Title: The Twelve Days of Lex-mas
Author: Jinni
Rated: Pg13
Pairing: Chloe/Lex
Disclaimer: All things Smallville belong to the WB, DC Comics, et al.
Distribution: The normal places.
Author’s Notes: Just some holiday fluff.
Summary: Chloe’s got a not-so-secret admirer.
~*~*~
It started with a question.
“Chloe – do you know why there’s a tree on the porch?”
Chloe raised her eyebrows at Lana, waiting for the punch line of the joke, only to remember ten seconds later that Lana really wasn’t witty enough to tell jokes ever, let alone first thing in the morning.
She also wasn’t stupid enough to tell jokes before Chloe had her first cup of coffee, but that was beside the point.
“A tree?” Chloe echoed dumbly, at a momentary loss for anything more intelligent to say. She couldn’t be blamed, the question was so off the wall and, well, -out there-, even by Lana Lang and Smallville standards.
“With a little bird in a cage.” Lana nodded, wrinkling her nose. “I hope it doesn’t get the porch dirty.”
Chloe put down her empty coffee mug, vowing silently to come back and imbibe of the rich aroma’d goodness just as soon as she saw what it was that Lana was babbling about. This was why she had decided to only come home for the holidays from now on. Too many weird things happened in Smallville.
And, of course, that was where Lana was. Easier not to get annoyed with the other woman if she stayed in Metropolis and Lana was, well, here.
Pushing past the other girl, Chloe stalked out of the kitchen and to the living room door. She opened it without aplomb, mouth dropping open in surprise.
“There’s a tree on the porch.”
“Told you.”
Chloe shot a glare Lana’s way before stepping out onto the porch. She hadn’t put her shoes on yet and the chilly December air bit through her socks almost immediately, putting a chill to her toes.
“A tree… and a bird,” Chloe added with another note of surprise. Even by Smallville standards this was odd. Last time she checked the meteors weren’t causing spontaneous tree growth on front porches. Then again, there was a first time for everything. “On the porch. What the hell?”
She circled the potted tree, keen eyes roaming over its well-pruned height.
“It’s a pear tree,” Chloe groaned in realization, reaching out to snap one of the ripe fruits from the nearest branch. Her eyes shot accusingly to the bird, still caged. “And a partridge.”
“Ah,” Lana sighed, nodding her head. She paused, frowning. “I don’t get it.”
“Of course not,” Chloe muttered to herself, still looking at the tree. It had to be here somewhere. There was only one person with the money, time, and resources to do this kind of thing and damnit if he would have done it without sending a…
“Card,” she plucked the white-envelope from the base of the tree, holding it up for Lana to see.
“Oh! Open it and let’s see who sent it!”
Lana Lang, ladies and gentlemen, Chloe thought snidely. The only person in all of Smallville who wouldn’t be able to figure this one out –without- a card.
“On the first day of Christmas… my true love gave to me,” Chloe read, rolling her eyes at the corniness of the words, despite the smile the sweet gesture had put on her lips. “A partridge in a pear tree. Love, Lex.”
“From the song!” Lana cried in sudden realization, clapping her hands together. “Your boyfriend is so sweet!”
“Uh huh,” Chloe nodded, glancing one more time at the tree and the bird. Poor thing had to be cold.
She’d get someone from the mansion to come pick it up and find somewhere warm for it.
Just as soon as she’d had her first cup of coffee.
~*~*~
There were more birds… this time in a nice, heated cage, but still… birds.
Two frickin’ turtledoves.
And Lex was indisposed in Metropolis at a business meeting, so Chloe couldn’t even properly “thank” him for it.
She’d just have to leave them on his desk with a note.
~*~*~
“I’ll need to start an aviary at this rate,” Chloe muttered, reaching for her cell phone. She dialed the number from memory, without even looking at the keypad.
“Good morning, Miss Sullivan.”
“Don’t you ‘Miss Sullivan’ me, Luthor,” she snapped, playfully. “There are more birds on my porch.”
“Three French hens?”
“Gee – how’d you guess?”
He chuckled softly. The sound was, even after dating him for five months, still enough to send shiver up and down her spine. Promises of things to come racing through her mind, she cleared her throat lightly.
“Would you like me to send someone around for them?”
“Only if you want me to still come by for some one on one time later tonight,” she offered in a husky purr. “Oh – and Lex?”
“Yes, dear?”
“Do me a tiny little favor and send the four calling birds straight to the local zoo, would you?”
~*~*~
On the fifth day of Christmas…
“Five… golden… rings?”
Chloe bit the inside of her cheek. She would not smile at Lana’s blatantly jealous tone. She would not smile… she would not.
There… she was smiling anyway. Oh, sure, it was all fine and funny when she was getting birds and trees – but the second the jewelry appeared, so did Lana’s jealous streak.
“Yep.” Chloe held up the large jewelry box she’d found on the doorstep that morning. At least Lex had taken her request about the calling birds to heart – day four had gone by without so much as a peep on the gift front.
Literally, in the case of the birds.
But day five… wow.
“They’re… very sparkly.”
“It’s the diamonds,” Chloe offered sagely, with a hint of smugness in her tone.
“They sort of look like… well, you know…” Lana frowned. “But why would he give you five of them?”
~*~*~
Chloe pulled to a stop outside of the mansion, gazing up at the brightly lit window of Lex’s office. The box she’d gotten that morning sat on the passenger seat, a reminder of why she was there.
She hadn’t even realized it until Lana said something.
That alone made her feel less than intelligent. Having Lana point out something that should have been so obvious was something she could only attribute to the fact that she’d still been half-asleep and caffeine deprived.
Still…
She grabbed the box and set off into the house, not bothering to knock. Lex wouldn’t have given her a key if he wanted her to knock.
He looked up as she entered the office, a smile tugging at one corner of his mouth. “You got the gift?”
“Do you know what these are?” Stupid question. Of course he knew what they were. He’d bought them, after all.
“I do,” Lex nodded.
“And –“
He blinked slowly, eyebrows rising. “And now you hopefully say ‘yes’?”
Chloe didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, or do both at once. So she settled for a sniffly retort, “If I say Yes will you send back the geese and swans that I know you have stashed around here somewhere? And the other days of nonsense, too?”
“Even the leaping lords?”
“And the maidenly milkers,” Chloe’s eyes narrowed playfully. “Though I better not find out they were staying in your room, buddy.”
“Guest house… with the leaping lords. Needless to say, I believe there will be some little lords and maids in about nine months.” Lex laughed softly. “And I promise to send it all away… if you say Yes.”
“Then – yes,” Chloe knew she was smiling too wide, too bright. Knew that she had to look giddy and silly.
But wasn’t that what a girl was supposed to do when she was proposed to?
Birds, lords, maids, and all?
~*~End Fluff~*~
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