I Remember You - Chapter 10
The hard right hook took Lex square in the jaw. The force of it snapping his head and causing him to stumble backward. He caught himself on the counter edge.
Chloe was raging at him.
"Fuck that! After all the asshole moves you've pulled, that is the least you deserve! I'm done playing lady! You're a son of a bitch and I don't care if this was all one of your little games, that felt good! And if for one moment---"
Anger suffused her face. She was flushed and her eyes snapped green fire. She was magnificent.
It was Her. It was really Her!
The cold, brittle shell was an affectation. His passionate, magnificent Chloe was still there.
He had lulled her into a false sense of security with his docility, but since the first second he had spotted her, he had just been waiting for the right moment. Lust, possessiveness, and exaltation fought within him.
She should have remembered he was a predator. She was his prey and she allowed herself to be trapped.
He straightened from the counter, finally letting his emotions rage in his eyes as he sprang into action.
He stalked the few steps to where she stood and crowded close to her. He wasn't a large man, but he knew how to use carefully applied force to his advantage.
She gasped at his lightning change and backed away, but her own body betrayed her to him.
Rapid breath, dilated eyes, racing heart.
She wanted him as much as he wanted her.
Leaning into her slowly and deliberately, he pressed her back against the metal of the refrigerator. Holding her eyes captive, he flattened his palms across the cool metal on either side of her head, caging her.
"Chloe, I don't know exactly how it happened before, but I've lost you way too many times. Now that I've found you again, I don't intend to ever let you go."
"Lex, l --"
There were a million things that he wanted to say to her in that moment.
You are the only light in my life. If I have a soul, it is only because it is in your keeping.
I love you.
He said none of these things.
He kissed her instead.
There are a thousand ways to kiss. Lex Luthor prided himself on knowing them all, though there was one he had never risked before. For the first time in his life, Lex put his entire self into a kiss.
He didn't demand, he gave.
The kiss was hard and hot and heavy. In the kiss was everything he felt for her from that first life and every flash, every moment, since. He put the frustration of months -- years -- into that kiss. He gave her every kiss that rightfully belonged to her that he had squandered on a faceless parade of other women.
He feared she might fight, might pull away at the intensity.
She didn't.
She kissed him back with the same ferocity.
Realization hit as she matched him as she always had. His analogy had been wrong. She wasn't prey, she was mate, and they both knew it. He would claim her as such.
His body had been hard since he saw her exit the taxi. He pressed into her harder, letting his body feel the heat of her even through their clothes.
He darted his tongue at the seam of her lips. She understood and opened her mouth. His tongue darted inside and he heard a moan. He wasn't sure if it was him or her or both.
He felt her fumbling at his belt, then his pants. His cock sprang free. He dropped his hands from the fridge and grasped her thighs, sliding upwards under her skirt. He found the panties. They felt like lace. Good. Lace tore. He grasped the sides and pulled. They came apart in his hands.
Like in the car...
No. No time for memories. This was Chloe. She was actually with him!
He shifted his hands, grasped her bottom. Once his hands were full of the sweet roundness, he lifted her. Her legs wrapped around his waist instinctively. He didn't need to test her readiness. The panting cries his ear told him she was already at the brink. He buried deep with a single thrust, sliding home without any searching, her hot wetness calling to him.
Her head fell back against the metal door of the refrigerator with an audible thump that she didn't seem to notice.
He knew exactly how she felt.
Oh God. It really was that good.
His fantasies hadn't been wrong.
Every hot, slick inch of her clung to him. His hips began to move without any direction from his head. He couldn't have held back even if he wanted to. He crashed into her hard and hot and fast. There was no finesse, just blinding need as he pumped frantically. She rode him through the frenzy, meeting his frenetic pulses with her own.
Rough almost-words sprang from both of them as he fucked her with the intensity of a thousand nights.
She squeezed and demanded compensation from him for those lost thousand nights.
It had been too long. Lifetimes between them.
With a screeching cry, she clawed his shoulders and violent shudders rocked her body.
His vision went completely white for a moment as he climaxed with her. A loud, triumphant shout echoing through the room. It was long moments later that he realized it had come from him.
When his vision focused again, he found her eyes.
They were warm and heavy lidded.
Green eyes. Her eyes.
Chloe.
Ten or more years of his past may still be a blank, but suddenly he felt... whole.
He had found his soul at last.
An unexpected nervousness hit him. She was his soul, but what was he to her?
He was loathe to leave her body. Everything made sense when he was buried inside Chloe, but he knew the next few moments were vital. He couldn't think with her wrapped around him.
He lifted her off him gently. He reordered his clothing as she tugged her skirt back down. She ignored the bright scrap of fabric on the floor that had been her panties.
He told his heart to still its frantic pace as he caught her eyes. "Do you think..." He took a deep breath, fighting with himself. Fighting with the weakness shown by the words. He had to know. "Do you think you could ever...love me?"
Her face was carefully blank and she didn't speak for an impossibly long moment as her gaze roamed his face. When she turned away, he hated himself, hated her in that moment.
His father had been right. Love was weakness. Love was giving someone else control over you.
He would learn to live without the light, without a soul. He had been fine before her. Monster or not, he would find a way to be fine again after her.
He should have kept her excised from his life. She had been a raw, ragged wound, yes, but not one ever seen. Not one that could be used as an exploit. Not one that --
"Damn you, Lex. And damn me too, because I never stopped."
Wait. What?
She was facing away from him. He grabbed her shoulders and spun her to face him again. His gaze turned sharp, penetrating, desperate. "What do you mean by that?"
She raised her eyes to his again, searching. After a moment she must have reached some sort of conclusion. Her words turned soft and surprised. "You really don't know, do you? Maybe you never did..."
She let out a heavy breath.
"Lex, I've been fighting against loving you for years. I don't know when things...changed between us, but they did. At times, I've hated myself for it, but it was still there. I've married the wrong man twice, trying to force you out. It helped, for a time, but you were always there." Her gaze turned hard and accusatory. The shoulders under his hands became tense and he realized her fists were balled. "Damn you. Even when you died, you were there."
Her expression changed, but her eyes never left his. Her voice became quieter. "You died, and you still haunted me. Casting a shadow over every happy moment. You're a killer and a monster, and it didn't matter." Her expression was stricken and passionate.
Something inside his stomach unclenched. She had said she loved him. Would that be enough? She had loved him before and left.
"I won't apologize for what went before, Chloe. I'm not even sure what did go before. I've lost my memories of that time, including the monster parts. All I can do is go forward." He held her gaze steadily, willing her to believe him. "I know I don't want to be what I was before." He paused, thinking it through. "I know I don't want to be what I am now." He held her eyes with the entire force of his will in his gaze. She had to understand if they had any chance. "I'm not a good man, Chloe. I don't think I ever was, but with you...I still had hope."
He looked away, remembering the pain of losing her.
"Then you were gone, I know that much. I think I became..." His voice drifted off. He didn't want to repeat the words -- monster, killer.
"Those things because...there was nothing else. No light left." He quirked a mocking smile. "It's easy to be evil in the dark." He paused, then continued. "I know I'm well on my way to being a monster again. It seems as though Luthors can buy just about anything...except a soul. I never saw it that way, until I remembered you." He felt a real smile tug at his lips, but he quickly sobered. "Then I saw how it was...until I lost you." His voice turned passionate. "I thought I'd destroyed you."
He found her eyes again. "I wish I had known I was wrong about that."
Her face was intent on his. "Lex, I won't be caged again. I've spent too much time in one cage or another. I've even put myself into them, but I always break free. No more. I won't let anyone rein me again. Not even you."
She held his gaze forcefully. "I do important work and I need to continue it."
He didn't know what "important work" she was describing, but Chloe never did anything without reason. It meant that much to her. She was giving fair warning. There would be no more cages "to protect her."
He nodded agreement.
Her look became fierce.
"The shady plans and experiments need to be reevaluated. The books are all open."
He hesitated. A lot of his plans were intended to protect the world from metas and other individuals. But...in his lost life he had sent Chloe to Black Creek. He had gutted himself because he thought he was above it all. He had almost destroyed Chloe. His soul. His guiding light. If he couldn't trust his own soul, then what was the point in saving the world?
He nodded again, holding her eyes to show he understood the full measure of the term.
"I won't let you lie to me or break your word to me," she continued, softer.
That would be harder. He tended to play his plans close to the vest. He knew they would fight about that.
Suddenly he smiled. He would get to fight against Chloe again. It would be worth it.
She paused at his smile, looking suspicious.
"I agree to your terms, Ms Queen."
"Sullivan." Her eyes narrowed. "It's always been Sullivan and always will be."
He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Is that so, Ms Sullivan?"
She nodded firmly. "That is so, Mr Luthor."
"Well, I think that settles things then. Though I do have one condition of my own..."
"What's that?"
"How attached are you to this apartment? You really have the worst taste in living arrangements, Chloe."
She threw her head back and let out a wonderful, full-throated laugh. Her arms moved to wrap around his neck as she bathed him in the bright warmth of her smile. "No attachments at all. In fact, I've been considering relocating."
He smiled back. "Oh really? Anywhere in particular?"
Her grin was full of merry delight. "I was thinking...Metropolis."
He was grinning. He couldn't help it. He felt exuberant. He leaned forward and caught her behind her knees and back. She squealed as he lifted her into his arms and spun around the tiny kitchen. Something rattled in his jacket pocket, reminding him.
"Chloe, can you reach into my pocket and pull that out?"
She smiled at him teasingly. "Is that supposed to be innuendo, Lex? If so, that one's pretty well played out..."
He snorted, trying to suppress his smile, and failing utterly. Only with Chloe...
Still smiling, she reached into his pocket and purposely fumbled around. He tried to look stern when his body started to react. She grinned impishly and finally grabbed the rattling item from his pocket.
"I believe that belongs to you." He nodded at the plain white box.
She looked at him in pure shock. "No...it can't be..." She struggled and he placed her back on her feet.
He said nothing, but he felt a wide smile steal across his face.
She slowly opened the box. Were her hands shaking?
"Oh my God. Lex..." she breathed. She looked up at him in wonder. "When? How?"
He shrugged. "I thought enough time had passed with it sitting in the Luthorcorp vault."
"The vault? When...?"
"It's been waiting years for you, lost in the dark." He paused, then continued quietly. "Like me."
She held his gaze for a moment quietly, before shifting her attention back to the white box. She lifted the necklace from where it rested on the padding and held it up to catch the light from the kitchen fixture. The butterfly flared to life and color.
"Lex, I --- " She swallowed without finishing.
"Let me..." He gently took the necklace from her. She turned her back to him. Reaching around her small body, he lowered to necklace around her throat and clasped it at her nape. Touching it possessively at her throat, she turned back around to face him.
"Chloe." He grasped her chin and held her gaze steadily. "I finally understand everything you tried to make me see years ago. It'll be different this time, I know what to do now. I know how to conquer the darkness instead of embracing it."
"Oh, and how's that?"
"I need to finally start trusting my heart and not the fears in my head."
She smiled. "I believe in you, Lex. I believed in you even after..." Her voice faltered. "But I couldn't do it, you had to finally see it for yourself." She smiled tearfully., "But now I think you do."
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her with all the joy, pain, loss, and rebirth he had felt since that first flash in his mind.
He was finally the Phoenix. He had been born a Luthor, but he was reborn with Chloe.
It was time to start making new memories...with Her.
-- THE END --
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Actually someone did point out that the child had arrows, so that could be an indicator of Oliver as daddy. I care to think that any child of Chloe and Lex would be able to make up his own mind on things. So if he wanted to like Green Arrrow, he was going to do it anyway.
Re: I Remember You (NC-17) (Updated 8/31/2014)
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