body.

He didn’t say a word and he didn’t let go of her arm. He merely turned and marched along towards his office, trusting that she would follow him rather than testing his strength. She did. He could feel her a couple steps behind him, struggling to keep up with his deliberately long strides in her high heels, wrath building within her. Just as he could feel her exasperation reaching boiling point he opened the door to his study and pulled her through it. The wood was heavy enough to close on its own and he knew that she wouldn’t be stupid enough to try to run, he continued into the room as if she were nothing.

The large, warm room was blessedly free from the pesky burden of excessive human company. It was silent and full of the comforting scent of old books and beeswax. It should have been his fortress of solitude but now he had to deal with this.

He walked over to his favourite winged back, leather chair and sat down. He stretched out and examined her minutely. She didn’t look scared as he had expected her to, she was just standing there looking around as if there was nothing pressing on her mind. He wanted to smirk at her moxy but tried to keep a stern face as he demanded, “Whose kid are you?”

“Kid?” She snorted and placed her hands on her hips.

He wasn’t sure if she did this to emphasis her breasts or if that was just a bonus - or would have been had she not been practically a child.

“You”, she informed him, “need to get your eyes tested. I haven’t been a kid for a long time now”.

He raised an eyebrow at her, hoping to make her blush. She remained stubbornly unembarrassed. “Who are you?” He repeated his question, and she remained mute on the subject. “Your parent won’t be fired for your bad behaviour”.

“My bad behaviour?” She repeated, performing her own version of eyebrow acrobatics.

“Based on your accent, I would have to conclude that you come from Metropolis”, he ruminated and upon receiving no reply, continued, “Gabe, my planet manager is from Metropolis”. He had gone through everyone’s file that morning, before he had decided that like hell was he doing as his father wished and firing someone. “And as I think that we all know he has a little girl”. Whilst that particular morsel of information had been in the file, it had also come out of the man in question no fewer than fifteen times in the first two hours of their tour around the planet. Gabe was a Proud Papa of the first order. He also had a collection of photos of his little blonde rug-rat on his desk. Thankfully Lex had made his escape before he got passed the second year of her (amazingly well documented) life.

“That would be me”, she held out her arms in a gesture which seemed to say ‘ta da’. “Chloe Anne Sullivan, at your service”.

“Then I’m not the only one who needs his eyes tested”, Lex muttered. Gabe had definitely refereed to her as his: “little girl”, “baby”, “Chloe Bear”, and once what had sounded suspiciously like “Fruit Loop Jammie Puff”, but Lex hoped that he had misheard. He had been trying to drown the older man out by that point.

Lex got up and ambled over to his liquor cabinet. He needed that drink now more than he had before. He poured himself an enormous measure of scotch and replaced the decanter.

“So, do you offer your guests a drink too? Or have our quaint small town ways and manners not rubbed off on your hardened Metropolis heart yet?” She inquired, following him over to the cabinet. She wasn’t a shy little wallflower or mouse, that was for sure.

“I wasn’t aware that you had aged seven years or so in the last five minutes”, he commented, with a wry look.

Chloe displayed her displeasure with an expressive roll of her eyes. “I’m not that young. I’m fourteen”.

“Wow, a whole fourteen. You’re going to be a big girl soon then”, he said in a deliberately patronising manner. Mostly to remind himself that she was a baby. A tiny little baby who needed to be protected and cosseted, not taken hard and fast against his bookcase.

“How old were you Mr Luthor when you had your first sip of alcohol?” She inquired, returning her hands to her hips. Apparently it was just her habitual stances when vexed.

“Please call me Lex”, he said with a pleasant smile. “And I was five years old, but I’m more responsible now”. Or at least he was trying to become so over the last twenty-four hours, ever since he had been placed in a position of responsibility. He felt that he should live up to it.

“Five, are you being serious?” She exclaimed.

“Yes”, he acknowledged, but wasn’t going any further down that line of conversation, “Would you like water or juice? I would offer you some fizzy pop but considering the time that probably wouldn’t be wise”.

“It’s”, she checked her watch, “8:30”.

“Staying out late I see”, he commented, “I can’t give you caffeine at this time of night, it will keep your up passed your bedtime”.

She rolled her eyes again. He found the typical teenaged expression less irksome on her features than he did in general.

“Please”, she sniffed, “you think that the piffling amount of caffeine in some pop is going to keep me up? I’ve been on three espressos a day since I was twelve!”

“Gabe allowed that?” He didn’t seem like the type.

“Well, he didn’t know about it until about a week ago and he has been going on about it pretty much insistently since then, but still”, she shrugged.

“Tough as Annie aren’t you”, he teased her with a smile. He had always had a soft spot for that little red headed orphan with a mangy mutt at her heels.

“So, do I get a drink or not?” She asked, bluntly.

“Of course”, he was always going to offer her something. He poured her some orange juice, loaded with vitamin C, essential for a growing girl.

“Thank-you”, she accepted the beverage and took a long draft, “ah, a fine year”.

He shook his head and with an amused smile. “Come on”, he placed his hand on her lower back and steered her back towards the settee and indicated that she should sit down. He took a sip of his scotch before placing his glass on a coaster. “So, are you going to tell me what you are doing?”

“Looking for the bathroom?” She asked hopefully.

“Come on, give me some credit”, he scoffed at the meagre attempt at subterfuge.

“Alright, alright”, she relented. “I was looking for a secret passageway to the dungeon containing the skeletons of your past business adversaries”.

Lex looked unimpressed.

“Alien autopsies?”

“That’s even worse than your first attempt”, he snorted.

“Fine”, she huffed, “the wreckage from a car accident which you miraculously survived years ago and have never been able to let go leading you to ruin your life in the quest for answers?”

Lex’s face remained impassive.

“Come on give me a break”, she complained at his lack of imagination and enthusiasm for her ideas. “Do you have any idea how boring Smallville is?”

“I’m beginning to get an idea”, he smiled sadly, “so you feel the need to snoop around other people’s houses? Or am I special?” He didn’t sound as angry as he had expected to, he didn’t feel it either.

“Oh no, if another multi-billionaire playboy with his own castle comes along then I will invade his privacy too”, she assured him. “But I don’t see it happening, do you?”

He looked around the study as if considering the matter, “No, probably not. So, was there a particular reason, or was it just a sudden overwhelming urge?” He had been subject for a few of those in his life, although they normally led him into doing something a whole lot worse than just exploring other people’s houses.

“I an investigative reporter. Can you blame me?”

“No”, he admitted, “but a judge probably would”. Noseyiness was not a defence, as far as he knew.

“But you aren’t going to turn me into the police, are you?” She stated confidently.

“No, I’m not”, he confirmed.

“I knew it”, she reclined back in her seat, “I’m a great judge of character”.

He smiled and relaxed himself. This beat going back to the party and really he wasn’t being irresponsible. He had found someone threatening the security of LuthorCorp and was merely performing his due diligence by talking to her. “A great judge of character and an aspiring journalist?”

“A journalist”, she corrected him.

“How remiss of me, I simply cannot apologise enough”, he smirked. “Have you found anything to report on here?”

“Nope. Nothing worthy of my skills. Since I have been in Smallville the highlights of my journalistic career have been: an exposé on the cafeteria food - no meat in the meat loaf -, a lost pig that wasn’t really lost, the rising price of corn, and the state of Miss Corn Festival’s breasts. I still don’t believe that they were real. How can someone gain three cup sizes in a week? Intergalactic radiation?”

“Those sounds riveting”, he taunted her with a twinkle in her eyes.

“Yep, the only reason to read them is my bitingly witty writing style”, she said modestly. “Well, that and my restaurant reviews”.

“Restaurant reviews?” He repeated, in astonishment. He didn't know about a lot about High School journalism but he didn’t think that restaurant reviews were a normal part of it.

“Well, I started discussing coffee - because I was enjoying a particularly good cup whilst typing up an article - and it became a weekly part of my column”, she explained.

“Good to know”, he reached for his drink once again and ignored her pointed look, “I would be interested to know what you can do around here”. He hoped that he would not be here for too much longer but for the time being he might as well find out what there was to do in Smallville.

“Nothing”, she answered with a sigh. “Seriously, absolutely nothing.My favourite book ever was Tales of the Weird and Unexplained but nothing weird or in need of explaining ever happens here. What I wouldn’t give for a nice alien invasion. Or a meteor shower. Or a best friend with a secret Oh, oh”, she was practically salivating, “or a football coach with fire shooting out of his hands. Or just any sort of good juicy conspiracy. But, nope, we have nothing”.

“Absolutely nothing? Social will do, it doesn’t just have to be journalism related”, he prodded. There must be something to do. Somewhere. However bad it was.

“Well there is the Corn Festival”, she offered.

“You’re kidding?” He knew that she had mentioned that before, but he hadn’t thought that she was being serious.

“Nope. You’ll love it”, he promised him.

“I will?” He sounded doubtful.

“Oh yes”, she wetted her lips before she continued, “we have: bobbing for apples, pony rides, a table setting competition, a pie making contest, not to mention the bachelor auction, all washed down with a beauty contest that makes Miss Universe look empowering”.

“It sounds”, he paused, “unforgettable”.

“Oh certainly”, she grinned, “I’ve had nightmares for months after it”.

He smiled again. He couldn’t help it. He was filled with a pleasant, comforting warmth which was only partially due to alcohol.

“So, What are the people like around here?” He wondered.

“You’ve been here what? Ten hours? Surely that is long enough for you to have come up with a few impressions of your own”, she prodded.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

“Obviously you can skip Dad and I”, she offered kindly, “we are just too awesome”.

“Obviously”, he allowed. “So far I have just seen a load of stereotypes. Nosey, bossy, know-it-all journalists accepted, of course”.

“Of course”, she didn’t appear to take offence, “we are pretty much surrounded by them here. Cheerleaders Football players. Farmers. Wall flowers. Idiots. A lot of idiots”.

“So, it is as bad as I thought”, he finished his drink just as Chloe lost all interest in him and bounced up. “Is that an original?” She demanded as she scurried over to his bookcase.

“What was it that you were saying about my manners?” He asked, his head craning around to follow her. Her eyes must have been as sharp as his if she could read the titles from that far away.

She rolls her eyes at him. “Well, is it?”

“Yes”, he didn’t add that everything that he had was an original as he got to his feet and went over to join her by the shelving unit. “I have a whole collection.”

“Wow, I knew that you were into history but this is incredible. The original manuscript of War and Peace”.

He took it off the shelf gently and held it out for her to look at. “You did? How?”

“Of course”, she answered, “I am an aspiring journalist”.

“Journalist”, he corrected her. Dropping the ‘aspiring’.

“Journalist”, she continued, “so clearly I researched you”.

“What did you find out?” He asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest and studying her.

“Alexander Joseph Luthor. The former curly, red haired boy with chubby cheeks - who stated in an interview at ten that he wanted to be a mad scientist - has become a bald billionaire”, Chloe started. “You went to Metropolis University but you didn’t actually get around to graduating - your extracurricular activities were a little too impressive, although in one case did involve a love of chemistry”. She shot him a knowing look, “Now you have come to take over the Smallville planet which you have pledged not to close down”.

“A very Flattering portrayal”. She was certainly a lot nicer than most reporters he had met.

“Flattering enough for an interview?” She asked cheekily.

“Ummmm”, he made her wait as he replaced his book, “not quite, no”.

“You were just teasing me with that ummmmm, weren’t you?” Her hands found her way back to her hips again.

“Yes”, he admitted.

“You see, this”, she pointed at him, “is why Bruce Wayne beat you for most eligible bachelor last year”.

“Please”, he dismissed that insult, “he is Batman”.

“No one has proved that”, Chloe said with an air that added ‘only because she hadn’t gone to Gotham City yet’.

“No, because every reporter is eating out of his hand. I mean, it is so bloody obvious. The Bat Signal appears, looming over the city in its enormous, gaudy glory and suddenly he leaves on some bullsh”, he paused, remembering her age, “plop excuse. Then he ‘saves the day’ and comes back in with a distracted, brooding expression and says something which lets all of the women know who he really is and that he is a tortured soul who just needs saving and love and all of that cra”, another pause, “cribbage”.

“Cribbage? Really, Lex?”

“It’s was all that I could think of”, he shrugged.

“Oliver Queen beat you too”, Chloe reminded him, cheerfully.

“That was political”, he complained.

“Sure it was. Hey, give me an interview and I’ll make you look really good?” She offered.

“Why don’t you go and bug them for interviews?” He asked. He didn’t like Bruce, he had bullied him throughout High School. Setting Chloe on him could be hilarious, for Lex at least.

“I did”, she informed him.

His eyebrow arched in his trademark expression.

“By email”, she elaborated. “I didn’t get a response”.

“How rude”. Honestly, that was shocking. Although he would probably have done the same if he had not met her.

“That’s what I said. Well, I embellished a little bit, of course. Cribbage eating bull plop mongers”, she added, muttering under her breath.

“Of course”, that was only reasonable given the circumstances. He would ignore her non-too-subtle dig at his attempt to protect her young ears from being sullied by foul language. “If you did get an interview, what you would ask?” He wondered.

She stared at him enquiringly.

“If I were to give you political questions, for example, would you have the nerve to ask them?” He inquired, a plan brewing in his wicked mind.

“Oh, I would definitely ask those. Not like that reporter he was on TV with last week who just asked all of the easy ones while drooling over him. Pathetic reporting”, she groused.

“Ah yes, Melissa Clearwater”, he pronounced her name with a touch of nostalgia.

He had been interviewed by her several times. As a reporter she was beyond awful but in bed she had been brilliant. Sensational. Mind blowing. If he recalled they hadn’t actually got as far as the bed after the second interview.

“I’m not promising anything but I’ll see what I can do to get you in a room with him”, Lex made the offer.

“Mr Wayne?” Chloe asked breathlessly.

No”, he thought better of it. Bruce Wayne was into blondes and didn’t have Lex’s high moral code: absolutely no girl below 18 under any circumstances! “Oliver”. He was a pain in the ass but he wasn’t a pervert.

“I can work with that”. She gave him what he guessed must have been at least a one million watt smile. “Lex that is fantastic, that is brilliant. That ... Oh damn it”.

“What’s the matter?” Lex asked.

“I’ve just realised, we’ve been gone for a really long time. I should get going before Dad and Ethan come looking for me”, she explained, getting up with a sigh.

“Ethan? He would be your ... boyfriend?” Lex asked as he straightened up.

“Yeah, why do you look so surprised?” She asked as she smoothed her dress down, “Did you think that I was one of those girls who would choose a guy who is love with someone else, then get down on myself and throw away my life thinking that they are ugly or some crap like that just because some random guy didn’t look me?”

“No”, he defended himself with a shocked expression, “I didn’t think that”.

“Good. Come on. We’ll find my Dad and then he can introduce you to people and I will tell you interesting tit bits about them. Come on, you’ll enjoy yourself a lot more with the Sullivans as guides”, she promised him.

“Is that an order?”

“No, just a fact”, she smiled but then looked thoughtful. “Lex?”

“Chloe?”

“Can I ask you a question, off the record, I promise”, she asked, far more hesitantly than any of the other questions and statements she had hurled at him that night.

“Sure, I don’t promise to answer but you can ask”, he offered amicably. Partly because she had succeeded in cheering him up (a little) and proving that there was some intelligent life in this town, and partly out of sheer curiosity.

“What happened to your hair?” She came out with it.

“You didn’t research that?” He asked disbelievingly.

“Of course I did”, she sounded truly offended, as if she judged her own worth by her journalistic ability.

“And?”

“There are lots of theories. Hundreds in fact. But I’ve never seen one which sounds even vaguely plausible. You have always been far too healthy for it to have been cancer. You don’t have any of the other signs of alopecia. I’m not sure where you would have found enough radiation to result in hair loss. You obviously don’t shave it”. She struck off each impossible implausible option against her finger.

“No, I don’t”, he agreed. You know when you are young and afraid of things and your parents tell you to face your fears? Not to let them overcome you?” He began to tell her, not entirely sure why he was confiding this in her.

“Yes”, she replied slowly.

“Well, my father was a big believer in that. I used to be afraid of heights and Lionel told me that the only way to get over it was to climb to the top of the tallest building around - we were in Paris at the time - so we did that. Then he hoisted me up and dangled me over the side”.

“He did what?” She exploded.

If that got to her, she was going to hate what he was about to tell her. “Then he pretended to drop me. Just for a second”.

“He did what? That fucking bastard”. He had been right, ear splitting. Amusement was etched on his face as he continued, “I screamed”. He didn’t add that he had also wet himself. “But other than that I appeared to be fine”.

Chloe muttered something that really should not have been repeated in polite company.

“When he got me back to the hotel my mother was worried and tried to comfort me”, by which he meant that he had still been shaking and crying like a baby, “she stroked my hair and, as she did so, my hair began to fall out”.

“Really? I’ve never heard of that”, she said without malice but also without tact.

“Yes, really. It is actually quite common. The whole ‘face your fear head on’ theory can also cause your hair to go grey/white in less than a minute, lose your hair or give you a heart attack. So, basically it is pretty cribbage”.

“You are sticking with cribbage?”

“Until you are at least seventeen. Yes”, he informed her with a smile.

“Would you want to get me an interview with your dad? I could pester the hell out of him”, she offered.

“While I appreciate the offer, Gabe does technically work for Lionel so I wouldn’t deliberately antagonise him. Actually”, he considered what he knew about her, “it might be best if you just stayed out of his way completely”.

“So you don’t want me to kick him in the shins for your either?”

“No thank-you”, he reclined, as he walked her to the door and held it open for her. She smiled at him and he returned the expression. He ended up doing a lot of smiling during their sporadic meetings in Smallville although he never did get her that interview with Oliver Queen and when his father called him back to the Metropolis a month later - being impressed with his handling of the Smallville plant - he had thought that this was the last time that he would ever see Chloe Sullivan.

~*~

Apocalypse, Part 2

Nine years later ...

“And”, Chloe turned to stare directly into the camera, “that was your Chloe Sullivan interview for the day”. She flashed her one billion watt smile at the viewing public through the power of technology.

“And commercial”, the producer’s voice boomed across the set. A bell rang across the set and the make-up artists flocked over to the star of the show and began to mess about with her hair, make-up and clothes and left her looking exactly the same. To Lex’s eye at least.

They scattered and Chloe sat back in her chair, examining her interviewee with a far more Chloe-ish expression than she had used during the interview.

“Did you really have to be that hard on me?” He inquired, rolling his head from one side to the other. How was it possible that verbal judo made him feel as if he had actually been through five rounds with Mike Tyson?

“Please that was nothing”, she scoffed “You should have been me when I finally got hold of Oliver Queen for an interview”.

“I did”, he revealed.

“Really?” She stared at him in shock.

“Of course, I never miss an episode”, he replied with an easy smile.

She narrowed her eyes at him, as if she were trying to work out whether or not he was teasing her. After the two hour interview in which she had had him on the back foot the entire time - however much he had tried to fight back - he deserved to have some fun.

“I”, she started but was interrupted by the producers and ADs.

“Fantastic show Miss Sullivan, absolutely fantastic. And Mr Luthor. The ratings were fantastic, our highest show so far. Every time that you two argued the boards lit up”, a man with a ponytail fawned over them both.

“I don’t believe that I fought with Miss Sullivan”, Lex corrected the obsequious little tyke. Could someone only a few years young than you be described as a tyke? Lex internally debated the question.

“You gave as good as you got”, another member of the station informed him.

Lex transferred his attention back to Chloe, who seemed to agree. He opened his mouth to continue their conversation only to be interrupted by someone informing her, “And now, for the final part of the show”.

“There is a final part of the show?” Lex wondered , he hated being out of the loop. He had thought that he was going to be the last thing that they saw. That was what had been agreed, as far as he had been concerned.

“Yes, it is something that we are adding this week, to try it out. Our other correspondent is ill so Miss Sullivan will be taking over from them”, obsequious tyke one (OT1) prattled on.

“Really”, he beamed, as he turned to Chloe, who didn’t look too happy at the prospect. “And what might this other mysterious segment be?”

“Cooking”, Chloe ground out the two horrifying syllables.

“Cooking?” He choked out. “Chloe Sullivan is going to be cooking?” He actually started laughing, his mirth only increased as Chloe shot him an evil, warning look. “I guess that I am cancelling my conference call with France then”.

“You are not welcome to stay”, Chloe informed him acidly.

“Really?” He quirked his eyebrow up at her, challengingly.

“Really”, he looked from her to the others, daring them to confirm her.

“I’m sure that we can find Mr Luthor a chair somewhere to watch”, OT2 put in.

“Thank-you”, Lex said, rising gracefully to his feet before beginning to vacate the stage to allow Chloe to get on with her show, but as he moved past the group of network types he placed his hand on the producer’s shoulder, “Thank-you and I will take you up on that offer, but”, he glanced back at the woman of the hour, “that was probably a bad decision on your part”.

“Oh”, the man looked concerned.

“Yes, Chloe is far scarier than I am”, he assured him, honestly.

“Or could ever hope to be”, the scary woman informed them all from where she was sitting, shooting them all one last angry look before slipping back into her TV persona.

Lex had, in fact, been telling the truth. He had seen every single episode of her show and immensely enjoyed watching her tape the final segment of her show.

Based on his acute person reading skills - and the numerous stories Gabe had told him during his month in Smallville -, Lex had always guessed that cooking and Chloe would go together about as well as chocolate and kippers but the segment was quite good. Not the cooking part, that was as boring as hell and Chloe did nothing to contribute to the actually preparation of the dish, but overall it was riveting television.

Chloe’s bright smile, biting wit, and belligerent cultural observations kept Lex and the rest of the audience laughing. Her love of food and natural sex appeal were going to give Nigella Lawson a run for her money. At one point, she had pilfered the spoon from the celebrity chef and licked the chocolatey batter off it eagerly, and then sucked an extra bit off her finger where it had dripped. All, amazingly, without wishing to be coy.

That, coupled with the way that she blushed as she realised what she had done - as if her passion for chocolate had got the better of her, which it probably had - meant that there was going to be a distinct and notable rise in the ratings. No pun intended.

Once they wrapped for the day there was a round of applause in which Lex joined happily and strode ahead of the rest of the crew to congratulate her. And to tease her, just a little. “My my Miss Sullivan. I didn’t know that you liked chocolate quite so much. Had I been privy to that crucial piece of information I would have brought some to bribe you with earlier”.

“I wouldn’t have worked”, she assured him.

“Are you certain about that? Because you seemed to be really enjoying ...”

“Absolutely”, she cut him off. “Unless it is triple chocolate praline crunch from Italy”, she moaned at the memory. “So good”.

“I’ll have to bear that in mind”, he said with a smile.

“But even that probably wouldn’t have worked. I’ve been after this for eight years”, she reminded him.

“You’ve interviewed over fifty of the world’s most important business people”, he pointed out in retaliation.

“Fifty one now”, she informed him, with a satisfied smirk.

Before their conversation could continue the interrupters/OT1 and 2 came along. “That was good Miss Sullivan”.

“Yes”, they all agreed. “We just have a few notes ...”

Lex stared at them. How the hell did they think that they were going to manage to better what she had just done? If it had been him, he would have told them where they could stick their notes but as his glanced over at Chloe, he noted that she seemed eager to learn, as always.

“You need to speak a little more slowly near the end of the segment, I know that fast talking is your thing but a little less there might be helpful”, OT2 started the litany of her broadcasting sins.

“Or the audience would be a little dim witted”, Lex thought to himself. There was absolutely nothing wrong with anything that Chloe had done in the cookery session, considering that she had not made even the vaguest attempt to actually cook.

“And”, OT1 took over, “when you were stirring, lean a little more forward”.

Chloe blinked as the realisation of what he was asking her to do settled in.

Lex was close to blinking too. He had noticed the hint of cleavage, - he wasn’t dead - and knew that her sex appeal helped with her career but he couldn’t believe that they were bringing this up in public. He felt like smacking the man in the mouth, but preferred the thought of riling Chloe up even more. So he smirked at her knowing.

“Wipe that look off your face before I do it for you”, Chloe snapped at him.

“Kinky”, his smirk did not falter.

~*~

The foyer of the Metropolis art and history museum was a whirl of music, conversation and laughter. The pink of the ton were in attendance to network, flirt and be seen ... and a a handful were even quite keen on seeing the new exhibit.

One of that select few was Chloe Sullivan, Metropolis’ most famous reporter and television personality. She sailing along in a long, form fitting purple gown attracting the attention of almost everyone that she passed, a handsome man following along behind her holding her hand. Her life had certainly changed in the last few years.

“Good evening”, she hailed a middle-aged couple. “It’s so lovely to see you again”. She glided to a halt and blew air kisses before turning to her date, “Darling I would like to introduce you to Mr and Mrs Rosche the heads of the channel my show is hosted on. Caroline and Donald I would like to introduce you to Matthew Phillips Jr my better half”.

“That’s too kind”, Matt said suavely, kissing her temple before extending his hand and exchanging pleasantries.

“Ah, young Matthew, I know your father well”, Donald squeezed his hand a little too firmly, his power handshake tended to follow him home from the office, “you are the spitting image of him”.

“Oh dear”, Matthew said with a self deprecating smile, “what at thing to say”.

Chloe wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed him as she rocked up onto her tip toes to kiss him.

While it was true that he did greatly resemble his esteemed father, he certainly had nothing to be concerned about and didn’t look a day more than his twenty-seven years. He was picture perfect; tall, handsome, with curly dark hair, grey eyes, a chiselled jaw, and aristocratic features. A true Adonis. She had always had impeccable taste in men. Fortunately they had always seemed to like her too.

“I think that you look well under fifty”, she consoled him teasingly. He wouldn’t look as cute with a swollen head.

“That’s nice to know”, he took her mirth in good part.

“Forty-eight at the most”, she continued to taunt her.

“Hey”, he complained with a smile. “Just for that, no more kisses for you”. Even as he made the threat, he pulled her closer into his embrace.

“Oh please, like you can really manage that”, she rolled her eyes at him, forgetting about everyone else around them.

“I can, I’m the man of steel will po ...” He had meant to say “power” but trailed off as Chloe pouted, very obviously. “Okay okay you’ve learnt your lesson”, his head descended and his lips covered hers once again.

“Aww young love, so sweet. Do you remember when we were like that?” Caroline cooed to her husband and the couple drew apart blushing furiously, suddenly being made aware of the fact that they were in public. And more especially in front of Chloe’s boss.

“No”, her husband replied honestly. “But my memory has always been atrocious”.

“Oh you”, she poked him in the arm. “Now”, she turned back to the young couple in front of her, “you have to tell me. How did you two meet?”

“I’d be interested to know that too”, a fifth voice broke into their conversation. They turned to see the most (in)famous member of Metropolis’ high society. “The last time that I saw you it was a big, curly haired football player”.

Chloe stared in disbelief at the newcomer. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to her; they were in Metropolis after all and surrounded by the highest ranks of society. In other words, in his element. This was exactly where one would expect to find the Luthor scion. She had seen him at parties before, they had even engaged in a few rounds of verbal judo but it was rare that he came over to her in public like this.

She would have liked to have said that seeing him up close like this was a let down, that the pictures in magazines had been in some way altered, that some of his beauty had been due to the make-up that morning. But it wasn’t. In person Lex Luthor was a tall, lithe, wonderful figure of a man. He was majestic, graceful, magnetic, with piercing green eyes. Eyes which were currently fixed squarely on her.

“Captain of the varsity team”, she pointed out with a superior expression, “if we are going to go into specifics”.

“Really?” Matt broke in, leaning over her head to speak to her, his arms still wrapped around her waist.

“Yes, I have standards”, she teased him, but placed her hands affectionately over his which were stroking her stomach absent-mindedly.

Oh?” He wiggled an eyebrow but it only made him look funny and warm. He brought one of his hands up to cup her chin, “Would you care to enlighten me?”

“Tall, dark”, brought her fingers to up tousle his dark curls, “handsome ...”

“Big and strong, enough to turn you on?” Lex supplied, helpfully.

“That’s about the gist of it”, Chloe turned her attention to him, but remained wrapped in her lover’s arms.

“I’ll try to comply, baby”, Matt promised as he returned his hands to her stomach.

~*~

Lex raised an eyebrow. “Baby?” It certainly wasn’t one of the words that came to mind when he looked at Chloe Sullivan. He had to wonder how well this man actually knew the woman he was squeezing and rubbing as if he thought that he was going to get three wishes.

Chloe evidently didn’t find the thumb stroking her navel as distracting as Lex did, if the way that she relaxed back into him was anything to go by. Lex’s eyes narrowed, but only fractionally as he took in the sight. He might have been imaging it but he thought that he saw a flicker of triumph in her eyes. As if she knew that this was getting to him, more than it should have.

Well, two could play at that game. He looked to his side and found his date. He snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. “I believe that I have some introductions of my own to make”, he smirked.

Chloe quirked an eyebrow up at him, as if in challenge.

“This is Penelope”, he paused for a fraction of a second, and saw Chloe wanting to add Pitstop. It had been the first thing that had popped into his mind too when he had met her the week before. “D’Angeli. The newest Victoria’s Secret Angel”.

“Wow”, Chloe looked impressed, “what an accomplishment”.

“Thank-you”, Lex’s date smiled seraphically, but all for no use as Lex’s eyes fixed on the blonde in front of him rather than the exotic beauty on his arm. Her voice was as sweet as her face, and Lex wasn’t even sure that the suspicion had crossed her mind that she might be being mocked as she continued, “Yeah, you’re on TV right?”

Lex tried not to smirk. Chloe was only one of the most famous people in the city. Her TV journalism career was booming and her masterful interviewing of him that morning was only going to add to her reputation.

“Sometimes”, Chloe acknowledged, modestly. Although, in Lex’s opinion, she looked as though she wanted to laugh.

“Oh yes, I saw your interview with Lex this morning. It was utterly brilliant. How long did it take you to script?” Caroline broke in.

“Oh Chloe and I worked on it for hours”, Lex said, in an all-too-knowing way.

“I never allow anyone to see my questions before hand”, Chloe dismissed this idea.

“No, that would eat into your practice time”, his smirk grew, “tell me, how is your stirring practice coming?”

“I enjoyed your cookery session”, Matt said, pulling her back more snugly against him.

Lex had no idea if he was masterfully manoeuvring the conversation away to avoid embarrassment on Chloe’s part, or if he didn’t like his hopefully not too significant other communicating too freely with other men.

“Yes, that was lovely. Do you cook much at home?” Caroline asked innocently enough, causing uproarious laughter from Chloe and her two gentleman friends.

“Sorry”, Chloe was the first to regain some of her composure. “No, I don’t cook. Not even beans on toast. I make a great reservations though”.

“I find you very useful in the kitchen”, Matt assured her with another kiss on the cheek.

“How so?” Chloe inquired, all of her attention once again taken up to staring up at him. Or, to be more accurate, Lex assumed looking up his nostril.

“You are my muse”, Matt grinned.

“Ah”, she laughed knowingly.

“And you know making reservations isn’t your only skill in the kitchen”, he teased.

From where Lex was standing he could clearly see the blush suffusing her cheeks. What a cad! He had mentioned stirring but that was all. Matt was clearly doing his best to humiliate her.

She laughed it off with an exclamation, “Matt!!!”

“What?” He looked at her with puppy-ish innocence, “your ordering in skills are also legendary”.

“As is my ability to eat an entire chocolate gateau in one sitting”, she continued to stare up his nose, her face still flushed.

“Very true”, Matt laughed, warm and huskily.

All of this lovey dovey crap was really starting to get on Lex’s nerves. He felt not one jot of remorse as he broke it up by asking, “An entire one?” He had not known that. His eyes travelled over her body. There was definitely more there than on his model but still. Damn.

“Lex”, his attention was drawn by a sharp poke in his arm. “Hmmm?” Name name name what was her name?

“Can we get something to drink?” Latests exotic beauty inquired.

“Penelope’s right”. At least Matt could remember her name. Lex supposed that he had to be good for something. “I’m a bit thirsty myself. Chloe?” Or maybe not; this question succeeded it making her bend around again to look up his nose as she nodded.

“I’ll go and see if I can scrounge up a waiter then”, Matt kissed her forehead. It seemed a bit much to Lex, he was going to find a waiter not off to war.

“What a gentleman”, Caroline moved over to wrap her arms around Chloe and say conspiratorially, “Looks. A business of his own. Successful and he can cook and manners. What a catch”.

“Something tells me that he thinks that he lucked out”, Lex said suavely, determined not to allow this interloper to have all of the attention. Not that he cared about that, of course.

“Awwww”.

Lex still had it. He turned the conversation onto a more palatable subject until Matthew returned having delivered the message to the waiter only for Chloe to jump.

“My goodness, I wasn’t expecting that reaction”, he joked.

“I see someone I’ve been dying to speak to for the last couple of months but he keeps being ‘in a meeting’ or ‘out of the office’. Will you be okay here by yourself?” Chloe checked.

“I’ll be fine but I could come with you if you want ... Bye then”, he called after her as she waved over her shoulder already trotting away and out of side.

“That one’s a fire cracker”.

~*~

Lex placed his glass of revolting champagne on the tray of a departing waiter as he strode out of the Metropolis museum’s ballroom, his phone pressed to his ear.

“Yes, yes yes I’m well aware of that. Just make sure that”, he held up his hand to someone who was coming up to talk to him and hastened out of the room into the refreshingly cool corridor, mercifully free of patrons.

He turned a corner and jogged up several flights of stairs until he was alone in the museum’s private section. It was less impressive than the rest of the building, the new wing was not quite finished yet and was replete strangely shaped, covered objects.

There was one which he guessed was supposed to be a Woolly Mammoth under a red dust sheet, several wonky pyramids and one enormous square in a white bed spread over it with a purple round shape at the bottom, burrowing underneath.

It looked very familiar.

“We have to stop meeting like this, Miss Sullivan”, Lex said easily. “Let me guess, you were on the trail of a really good investigation?”

She turned her head back and shot him an irritated look.

“Shouldn’t you be chasing some anorexic brunette around?” She snapped which only caused him to smirk down at her. “Oh God you weren’t weren’t you?” She groaned.

“No”, he answered honestly as he considered her appearance. She had been beautiful before with her blonde tresses swept back but he though that he liked her a little more dishevelled.

He put the thought out of his mind as he recognised her comment for what it was; a vain attempted to pick a quarrel with him and divert his attention from the matter at hand. Namely, what the hell she was doing there. “What is it?” He asked as he crouched down.

“Your guess is as good as mine”, Chloe replied.

“Well come on then”, he crawled back out first and placed his hand over the crown of her head so that she wouldn’t bang it as she followed suite, then got to his feet and held out his hand imperatively to her.

“Thank-you”, she got up and dusted herself off.

“You look fine”, he assured her. She looked up at him with a level of surprise which seemed quite unnecessary to him. “No one would know that you had been rolling around on the floor with a billionaire”, he added.

She laughed, “What a relief, they will only think that it was a millionaire so your identity will remain a secret”. She doubled checked her dress before another part of what he had said seemed to sink in, “And I wasn’t rolling around”.

“No of course not. You were just ...” He shot her an inquiring look, “What were you doing?”

“Curiosity got the better of me”, as all the reply that he received.

“Where have I heard that one before?” He wondered.

“I wouldn’t know”, she gave him a superior look and started off in the opposite direction to the one he in which he had come.

If she thought that such a simple manoeuvre would rid her of his presence then she was wrong, Lex fell into step along side her. “So you didn’t mention that you were coming to this event this morning”.

“Was I supposed to check in with you?”

“I thought that you might have mentioned it”, he admitted.

“Why?” She stopped walking and turned to him. “I mean, it’s not as if we are friends or anything, is it?”

“No, we aren’t friends”, he admitted through a sudden tightness in his throat which he was at a loss to explain. “But still, I’m surprised that it didn’t come up”.

“Well, it didn’t”, she turned back and started walking away in a determined fashion. He didn’t know if she knew where she was going or just wanted to seem as if she did. Either way she had apparently decided that something that he had gone - God only knew what - merited the silent treatment. He didn’t let it bother him; he knew that she couldn’t keep it up for long. He was right. “Why wouldn’t I be here”, she demanded after only a few seconds.

“It just doesn’t really seem like your kind of scene”, he answered with an accompanying shrug of his broad shoulders.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She halted their progress again.

Lex sighed. “Well that I think that you are a no talent small town hick of course who got where she did by her ‘stirring’ abilities and could not possibly have any appreciation for art and history. What did you think that I meant?”

She laughed.

He smiled at her and added in a conciliatory manner, “These parties are extremely boring”.

“You’re here”, she pointed out, apparently unimpressed by this argument.

“I have to be, LuthorCorp business. Believe me, if I had an option I wouldn’t be here”, there were thousands of things that he would rather doing at that moment than attending yet another society party, but oddly very few more than sparring with Chloe.

“What would you be doing? If you had the choice?” She inquired.

“I would be back in my apartment, accompanied by some classical music and a glass of good scotch”, he painted what appeared to him to be a rather relaxing picture.

Chloe was less impressed, “You drink too much”.

He raised his eyebrow, “Aren’t you the one who reminded me that we are not friends?”

“That wasn’t a comment as a friend. It was just an observation”, she told him.

“”Good to know”, he noted, “getting back to my earlier idea. A glass of good scotch and a good book”.

“Well, when you put it like that your chosen evening sounds positively scintillating”, she said scathingly but knew that she wouldn’t mind a similar evening - only with a different choice of drink, and music, and book. “What book? The Art of War?”

“Well I’ve finished the Baby Sitter’s Club”, he smirked at her. She laughed, but he interrupted, “I repeat, why are you here?”

“Let’s just say that I found something to interest myself with”, she started to move again her pace quickening with each step. Lex followed suit, reaching out to grasp her arm just as a door was flung open and two men exited.

“What are you ...” One of them started to demand when Chloe jumped in startled bewilderment and fell.

“Damn it”.

Lex sighed and scooped her up. “If you will excuse us gentlemen. Miss Sullivan appears to have missed the lessons on grace and elegance at her finishing school”.

~*~

“God you’re heavy”, Lex complained as he walked into the museum’s office, staggering a little under the weight of his sumptuous burden. He had never realised just how far the new wing was from the office of the director of the museum. It must have been at least fifteen hundred metres and that wasn’t including the two flights of stairs.

“I wouldn’t be so heavy if you were stronger”, Chloe pointed out, unimpressed and uninjured at least as far as her self-confidence was concerned.

“Yeah, that’s the problem”, he grunted as he stumbled into the elegantly decorated office and over to the seating area.

“Hey, I’ve noticed you filling out”, she continued on remorselessly.

“That’s muscle”, he informed her tersely. Too preoccupied at that moment to notice the indirect - and probably unintended - compliment. “And I’m not the only one who has filled out over the last few years”.

“I knew that you were checking out my curves”, she declared triumphantly, although he was sure only to vex him. Whatever else she might have said was forgotten as she gasped, “Oh”, as he tipped her onto the couch now directly before them.

He crashed down on it next to her to her. His masseuse was going to have her work cut out for her tomorrow. He would probably even had to skip the gym; his shoulders were killing him. “Now, did you really hurt your ankle?” He turned his attention to her ankles, taking one of them in each hand to start checking them over for damage.

“No, they are both fine, I was faking”, she told him remorselessly, “So, do you think that it worked?” She sat up straight on the settee and tried to reclaim her lower extremities.

“That depends on what you wanted. I never did get a clear answer on that”, he arched an eyebrow as he allowed her to pull her legs up underneath her.

“You really didn’t know?” Chloe asked, getting comfy.

“No”. Why on earth would she think that he had? He was good but he had yet to learn to read minds.

“Oh, I thought that you were just making conversation so that it looked as if we had a reason for being up there. If you didn’t know what we were doing up there, then what were you doing up there?” Chloe wondered.

“I saw you dash off, I hit my mobile, it gave me the generic call and I slipped off. Thanks for setting that up by the way”, that app came in more often than he would have ever thought possible.

“It’s a must have for every girl”, Chloe informed him.

“Yes, well, thanks”, he said a little awkwardly, but not due to her obvious semi-insult. He could not help but remember how Chloe and he had teamed up a few years ago. It wasn’t his favourite memory.

“Hey, it was a compliment. Sort of”, she smirked.

“Sure it was”, he smiled and tried to take it in the light-hearted fashion in which he knew that she had intended it.

“So what’s going on?” She asked, anxious to get down to business.

“I got a lead on that ever illusive story and I wanted to see who the other party involved was so ...”

“You followed them without back up?” Lex cut her off.

“Yeah”, she brushed it off as if it had been nothing.

“And without a convincing story?” He tried to contain his anger but it simmered in his tone.

“I would have thought of something”, she replied in a blasé fashion which only served to irritate her companion more.

“Yeah, because that has always worked so well in the past. Do I really need to remind you of the Henderson incident?” He demanded. It wasn’t the worse fix that she had been put in, but the first one would never be mentioned by him. This was absolutely fucking ridiculous. How could she be so damned stupid?

“Please don’t”, she sighed.

“Yeah”, he could imagine that she wouldn’t want to be reminded about being stuck in a toilet cubicle which stank to high heaven in a clown disguise. No more than he wished to be reminded of other difficulties she had been forced into by her association with him and need to discover the truth. The unpleasant memories, added bite to his tone as he continued sarcastically, “so forgive me if I’m not in favour of basing your safety on your ability to lie your way out of trouble. You’ll get yourself killed”.

“What do you care?” She snapped, responding to his tone.

He gave her a furious, speaking look.

“We aren’t friends after all”, she continued but she sounded a little less sure of herself.

“No, we are not friends”, not after their history, “but that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t be sad if you got hurt. Who else would keep me on my toes?” He added that last part in an attempt to get over the mushiness of the earlier part of his statement.

“Good point”, she seemed to accept that as a reasonably explanation.

“Speaking of toes”, he started

“Speaking of segue-ways”, she shot back at him.

He rolled his eyes as he demanded, “What were you doing under that statue?”

“Hiding, I heard someone coming”.

“Me?”

“Yes, as it turns out. But I didn’t want to attract any attention, just in case”, she explained as if it were extremely obvious and he a little dumb.

“You didn’t want to attract any attention, just in case, so you got on your hands and knees and wiggled your ass around in the air?” He questioned with derision.

“It wasn’t wriggling”, Chloe protested, her cheeks turning pink.

He scoffed. “Still, I’m worried about your taste in men if you think that that is not going to draw any attention to yourself”.

“I was in the process of hiding”, she complained, “And they might not have noticed”.

“Yeah, right. I repeat: you need a new man in your life”. He knew that he hadn’t like Matt and although he was pleased to hear that he was acting like a gentleman, he didn’t think that someone who wouldn’t take the initiative could satisfy her for that long.

“Was that an offer?” She crooked an eyebrow at him.

He turned his inscrutable gaze on her, licked his lips and made her wait for his response when there was a knock at the door.

“Chloe?” A male voice called.

“Speak of the devil”, Lex muttered.

“Come in sweetie”, Chloe called out, punctuating her words with a light smack to Lex’s arm.

“Sweetie?” He ignored the swat.

“Ah, what’s the matter? No one calling you sweetie, sweetie?” She taunted him.

“Keep it up and ...” He growled, leaning in but was prevented from finishing his threat by the appearance of Chloe’s boyfriend.

“Chloe? Baby are you in here?” He called as he walked into the room, looking around until he saw the seating enclosure off to the side.

“Yes sweetie”, she called from where she was seated on the couch, her foot back in Lex’s lap, his large hand wrapped around her ankle.

“Baby, sweetie”, Lex mouthed the words so that only Chloe could see them. She pulled a face at him and poked at him with her recaptured foot.

“Baby”, Matt said again as he came up to her side and sank down so that he was on her eye level. “What’s the matter? What are you doing up here?” His hand moved to her and stroked through her blonde tresses.

“Nothing, I’m fine”, she smiled as their mouths touched briefly. “We ,,,,”

Lex placed her legs on the sofa proper and stood up, so that he was taller than both of them. A position of power. “Miss Sullivan”, or baby as she was apparently now known “had a little accident but I came across her and will take care of the problem. You should get back to the party now, I’ll get a limo to take her home”. That should dismiss him. They hadn’t even talked about their plan yet.

“Thanks-you Lex”. So much for coming from a good family, Mr Sweetie didn’t even have the manners to refer to him as Mr Luthor. “But I think that we can handle it by ourselves. Right baby?”

“Right”, came Chloe’s reply and Lex had the distinct feeling that she was trying to score off him.

“So, where are you hurt?” Matt asked, his hand trailing down her leg with what Lex thought was a disgusting amount of over familiarity. Honestly, hadn’t they heard of waiting until marriage? It wasn’t something that he was interested in doing but Chloe absolutely should. Or at least until someone better came along.

“Nowhere, Lex was just afraid of being sued”, Chloe smiled reassuring at her little friend, covering his hands with hers.

“Why would he think that he would be sued?” He grasped hold of her digits and gave them a squeeze.

“He owns this place. Didn’t you know?” Chloe asked.

“No”, Matt looked between the two of them.

“I wasn’t aware that you knew either”, Lex cut in. “That is not supposed to be common knowledge”.

“Well, I’m not common”, Chloe said, raising her chin in challenge as she did so.

“True”, Lex conceded.

“And you own 94.7% percent of all Metropolis”, she continued to demonstrate her knowledge about him.

“Also true”, he was forced to admit.

“Wow, that’s impressive. I had better check that my rent cheque is in order then”, Matt joked. “So, are you ready to get going or do you want to go back down to the party?” He returned his attention to Chloe.

Lex noticed that he missed out the third - and best - option: buggering off and allowing them to continue with their conversation uninterrupted.

“I’m going to use my not-so-twisted ankle as an excuse to get out of here a bit early”, she admitted, staring up at him with large mock guilty eyes. Lex could see straight through them but he wasn’t sure that he could say the same for the slightly younger man.

“Well in that case”, he scooped her up in his arms, drawing a squeal of delight from her.

“She said that her ankle wasn’t actually twisted”, Lex pointed out, a little too sharply.

“We have to keep up the pretence”, Matt said with an easy smile.

“Yes, we have to keep up the pretence.”

Lex knew all about that.

~*~

“You know I really don’t think that you have to carry me the whole way sweetie. I realise that you wanted to help me stick to my story before but no one can see us now”, Chloe reminded her lover as he carried her up to her apartment door.

“I know, can’t a man just want to be close to his girl for a while?” He asked with a laugh, his warm breath tickling her neck.

“Of course”, she replied as she slipped the key in the lock and pushed it open. “But I don’t want you to hurt yourself”.

“You’re not heavy enough for me to hurt myself”, he promised her gallantly.

“You’re a liar”, she informed him, “But a sweet one”, she added with a smile.

“I’m not”, he protested but the grin didn’t add much credence to the statement.

“Whatever you say”, Chloe smiled at him as he strode into the familiar setting and placed her on the couch before going back to close the door. Chloe, not actually injured or one to sit around on her curvaceous ass, bounced back up and went over to put the coffee percolator on.

“You want coffee at this time of night?” Matt asked in disbelief as he plodded after her into the kitchen.

“Sure, don’t you?” She adored him but some of his notions seemed very strange to her.

“No, I’m good thanks”, he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “So, are you going to tell me what is up?”

She looked up over her shoulder at him inquisitively. She seemed to be spending a lot of time in that position today.

“For two people who don’t know each other, you and Lex Luthor seemed rather ...” He appeared to be searching for the right word. Whether that was because none would come to mind or because he feared for his safety if he mistakenly used one of the ones which had, she didn’t know.

“You can’t think that there is anything going on between the two of us?” She attempted to head him off.

“I don’t”, he reassured her. She was just about to breath a sigh of relief when he added, with a knowing tilt of his head, “I just think that there is more to this story than I am hearing”.

“Right”, she turned back around to study the progress of the coffee maker. It wasn’t finished yet but it would be soon, so it wasn’t as if she were just avoiding eye contact she was preparing coffee.

“Is there anything that I need to know?” He pressed, gently.

Like the fact that we are working together on a huge project? No, she couldn’t tell him that. “No”, she forced herself to sound nonchalant, “we just met each other a few times when we were both living back in Smallville and I have come across him a few times in Metropolis”. None of that was precisely a lie, it just left out huge parts of the tale.

“Is that all?”

How as it possible that he always knew what she wasn’t exactly telling him everything? In a lot of ways he was a lot like Lex. They came from the same circle, and Matt was handsome, an entrepreneur, well educated, and as shrewd as anything. He had just been a lot more fortunate in his family. She shook her head. She didn’t know why she was comparing the two. One was her boyfriend and the other was ... Well, she wasn’t sure. Her frenemy? Heavy on the enemy, light on the fre.

“Chloe”, Matt seemed to sense that he had lost her there for a minute. “Is that all?”

For a second she considered telling him the whole story. He was her boyfriend. While they weren’t at the love stage yet, he was good to her and honest and lovely and he didn’t deserve to be lied to. She opened her mouth to confess but then she thought of the on going projects. The reality of just how much Lex had to lose slammed into her. Matt would be furious, he could and would protect her but he would do everything in his power to hang Lex out to dry. He wouldn’t see that what Lex was doing was for the best. He would ... “Sure. What else could there be?” Her decision was made.

“I don’t know”, he released her from his embrace and took a step back. “Nothing, I guess, I’m just being silly”, he ran a hand through his hair.

“Very silly”, she agreed, “Lex and I can barely stand each other”. She followed him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She didn’t want to lie to him and yet she needed to reassure him. She couldn’t let him get hurt. Just how to accomplish these aims was rattling around in her brain when she was interrupted by the ringing of her phone.

With a groan Chloe went over to fish it out of her bag as Matt dutifully poured out her coffee - and some for himself even though he didn’t really want any. “Who is it?”

“You aren’t going to believe this”, she read the screen.

He raised an eyebrow.

“It is his royal baldness himself”, she informed him before picking up. “Lex?”

“Baby?”

“No”, she answered through gritted teeth, “It’s Chloe”

“Sorry”, he answered with a snigger, “I thought that you had had a change of name”.

“No, it’s still just plain old Chloe”, she said as she leant back against the settee and toyed with the bag from whence she had withdrawn her phone.

“Well plain old Chloe, we didn’t get to finish our conversation”, he reminded her.

“No, we didn’t. Have you”, she stopped herself from asking if he had found out any further information, “has something come to light?” Her eyes shifted over to her lover, she smiled at his expectant face, “About the interview?”

“Oh, so I take it that lover boy is still there?” Lex said in an all too knowing way.

“Yes Lex”, she replied with a sigh, at Lex’s irritating attitude not at the fact that her boyfriend was still there.

“And you can’t go into details because of him”, Lex surmised.

“Exactly”. Finally that legendary brain of his was kicking into gear.

“And there is no chance of you chucking him out so that we can have a proper conversation?” He guessed.

“Nope”, she confirmed.

“Right, then come to see me tomorrow”, he said as if there were no chance that she would refuse.

“No”, she said automatically. She could practically hear him raising an eyebrow at her, “you come to me. I’m have the day off tomorrow so I’m not getting up early!”

“The coast will be clear?” He double checked.

“Yes”, she sighed exasperatedly.

“Good night baby”, he bid her goodbye.

“Good night pain in my butt”. She heard his rich warm laugh as she hung up on him. “And now”, she turned to the less irritating of the two young men in her life, “we should have the rest of the evening all to ourselves”.

~*~

The following morning, Chloe padded about her apartment in her cosy bathrobe and fluffy animal paw slippers, a freshly prepared cup of coffee warming her hands nicely. She was having a lovely morning.

She considered having some breakfast as she made her way into the kitchen, she normally ate with Matt but he had had an early breakfast meeting that day. Fortunately he had made her coffee before he had left - and to his credit had asked if she would like some eggs but she had sent him on his way. He really was a sweetheart. She should do something nice for him. Not tell him the whole truth about the link which existed between her and Lex obviously, but she could agree to staying at his apartment one night instead of hers. There was nothing really wrong with his penthouse after all. Most people would probably have said that his accommodation was better than hers but she loved her apartment more than words could express. She had worked so hard for it after all.

There was a ring at the doorbell. Or she could let him in. That was easy. She wondered what he had forgotten that he would be ringing her doorbell then rather than being on his way to the meeting. He as normally so organised, but he had been known to get a little muddled when distracted by things that he cared about. Her boobs. Her ass. Several other body parts. She hoped that it wasn’t his boxers that he had left behind. Or did she? She giggled at the thought.

Chloe pottered over to the door and opened it without checking who it was first in the spyhole. She had become quite negligent about that lately, knowing that the building was beyond secure and only three people had security clearance to even get up to her apartment to knock on the door. Matt would still scold her if he found her doing that. “You always have to check, Chloe”, he would warn her. However she was to be spared his stern rebuke as it was not her floppy haired lover standing before her but the sleek outline of Metropolis’ favourite billionaire. It was between him and Lionel though so the victory and title didn’t mean that much. His father had tried to sell an orphanage the year before - with the children in it.

“Seriously Lex, I know that you have this anally retentive on time thing but seven o’clock in the morning? In the morning!” She cried in despair. Not about how she looked - he had seen her in a much worse condition - but just because she did not want to deal with him now. She had been planning on having breakfast and then on going back to bed for a bit before calling him to come over for he meeting. It would serve him right for him trying to annoy her - and succeeding - on the phone the night before. He had to be taught that he couldn’t order her around like that.

“I brought coffee and pastries”, he said, holding out his peace offerings.

Chloe studied the bags. They were from an excellent bakery. She breathed in and detected the subtle aromas of chocolate, caffeine and Colombian roast. “As I was saying, come in. Make yourself at home”.

Lex smiled at her as she opened the door wide for him to allow him to enter. “You’re too kind”.

“I know”, she closed the door behind him and followed him into the room.

She watched him looking around her apartment. She always relished the way that people admired her beautiful home. She had almost cried when her father had done so for the first time. Although in Lex’s case he was probably just searching for scraps of information to store away in his memory. He always did that, she noticed, it was as if he couldn’t help himself.

It was two and a half thousand square feet with four double bedrooms, all of were en suite. The master was a work of art with huge walk-in wardrobes that she had worked hard to fill. The living area was one huge room, with three sections for sitting, dining and cooking/coffee preparation.

Located in the centre of the old part of town, it had all of the standard features: high ceilings, crown mouldings, ceiling roses, huge chandeliers, hardwood floors which gleamed - thanks to a weekly cleaner -, enormous windows with outstanding views of the park on one side and the city’s skyline on the other. The best part was that it was completely private, no one could see into her apartment.

It had come with a supply of luxury furniture, but over the year she had bedecked in a style more befitting of a Chloe. She was especially pleased with the enormous globe she had placed in the corner of the room. It would have looked like a traditional one had she not brought it in fluorescent colours. The place had changed since Lex had brought it for her.

“You changed the placement of the furniture around”, he noted with a keen eye.

“Yep”, she said looking around. She enjoyed having a home of her own so much that she brought new things for it and rearranged everything in it regularly.

“We should talk”, Lex said, apparently feeling that the time for small talk was over.

“You should had over my treats”, Chloe teased him. He did so and she accepted the bag greedily, hunkering down on her settee to pull out all of the sweet delights and line them up on the coffee table - along with the coffees, of course.

Lex made himself comfortable as well and selected one of the pastries and a coffee. He had known that she wouldn’t touch his. It wasn’t sweet. He didn’t know how she could eat chocolate so early in the morning. “Is his royal curliness around?” He inquired, even though he had seen no signs of him.

“No”, Chloe said, in between bites of her pain au chocolat, “he’s in a meeting”.

“Ah”, Lex nodded knowingly. “Good, then we can get down to business”.

“So, what is the problem boss?” Chloe asked, wondering if there had been any developments of which she remained ignorant.

“To sum up”, Lex took a deep breath, “we know that he is back and that he will try to orchestrate the buyout. Only half of the original deal was ceded to me last time. There is still a lot of damage left to do. So, the first port of call is to get all of the facts”.

“That’s what I have been trying to do”, Chloe reminded him. He really hadn’t told her anything that she hadn’t already known.

“I meant without risking your neck”, Lex informed her peevishly.

“Ah”, she acknowledged, and then crammed a bit more of the chocolatey goodness before her into her face.

He rolled his eyes. “My spies are getting good intel and some of it we can guess”.

“We can’t afford to guess Lex” she shouldn’t have to tell him that. She wasn’t the one who stood to lose out if this all went pear shaped. He was. Well, him and Metropolis. If he managed to get his hands on this last piece of real estate it would give him complete control over the city and give him control over one of the main factories in the business district and several gang zones.

“I know that Chloe”, he sighed.

“It’s getting to you? Isn’t it?” She asked, unable to help herself.

“No”, he lied, none too convincingly.

“I know that we are not friends ...” She began and was met with a very significant look. “But”, she stressed, “that’s a good thing. You don’t have to hide things from me. We have a business arrangement. I am going to see this through”.

“I know”, he started the sentence as if he would have said more, but then he stopped himself.

“What is it?” She prodded gently.

He stared at her for several long seconds before finally admitting, “I have a lot to make up for and this is where that starts”.

Chloe nodded. The things that he had done in his past hadn’t been pretty. Neither had he. “Well, you stopped it going through before. You will before. And you have everything that I have given you and now we know that there is an extra link.”

Lex nodded slowly, mulling the matter over. “But not who he is representing, he is not a big enough fish to be there by himself.”

“True”, she acknowledged. It was odd but it was actually easier to get information like that from parties than in day to day life. In normal life anyone could be observed at any time, they knew this and so attempted to avoid interaction with people they were not supposed to be seen with. At parties, on the other hand, 1) there was a limited guest list so there would be no private eyes, and 2) there was always a ‘believable’ reason to be talking to anyone. Chloe had found that it was far better to spy on people at parties.

“What will you do when we find out who it was?” She had no doubt that they would.

“Give them a better opportunity to invest in one of my schemes which will unfortunately mean that their capital isn’t accessible again”, he explained his plan.

“And if they don’t go for it?” She had to ask.

He locked his gaze with hers, “I will exert pressure if need be. Chloe, I promise you: Metropolis and Smallville will be protected. I know that giving me this power doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t, but I won’t let them have it. I won’t let them go through with their plan. The loss of jobs, the hit the education system would take, the number of people who would be made homeless. It won’t happen”.

He looked at her with such fury she knew that it was true. This was the man she had always known that he could be.

~*~

Apocalypse, Part 3

A year and a half earlier ...

“Urgh”, a grunt of discomfort was ripped from Chloe’s throat as she crawled along the long stretch of metal. She was hot. She was sweaty. She was tired. Her knees hurt. And she was cranky.

She considered the wisdom of having skipped gym class so often back in High School. “Oh year, the compulsory crawling through vents course”, she snorted to herself. No, she had been right to skip all of those lessons; rope climbing had still never come up in her daily life. Not even once. And that was saying something as she was an investigative reporter.

Chloe had also been right to skip her last few visits to the gym. The last two hundred and seven to be precise. They didn’t even have a vent scurrying course. She was working on instinct here.

She dragged herself forward onto her stomach and slithered onwards so that she wouldn’t make a sound. She was going to need to use so much moisturiser that night. And a really hot shower.

In was with no small degree of difficulty that she extracted her tape recorder from her pocket, clicked it on and placed it just above the grate in the centre of the room. In spite of everything, she grinned. This was pure gold. Her Pulitzer should be on its way.

She wiggled silently and grasped her camera too. Some photos would give her article some extra pizazz. She wasn’t taking any chances with this one. Not after she had scaled the outside of a building, crawled through half a mile of hot sweaty vents, got lost twice in spite of her map, and probably permanently dented her kneecaps. Still, it would all be worth it.

Even through the grate, these pictures were going to be worth an absolute fortune. Had her position not been quite so precarious she could have hummed a little chorus of ‘I’m in the money’. She wondered what she should wear to collect her Pulitzer Prize. If she handed in her story next week then she should have it in her hands and then on her mantel piece within four months.

She struggled not to make a sound as she edged even closer the opening - resulting in her scraping her stomach against hard, coarse metal - desperate to get the perfect shot.

The meeting she had been hoping to spy on had already started over half an hour ago and she had missed its start - she hadn’t expected it to take her a whole two hours to navigate her way there. She had had to come up with this plan late last night when the bug that she had left in the office a few weeks ago had been found and destroyed. She hoped that she could get enough from this one piece of espionage to ensure that her article would be watertight.

She couldn’t believe her good luck when one of the men in charge actually started giving a power point presentation with their entire plan laid out clearly and concisely in it. It was no wonder that bad guys failed if they were going to do things that stupid. Chloe altered the angle of her camera, lay there and watched as half of her suspicions were confirmed.

Everything was going perfectly for once until the meeting ended and one by one the people involved went up to shake the lead bad guy’s hand. Normally this would have been a positive; she got a confirmation of who each one of them was - some had been out of her line of vision before - until it came to the final man.

She had known that there was an unknown backer that all of her research had not uncovered - until that moment - but she had never expected it to be him. She stifled a sigh as she reminded herself why she was doing this and that it was his own fault if he had got himself involved with these people. He would have to face justice, just like everyone else.

Chloe held her camera steady and documented every single second until only the no longer mysterious guest was left. He appeared to have no intention of leaving as he stood there, in the middle of the room, next to the table, checking his text messages.

A glance at her watch informed her that she had a mere five minutes until the next meeting was scheduled to start. She either had to make her escape now or risk being stuck there for the next ten hours until the close of the business day. Not only did she not think that she could actually manage that, it would put her behind on her deadline. She couldn’t risk trying to move too far though during an actual meeting; the greater the number people of people who were around, the greater her chances of getting caught.

Knowing that it was now or never, and that this air vent was far too narrow for her to even attempt to turn around in it Chloe balled her fists around her camera and Dictaphone and pushed all of her weight onto her forearms as she tried to pull herself forwards. If she could just slither her way the ten or so metres across the conference room then she would be in the wall, any noise she might make would be masked and she could get her map and torch out and try to negotiate a way out of there.

It was a good plan. Unfortunately she never got the chance to put it into action. No sooner had Chloe succeeded in placing most of her weight on the grate in the centre of the vent, than it gave way.

All thoughts of silence deserted her as she screamed helplessly as she fell. She had a brief glimpse of him, staring up at her in shock, next to the large glass table that she was about to slam into. She just hoped that her gadgets would survive.

~*~

Lex Luthor heard a creaking coming from the vents above him, he thought that he had heard something similar earlier in the meeting but had dismissed it at the time as his over active imagination. He looked up now just in time to see a confusion of female limbs descending upon him.

Tapping into some heroic abilities he had heretofore been unaware of possessing, he did not run to save himself. Instead, he stood his ground and held out his arms.

She tumbled into his arms and he held her close to him, in spite of the pain that ripped through his limbs. It would have been quite impressive had she not weighed quite so much. He was unable to support her weight and fell backwards. He landed plop on his regal derrière and the momentum carried him backwards, he only just managed to avoid his head cracking against the floor by grabbing onto her with all of his might and using her as leverage. Unfortunately the part of her he grabbed was her posterior.

Chloe made an odd chocking noise as all of the air was forced out of her lungs. For several seconds she lay there, flattened on top of one of the world’s move powerful men, dizzy, confused, with two parts of her story still securely grasped in her hands on her back pack hanging from one shoulder. She was going to be sore in the morning. Lex probably was too.

With a groan she started to try and peel herself off him, not really sure which way she was crawling until she heard the unmistakable sound of the door being kicked open behind her.

The guards came charging in, guns drawn. “Mr Luthor, are you alright?” They demanded before they could properly take note of the situation. When they saw their boss, lying on the floor, his face wedge between a pair of breasts, his hands nestled on a firm female ass they realised that they had been remiss in entering.

“Oh, sorry sir”, they apologised sheaving their weapons and covering their eyes. Thankfully in that order.

Some negotiation of position was necessary before Lex’s words stopped being muffled by her 30 DDs and he was free to bark, “Everything’s fine. Get out!”

Chloe scrambled to get up, without letting go of her spyware. Unfortunately this resulted in her poor bruised knees clashing with his ribs and her back pack swinging around to smacking her in the lower back, before she managed to get off him.

They both groaned. Chloe heaved her bag around and, with her back to Lex, shoved her gadgets down her bra. Clambered to her feet, straightened her hair/wig as best she could and turned around to see Lex lying on the floor, rubbing his head.

In spite of everything she felt a twinge of compassion for him. She debated whether she should offer him hand back up or make a run for it. Thank God for her wig and clever disguise, she prayed that he would not be able to recognise her.

“I’ll go and get you something for your head”, she said in a southern accent which she had perfected for just such an occasion and began to step over him.

“Not so fast”, it was on his feet in a second, “Did you really think that it was going to be that easy?”

She blinked at him, hoping that she looked innocent. Or attractive. Or just that her wig wasn’t crooked.

“While it was nice of you to”, his eyes flicked up to the ceiling where the hole was now evident, “drop on like this. I really do think that some explanation is necessary”.

“Do you now?” Chloe asked, folding her arms in front over her chest slowly.

He stared at her and she raised her chin an inch. This would be so much easier if she could read him, or had a mirror, or hadn’t just flattened him.

“Well, I suppose that I could always call security”, he slipped his phone out of his pocket and made to dial 911 only to discover that it was broken. “Something else to add to your litany of damage”, he sighed.

“You will be lucky if I don’t sue you”, she declared with more confidence than she felt.

He raised his gaze back to her face.

“Your phone dented my knee”, she huffed.

“Did it now?” He crossed his arms over his chest and fixed her with his most penetrating stare.

“Furthermore due to this building’s poorly maintained ventilation system, I could have been killed!” She said dramatically.

“So could I”, he rubbed the back of his neck again, “And I don’t own this building”.

“Sure you do, you own everything on this block including this building. You just rent it out to UniDrive Enterprises to use as their corporate offices”, Chloe countered before she could consider the possible wisdom in playing dumb.

“Very true”, he conceded. “Is that all that you’ve got to accuse me of?”

Oh, that wasn’t even close to being all but she wasn’t about to reveal her hand this early on in the game. She smiled at him sweetly, “That it is also really difficult to find the bathrooms?”

He laughed, then narrowed his eyes and studied her even more minutely.

Chloe swallowed but tried to disguise the compulsive action as a cough; she had breathed in a lot of dust in those vents. That was all that it was. It had nothing to do with the realisation that she had just given him a hint as to her identity through a careless slip and it certainly hadn’t shaken her more than she cared to admit. Definitely not. She didn’t think that her past relationship with Lex Luthor was going to come in handy this time.

“The bathroom, now where have I heard that one before?” He wondered aloud. She bristled, having no idea if he was making fun of her or if looking for the bathroom was just a ridiculously pat excuse. Possibly both.

“I don’t know, have you been watching too much TV?” Chloe inquired politely.

He smirked. “No, I don’t have that much free time”.

“Well, I imagine that between becoming your father’s minion and plotting world domination would eat into your spare time quite a lot”. Crap, there was that Chloe-ish bite again. She had to get out of there as quickly as humanly possible.

His eyes trailed over her body and her cheeks blushed, she was extremely aware of the weight of her discovery heavy between her breasts. She really, really hoped that her wig was on straight.

“Good health care package though”, she guessed as she edged towards the door.

“Hmmm”, Lex acknowledged, “very subtle”.

Her eyes widened, she turned and bolted. She just needed to get out of there, subtlety be damned. However fast she scurried across the floor she could hear his slow footsteps following her, nipping at her heels with ease - it was like a nightmare that she had once, however fast she moved she couldn’t get away. Her hand reached out for the door handle and as she grasped it he took hold of her arm. Lex spun her around, and pushed her back into the wood the other hand going over her head, closing the door and boxing her in.

“Going so soon? And without even giving me a name to match to the face”, one of his hands travelled up her body to caress her cheek.

Her lips parted, as if they wanted to respond to him of their own volition, she bit down on her lip to prevent anything from slipping out.

His head moved in. He breathed in deeply, inhaling her scent.

She panicked, pushing back against him. She couldn’t budge him using just her strength, he stayed there just long enough to make her well aware of that fact before moving back smirking. She turned to leave but found him around her once again. This time his hand was on the door knob and he opened it for her.

“I’m a gentleman”. The words echoed after her a she sped out of the office and out of the building.

She didn’t even notice that she was now missing something rather important.

~*~

Chloe tore out of the office, passed the bemused guards and down the stairs and out of the building. Even once she had escaped she didn’t stop running, petrified that someone was on her heels. She didn’t even dare look back just in case those used those precious few seconds to overtake her.

Adrenaline coursed through her and she was grateful for it. It was the only thing that kept her tired, aching, body moving.

Freezing cold air filled her burning lungs, her nose ran, her eyes streamed and she had an awful stitch in her side. She could barely see where she was going as she ducked into one shop and then out of another, weaving between people ripping off a piece of her disguise as she went along. When she finally finished the meandering mile between Lex and her apartment she was herself again. Blonde. Blue eyed. Pink cheeked. And a wreck.

As she was slipping inside the building, she scanned for anyone following her in the glass door as she did so. She was relieved to see that no one had followed her. She was just becoming paranoid at her advanced age of 21.

Feeling as if her limbs had turned to lead, she heaved herself up the seven flights of stairs, trying to ignore the way that her shoes stuck to the floor as she went. She should have been getting into better shape after several months of doing this, but it never got any easier.

“I’ve got to get out of here”, she said to herself, as she did every day, and pulled her keys out of her bag and opened the five locks, opened the door, then closed it again quickly, reversing the unlocking procedure and added a few dead bolts just for good measure.

The reality of her living situation crashed over her once again. The tiny studio apartment barely deserved the name. The ‘open plan’ living/dining/bedroom/bathroom was a minute square room with a small table which Chloe had adorned with a coffee maker, a shower cubical and one disgusting sofa which also acted as her bed surrounded by cardboard boxes of her belongings stacked up to the ceiling. The windows might as well have been made from cling-film for all the good they did, the carpet was continuously sticky no matter how many times she cleaned it and the entire place stank of mould and mildew. If her father ever saw this place he would drag her back to his house. If Lois saw this place she would ... Well, it was better not to think of that. Chloe was on her own and she wasn’t gong to depend on anyone else.

She took a deep breath, doing her best to ignore the smell, and felt her fortune against her breast. Or rather, between them. Her fingers shook as she removed first the Dictaphone then the camera. She held them in her hands and breathed a sigh of relief. Now, she would finally be able to get everything she had ever wanted.

Chloe felt a twinge of conscience. This wasn’t going to be easy for Lex, but then she reminded herself of all of the wicked things that he had done and she got over it. She stomped on her remorse as Lex had stomped on the plant workers’ dreams and stability. Well, at least if Lex was involved then she would have managed to put an end to that as well.

She slipped her laptop out of its hiding place under her sofa/bed and got to work, ripping the conversation and images backing them up, several times over and only then did she begin to feel safe. She packed everything up safely again and climbed over the settee into what was laughingly called her bathroom. A shower - to which she had had to add the curtain herself - with a sink and mirror inside it. She supposed that she should be happy that they hadn’t tried to put the toilet in there as well.

Hell wasn’t a strong enough word to describe how Chloe looked at that moment. The evidence that she hadn’t slept properly for several months was clear under her eyes, her cheeks were beginning to become sunken in, her skin was too pale and her hair was pinned back oddly to allow for the wig that was now lost to her.

She sighed and discarded her now ruined clothes and turned on the lukewarm dribble of water. She grasped a slither of generic ivory soap and attempted to scrub away the dirt and grime of her adventure.

Chloe emerged a few minutes later, partially successful in her endeavour, and dried herself off with a slightly damp towel - nothing ever seemed to dry completely any more. She mentally thanked Lois for what was left of her Christmas present, an expensive bottle of body lotion which she hoped would help her to heal. She looked down and winced at her poor body; scuffed and covered in bruises and contusions. This might take more than some moisturiser to fix. She guessed that she would have to cancel her date this week end.

She stuffed herself into her own set of clothes which had almost dried after a week on the clothes horse, grabbed her bag and dumped its contents into another satchel and departed. For once wig free.

Chloe dashed along the crowded streets of Metropolis towards the centre where she hoped to put the next stage of her plan into action only pausing when her phone vibrated in her bag.

She grabbed the vibrating gadget, and answered although she didn’t recognise the number, “Hello?”

~*~

“What do we have here?” Lex Luthor asked himself as he fingered the small booklet which he had just lifted from the familiar looking woman’s bag as he had ‘assisted’ her in leaving the room.

He wasn’t going to stop her, or run after her, or anything so crude. One of the things that he enjoyed so greatly about living in the United Stated of America was that it was impossible to go as much as three metres without being caught on some sort of surveillance device. Even less than that in a buzzing hub like Metropolis. His people would be able to follow her wherever she went without stepping a foot out of the office.

He turned the leather bound item (which he had pilfered) over in his hands, a slow smile spreading over his features. “A diary I believe”.

Having no regard for anyone’s privacy but his own, he walked over to the conference table and smashed the journal’s small lock against the glass, then opened it as if it were nothing.

Thankfully he was spared from reading reams of flowery passages about love and hope all addressed to “Dear Diary”, and found that he was faced with something far more useful. An agenda. A schedule. A set of notes on up coming articles and several phone numbers scrawled in the back.

As he surveyed the familiar writing and the other hints and sensation he had had snapped into place. He strode out of the room with a jaunty swagger. “Call my masseuse to meet me at LuthorCorp headquarters and have my limo ready in an hour and a half”.

He continued down the hallway, “Oh, and find everything out that you can about one Miss Chloe Anne Sullivan. Formally of Smallville”.

~*~

“Hello”, Chloe’s voice came through loud and clear on the other side of the phone.

“Miss Sullivan”, Lex spoke her name easily. “I would relish the pleasure of your company to ...”.

She hung up before he could finish his request.

“How rude”, he said, although he wasn’t surprised by her reaction. “Drive on”, he ordered his chauffeur and smirked as his limo pulled up beside her on the street. He leaned over and opened the door, blocking her way. “May I make my request again?”

Chloe jumped as the door flung open in her pathway and turned to stare at her molester in shock.

“Miss Sullivan?” He prompted, as he was still waiting for an answer.

“No Mr Luthor, I don’t think so”, she said primly, as if that would really make him leave her alone. She skirted around the opened door and continued on her way.

“Very well”, Lex climbed out of the car with the grace of a jungle cat and pursued her.

He hadn’t seen her in her almost a decade yet now he saw her, he couldn’t believe that he had not recognised her immediately. Even through that wig, those horrible brown contacts, that absurd accent she was still Chloe. Now that he saw her in her natural state, he saw that.

When he had last seen her she had been blooming’ as some women’s writers would have it. A curvaceous - although obviously bottled - blonde, fresh faced, chubby cheeked with a huge ready smile accompanied by a infectious laugh. Beautiful, brilliant and fearless.

The woman he was now faced with was quite possibly even more beautiful. The bleached blonde hair gone to be replaced by softer colours, her natural inclination towards ginger hinting through, though scrapped back into a ponytail - something he had never seen her wear before. Her ivory skin was a little too pale and her cheeks a little too thin, but they could not distract from her large green eyes which were still as expressive and mesmerizing as ever.

Unfortunately they were not filled with joy at seeing him. In spite of everything, he could still read her. However hard she tried to look annoyed and shocked, she could not hide her fear from him. He felt a flare of something he hadn’t for seven years at least. Something like compassion. He squashed it. Chloe was trying to pull something over on him and she wasn’t going to get away with it. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to get away with fluttering those green orbs at him and making him feel guilty.

Once again she tried to flee from him, dodging around the side of the limo’s door and through the crowds of pedestrians as quickly as she could but he could still catch up with her easily.

“Nice morning for a walk through down town Metropolis”, Lex said casually, “a little brisk for my tastes but nice”.

“1) It’s almost afternoon. 2) It’s freezing cold. 3) I’m finding it a little crowded”, Chloe was goaded into responding.

“Well then maybe we should go somewhere more quiet and private to talk”, he suggested mildly, sticking to her like glue.

“Did I say it? I meant you!” Chloe huffed as someone else got in her way.

“My my, a little disgruntled aren’t we this afternoon”. He taunted her, negotiating their way around the new human shaped obstacles.

“Is there something that I can do for you Mr Luthor? Because really I don’t think that this appropriate especially when we haven’t seen each other since you left Smallville”, she huffed as she continued her power-walk.

He smirked at her. Her attitude, her inability to actually look at him. He was in control of this encounter even if she did continue to walk away.

“I thought that you might have some ideas as to whom this might belong to”, he slipped her diary out of his pocket and held it out for her to see. Just as he had known she would, she looked. She had no choice; her curiosity was too great and always got the best of her. He could read her so well that it came as no surprise to him that a second after she looked away, pretending to be unconcerned, she made a lung for it. He was ready for her and yanked it up out of her reach at the last second.

Her eyes flashed and she looked like she wanted to jump for it but then realised where they were. She scowled at him. Apparently she had given up pretending that it wasn’t her who had crashed his meeting.

He smirked. “So, how much is your journal worth to you?”

“I can buy another one”, she said with a shrug which was not entirely nonchalant. Even as she uttered those words, he knew that she was thinking of all of things that it contained which she could not replace.

“The number of that boy?” It was the least important thing that her diary contained, but he thought that it would irritate her more than anything else. “He must be something special to get”, he lowered it enough to flip it open to the appropriate page, “Sooooooooooooooooo hot!” He articulated in a valley girl accent which did not become him.

“I’m from Kansas you twit”, she snarled at him.

His smirk grew. “Me too. Isn’t it amazing how much we have in common?”

“We are both of British/Irish stock. We are both American. We are both from Kansas. We are both from Metropolis. We were both temporarily banished to Smallville”, she ticked off the items against her fingers. “Ummmmmm ... We both have green eyes? I’m tapped”.

“Well I have to say that I certainly prefer your natural green eyes to those brown contacts you had on earlier. We are also both smart, driven, ambitious”, he took a step closer to her on every word until his hot breath was caressing her skin, folding his hand behind his back to keep her journal from her.

“I’m not a back stabbing pawn of my father’s though”, she pointed out.

“That’s really what you think of me?” He inquired with a raised eyebrow. She had sounded a little hurt, he couldn’t understand why. It wasn’t as if he had done anything to her. He hadn’t even spoken to her since he had left for Metropolis. Had she expected him to keep in touch?

“It’s what everyone thinks of you”, she snapped.

“Everyone?” Who was everyone.

“Everyone”, she confirmed, waspishly

“Well, I will bear that in mind. But Chloe”, he dropped the formal name, “I really do think that we need to talk”.

“Where?” She asked, crossing her arms. Not looking as if she had been swayed in the slightest.

“My car”, he motioned to the limo with his hand, and the journal

“I’m not that stupid”, she replied with a snort.

“Are you always this suspicious?” He inquired, already able to guess the answer to that question.

“Always”.

“Fine, you pick the place but it had better not be bugged”, he relented.

~*~

“Is anyone home?” Chloe called out as she let herself into a large farm house about halfway between Metropolis and Smallville. She waited for a response and when she received none she announced, “We can talk here”.

Lex knew where they were but he still surveyed his surroundings carefully. The house was clearly new but designed to look old to fit in with its surroundings. It was well insulated with underfloor heating, triple glazed windows and its own windmill to ensure that it was net zero. Lex was impressed, he would like to discuss the plans. Amongst many other enterprises he had invested very heavily in real estate and had been building new eco-homes all over Kansas. Something like this would would be perfect. It was practical and efficient, although not his style exactly.

It was very homey with pictures of a blonde little girl everywhere. Had he not already known to whom the house belonged, the pictures would have been a dead give away.

His keen eyes spotted one in particular and he walked through the open hallway into the living room and over to the mantel piece to study it. It was of a tot, barely more than two years old, in fuzzy pyjamas, with half a plate of pancakes left in front of her, and what looked like Nutella smeared all around her grinning mouth. Some of it was also in her blond curls. In spite of everything, he smiled at her. She looked happy and mischievous and, well, just plain cute.

He turned his head to view the adult embodiment of the picture. She did not look anyway near as happy. “Nice place you have here”, he said conversationally, “Very homely”.

“It belongs to my Dad”, she informed him, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I figured that out”, he nodded his head towards the pictures. “Plus, I do my research when someone crashes a meeting.” He had found out everything about her - or all of the facts at least - and as a result had even known where her little Vespa was parked before she had gone to fetch it to lead him here.

“At least I did it in style”, she said with a shrug.

He smiled, conceding the point. She certainly wasn’t one to do things by halves. “Chloe Sullivan want to be reporter”, he said, clasping his hands behind his back.

“I am a reporter”, she corrected him but he ignored her interruption.

“In the bullpen at a small, go nowhere newspaper, he wrinkled his nose, “The inquisitor”.

“It’s a foot in the door”, she said defensively.

“Yeah, I imagine that that is what you told yourself when you got your internship there. How many years ago was that now?” He inquired mildly, but was only met with pursed her lips. “You can’t remember?” He asked. “I’ll refresh your memory, four and a half years”. He took his time over each word.

She shrugged.

“Not terrible when you are in college but still unpaid six months after graduation?” He began to circle her, “Still unpaid”, his Italian leather shoe fell against the wooden floor. “Still on the first rung”. He took another step. “Still waiting for that big break”, the words swirled around her as he came back around to face her. “How many stories have your turned in?”

“I don’t keep count”. She was trying to remain calm and indifferent but he could feel the anger rippling off her.

“The tally on the back of your journal would seem to indicate otherwise”, he taunted her, trying to see if he could make her snap. She was so tense, everything seemed to be coiled up so tightly inside her that he thought that she might explode at any second but she remained strong and mute. “Even if I hadn’t found your little tally chart it wouldn’t have mattered; I got all of the facts from my researchers. The number of stories they have buried really is criminal”.

There was a slight quiver of her lip, she didn’t look as though she wanted to cry though, she was containing a snarl if Lex was any judge. He smirked as he continued, “If you got the backing you deserve”, noting the flare in her eyes these words drew out. Was it of interest? Attraction? Suspicion?

“If”, he moved even closer to her so that they were mere inches apart. He brushed his hand up her arm, “you got to take advantage of the chances that you have more than earned”. He felt a tremor travelling through her. “Can you imagine yourself working at the Daily Planet?”

She licked her lips, her pupils dilating slightly.

“I might have known that that would be your dream”, he smirked. He had never seen such a response to a job before.

“What do you want?” She demanded curtly.

“Why”, he smiled seraphically, “to offer you my assistance of course”.

“Of course”, she replied sardonically unfolding her arms and slipping her hands onto her hips. “And what, may I ask, am I suppose to do in order to earn this assistance?”

He paused for a moment, trying to make her uncomfortable but she took the initiative. “Bury the story?” She suggested.

He raised an eyebrow. She certainly thought a lot of herself. He could have buried the story, and her, if that was what he had wanted. As he suspected she knew.

“Sleep with you?” She continued saucily.

“Well that would be nice”, he smirked, “but no”. On this final syllable he allowed his eyes to roam all over her body.

“Do you need some hints on how to cover up the baldness?” She drew his eyes back up to her face with a well aimed sally. “A good toupee might work”.

“Well I do like a certain about of fire in a woman”, he admitted with a chuckle as he resumed his circling of her. “And you are fairly arrogant”, he allowed his hot breath to caress the back of her neck and watched as the tiny pale hairs stand up on end. “But you have to be scared; you wouldn’t get into my car”.

“My father always warned me not to get into a stranger’s car”, she turned and pinned him with a disgusted look, “And they don’t come much stranger than you”.

“Flattery will get you everywhere Miss Sullivan”, he shot her a knowing look.

“What do you want?” She demanded.

Fine, if she wanted to forgo the pleasantries, he would come straight to the point. “I want all of your research. Files. Numbers. Everything”.

“I’m sure that you would” she snorted. “Now, whilst this has been a lovely stroll down memory lane. And I can’t tell you how delighted I am that you decided to stop by and ruin my afternoon, I have places to go, people to see, and empires to bring down so”, she had been walking him over to the front door. She opened it and indicated with a expressive hand gesture, that he should depart.

Once again he placed his hand on a door she was trying to open and closed it, “I wasn’t asking”.

~*~

Apocalypse, Part 4

“I think”, Chloe stated with force, “that you will find that you were”.

“So brave”, he murmured, as he pressed against her, “especially for such a beautiful woman”, his other hand went around to stroke her soft blond hair, “in such a precarious position”.

“Precarious?” She crossed her against again, putting something between his broad chest and her soft breasts.

“Well, to start with”, he stroked his thumb against her cheek, “you don’t have a job”.

Chloe had to bite her tongue to keep herself from swearing at him as all of her daily stress and normal anxieties welled up inside her. He didn’t need to know anything about her situation or how terrible it was. She opened her mouth to tell him where he could stick his attitude.

“I mean”, he cut her off before she could reply, “a real job”.

She rolled her eyes as if she hadn’t lain awake every night for the last seven months being eaten from the inside by that worry. She wanted to break away from him, but that would only let him know that he had succeeded in getting to her. She would deny him that satisfaction.

“No savings”, he continued, his matter of fact tone at odds with his soft caresses.

“You looked in my bank account?” She baulked, untangling her arms and thrusting against him.

“I didn’t have to”, Lex declared, smiling infuriatingly either at her or at how little effect her strength had on him. It only made her even more angry, she wanted to scratch his eyes out but he pressed against her more firmly and she was unable to move. He probably went to the gym every day, Chloe supposed.

“But I could”, his threat was no more than a whisper. “I could even delete it, if I chose to”.

“You don’t have that power”, she said far more confidently than she felt. The couple of hundred dollars she had in her account wouldn’t be the end of the world, but what about if he tried to go after her father? He had worked so hard to finally have a secure future and retirement. She couldn’t let that happen.

“You don’t really believe that”, he straightened up, removing his weight from her and allowing her to move back around him. She took several deep breaths, trying to pull herself together as she prepared herself for what she knew that she would have to do.

She turned back to him. She didn’t say anything at first. She just studied him. He was still as tall and handsome as ever with the same devilish gleam in his eyes only over time it had hardened. As he had gone from a sweet boy on the verge of making the wrong decision to a man who didn’t even remember when the decision which had tipped him over the scale had been taken; there had been so many since then. There were no friends in his life, no acquaintances even, only contacts, minions and pawns. He was not the same person he had once been, not the friend she had thought that she had known in Smallville. He could destroy her, and he would if it suited his bank balance.

“What do I get in return?” This was the moment of truth. She wouldn’t give it all up all of her hard work for nothing. She would go to someone else, someone just as powerful and offer them the potential to destroy their enemies in exchange for prosperity and protection for her and her father.

“What do you want?” He watched her with only mild interest, as one watched a game once they knew the final score. Waiting to see how and why something happened rather than what.

“Everything”.

~*~

“Everything”, Chloe had paused for a second, to allow her demand to sink in. Upon seeing Lex’s questioning look, she had enumerated her demands, “I’m sick and tired of slogging my guts out only to watch someone else ladder ahead of me and then yank it up after them because of who they are related to or who they are sleeping with”, she paused for breath. Not caring what he thought of her. “I want to be a respected journalist with a good pay-cheque, free to do whatever stories I want, and security for me and my father. Do we have a deal?”

She could remember the feel of his huge hand clasping around hers. That was why she was there.

Chloe had wasted no time zipping back to her apartment on her Vespa and getting changed again, this time into something decidedly sexier, and heading back out, this time on foot. She strode out into the centre of the city and circled the same block for almost an hour until she spotted her prey. Ostensibly keeping her eyes locked on her phone, she ploughed into him and fell backwards with a helpless squeal.

“Shit”, came the expletive in a very cultured tone.

Before she could respond, two large hands were on her arms, bracing her. She lifted her head to stare up into the face of her sturdy companion. He looked just as she had expected. Tall with sandy blond hair and piercing blue eyes with a chiselled jaw.

“I’m so sorry, Miss”, he apologised.

“Oh no, it was my fault”, she wiped her hand against her eyes, as if to wipe away a tear, giving the impression that she had been upset by something which is why she wasn’t looking where she was going.

“No, it was mine”, he smiled at her in the most charming way imaginable. She knew his reputation. He was known to be a Lothario and as wicked a flirt as Lex, but obviously more of a gentleman. She had never heard anything even remotely negative about him.

“Adam Handsworth”, he introduced himself, extending his hand to her.

“Tilly Chapman”, she lied easily, placing her hand within his.

He brought it up to his lips and kissing it before releasing it. “Well Tilly Chapman, you must allow me to make this up to you”.

“Oh, that’s not necessary”, she demurred, even thought that was exactly what she had been relying on.

“But I insist”, he kept eye contact with her. She recognised that ploy, it was incredibly effective.

Naturally Chloe required a little more gentle ‘persuading’ before she allowed him to take her to dinner to make it up to her, just as she had known that he would. This was going to be easy, or so she had thought. A few hours later Chloe was not so sure.

Everything had seemed to be going fine. Adam was famous, handsome, and charming young man from a prominent family from Star City who was in all respects delightful. The beginning of the evening went as smoothly as their meeting. He was staying at a hotel and took her to the restaurant below it, just as she had predicted. Dinner was lovely, she could keep up her charade easily, and finally he offered to take her up to his room, she had accepted, knowing that that was where she needed to bug. She had made it quite clear - politely enough - that she had an early start the following morning and he had assured her that he just wanted to show her the view from his balcony and that was it.

“I assure you Tilly, I’m the consummate gentleman”, he had said with an easy smile.

That established, she allowed herself to be shown up to his suite. She didn’t enjoy deception but this deal was far too important to leave unresearched and this method was far more practical and quicker than having to become a maid etc.

So it was that Chloe came to be sitting in a large hotel suite, looking out over the Metropolis skyline. This part should be easy: plant the bugs, leave, get the information, present it to Lex, then he would see how valuable she was, then ... Was that his hand on her knee?

Chloe looked up, realising that she had been too focused on her plan.

“Are you alright?” Adam inquired, his face sweet and perplexed.

“Yes, I’m fine”, she smiled. She just had to wait a few more minutes until the call she had arranged came in. It would be from someone who owed her a favour in the police department. Her helper (James) was going to call him about a parking violation - leading him to think that it was stolen - , she knew that he loved fast cars and assumed that that would be bad enough to keep him occupied for a while. Long enough for her to slip a bug into his bedroom at least.

The phone rang and she smothered a smile. She watched as he excused himself to answer the phone, a look of confusion crossing his features almost immediately. She would have to bake James a cake once this was all done - from her Dad’s kitchen, not hers, obviously.

Chloe waited until he was a minute into the conversation before getting his attention and mouthing the question about the bathroom.

He smiled and nodded her in the appropriate direction. She slipped down the corridor off the main living room and guessed where the master bedroom would be. She was right, she slipped inside, and checked behind her to be sure that he hadn’t decided to follow her. There was no reason why he should but stranger things had happened. Thankfully he had not.

She grinned and stopped herself from doing a little dance of triumph as she slipped her bugs out of her bra and hid them all over the room. Thanks to her uncle’s links with the military she was in possession of some of the best spyware, these new ones were smaller than grains of sand - so they couldn’t be seen and most maids were not dedicated enough to dust that thoroughly behind these large pieces of furniture well enough to dislodge or destroy them.

Chloe was just finishing off when she heard him coming. She dashed into the en suite bathroom so that she was just pretending to come out as he entered.

“Is everything alright?” She inquired.

“Yeah, just something about a parking violation”, he shrugged it off.

She raised an eyebrow.

“Someone says that a car with my registration number is illegally parked outside their house so either they made a mistake, or someone has copied my plates, or someone has stolen the car and taken it for a joy ride”, he said dismissively.

“Don’t you care?” She asked in shock and then paused, she wasn’t supposed to know anything about him or his love of cars. “I mean”, she covered, “I’m no petrol head but I would be fuming if I lost my car”.

“It’s just a Porsche, nothing to worry about”, he smiled, “especially not when in the company of such a beautiful woman”.

“You are very sweet”, she returned his smile, “and I’ve had a lovely evening but it’s getting late and I have a really early morning tomorrow. Maybe we could get together later in the week?” She didn’t want to raise his suspicion and she wouldn’t mind seeing him again. Her spyware was just business after all.

“Or we could get together now”, he suggested as he wrapped his arms around her waist lightly.

He was not doing anything to alarm her. He was nice, kind, suave and not as aggressive as Lex and yet something about him was unnerving her. Something she had never felt around Lex. Her instincts told her to flee and she always listened to them.

She giggled, and hoped that it was a joke. “You”, she pressed her hands on his chest and tried to manoeuvre herself out of his grip, “are a charmer”, she then pecked his cheek, “and very tempting but I really have to go now”.

She broke free of his grip and got two steps away, breathing a sigh of relief. She knew that she had been worried for nothing, she would just go and get her bag, arrange (what would now be) a fake date for later in the week and then be out of there. She didn’t even make it to the door before she felt her arm being grabbed.

“What?” Was the only word that Chloe got out before she whimpered in pain. Large hands wrenched her arm and her still sore body was whipped around came face to face with Adam.

He had transformed from a man into a monster. There was a cold cruelty in his eyes that she had thankfully never witnessed before.

“No one says no to me, do you know who I am you little bitch?” He snarled, his face contorting with anger.

“Get off me”, Chloe screamed, trying to tear herself from his grip only succeeding in getting herself thrown back. Her back hit the corner of the bed but she then slid off the side as she tried to get away. But he was too fast for her.

He grabbed her, lifting her up by the shoulders until her face was so close to his that their noses pressed together. “Shut up”, he roared before dropping her back on the floor, not even bothering with the pretence of the bed this time. He sloped down over her and slapped her across the face, effectively throwing her head against the side of the bed, scratching her cheek. She saw stars and felt nauseous

Chloe fought as best she could. Just as she had from the second that he had turned violent but it didn’t seem to make any difference and after the blow to her head, she didn’t seem to be able to coordinate herself well enough to repel him effectively. Still she clawed desperately at him as he mauled her around and even through the pain and fear could feel his flesh underneath her finger nails. She just managed to turn her head to the other side before she threw up.

Adrenalin flooded her body but she couldn’t use it effectively. Her head was swimming. She was sick to her stomach. The taste of bile and blood was strong in her mouth. Her jaw was throbbing on one side and her cheek on the other. Her whole body was in agony. And she was scared out of her mind.

Her hands began to claw at his face and continued to kick and writhe effectually. Nothing worked. He wrested control of her upper limbs and pinned them above her head, holding them there with one hand as the other moved up under her skirt.

She screamed and he stopped, but only to hit her again.

She sobbed, she fought, but there was no hope.

~*~

Lex was fuming. He had been having an awful day. First he had had to go to yet another bloody boring meeting, then Chloe had almost broken his back, then she had stood up to him, and now it looked as though she had betrayed him.

He had had someone following her ever since she had dropped in on him, even after he got the first part of the information. So, when he had received the information that she had been walking around one block in Metropolis for the best part of an hour he had hastened to see what was going on for himself. He had arrived just in time to see her intentionally burrow into a well known property developer, although not from Metropolis.

He had followed, at a safe distance, fuming. She must be trying to pull something over on him. He observed them all of the way through dinner, bribing the waiters to know what they were speaking of. Nothing important apparently. He could barely believe his eyes when Chloe accompanied Adam up to his bedroom in the hotel. No doubt she wanted somewhere private to tell the blond property developer the details of what was going on and stab Lex in the back.

Well, they couldn’t get rid of him that easily. Lex followed them both up there a few minutes later. Fortunately this was one of his investment properties and all of his hotels had surveillance. He bet that Chloe didn’t know that. From the room next door - which he let himself into with his master key - he observed everything that was going on.

He smiled as he saw what Chloe was actually up to, wandering around the master bedroom depositing bugs as she went. He wasn’t sure if this meant that she really was on his team or if it meant that she was even more duplicitous than even he had imaged possible but either way he smiled.

Lex’s expression changed the second that Adam’s hand went around Chloe’s arm. Before he had chance to consider: the wisdom of his actions, the repercussions, the fact that he owed her nothing, Lex was out of the room. He shoved the key into the door of Adam’s suite and tore inside. He didn’t call for back up, he didn’t need someone holding him back.

He raced down to the bedroom and grappled with the door knob, only to find that it too was locked. He whipped out his super key again only to find that it was also bolted from the inside. Tomorrow he would have every damn bolt ripped off. For now, he took a step back, took his gun out and shot five times at where the bolt would be. He the slammed door with his shoulder and with a groan from the wood he was in.

Lex came to a screeching halt, struck by the horror of the image before him. He was cold with terror and fury. Chloe’s screaming had covered the sound of his entry. She was still lying on the floor, her face bruised, blood trickling from her lip and cheek, surrounded by vomit, fighting and writhing ineffectually against a much larger and heavier man. The bastard’s hands were clawing at her. Lex could see scratched, harsh red lines against her pale thighs.

Lex had sheaved his weapon for Chloe’s safety had reacted with fury and violence in equal measure. Hours later, he was still close to shaking. Still seething. Lex was under no illusions concerning his character: he was a monster but Adam, Adam was ... He didn’t even know.

He stared down at his hands as he had been for the last thirty minutes, they were bruised, swollen, and lacerated but that wasn’t why he was sitting there in another hotel room in the sitting room. Waiting.

He looked back up over at the doors into the bedroom but immediately felt his eyes dropping again. He felt sick. He had already vomited four times, thankfully there was another bathroom.

He couldn’t get the images out of his head. They would haunt him for the rest of his life. Her broken bruised body. Her tear stained bloody, swollen face. The absolute fear in her eyes seconds before he had ripped that bastard off her. The way that she had shivered and clung to him as he had picked her up and carried her out of that accursed room.

He had cradled her until the medic arrived, even called him with one hand, whilst still holding her with the other. It had taken some convincing to even let his doctor examine her. It was only the nurses who had ensured that he stayed out, pointing out that they needed to clean her up and examine her in a way that it might embarrass her to have him see once she was less distressed.

Lex was torn. He wanted to go back in and kick the crap out of Adam’s unconscious form once more, but was afraid that Chloe might cry out or need him in some other way. He was in the middle of this internal battle when the door opened.

His head snapped up, “Tell me he didn’t”.

“He didn’t”, the middle aged woman assured him with a kind smile, “you got there just in time. There was no rape”.

“Oh thank God”, he buried his hand in his hands, almost sobbing with relief and not caring who saw it at that moment.

“There is no significant physical trauma either, she will be ready to go home in a few more minutes but she will need support”, the woman actually came over and put her hand on his shoulder in a silent gesture of condolence.

“I will make sure that he never comes near her again and pay for anything that she needs”, he assured her.

“I meant emotional support”, the nurse clarified.

He stared up at her blankly. How the hell was he supposed to do that? He wasn’t her friend. He wasn’t even someone that she liked. Hell, he was fairly certain that she didn’t even trust him.

They were saved from going into even more detail when the second nurse and doctor came in, informing him that he could see the patient now. He had been waiting for that moment for what seemed like ages but now that it had arrived he was scared.

He rose to his feet and made his way into the bedroom, feeling as if he were moving through treacle. Images flashed through his mind. The Nutella covered baby. The funny vivacious teenager he had known. The young ambitious beauty he had encountered that day. Then he saw her as she was.

Chloe sat perched on the edge of the enormous bed. Her personality and enthusiasm for life were so large normally that they made her seem bigger than she actually was. Now he realised that she was actually small, fragile and at the moment she was still so afraid that she was trembling. Her beautiful pale face had been cleaned and treated but it was still marked with huge, ugly contusions.

The last time he had touched someone for no practical reason and without the intent to deceive or seduce - sometimes both - was probably Chloe in Smallville. Now the need to offer her some sort of comfort was almost overwhelming. He reached out to her but was stopped by a churning in his gut. He was bad, wicked and dirty. He was afraid to touch her now as if he could shatter her with wickedness. She needed to be surrounded with love and purity.

She looked up at him. “Hello Mr Luthor”, she croaked.

He wasn’t sure whether to laugh or sob. She was so strong.

“Hello Miss Sullivan”, he replied, not doing such a good job of sounding reassured.

“Thank-you”.

The words took him by surprise. What the hell did she have to thank him for? He felt uncomfortable. “He won’t bother you again”, he promised her, watching her eyes cloud as he said it. “And I will get you a room here for the night”.

She shook her head.

“It won’t cost you anything”, he knew money was tight for her. Maybe he should have made it clear that he was footing the bill.

“No”, she shook her head again, “I ... I just want to go home. I can’t ... I can’t ...”

“Okay”, he sank down to his knees in front of her, with a clunk rather than a fluid motion, “okay. I’ll take you home”, he promised reaching out to take her hands in his, this time without thinking. He stroked them gently. “Don’t worry about anything Chloe, I’ll sort it all out”.

She stared at him, so brave, so hurt, so fragile.

Adam was going to die. Slowly. Violently. In more pain than any human had ever before experienced.

~*~

“Thanks for the ride Lex”, Chloe said softly as he pulled up outside her apartment block. He had chosen to drive her himself rather than taking a driver, as he had been worried that more people might make her more nervous. Now he thought that he should have surrounded them with people.

He could tell that she was terrified. He could hear her quiet but erratic breathing. However much he wanted to ignore her, he couldn’t and it was effecting him. Just as he couldn’t ignore Lionel’s voice in the back of his head. Women were manipulative vipers. Every single one of them. He had had his heart broken more than twice since moving back to Metropolis, by women with big eyes, innocent faces, and sob stories. One had even faked an attempt on her life to gain his sympathy. It had been a hard won life lesson but now it was engrained: women could not be trusted.

“You’re welcome”, he muttered uncomfortably and leant over to get out, “Come on”.

“You don’t have to walk me to the door Lex, I’ll be fine”, she said, slipping out of the car into the darkness.

He ignored her; there was no way that he wasn’t walking her to the front door. He was pleased to note that she already had her keys out as this part of Metropolis in particular could be dangerous. He followed her in and tried to ignore the fact that it was actually slightly warmer outside than inside and not ask himself what the hell that stuff was that was sticking to his shoes as they ascended the stairs.

He felt himself reaching out to place his hand on her lower back in a silent gesture of support but stopped himself at the last second. He didn’t want to deal with her. This wasn’t his problem. She got herself into this mess, he heard Lionel’s voice in his ear.

In spite of this, he followed her into her apartment, wrinkling his nose at the smell of damp and mould which immediately assaulted his nostrils. Chloe reached behind him to close the door and he could hear locks scraping into place before she even began to feel around for light switch. When she found it, it didn’t make them any more comfortable.

The naked, low watt bulb cast a dull light over the tiny apartment. If it even merited the word. It was cold, cluttered, claustrophobic, unhygienic and he had a wardrobe that was bigger than this.

Chloe tried to be hospitable, but she was obviously scared. He knew that he should have over ruled her and have kept her as his place, safe and sound. He didn’t know where that thought had come from. She wasn’t his responsibility, he still wasn’t certain that she hadn’t been screwing him over. Just as he was thinking that, memories of their times in Smallville came back and slapped him around the face.

“Thanks for bringing me home”, she said quietly, standing there in front of him, look awkward and out of place.

He nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets, realising that he is just standing there. That might well be making her feel nervous, seeing what she had just been through. With a few words of goodnight and a reminder to call him if there was anything that she needed, he turned to leave and was faced with the dead bolts. He fought down another bout of nausea. He turned back to her and knew that he couldn’t leave.

“Could I have a glass of water please?” He inquired politely.

She blinked at him but agreed, “Sure”. She clambered across the apartment and got them both glasses of water and some aspirin and then came back and sat down.

“Thank-you”, he also too the proffered pill and sat down on the settee.

“You’re welcome”, she said, in-between sips of water.

He waited a few minutes, rolling the cool glass between his hands as he strove for something to say. Or rather, something appropriate to say. Images, fragments of conversation, and Lionel’s words crowded his mind and then the words slipped out of him. “Why were you there?”

She just stared at him.

“I’m not blaming you for what happened. I just need to know.” He informed her tightly.

“I wanted information”, she answered simply.

“For this project?”

“Yes”.

That didn’t tally. “If you suspected him why didn’t you just tell me? I would have sorted it out. I would have bugged his room”, she didn’t yet know that he had been spying. He doubted in that moment that she would figure it out or care. The devil on his shoulder reminded him that she wasn’t going to lie to him then. She wouldn’t be capable of it.

“I didn’t know that that would happen”, she said tightly. “I didn’t know that I would need you”.

“Why did you put yourself in that position”, he continued his line of questioning.

“I didn’t!” She snapped, tears in her eyes.

“I didn’t mean it like that”, he reached out, then wasn’t sure what to do, and so placed his hand on her shoulder and rubbed it anyway. “What was it that you hoped to achieve?”

“I was afraid that now that I had given you everything I had, you might go after us anyway, just because you could. This was going to be my insurance policy”, she explained.

Lex’s mouth turned to ash. He stared at her in horror. He wanted to protest. To yell at her, to tell her that she had no right to think that of him but she did. Both he and his father had done things like that, many many times in the past - although he, at least, had always had reasons.

She couldn’t mean it. That wasn’t really her reason. She had already admitted that she wanted an insurance policy and she was smart enough to take advantage of any opportunity that came her way. That was all that she was doing now. Trying to make him take the blame for this while Lionel’s voice kept gnawing at his brain. In spite of this ‘knowledge’, it couldn’t erase the sight of her. Her poor face. Her poor body. Her poor eyes.

“Do you need me to do anything?” Whatever the reason for it, he couldn’t ignore her obvious pain.

“No”, she shook her head and took another sip of her water.

“Don’t fall for it, son”, his father’s voice sounded in his ear. “She’s just trying to make you feel guilty again”. In spite of his father’s constant reminders, it was working. Lex felt terrible, gnawing guilt.

“Let me help you”, the words were spoken in a constricted but honest tone.

She blinked at him.

“Your lip is bleeding a little again”, he explained his meaning.

“Oh”, she made to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand.

“No, you’ll make it worse. I’ll get something”, he got up and climbed over the back of the sofa to get a wash cloth and moisten it. “I’m just going to dab you a bit”, he said, - once he had returned - feeling a bit stupid cataloguing his movements but he didn’t want to scare her considering what she had just been through.

“Okay”, she whispered.

Cautiously he dabbed at the wound, removing the trickle of blood. He should have hit Adam more. Hit him harder. Hurt him more. Killed him. Ripped the life from his body.

She was startled as Chloe placed her hands over his. He looked up at her and saw pity in her eyes. But she wasn’t sure if it was for herself or for him?

“You’ll heal in no time and no one will know”, he said. It was stupid but he didn’t know what else to say.

“I’ll be fine”, she promised him. They sat in silence and slowly his arm wrapped itself around her shoulders, pulling her against his shoulder.

Just as slowly Chloe let herself be held by him and eventually dissolved into tears. That was not what Lex had wanted but he held her tightly, rocking her back and forth, promising her that it would all be alright and that Adam would never touch her again. At that moment in time, he wasn’t sure if the man in question would even have hands the following day.

Finally she sobbed herself to sleep and Lex laid her down on the sofa, remaining attached to her as she wouldn’t let go of him. That had not been part of his plan. He looked around the room in the dim light. It was probably for the best as there was no where else he could sit, or stand, and he was staying away from that carpet as possible.

She held onto him. Trusting and affectionate in her sleep and he tried to think of all of the things that could be growing in the mouldy fabric but that couldn’t take away from her softness or the fact that she needed him. It sparked something inside him. Something protective. Something almost caring. Something he hadn’t felt since he was in Smallville.

Soon after he had left that enclave, his father had suckered him into becoming every that he had fought against for years. He didn’t even know how it had happened. First there had been one business merger. Then another. Then a stressful situation then .... Then he had just given up. It was so much easier to crush his conscience than listen to it. He didn’t care about Chloe, or what became of her, he could destroy her, but for some reason, he just couldn’t let her go. Couldn’t leave her there alone and unprotected. And he couldn’t let her keep living in a place like this when she deserved so much better and had provided him with such valuable information. This was one deal he wouldn’t welsh on.

“Don’t worry Chloe”, he whispered, “it’s going to be okay”.

~*~

The following morning Chloe woke up feeling absolutely terrible. She was sore all over, her head felt like it had been split open and her back was so painful that she would have thought that it had been broken if she hadn’t been able to wiggle her feet and had Metropolis’ premier doctor telling her that she was fine the night before. “Just a bit bruised and battered”, had been his exact words. That was something to be thankful for, and she was thankful. She knew that it could have been much worse and had been genuinely convinced that she was going to die.

She reached out and gripped the side of the sofa, slowly pulling herself up to a seated position to look around, ignoring the way that her spine protested but unable to overlook the way that her head swam. She had to take several deep breaths before she could focus her eyes enough to see Lex standing in her ‘bathroom’ straightening his tie in the mirror. Had he been there all night? She remembered everything that he had done for her, the way that he had held her but she didn’t even remember going to sleep.

Chloe tried to get up but didn’t succeed in lifting herself more than an inch before the dizziness it caused convinced her that it wasn’t a good idea. She croaked in disapprobation.

“That’s not a particularly good idea”, Lex stated passively, watching her through the mirror.

“Thanks for the advice”, she mumbled, holding the back of the sofa to keep herself upright. “I umm”.

“You umm?” He turned around, and handed her a glass of water he had obviously refilled before starting work on his attire.

She accepted it gratefully and downed half of its contents before continuing, “Am trying to think of something to make this all less”, she gestured. Her sight trailed down to his hands, or more specifically his bruised knuckles. “Are you alright?”

“Yes”, he looked pointedly at her face, “are you?”

“Me? Of course. Don’t you like my new make-up? Great disguise isn’t it. Even my Dad wouldn’t recognise me”. She didn’t know that for sure as she hadn’t seen herself yet, but she could guess that she looked horrendous - she certainly felt it.

“Yes, well, I think that it might be better if you didn’t see him for a few weeks until it is healed”, Lex opined.

“Agreed”. He would hit the roof and be so sad and scared.

“Tell him that you are busy and out of town for a few weeks”, Lex suggested with quiet authority.

“Good idea, I could tell him that I am going to”, she thought, not too far he didn’t know how bad things were but he knew that she wasn’t flushed, “Wichita to visit this guy I used to know in High School”. Yes, that excuse would hold water.

“Or better yet, tell him the truth”, Lex said.

Chloe raised an eyebrow at wished that she hadn’t; it had hurt.

“That you are going to LA for two weeks to learn TV journalism from the best people in the business”, he stated.

“What?”

“You said that you wanted everything”, he reminded her. “You aren’t going to get that from behind some desk in the Daily Planet. Journalism isn’t what it once was. There is a new opportunity which is going to fit you like a glove and, as image is everything, and this apartment isn’t good enough, your new job comes with a brand new apartment”.

“In exchange for the information? Was it enough?” She couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes”, he paused to consider, “it was a start. Enough for stage one of my plan. I trust that I will have your cooperation if and when I need it?” He asked.

“Of course”, she smiled and that hurt too.

“We are not friends”, he clarified. “This is just a business deal”.

“I know”.

~*~

Apocalypse, Part 5

Back in the present ...

“No Matt, I’m fine”, Chloe assured her boyfriend for the umpteenth time since their conversation had begun as she continued trotting down the street, her disguise firmly in place. These days it seemed as if she couldn’t go anywhere without being noticed. She was starting to think that she should have worn a disguise on the air so that she could go around the rest of the time without it, but it was too late now. Besides, she had never dreamed that the show would do so well. Neither had the producers for that matter. When she had taken the meeting it had been for a quick ten minute segment in someone else’s programme, now it was three hours of just her. Her father had been delighted and kept providing her with copies of her baby pictures to put up in the background “to make the newsroom seem more homely”.

“Yes, yes, I know”, she promised Matt as she wove in and out of people. “No, no nothing is wrong. I’m just late for oh excuse me”, she narrowly avoided crashing into someone.

“No honey, not you”, she informed her boyfriend. “What was what? Oh, just someone in my way”. He really was going to have to learn to be more cohesive over the telephone; he was blithering and really not making much sense. “Oh that, I’m on my way to oh got to go”. With a kiss noise she hung up and stashed the phone in her pocket.

She had just reached the restaurant where she was expected but would probably have made an excuse to hang up then anyway, as it saved her from having to lie to Matt. Chloe hated lying, which was odd considering just how good she was at it. She liberated herself of this thought and focused on the task at hand, slipping in the back way and reporting for duty, as a server.

In two shakes of a lamb’s tail, Chloe was put to work. Thankfully her new pay cheque had given her enough extra funds that she could bribe several of the servers not to come into work that day and one - whom she could pass for in disguise - to give her detailed information about the restaurant and kitchen’s layout. The rest of the staff were so busy that they did not detect the substitution.

As she moved through the tables, balancing several trays on her hands, she scanned the crowd of people and was pleased to confirm that the man she was waiting for hadn’t done something completely out of character and arrived three hours early.

The years that she had spent in a similar occupation, repeating her mantra “Everything happens for a reason” were about to come in handy. Well, technically between graduating top of her class, an unpaid but time consuming internship at the Inquisitor, and waitressing to keep her afloat she had mostly been mentally repeating: “for heaven’s sake when is this shift going to end?” “My feet hurt!” “My back hurts!” And wanting to sob. Still, history was for editing, if most of the best selling ‘historians’ were to be believed. And so, Chloe retained that she had always known that her skills would be useful some point.

Javu was one of the best restaurants in Metropolis and as such she had been there many times - and regularly slipped bugs around the place just in case they picked up anything juicy. But this mission was too important to leave to chance and as a result of her frequent patronage she would be far too recognisable to perform it as Chloe Sullivan.

Thankfully she had spent a lot of time watching the rich over the last twelve months and knew one invaluable fact: they looked down on those who served them. Which blessedly prevented them from ever looking them in the eye let alone remembering any facial characteristic. Wait staff weren’t actually people with thoughts, feeling or the ability to listen to and retain information, they were just there, like a piece of the furniture, things to be used and then discarded. A fact, which was about to serve Chloe well.

She placed a collection of glasses of water on a table where sat a group of people she had sat with at a dinner party only a week ago and not one even glanced at her. As rude as she found that, she was thankful. She continued to walk around the room, depositing glasses of water in the appropriate places and remained completely unrecognised. She allowed herself a little smile as she headed back to the kitchen for her next batch. She was put to work once again and everything went well ... for a while.

Chloe was just delivering a perfectly cooked steak to one of the tables when she noticed the man for whom she had been waiting. Before she had the chance to gloat over her victory she saw him being followed in by one who she would rather have avoided.

“Damn it”, she swore, under her breath. It wasn’t possible. Lex wouldn’t betray her like this. He must be up to something.

She began to move backwards - as casually as she could - back into the main body of the restaurant dining room, in an attempt to get out of their eye line. She knew full well that Lex would notice her.

Even as she was manoeuvring herself out of the way, knowing that Lex would throw a wobbly as only a spoilt rich boy could, if he caught her doing her own research - especially considering who was concerned -, she still couldn’t stop herself from watching what was going on.

She observe the two men parted ways without exchanging one word. They didn’t even appear to have noticed each other. She concluded that they weren’t there together and that it was just a coincidence, however knowing how observant Lex was she wouldn’t guarantee that he hadn’t detected something.

Chloe hurried backwards and in her haste knocked into one of the patrons. She whirled around at the piercing screech the prima donna emitted. Anyone would think that she had got scalding oil all over her dress rather than red wine. Chloe grabbed a napkin off someone’s table, thrust it into the woman’s hand and dashed off. This was not going as she had planned.

Using her knowledge of the restaurant’s layout, she made her way into a private dining area which hadn’t been reserved for that night but could still hear someone coming. “Damn it”, she swore and for the second time in as many days found herself hiding under something. This time, a table.

She watched with growing horror as a familiar pair of Italian leather shoes strode towards her. She screwed her eyes shut although she knew that that wouldn’t do anything to prevent what was about to happen.

“We must stop meeting like this”, Lex’s ironic tone reached her as he lifted up the corner of the table cloth.

Chloe looked up at him from where she was on her hands and knees, a black wig on her head with time.

“Don’t worry, we aren’t being observed”, he assured her as she crawled out.

“I don’t suppose that you would believe that I was looking for the toilet?” She asked, dusting herself off. Really, you would think with a wine list reaching five thousand dollars for a bottle they would vacuum a bit better.

Judging by his expression, he was not impressed. “That I lost a contact?” She tried again. She had known that he would be difficult.

“Chl”, he began to articulate her name but then they both heard the sound of another fottstep. “Can you bring us two glasses of water please, Miss?”

“Yes, of course”, she lowered her head and made her way passed the two tall men, she could feel both of them watching her as she left and could just make out the tail end of their conversation.

“Is something wrong son?”

“No, nothing at all”, he sounded neutral enough to her, even though she knew that he was probably scheming. “I was just asking for some water”.

“You seemed to take off quickly”, Lionel continued shrewdly.

“I did”, Lex acknowledged. “I just saw Paul - Adam’s father. You know, the man who disappeared last year. I haven’t seen him since that day. His father has been flying all over the world trying to find him and we made quite a bit of money from it - he was too preoccupied so he gave up part of a business plan which caused the rest of it to collapse. I wasn’t sure what to say to him”.

“Lex my boy”, Lionel sighed, “you’ve always been too soft”.

“I know Dad, I know”.

Chloe rolled her eyes at that. Lex wasn’t the cold callous bastard she had once thought him, but he was hardly too soft. In fact, at least half of the time, he was a pain in her ass - being a worrier where her health and safety was concerned.

She wasn’t sure what to do now. Chloe had followed her instinct, believing that Adam’s father being back meant something for the real estate plan and had been so desperate to find out what that she had come here hoping to slip a lojack and microphone into his pocket and crack the case herself. She never had been able to leave a good mystery alone but it was even more than that this time. She wanted to be able to pay Lex back for what he had done for her. She knew that he had made millions and acquired an incalculable amount of power from the first part of the deal but he had saved her life. Both literally and figuratively.

There was nothing to stop her going ahead with her plan except Lex. She dallied for a second, debating her next move. “Are you really going to back off just because a man is here?” She asked herself and suddenly she knew what she had to do. Of course Lex wouldn’t be pleased about it - not that he ever would have been, hence her plan not to tell him - but she couldn’t let that stop her.

Chloe headed back to the kitchen. She would wait for her opportunity then she would make her move. She didn’t have to wait too long, she was sent over to a table nearby Paul’s and slipped both devices into his pocket, unseen. Or so she thought. She was just returning to the private section of the restaurant when she felt hands going around her. One hand covered her mouth, the other wrapped around her waist and heaved her into a conveniently located cupboard.

~*~

Lex was seething. He had caught sight of Chloe the second that he had entered the restaurant. His eyes were drawn to her although he had had to do a double take. What the hell was she doing waiting tables in a black wig in Metropolis’ top restaurant?

He had followed the line of her gaze from himself, to the man in front of him and then back again. Too quickly too be observed. He suppressed a growl as he realised who it was. If his father had not been right behind him he would have stormed over there and demanded an explanation right there and then.

While there was no chance that Adam was ever coming back to hurt her again that didn’t mean that it was good for her mental health to be around a man who looked the same - plus thirty years -, who had the same accent, who had the same bloody aftershave. The therapist had very clearly said that she should try to separate herself as much as possible from the whole matter.

Obviously Chloe would not drop the subject completely - she wanted to know what was going to happen with the real estate deal - but he had engineered it so that she would be kept in the dark as much as possible. He had even come up with a few fake leads for her to follow in times of crisis. He had managed to get her to go on a holiday to Croatia last year when he thought that he was getting too stressed. He smirked as he remembered that triumph. He still couldn’t believe that he had got away with it. But that memory didn’t make him any happier at that moment.

Using the phone tap procedure that Chloe had introduced him to, he excused himself from the table on a ‘business call’ and waited for the lady in question. He watched her from around the corner and couldn’t see her doing anything. But he knew that she must have done something. He waited until she headed back in his direction and then he pounced.

“What the hell do you think that you are doing?” He demanded the second that the door was closed behind them.

“Urmmmphr”, was the only reply that he received.

He still had his hand across her mouth. He released her and she whirled around. He couldn’t see anything in the dark cupboard but was fairly certain that she was scowling at him. He felt around until he felt a light switch and flicked it. It was more of a snarl than a scowl really, he reflected once he could see her expression.

“Me? What the hell are you doing?” She demanded.

“I was going to dinner with my father and saw you here”, he hissed, looming over her.

“Did it ever occur to you that I might just need the money? That I got into debt via gambling or something?” She inquired cheekily.

“Chloe”, he growled in warning.

“Fine”, she huffed, placing her hands on her hips. She informed him of what was going on.

“And you just decided that you were going to come here and do this all by yourself?” He couldn’t believable this. He really couldn’t. Some days he didn’t think that she had one ounce of sense or consideration for his nerves or her safety.

“No, I thought that I would call you up for permission. What did you expect? You don’t own me. I don’t even work for you officially”.

Her anger only succeeded in riling him up even further. “You didn’t even think that I needed to know that he was back?”

“I was going to call you once I had some information”, she started to explain but he cut her off.

“Chloe for God’s sake, you have got to”, he paused as he thought that he heard something coming.

“Got to what?”

“Kiss me!” He said the first thing that came to mind. Freud would have had a field day with him.

“What?”

He pulled her closer and gently angled her head up, not wanting to scare her just as the door began to open. Thankfully, Chloe realised what he meant and took the initiative. She grabbed his head and pulled it down, slamming her mouth against his.

For a second he just stayed there like that then she moved, possibly only by accident he didn’t know, but as her lips moved against his, he groaned and his tongued slipped out. Chloe responded and before he knew what was going on he was lost. Their tongues duelled, their hands roamed over each other’s bodies, she bit down gently on his lower lip and his father cleared his throat.

Lex cursed as he ripped himself away from her. He stared down at the beauty. Flushed. Wide blown detail. Sexy as hell. He wanted to devour her whole. There was another cough and he had to direct his attention towards his father. It was something of a come down.

Lionel’s craggy face smiled at him, “Something you want to fill me in one son?”

“No. You know that I always get good service”.

~*~

Who did he think that he was to do this to her?

Who did he think that he was to grab her and pull her into a closet?

Who did he think that he was to tell her what to do?

Who did he think that he was to kiss her like that?

Who did he think that he was to stop hissing her like that?

Lex Luthor. That’s who!

Chloe sat, silently fuming in Lex’s penthouse suite. She had been there for almost an hour now and she was just getting angrier by the second. One of Lex’s body guards had escorted out of the restaurant and back to the apartment. That was a choice that he was going to regret. If he thought that she would have calmed down by now then he was dead wrong.

She heard the ping signalling that the lift had reached this floor and that the master had returned to his castle.

“You disgusting little bastard, who the hell do you think that you are”, she was already mid tirade by the time that she reached the steal box and the doors began to open.

“Hello again”, Lionel smiled at her. “Miss Sullivan, isn’t it?”

She came up short as she saw who it was that she came face to face with. She swallowed uncomfortably. She had removed her disguise and was now regretting it.

“Lex, you appear to have a guest”, the elder Luthor turned around to reveal part of his son, who was standing behind him in the lift.

“I expected as much”, Lex replied calmly.

“You brought me here”, Chloe reminded him waspishly.

“Hence the reason that I expected you”, Lex said, exiting the conveyance with his father. He gave her an encouraging half smile and reached out to smooth her hair.

She raised an eyebrow but did pull away. She was afraid that he would think that she was afraid from him if she did such a thing.

“It was about 80% chance that you would be angry enough to stick around, 20% that you would decide to leave just to piss me off”, he explained as he got the last hair back into place.

Damn it, that was what she should have done. That would have just served him right. And he wasn’t going to get around her by petting her head. It wasn’t that soothing.

“Too late now”, Lionel pointed out to her. Apparently finding it all rather amusing.

“Yes, and since you are here now would you care for a drink?” Luthor minor inquired as he strolled over to his drinks cabinet.

“Certainly”, Lionel answered, as if unaware that it was Chloe who had been addressed.

“And Chloe?” Lex inquired in an amused tone.

“No thank-you, you can’t get around me that easily”, she said, trying to hold onto her anger in face of the show they were putting on.

“Very well, I consider myself suitably chastened”, he poured her an orange juice before fixing anything for himself or his father.

“Don’t think that you can get out of this Luthor”, she warned him, even as she accepted the glass.

“She looks angry”, Lionel said conspiratorially to his son, in a stage whisper loud enough for the lady in question to hear.

“I know”, Lex informed his father, “and I don’t”, he addressed Chloe. “Are you going to drink your drink? I haven’t poisoned it, you know”.

“I’m not thirsty now, I will have it if my throat gets dry”, she said, taking a deep breath to prepare to begin her rant. If Lex chose to have his father there to witness it, then that was his choice.

“Would you be more comfortable if you sat down first?” Lionel inquired politely.

“I’m sure that you have a lot to say to me”, Lex pointed out, “you might as well be comfortable”.

Chloe relented on that one point and saw the Luthor men trading conspiratorial looks. “What’s going on? You two hate each other!”

“Hate is a very strong word Miss Sullivan”, Lionel said, looking a little hurt. “I prefer to say that we have an interesting relationship but we both care about LuthorCorp and the family dynasty”.

“Meaning”, she prompted, sensing that there was more to it than that.

“That I informed him”, Lex took over the narrative, “of what was going on, how much money we have already made and how much more we stand to make from ensuring that Metropolis is in my hands rather than the investor group we were originally going to buy into”.

Her gaze shifted from one man to the next. “And?”

“And the combined force the of Luthor males and Sullivan intelligence is going to make us all incredibly rich”, Lex smiled, “and leave my way open to go on to bigger and better things”.

“What monster have I unleashed?” Chloe groaned although she knew that it was for the best.

“An amorous one based on what I saw”, Lionel commented.

~*~

Chloe sat in the multicoloured, high baked computer chair that she had had custom made for her broadcasts and related the story that she and the Luthors had agreed upon to explain the new shift in the Metropolis real estate market and what that would mean for the city. It was the story of the year and her scoop.

After over a year of planning they had finally pulled it off and Chloe didn’t have to fake the blinding smile she gave the camera as she finished her segment.

She was oozing with confidence as she hopped up off her seat and thanked everyone who had been involved in the production before heading off towards her dressing room. She saw the swarm of producers etc flying towards her. She had always been extremely deferential towards them. And she still respected them. But she was no longer in awe of their abilities in this field. She had just proved that she was a pro and deserved her place.

“Stop”, she instructed them, holding up her hands.

They did so, exchanging confused glances.

“There will be no cookery section today. I have arranged for one of Metropolis’ leading scholars to come instead and talk about literature ... with a football player - we have to appeal to a wide audience, after all”. She continued, in spite of the hanging open jaws. “Furthermore, I will be choosing my own wardrobe from now on. Are we all clear on this?”

Upon receiving an affirmative chorus and smiled and continued along her way. This really was going to be a great day. It was almost enough to make her forget the niggling annoyance with Lex which was still rooted in the back of her brain.

She was just resolving to put the arrogant billionaire out of her mind when she reached the star’s dressing room - that is to say, hers. She grinned and checked that there was no one around before giving it a little polish, as she always did. She wanted to keep her brass name place looking spiffy.

Pleased with herself and her efforts, she let herself into the room only to be met with an unexpected figure. Lex Luthor sat in her make up chair, facing the door way. His legs were stretched out territorially in front of him, his elbows were resting on the arms of the chair, his fingers were tented, and his face was passive. Upon seeing her, he began to clap slowly.

Chloe raised an eyebrow at him as she closed the door. She had no idea what he was doing there but she wasn’t going to ask. One thing that she had learnt from her dealings with Lex was that the person who rushed to speak first was the weaker character and doomed to lose any sparring match that was about to occur.

Lex apparently remembered this fact as well as; he did not move to explain himself. He just sat there, seeming to fill the entire room and to be completely unfazed by the fact.

Slowly, Chloe closed the gap between them, forcing him to retract his legs if he didn’t want his feet stepped on in her high heels. He sat with them wide and bent, allowing Chloe to stand so close to him that the fabrics of their clothes caressed. He stared down at him, in what she was certain was supposed to be the position of power until he leant in, staring up at her.

She licked her lips, unconsciously.

He smirked. “May I congratulate you on a most brilliant performance?”

Well that settled one of the questions which had sprung to mind: how long had he been there? Long enough to see her show, apparently.

“May I congratulate you on a brilliant business manoeuvre?” She returned, she hoped with an equal measure of composure.

“Brilliant?” He questioned her use of the word, still staring fixedly up at her.

“Well, duplicitous at the very least”, she conceded.

Lex smirked making him look evil and delicious. Or maybe that should have been deliciously evil.

“If I remember correctly, I wasn’t the one who came up with it”, he said slowly.

“Well whoever did was certainly a genius”, she tried to joke but it got stuck in her throat as he reached out to run a hand along her arm for no particular reason that she could discern.

“I agree”, his voice was warm and his eyes were earnest - for once.

She smiled, she couldn’t help herself. Nor the accompanying blush which suffused her cheeks. She tried to maintain her equilibrium, crossing her arms over her chest. “What are you doing here Lex?”

“Can’t a man just drop by?”

“We aren’t friends Lex”, she reminded him. Just has he had reminded her a thousand times before.

He stood up. Slowly. Stretching out his form until he was towering over her. He made her heart rate quicken, her cheeks pinken, and her breath hitch in her chest. She wasn’t scared, she never was around him and hadn’t been nervous around anyone for around ten months now, but there was something about him that effected her. On a level too deep for her to comprehend.

On the surface he was tall, handsome, and she had the rare opportunity to take in every aspect of his visage up close. She could see every single one of his surprisingly pale lashes, detect the the flecks of blue in his green irises, note the hints of fine lines around his eyes although she knew that he did not laugh enough.

“I know”, he finally drew her back to their conversation in a voice that was odd. Strained somehow. As if he were trying to articulate around a lump in his throat.

“So why are you here?” She wondered, wanting to hug and having to remind herself sternly that that wasn’t the kind of relationship that they enjoyed.

“Would you believe that I was looking for the bathroom?” He joked.

“Lex”, her warning tone didn’t work.

“Chloe”, he smiled but his voice was soft as he reached out and cupped her face.

Her hands went up to cover his although she didn’t know why. To keep them there or to pull them off? She stood there, staring up at him. Unsure of what to say or do. Finally, she whispered his name. Whatever he had been waiting for, that seemed to suffice. Lex leant in, allowing his lips to capture hers in a slow, achingly sweet caress.

She moaned and he took her lower lip and sucked it into his mouth gently. It was blissful, but nowhere near enough. Her hands travelled up his arm - revelling in the feel of his warm skin and muscles under his soft linen shirt - and up and around. She stroked the smooth skin of his scalp and it was his turn to moan. She grinned for a second at her power and thrust her tongue into his mouth. Any remaining restraint was lost in a haze of lust.

They couldn’t get enough of each other. Their arms entwined around each other, groping like teenagers until Lex whipped her up off the floor and into his arms. He staggered backwards until the back of his legs hit the chair and collapsed into it. Instinct took over for Chloe and she rearranged her position, straddling his lap and grinding herself against him.

A jolt of desire, stronger than she had even known before, shot through her causing her to gasp. She drew back enough to catch her breath and to see him. He was sinfully gorgeous with swollen lips and dilated pupils. The reality of the situation hit her, right between the eyes.

“No”, she wrenched herself away from him.

“What’s wrong?” Lex asked worriedly, trying to pull her into his arms to comfort her.

“I can’t do this”, she whispered.

“Chloe?”

“I can’t do this”, she tried to get up and this time he let her go but followed her.

“Oh God Chloe I’m so sorry”, he started.

“We can’t”, she started as he said, “I didn’t mean to fo-” and witnessed the horror in his face.

“No, I’m not scared”, she assured him, taking his outstretched hands. She stared into his eyes. “I promise. But I can’t do this. I can’t be your”, she searched for a word, “fuck buddy”

He winced.

“You aren’t normally so sensitive to vulgarity”, she commented, surprised by his reaction.

“I prefer friends with benefits for us”, he said.

“I can’t do that either Lex, I’m in a relationship”, she reminded him, and herself. How had she managed to let herself get carried away like that?

“Yes because it is convenient to you and because he is handsome. You both know that it is nothing serious. You just wanted to prove to yourself that you could have the successful adult relationship that you thought that you should want”, he summed their relationship up in a less than rose tinted way. “Friends with benefits with me would be so much better for you than being with him”.

She stared at him.

“Okay, then just friends”.

She continued to stare at him. She was so tempted. She was right about her relationship with Matt, he was right about how attracted she was on him, he was probably right about how good it would be, but with him she would want something more than that. She couldn’t stand to be his lover, to fall in love with him only to be reminded that for him it was just a quick and convenient fuck.

“I really think that it would be better if we don’t see each other any more”, she uttered. She wanted to cry at the words. She felt like her heart was being ripped out of her chest but it was what she had to do. She couldn’t be just a roll in the sheets for him. She had to remain strong.

“Alright, if that is really want you want”, his eyes shuttered and his voice became hard. Signs that he was mad at not getting his own way, but not really hurt thankfully. “You know my number. If you ever need anything call. I will be there”. With that, he left with Chloe looking after him.

~*~

Three months later ...

Chloe drummed her fingers against her notepad as she waited in the lobby of the fancy London hotel.

She was there to meet her new boss for the first time. The station had been purchased by a mysterious buyer three months ago and, much to her annoyance, Chloe still couldn’t work out by whom. She had tried to figure it out but she had just been so busy lately that she hadn’t had enough time to dedicate to the undertaking. She had been travelling all over the world (although only to oddly nice places) doing what she loved and reporting on everything. Now she was in London for an official meeting with the person who had given her such a fantastic opportunity.

She tapped her digits even more quickly, creating a staccato rhythm against the notepad. She was nervous. She hoped that they liked her work. She hadn’t heard anything bad but you never could tell. She knew that there was something about a big story being whispered. She hoped that it wasn’t a continuation of what she had been doing before the buyout: the Luthor story.

She had seen Lionel a few times, for interviews and just out and about. He was suprisingly nice but kept on giving her odd looks. She wasn’t sure what it was about. Anger? Contempt? She didn’t know and she tried not to think about it but it was more and more difficult. The men in her life were proving difficult.

Her Dad delighted that she was happy but constantly fretting about the amount of travel it involved and whether or not she was getting enough sleep, eating right, and always remembering to put paper down before she went to the loo.

She and Matt had been having a few fights and had broken up by mutual agreement. She was being pulled away by her globe trotting, by her love of journalism, and by life in general. She had always wanted more than Metropolis whilst Matt, on the other hand, wanted to put down roots etc.

The break up had been for the best and they were back to being good friends now. She had had dinner with him and his new girlfriend a few weeks ago - the last time that she had actually been in Metropolis -. Claire was lovely and they were so cute together. She was happy for him. She loved him. She just hadn’t been in love with him, but their time together had been nice while it lasted.

Lex, as usual, was being far more difficult. She had lain in bed at night more than once thinking about him and about what had happened. She felt terrible. So many times she had picked up her phone and just stared at the screen. She wanted to call him. She was desperate to call him in fact. She needed to hear his voice. She hadn’t realised how accustomed she had become to him until he wasn’t there any more. He had helped her through her therapy, not talking to her about it or anything like that. He just took her out for coffee after every single session and discussed everything under the sun except personal matters. The only thing that stopped her calling him was reminding herself how hurt she had been when therapy had ended and she had asked Lex if he wanted to see a movie sometime or something and he had simply looked her dead in the eye and reminded her that they weren’t friends. She had met and started to date Matt within a few days of losing Lex for the second time.

Then he started to turn up more regularly. Not much at first, just glimpsing him at parties, trading knowing looks over antipasti, then speaking at parties, then the odd update on the case and then it had all ended once again. Well, she had ended it. But he would have anyway, after stealing her heart without meaning to. She couldn’t be just an occasional screw for him. Apparently Lex didn’t understand that. He was in a sulk. She hadn’t seen him around. No one had. If he was going to be like that then she wouldn’t respond either. It was probably for the best. She just had to deal with this constant gnawing loneliness at the bottom of her stomach. She missed him.

“Miss Sullivan”. Chloe looked up to see a secretary smiling at her, “They’re ready for you now”.

“Thank-you”, she replied trying to hide her nervousness. She checked her appearance once more, took a deep breath and then headed in. She strode - in what she hoped was a confident manner - into the huge office. The back wall was entirely made from glass with a view of the London skyline. It was breath taking. She had to draw her eyes away from it to search for her boss, only to be disappointed once again. He (or she) was sitting in a computer chair, facing the other way.

Chloe stood there not sure what to do. She cleared her throat.

The chair started to turn and she planned what she was going to say. She opened her mouth to begin but it all went out of her head as she saw who was sitting in the chair.

“Lex!” She exclaimed.

“Good morning Miss Sullivan”, he responded pleasantly.

“Where the hell have you been?” She shouted, forgetting whom she was addressing.

He raised an eyebrow.

“I have been looking everywhere for you but it was like you had just dropped off the face of the earth”, she continued berating him.

“I have been busy”, he answered simply.

“If your maid hadn’t told me that you were alright I would have been calling the police”, she huffed. She wanted to smack his face, how could he just sit there and look at her like that?

“Mary did inform me of your attempts at contacting me. You never did so directly”, he remained eerily calm.

“Well it was weird that you weren’t around. You have such a high profile. Where have you been?”

“I wasn’t aware that I had to inform you of my location”, he was actually beginning to look bored now.

“I was worried you jerk”, she shouted, stomping around his desk and smacking him on the shoulder. And not in a playful manner.

“How the hell did you think that I felt when you keep putting yourself in danger?” He returned, loudly enough to make her clamp her jaw shut. “Well?” He continued in a quieter voice.

“That’s different”, she finally protested.

“How?” He demanded.

“My concern was valid, yours was ...” She couldn’t think of exactly what his had been but it hadn’t been the same.

He stood up. “Mine was what? Do you have any idea how scared I was when I thought that something could happen to you?”

“I was worried”, she revealed lamely.

“Yeah, well so was I”, Lex was in no way softened by her admission.

“You are the one who always pushes me away”, she exploded, unleashing all of her pent up anger and hurt in a tirade which took them from the first day of their meeting to that very second. By the time that she had finished she was red faced and only a few seconds away from tears.

“I’ve never had a friend. I didn’t want to hurt you and I was afraid that I would”, Lex admitted softly, reaching out for her. “But then I couldn’t stay away”.

“So I just have to wait until you are ready?” Chloe dodged backwards, her fury returned especially as it sank in just how much he had been manipulating over the last few months. “And if I’m not ready then you manipulate the situation? And make me worried? And ... And ... You fucking jerk!”

“Well, I can hardly argue with that assessment of my character but Chloe that doesn’t change the way that I feel about you”, he said softly.

“Look I can’t do this. I don’t know what sort of sick game you are playing but I’m leaving and I will expect a note of apology from you. I trust you know where I am staying. You seem to have already decided everything else”, she snapped and stormed back around the desk.

“Chloe wait”, he commanded, following her.

“What?” She whirled around.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” He crossed his arms over his chest, looking like he was back in control.

“Like what?” She challenged.

“That I am your boss!”

“So, what are you going to do? Fire me?” She demanded.

“No”, he took another step towards her so that he stood there, looming over her. “Because you are not going to put me in that position.”

She raised her chin in a challenging manner.

“You wouldn’t give up everything that you love so much”, he took another step closer to her until they were only inches away.

“There are other journalism opportunities when you are as good as I am”, she hoped that she sounded convincing when she was about two seconds away from throwing herself into his arms.

He smirked. “Really? Have you received any other offers to come go to Russia? To stay at the Kremlin. To interview Putin?”

Her eyes widened. That sounded like a dream, one that she wanted so badly to sink into. He was a sick controlling bastard. One who she adored more than she could say and he was offering her almost everything that she wanted. But maybe she couldn’t have everything. If she could just be convinced that he wouldn’t abandon her again. If she could just be sure of his friendship maybe she could live with just that.

“Chloe”, he asked as he reached out his hand, “will you be my first real friend?”

Chloe stared at him, she knew how difficult that must be for him and couldn’t refuse him. She took his hand.

He grinned and pulled her into his arms, “And would you like to be anything more?”

She scrunched her eyes shut, “You have no idea how much I want to say yes”, she revealed with surprising candour, “but I can’t. I know how convincing you and also how manipulative but I can’t be your friend with benefits. I just wouldn’t work and don’t think that I have forgiven you for everything that you have done in these last few months”.

“For God’s sake Chloe. I’m a Luthor”, he expostulated.

“So what? I can’t refuse you?” She knew that he wasn’t quite that arrogant.

“No of course not but being a Luthor I go after what I want by any means necessary”.

“And what is it precisely that you want?” She demanded.

“You. In my life. Forever.” His words were clear and unmistakable.

“Really?” She couldn’t believe it, this had to be a dream.

“Yes”, the earnestness in his eyes bore into her soul.

“So this is a Luthorian declaration of love?” She checked with a laugh.

“Yes”, he squeezed her tightly to him, “finally you get it”.

“You know Hallmark says it more easily?” She teased him, grinning like a fool.

“Since when have I done anything the easy way? So, what do you say?”

“I manipulate you too!”

--THE END--

A/N: If you've read, please review.

Yeah! I really do love this story so much! Glad you decided to cross post it so others can read it too. :)

Love it. Now that Lex finally said he wants forever with Chloe and Chloe grinning like a fool, we definitely need an Epilogue to see how their happily ever after turns out.

Wow that was awesome