A/N: Just as soon as I mentioned to superag that I might have a new fic to share she pretty much demanded I get on and do it () so here it is! Its going to be a bit more on the angsty side than I usually go, heavy on the dramatic plot, but... oh well, we'll soon find out if I can do it or not!
Chapter 1
Lex Luthor liked to drive. It made sense when looked at from the point of view that he owned oh so many classy and expensive cars. Of course, those who’d known him years ago, back when he first arrived in Smallville, they would say it was strange that this particular young man loved the idea of driving, especially at the speeds with which he travelled down the winding roads from the leafy little hamlet towards Metropolis.
This was perhaps the last time he’d make the trip in quite a while. The Luthor ancestral home was all well and good, but all that space for just one person was somewhat ridiculous and he’d hardly spent any time in it the past few years. His father gone from this world so long before and no other family of his own, Lex had decided just recently that holding onto the home that had never really felt as such was sentimental and just did not make good business sense.
The house was to be re-decorated, plain and simple, to be sold in some way or other, be it to another billionaire type to live in with a wife and kids and such, or to a developer who could turn the place into a hotel, or apartments. Lex couldn’t care much what happened to it, right now he couldn’t care less about anything really as he turned up the radio and sped on into Metropolis where he planned to re-establish himself now he was done exploring the world.
A few short miles from the outskirts of town, Lex had a rarely seen smile on his face, not that anybody was there to see it right now. It was one thing that Lex never quite got used to, and perhaps the main reason why the house just had to go. Loneliness was hard to deal with when you’d been left behind as an old man, but Lex was still young and should have everything to look forward to. Unfortunately, whilst business boomed and his fame and fortune increased, it was almost impossible for any kind of relationship to be formed between himself and a good woman.
Letting his smile slide a little, Lex barely bothered to keep his eyes on the road or focused on anything at all as he coasted down the familar straights and around each turn he knew by heart. His mind wandered with the music of the radio and the familiar scenery flashing past him. He remembered the past, driving too fast off a bridge and being saved by Clark Kent, a boy he’d seen as a brother for so long and yet hadn’t seen in several years now. Things had become strained between them, this and one too many things making Lex wonder why he was hanging around in Kansas. The whole world was waiting for him to go out there and do something with his life. Though he toured many a country and town, making business connections and sponsoring projects, Lex Luthor still hadn’t found himself. All he had achieved was to realise that nowhere felt like home.
Passing a sign that welcomed him back to Metropolis, Lex knew this would not feel like a place he belonged either. Though he could and would be the most powerful businessman in town, it would never really be enough. Sometimes he day-dreamed of what life could have been like, if he’d had a different father, if his mother had lived, if any of his marriages had worked out. Unfortunately, Lex knew these thoughts and ideas were pointless and immediately admonished himself for allowing his mind to wander to such ridiculous territory. He must remain focused on the here and now, or be driven mad by what ifs and maybes.
Pulling up sharply at a red light, Lex was brought back to reality with a bump. He really ought to be concentrating on the road now he was into the busy town that was Metropolis. The last thing he needed was to draw attention to himself but causing an accident here of all places.
Impatiently tapping his hands on the steering wheel, urging the lights to change so he could get moving, Lex was oblivious to what was happening just a sort distance behind him down the street. Things were made clearer when the side door of his car opened, making him swing around fast to see what was happening, hand going towards the glove box where he kept he gun he knew he might need in an emergency. His fingers stilled half way to their target, words of indignation dying on his tongue as he realised the intruder was no threat at all.
“Chloe?” Lex gasped at the sight of the little blonde he used to know, blood running from a cut above her eye, as she breathed heavily.
She looked terrified as she glanced behind the car and then at him.
“Lex?” she looked just as shocked by the sight of him as he was at seeing her as they stared at each other a moment, before a loud bang made them both jump and Chloe’s head swung around to look back behind the car again, “Oh my...! Lex, please just drive” she urged him and realising the light was now green anyway, Lex put his foot on the gas and did as she asked.
“You might like to tell me, Chloe, what the hell I’m driving away from?” he asked as he weaved in and out of traffic, driving just on the wrong side of the speed limit, whilst trying to keep them both safe.
“Let’s just say that bang you heard was not a car back-firing” she told him, rifling through the large bag that sat on her lap.
Lex wasn’t thrilled to realise he’d been right, that whomever Chloe was trying to get away from was not the least bit worried about firing a gun at her in broad daylight. Heaven only knew what kind of trouble she’d gotten herself into since they’d last seen each other. As a teen at Smallville High, there had been adventures aplenty, several of which Lex recalled helping her out of. The biggest deal was when they worked together against his father, resulting in Lionel going to jail where he had subsequently ended his days. Since then Lex really hadn’t seen much of Chloe, their lives going off in such wildly different directions. She had earned a job at the Daily Planet whilst he had fulfilled all his dreams of business and power, well, almost all of his dreams. There were some he hadn’t got as far as achieving, those very things he’d been thinking of on his peaceful drive into town, those that didn’t so much revolve around his work.
“Oh, now is not the time” Chloe yelped as she bent over double looking pained.
“Chloe?” Lex was obviously concerned as he glanced behind them and decided they probably weren’t being followed anymore, so his whole attention could be on whatever was causing his passenger pain.
“You think maybe you could head for the hospital?” she said, writhing in her seat and causing the bag on her lap to roll off into the footwell.
Lex didn’t have words to describe his shock as he glanced over at her once again and realised it was not a gun-shot wound that had Chloe needing medical attention or the blow to the head she’d clearly taken. No, it would appear little Chloe Sullivan had got herself into much bigger trouble. She was heavily pregnant, and if Lex were not mistaken, the baby wanted out.
TBC
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