A/N: Sorry it look so long.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Fine, Lex barked. “Benson, send someone over to the Kent’s to inform Gabe of the change in sleeping arrangement and get everything else sorted out. He felt sick that Chloe was in some sense losing her home. And even more sick that he was actually grateful to his father that he was keeping Chloe close - even if it was unknowingly.
He looked over at Lana and Clark who were both standing there looking nervous, a decided contrast from Lionel (who was smirking) and Chloe (who was standing next to Lex, snarling at Lionel).
“Clark”, he addressed him, “keep Chloe company until I get back?”
“Of course”, Clark had strode over to the petite blonde and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“Honestly, son, it might be slightly less obvious if you actually said: keep Dad’s hands off her”, he smirked, “And I doubt that Miss Sullivan will appreciate your cave man attitude. Positively neolithic!”
“She’ll get used to it”, Lex snapped before slinking over to his father and making him move into another room. With elegance, grace, and mockery Lionel consented.
“Was there something that I can do you for son?” He inquired placidly.
“What do you want Dad?” Lex demanded in a no nonsense tone of voice.
“Why to spend time with you, of course”, Lionel replied with considerably less candour.
“Cut the crap Dad”, he snorted, as he crossed his arms.
“I shouldn’t have let you drop elocution lessons so soon”, Lionel tisked, surveying his son’s crossed arms. Insolent little pup.
“Dad, both of our businesses have flourished in the last few years because the battles between us have simmered down. What is it that you want?” Lex repeated his question.
Lionel studied his son as if he were actually considering the matter. “What is your relationship with Miss Sullivan?”
Lex’s eyes narrowed, his arms unfolded and he took on large, menacing step towards his father. “If you touch her. They won’t find enough of your body to identify the corpse”.
“Son, I’m hurt”.
“Not yet”.
Finally he was able to deliver a threat which was believable. Lionel smiled. She’s done him the world of good. He whistled a jaunty tune as he returned to the inhabited room.
~*~
Lionel sank back into the leather chair, stretching his legs out in front of him onto the pouf with a contented sigh. He didn’t know why he stayed away from the castle so much. It was really rather comfortable now that he was here.
He rolled his head from one side to the other before opening his newspaper and seeing what was going on in the world that day. This was something that he normally did first thing in the morning over breakfast, a cup of good coffee and a croissant. In fact, that was what he had been doing when his detective had come in and shown him the most recent images of his son and Chloe.
It had been with a groan that he had forgone his preferred nourishment to see what his offspring was up to now. Chloe was certainly a better choice than any of the women who had come before her but he still liked to know what was going on. The news that Gabe had come back was concerning. A tumble in the hay was one thing, meeting (or re-meeting as they case might be) the parents was another matter entirely.
Still, he had not expected quite so much entertainment. Even as he was reading his paper he found it dropping down just enough for him to witness everything going on about him. It was even more interesting than the business section.
Trio sat huddle in the corner. Chloe, Clark and Lana were gathered onto one sofa with Clark in the middle, a protective arm around each girl as if he thought that Lionel would actually swoop down and ravage one of them. Little did he know that if Lionel wanted a woman, he could make them come to him with one long, seductive look. It was a gift.
He hadn’t thought that Lex would ever leave him alone in the same room with Chloe again, he probably wouldn’t have without her flannel covered protector. At least his son had better fashion sense than that. More savvy too.
Lionel peered over his paper and in spite of his knowledge of the farm boy he still found it difficult to believe that he didn’t seem to be enjoying himself surrounded by such beauty. Had it been him in that position at that age both girls would have been flat on their backs. It was true what they said: youth was wasted on the young.
There wasn’t much chance of that any more, not with his back the way that it was. He was going to have to get better seats on that helicopter. Ones with more lumbar support. Had it not been that he didn’t want to show weakness then he would have stood up and stretched it out. As it was, he concentrated on the show.
Lana was resolutely avoiding looking at him while apparently all of the farm boy’s charms couldn’t distract Chloe from her need to bore into Lionel. He was rather enjoying the attention, until Lex walked back in and her eyes immediately trained on him. She looked like she was about to go over to him but Lex gave a tiny, almost imperceptible shake of his head and Chloe stopped. Waiting where she was.
Lionel’s interest was peaked. So someone had some measure of control over the little spitfire? He wondered what was going on.
He continued to wonder as he watched his son return and Lana hurry over to his son and fawned all over him. If looks could kill, Lana would have been six feet under, from three directions.
~*~
“I’m really sorry that you got dragged into this”, Chloe said to Clark, making sure that her voice was low enough that only he could hear her. She really did, she shouldn't have been messing around with his life. She had only brought him into a difficult situation.
“Don’t be silly”, Clark chided her gently, reaching around to pull her into a one armed hug. “You didn’t drag me into anything and I want to be here for you and for Lex”.
Chloe looked up at him. “You really are a big old softie, aren’t you?”
He smiled self-depreciatingly, “I’m nothing special”.
“Only you could say and think that”, she whispered with a shake of the head.
“What’s going on with Lex and his Dad?” Clark wondered.
“I don’t know and to be honesty, I don’t want to think about it. At least not until I can actually talk to Lex about it”, Chloe rested her head on his large, warm shoulder.
“Yeah, hopefully Lana can think of something to say to make him feel better”, Clark looked over at the pair.
“Yeah”, Chloe replied, feeling oddly upset that Lana was there with Lex instead of her. She knew that he preferred the brunette to her. Everyone did. And in Lex’s case - like most men in Kansas - he was in love with her. It didn’t bother her normally, she just wanted him to be happy but sometimes .... Sometimes she just wished that things could be different although she wasn’t exactly sure how.
“It’ll be okay”, Clark assured her, with the gentlest of squeezes.
“I hope you’re right”, she sighed. “Don’t you just wish sometimes that things could go back to being simpler?”
“Since when has life ever been simple with you around Sullivan?” Clark laughed.
“Hey”, she complained, pretending to elbow him in the ribs, “I don’t always cause trouble”.
“Sure you don’t”, he continued to chuckle at her and squeezed her in a fortifying manner.
“Remember when we were in Junior High?” She had been angelic then.
“I remember going to school one day to be told that I was showing you around, by you I might add”, he added. “Not the teacher”.
“Well”, she admitted with a laugh, “I thought that you looked nice and when you want something you have to go for it”.
“And boy did you”, Clark smiled at the memory. “You then peppered me with about a million questions until you found that I lived on a farm and thought that I was Amish. You then invited yourself over”.
“That is a lie”, Chloe protested. “I did not invite myself over. I was raised right. I waited to be invited”.
“Oh please, you looked at me with those huge green eyes and infectious smile and told me”, he raised his voice to a poor falsetto, “‘You know Clark, I’ve never seen a farm. I bet that it would be really cool to look around’”.
“How was that forcing you?” Chloe asked blushing and covering it up with a smack on his huge forearm. She didn’t know that he had ever thought of her like that.
“Well, you left me with no choice but to invite you over. That is force, he said decidedly.
“Nah, coercion at best/most”, she had a finally tuned sense for these things after all of her years as an inspiring investigative reporter.
“Sure”, he said unbelievingly, “then you laid one on me”.
“There was some stuff in between”, Chloe protested.
“I know, but those are the three parts of the day that I really remember”, he replied with a smile and a blush.
“I’m sure that you do you big old horn dog”, she gave him another nudge.
“Hey, a man always remembers his first kiss”. Clark went bright red.
Chloe just smiled. “But, kissing aside, it was a simpler time”.
“You still got into a fair amount of trouble with your stories”, he burst her bubble.
“Come on, you don’t remember going to my house and watching TV and doing homework because my Dad was away so we could watch TV and do homework?” Martha, although lovely in many ways, would never have allowed them to watch TV until after every single maths problem was done. “Or Pete’s to play video games post homework?” His mom had been strict too.
“Yeah, I remember. They were good times”, he acknowledged.
She smiled nostalgically, “I thought that Uni would be a bit more like that. Fewer Meteor Freaks and stuff like that”.
“I’m sure that you still found a way to get into trouble”, Clark grinned at her knowingly.
She shrugged, “Well I’m not going to lie”, then paused.
“What is it?” Clark rubbed her shoulder encouragingly.
“Clark”, she started, staring down at her hands. “Do you remember that night you called me?”
“I know that we weren’t always the best correspondent, but I am fairly certain that I called you more than once in your entire college career”, he teased.
“Yes”, Chloe felt her throat growing tighter and wanted to drop the entire subject but then she looked up at Lana and Lex. She couldn’t be a coward any more. “I mean that one night”. Cautiously, she glanced up at him, “After the last time that you and Lana broke up”, she stipulated.
He paused and she could feel him tense up. “Yeah, vaguely”. His answer seemed so non-committal that she didn’t say anything more. “Why?” He sounded almost nervous but that couldn’t be. The man who faced meteor freaks and aliens without batting an eyelid couldn’t be fazed by one phone call.
“I just thought about that phone call more recently”, she replied with a shrug, heartily wishing that she had never brought up the subject to start with. What had she expected him to say? “Of course I remember it, I’ve never been able to get that call out of my head. Take me now!”
“Why?”
Chloe blinked at him. Oh right, she had asked him about that hadn’t she. “I don’t know”, she shrugged it off. “I guess that it is just being back here being around you guys again. I wonder if maybe I didn’t give you the best advice then.”
“Chloe, I really don’t remember that night that well”, he admitted bashfully, “so I don’t know. I’m sure that you did the right thing. You always do”.
“Right. Do you ...” She paused uncomfortably, “Do you wish that it had gone differently?”
“I suppose, I mean I certainly wish that Lana and I were still together but like I said, I don’t remember anything passed that point”, Clark said slowly, studying her face as he spoke.
“Right”. She didn’t know what had happened to him that night exactly or why he couldn't remember but she wished that it was that easy for her to forget. His voice, strained and lonely still echoed in her mind telling her that he was a stupid fool for falling for someone who had never cared about him. And that he shouldn’t be with Lana, but with someone like Chloe.
Chloe had been too shocked and gun shy from past attempts to answer at the time. Now she wondered what would have happened if she had had the courage to go for what she really wanted.
~*~
Lionel watched Clark and Chloe’s interaction and the fact that Lex kept looking over Lana’s head to glower at Clark.
“Not exactly subtle son”, he thought to himself.
He then observed Chloe’s eyes travelling over to Lex and Lana with increasingly regularity.
“Subtly is apparently a lost art for both genders”, he pondered to himself.
Finally, Lionel abandoned all pretence and closed his paper and put it away. He folded his hands in lap and just studied the group. It was at this moment that Benson came in and ruined all of his fun by announcing that the transfer had been made and that the guest house was ready for him to occupy.
“Right, thank-you Benson”, Lex said before checking his watch. “It’s late, I’m sorry to have kept you two so long. Clark, I’m sure that you are anxious to carry on your evening with Lana”, he said as if he were unaware that they had not been on a date.
Clark and Chloe got up and walked over to him, “Are you going to be alright?” Clark asked.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it. Just have a nice night”, Lex responded civilly.
“You know that you can always call me if you need anything”, Lana said, placing her hand on his arm before Clark encouraged her to depart.
Lionel also got to his feet, smiling at their retreating figures. “Well, I’ll be off then. I’ll see you both tomorrow”, he strode over to the door where he turned around and called out, “and Lex my boy, don’t be a pussy all your life”.
A/N: I appologise for Lionel's bad language.
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