Getting What You Deserve (NC-17) Completed 4th March 2015

[HotCrossedBunny]

Getting What You Deserve

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: Lex*tries*to*do something*romantic*for*Chloe. Sounds*simple*enough,*right?
A/N 1: Originally written for the Secret Santa Chlex 2014/2015 for the incredible BabyDee1 based on her prompts.
A/N 2: This is why I haven’t updated much last month.

~*~

Lex paced from one side of his fifty foot living room to the other and then back again, his hands clasped firmly behind his hand to stop them from wringing. He glanced at the clock on the wall for the third time in as many minutes and then made his way over to look out of the window. He saw nothing but the Kansas landscape covered in about a foot of snow. He snarled and resumed his pacing and performed the whole routine again. Just as he had for the last two hours.

He scrutinised the clock above the fire place once more. The damned hands were not moving anywhere near fast enough. Clearly, there was something wrong with it. Piece of Swiss junk! He glanced down at his watch. Whatever was wrong was contagious. Bloody Smallville. Meteor rock filled crater fucking with his clocks.

This was the perfect end to a perfect bloody week. Though by no means sentimental Lex had been looking forward to his first Christmas with someone he loved in years for several months now. They were going to have a traditional holiday filled with laughter, an enormous tree, masses of presents and even more stolen kisses under the mistletoe. A bitter bark of laughter escaped him. That hadn’t happened.

Everything had been planned. It had been a few days to Christmas and Lex’s celebratory plans had been ready to launch in action when bloody Perry White had called at the last second. He had only left the bed for a few minutes to go and get his sleeping angel some coffee to wake up to and when he had got back he had found her awake, half dressed, half packed with her phone attached to her ear. Apparently she was being sent halfway across the globe over Christmas to cover some story which could “make her career”.

Lex had wanted to go with her but she wouldn’t have it. Apparently he would be too “distracting”. All in all he considered himself to be extremely supportive of her career. He just drew the line when it got her in trouble, put her life in danger, took her away from him ... Okay, so he was rather supportive rather than extremely but, he reminded himself, no man was going to be happy about his girlfriend potentially putting herself in harm’s way. And maybe it was true (well, certain actually) that he would have done his very best to distract her from the arduous task of reporting but working too hard could prove bad for the health. So, all things considered, he probably would have been a distraction but that was still no reason for her not to be home over Christmas.And a two week long trip to boot. It was disgusting. Probably unconstitutional. He would have to check.

He had almost done a back flip for joy when he had got a text from her, just before her plane took off that morning to say that she was coming home a week and a half early. Well, she had actually just written “coming back”, but it was the same thing. She had, however, neglected to say what flight she was on, where she was landing, and when she would be arriving so he couldn’t come and get her from the airport nor could he work out what her journey plan was.

As he surveyed the room, he felt his lips twisting bitterly. The entire room was adorned with tasteful decorations, with their newly felled eight foot Christmas tree nestled snugly in a sea of brightly wrapped presents and boxes of ornaments. Everything had been left ready for their romantic Christmas inspired evening, beginning with decorating the tree.

As his eyes travelled over to the impeccably laid out table complete with bouquet of roses and sprigs of mistletoe, his thoughts went to the kitchen full of food prepared. It had taken him five attempts to get his chocolate soufflé to rise. It had probably sunk by now.

He had spent over four hours preparing for his beloved’s arrival by hand and a further two waiting. His annoyance was starting to give way to panic; whatever airline she was using she should have been here an hour ago, at least. And why had she been so impossible to find? Discovering what flight she was on should have been child’s play. Not that he should ever have had to play the guess the flight game. She should have told him so that he could pick her up at the airport. No, strike that, she should never have left in the first place. Especially not without him!

He was done with romance and he was done waiting. Damn her independence and her career and her inconsiderate ways. He was going out to look for her and if she didn’t turn up in the next five minutes then he was sending out a search party. And a rescue helicopter. And if she didn’t like it (finding it too overbearing) then she would just have to lump it.

He stalked out of the room through the winding hallways - moving a little too quickly for his lurking servants. He didn’t bother with his coat, grabbing the handle to the main door -snarling at the mistletoe above it which now seemed to be mocking him - and threw it open to reveal a very beautiful, very wet, diminutive blonde woman.

“Chloe!”

~*~

“No good stupid Perry. Bloody arrogant git. Useless airlines”, Chloe muttered as she rifled around in her purse for her keys. Even through her leather gloves her fingers were frozen and verging on useless. It didn’t help that her keys appeared to have shrunk down to nothing in a bag which hadn’t been the size of a suitcase when she had brought it.

Her tirade was cut short as the door she wanted to open was flung open. Her head snapped up, expecting to see the butler only to be confronted by the man of the house.

“Lex”, his name flew to her lips. Her dear boyfriend. She had missed him so much but the feelings which slammed into her still managed to surprise her. After all that she had gone through over the last four days - and the last ten hours in particular - finally she was back. Light, warmth and something which smelled really good poured out of the castle into the cold night air washing over her a visceral reminder of everything she had been missing. All at once her privations seemed intensified a hundred fold and a million miles away.


She drank in the slight of her adored lover. He was unspeakably handsome (as always) with his gorgeous green eyes were fixed on her and in his shock the emotions were laid bare to her. Shock. Anger. Concern. Love. All of the emotions were there, fighting for dominance but apparently anger was winning.

“Chloe, where the fuck have you been?” Were his first words to her. “Why didn’t you tell me when or how you were coming back? I would have come and got you”.

“For exactly that reason, I didn’t want you putting yourself out and what a nice welcome. ‘Where the fuck have you been?’” She informed him waspishly. “What did you think that ‘Hello darling, how are you?’ was too passée?”

His lips pressed tightly together as he reached out, pulled her inside and slammed the door behind her. “Why are you wet and shivering and how did you get here?” He demanded, not missing a beat.

“Taxi”, came her curt reply. She was still fiddling with her bag. She was going to find those damned keys if it killed her. It was a point of pride.

“I didn't see any taxi”, Lex commented his hand still around her upper arm, as he escorted her into the living room where there was a roaring fire.

“Yeah well he had driven off by then”, she continued her rifling too angry with Lex’s comportment after everything she had been through to risk looking back up at him at that moment. Had she, she would have noticed that his lips were almost invisible.

Apparently with no regard for his personal safety he snapped, “Stop messing around with your bag. You’re inside now you don’t need your keys”. And snatched her reticle from her, chucking it onto the sofa. “Why are you wet Chloe?”

“Because when I got off the stupid plane in Metropolis”, she paused as, without asking, he began to unbutton her coat. Her gaze travelled from his digits’ deft movements to his face and was even more shocked by the smouldering fury she witnessed there. He was in an even worse mood than she was. Which, as she wanted nearly every living thing on the planet dead at that moment, was hard to believe.

She tried to brush his hands away, irrationally irritated by his need to take care of her, but his long skilled fingers continued with their mission until every last button was undone. He circled around her and Chloe allowed the heavy, saturated wool to be eased from her shoulders.

Chloe was uncomfortable aware of his presence behind her. His hot breath on the nape of her neck. His hands brushing against her body. Not because he was trying to seduce her. It was just where he was. Matter of factly ridding her of her water logged burden.

Still, she continued with her story. When Lex decided he wanted to know something, it was easier to comply even if it was none of his business. “I went to my favourite coffee shop to get a latte to cheer myself up after the horridious last four days that I’ve had”, her tone became petulant as she remembered the farce of an article. “I travelled half way around the world for nothing. No story. No lead. Nothing”.

“Chloe”, his tone lacked the sympathy she would have liked.

“I was standing under an oarning just about to get into my taxi with my coffee and the stupid thing gave way and I was covered in about three foot of snow”, she finally explained her appearance as she brought her hands up to her head to smooth her damp hair from her face.

“Are you okay?” Lex asked coming back around to stand in front of her, he reached out to caress her frozen cheek. First bit of affection she had received since returning home. It did something to warm her icicle of a heart. She knew that he loved her as surely as she knew that he was trying very hard not to roar something along the lines of: “What the hell do you think that you have been doing for the last hour sitting around in wet clothes?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just wet and cold tired and pissed off”, she tried to highlight her bad mood rather than her physical discomfort. She knew how easily he became worried about her. She reached out and ran her hand up his forearm in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture but apparently only succeeded in drawing his attention to her extremities and the possibility of frostbite.

He captured both of her hands, tugged off her gloves and sent them to join her bag. He inspected the fingers which had made him roar with pleasure less than a week ago dispassionately. His large masculine hands entwined themselves around her small feminine ones possessively, the heat from his soft flesh almost searing as he warmed her.

“You know, I haven’t had a decent cup of coffee in four days!” Her voice was a little more breathy than she would have liked but she ignored it and fixed her eyes on his handsome visage. He didn’t crack even the ghost of a smile. God help her if he ever found out that four those four days she had subsisted on McDonalds Chicken Nuggets, and not too many of those.

“I should probably have come straight back but when you are told that it is the story of the century, the kind of thing that could make your career and then you get there and there is nothing you don’t think that it is actually nothing, do you? You think that someone must be hiding something. After four days of turning over every single stone”, and a rather dangerous trip into a sewer that she would rather forget and about which Lex was never going to find out, “it is conclusive, Perry got it wrong”.

Still Lex said nothing, He just stood there. His eyes boring into her, his hands scalding hers.

“It was just a bum lead I missed Christmas for nothing and ...” She finally succeeded in explaining herself, why she had been short with him but rather than being met with hugs and kisses and understanding and an apology of his own Lex remained silent. Not quaking with anger. Not pouting. Just silent. She thought that she might have preferred it if he had yelled.

Swallowing uncomfortably, Chloe averted her gaze from his and for the first time she noticed her surroundings. Lex had lead her into the living room where they spent most of their time. Soon after they had begun dating she had put her foot down and dictated that he would use different rooms for working and relaxing and had selected this one out of the plethora of living rooms as it had always been particularly beautiful but tonight it was completely transformed.

“Lex, what is all of this?” She asked with a gasp of wonderment. It all looked so different, so Christmas-y, even with her coat, open bag and gloves flung across the settee. Everything was tastefully and beautifully decorated but with more mathematical precision than artistic flare. This had been done by the hand of a Luthor, not a maid.

A hard ball of guilt began to form in her throat. She didn’t give a damn if the airline ever found her suitcase any more - thankfully her teddy and laptop had been in her carry on. And that had absolutely been the last time that she would ever fly commercial. Next time she wasn’t trying to assert her independence or refrain from putting on Lex. She was letting Lex take care of that stuff, as he would prefer. It was the least that she could do for him and he would have got her back to him much quicker. He had clearly missed her terribly.

Stupidly she hadn’t realised that he was this into Christmas. She knew in the past that he hadn’t celebrated it and hadn’t mentioned it this year so she had left it alone thinking that he wasn’t interested. She had been so stupid. So unfeeling. Such a terrible girlfriend. No wonder he had been so mad. Poor hurt baby.

“Christmas”. Her poor, abused, neglected darling stated simply.

She turned and stared at him taking in for the first time, what he was wearing, and its significance. God she really could be a self-centred bitch at times. He wore no tie with his white shirt, the top two buttons of which were undone. His grey lacks were slightly rumpled as if he had got down on his hands and knees. And he was completely without shoes, his black socks sticking out from under his trousers. She loved him in socks. She didn’t know why, it made him seem so domestic and she just wanted to gobble him up whole.

She was a selfish cow. Going away on Christmas. Leaving her delicious boyfriend all alone.

“I wanted it to be just us and I thought that we should”, he began to explain but she cut him off, moisture gathering in her eyes.

“It’s two days after Christmas”. She had royally fucked up this time. She he had done all of this work not today as she had thought, not for her, but days ago, he had been there all alone on Christmas and ...

“No, no it’s not”, Lex put a stop to her line of thought. He could see where it was headed and the guilt that she would heap on herself. “It’s Christmas Eve. Christmas was delayed this year”.

She blinked back the tears and stared up at him inquisitively.

“Father Christmas and I have a deal”, he promised her with a flash of a wicked grin as he lifted her hands to his lips and covered them with kisses until she smiled back at him. “I’m going to do something about global warming and stop his home from turning to slush and he is going to delay Christmas until you get back and bring you lots of pressies”. Some of which had already been delivered but he planned on spoiling Chloe rotten.

“You blackmailed Father Christmas?” Chloe baulked.

“Well I was hoping to cement my place on the naughty list this year.. I feel that I have been slipping recently. Can’t have that, can we?” He asked as he placed her hands on his chest and slid his arms around her waist, drawing her close to him.

“No baby, we can’t”, she agreed, forgetting about everything except him and how much she loved her irascible, stubborn, overbearing, demanding, ‘won’t admit what a needy so and so he is’, worry wart boyfriend. She flung her arms around him, squishing her sopping wet form into him in a most unladylike manner.

“Come here”, he grinned, burrowing his face in her wet hair even though the only way for him to actually be any closer to her would have been to bury himself inside her. “So, are you done being ridiculously independent, moody, stroppy and stomping around?
Not to mention sliding into flights of morbid fantasy believing me to be missing you so much that I was sitting in an empty house with only a glass of scotch as company verging on suicidal so the last few days?”

“You weren’t were you?” She asked desperately.

“No, of course not. I worked as normal and went to the Kents’. I’ve been more worried about you”, he squeezed her close.

“Now, if I promise to keep the tantrums to a minimum are you going to let me take you upstairs and warm you up properly now?” He demanded.

“You may warm me up”, responded, powerless to refuse.

With a wolfish grin, Lex gathered her up into his arms.

~*~

[HotCrossedBunny]

Lex strode purposefully through the Luthor Castle but didn’t stop as Chloe had expected him to in his bedroom, but continued onwards into the en suite. She wondered when a marble bedecked room the size of the the apartment in which she had been born had just become ‘the en suite’.

This thought vanished the second that he popped her down on the ground and she was deprived of his body heat. She began to shiver more acutely aware now of the fact that her clothes had managed to get quite damp in spite of her coat’s absorptivity. Once again he stripped her, but this time his earlier dispassionate objectivity was replaced with smouldering appreciation.

She had never been tall or compared to the girls she saw on the front of the magazines but she never felt in any way inferior around Lex. On the contrary, he made her feel like the sexiest woman on the planet. Even as her white blouse clung to her unflatteringly, slowly becoming translucent enough to reveal the outline of a sturdy rather than elegant white bra and her dark jeans stuck rather too closely to her McDonald’s reinforced thighs, she knew that Lex could detect no imperfection.

On the contrary, his hands yanked the edges of her blouse up and out of her jeans as she began to work on the tiny, fiddly buttons. Their gazes locked and he lowered himself down onto his knees. His fingers teased the strip of flesh above the waist band of her trousers before he flicked open the fastening and began rolling the stubborn fabric down her legs placing kisses as he went as if he were simply unable to resist.

She knew the feeling Her hands abandoned their task caressed his smooth head as he nestled it against her damp panties for a second as he straightened slightly before banishing the strip of fabric to around her ankles with everything else. He ran his hands back up her soft flesh and exerted pressure on her hips to indicate that she should sit back on the bathtub and removed the tangle of garments and boots from her feet.

Forgoing his usual (nigh on compulsive) neatness for once, he left them in a ball as he got up and helped Chloe to her feet. A tender act at odds with the way that he ripped her top and bra off only seconds later.

His eyes raked over her, licking his lips as he regarded her curves appreciatively before his consideration for her won out and he wrapped her in an enormous, ridiculously soft towel. Chloe sighed contentedly. It was still warm from the heater and felt like heaven after over an hour of being freezing and uncomfortable. At that moment she was not sure if she had fallen in love with him for his towels or his ass. Both were lovely and she had the opportunity to enjoy both as he began to prepare her bath.

One the one hand, the towel was soft and warm. On the other, Lex’s posterior was round and firm as well as being surprisingly soft and smooth. Really the only scientific method of deduction was a tactile one. She brushed her fingers over the soft linen before reaching out to give Lex a little caress. Then a squeeze. Just for the good of her investigation, of course.

“Enjoying yourself back there?” Lex inquired as he straightened up and turned around, an amused smile on his lips.

“Yes thank-you”, she grinned up at him.

“You’re looking happier than before”, he sat on the edge of the tub, pulling her so that she was standing between his spread legs. “Are you okay now?”

“All better now that I’m here with you”, she promised him, placing a kiss on his forehead.

“We can talk about it”, he offered, wrapping around his arms around her waist.

“Not tonight”, she leant down to peck him on the lips. She knew that he would be beating himself for having let her go, be worrying about if she was upset while she was away from him, kicking himself for not having been more understanding when she had finally returned. But there was no need. She knew that he worried and she was not blameless herself. Tonight should just be about love and enjoying being with each other again. “Not after you have taken the time get on the naughty list forever just to make it Christmas Eve again for me”.

“Okay”, he smiled but added haltingly, “but you know that you always take presidence over everything right?”

“Right”, she kissed his nose. Lex was a man who preferred actions to words, for him to feel the need to lower his guard enough to clarify that meant that he had been really shaken. He was really scared that she might not understand him or how deeply he cared about her.

“And I’m sorry for not saying hello before”, he continued. “I was”, the words stuck in his throat, “concerned”.

His mouth said “concerned”, his face and the way that he clung to her said “scared witless”.

“Lex”, she cupped his face and lowered her face so that they were nose to nose. “It’s alright. I know”, she stressed each word before kissing him again.

He beamed at her, unable to contain his joy and relief and she felt like the most evil, vile creature on the face of the planet. “I’m sorry I was grumpy too”, she apologised. “And that I didn’t let you come and get me, I wanted you to have a rest”. She caressed his cheek, “And I’m sorry for going away in the first place and prioritising my ...”

“Chloe”, he interrupted her.

“Yeah?”

“Shut up and kiss me again. No feeling guilty on Christmas Eve”, he ordered. Oh yes, Lex was certainly feeling better.

“Bossy boots”, she complained with pouted lips but lowered her head to his. His hands moved down from her back and waist down to squeeze her bottom, while hers slipped around his neck to hold him close.

His tongue slipped out to lick its way slowly across her full, pouting, lower lip before pulling it into his mouth. He suckled and nibbled her gently before coaxing her lips further open and conducting a leisurely exploration of her mouth, feeling her shudder as he curled his tongue to caress the roof of her mouth. Lost in a tangle of tongues, limbs and moans it was a miracle that they didn’t lose their minds. Chloe disengaged herself just enough to close her teeth around his lip.

“Oh”, he moaned against her mouth.

“Did I hurt you?” She asked, pulling back abruptly. Her eyes wide with concern.

“No sweetie, of course not”, he chuckled at her reaction as his tongue slightly out to lick where she had bitten. “It’s wasn’t you”, he gave her another peck, “I promise”. He stood up and turned around to reveal his wet bottom and a bathtub which was only a few more minutes away from overflowing.

“Oh, poor baby”, Chloe commiserated, “This just isn’t your day is it?”

He turned off the tap and then swivelled back to her. In one swift move, he yanked her towel off. “I don’t know, it’s looking up”.

“Is it now?” She slithered back into his arms, this time looking up at him, “I bet that I can make it even better”. Her fingers travelled down to his collar and began to unfasten the remaining buttons, allowing her finger tips to trail across his soft exposed flesh as she did so.

Her eyes feasted on him. Drinking in his lean, toned form. Barely able to stop herself from leaning in to taste him. With an effort she dragged her gaze back up to his face and wasn’t disappointed. A clear challenge to ‘make it even better’ was smouldering in his eyes, as was the love which was always present when he was around her. She couldn’t resist. She kissed him hard.

Due to the precariousness of their position and the force of her feelings, the romantic gesture almost sent them both crashing back into the bath. At the last second, Chloe managed to brace herself against the wall above Lex’s head as he gripped the edge of the bath.

“Are you alright?” He demanded immediately.

She nodded, blushing furiously.

He laughed. “What was that about?”

“I couldn’t resist you”, she explained, blushing furiously.

“Well, no need to look embarrassed about that, you are only human after all”, he got a more secure seat and pulled her back to him, kissing her firmly on the lip. “Now”, he broke away from her, “Get in that bath before you catch your death of cold. You’ve already been running around too long wet and neglected”.

“Hey, I didn’t run around ...” She began to protest against the unfairness of his statement. At least some of it hadn’t been her fault and she had only been trying to save him from extra fatigue to start with and ... He stood up, keeping her close, hot breath on her face making her lose her train of thought. “That’s not fair”, she said, her mind turning hazy. His lips were just so close to hers.“Oh!”

Lex smirked wickedly, with his hand resting happily on the soft curve of her ass which it had just slapped. “I said get in the bath”, he repeated in a low growl, squeezing her flesh.

Chloe clenched her thighs together. Dominant Lex always sent a jolt straight to her pussy. Still, the fact that certain parts of her anatomy hadn’t got the feminist memo was no excuse to let him get away with being all bossy, and sexy, and manly and, she gasped as he began to massage the afflicted area. Another definite jolt. Really she needed to learn to be stronger where he was concerned.

He smirked.

“Make me”, she challenged, placing her hands on her hips. It wasn’t convincing, at least not if the expression on Lex’s handsome features was anything to go by.

Chloe suffered a another very strong jolt. Seriously, she would have to see someone about that.

“As you wish, my bossy lady”, he growled and without further ceremony, hoisted her into his arms and carefully deposited her in the bath.

“Hey you’re not in here with me”, Chloe noted with complaint as he stood over her, still outside her bath.

“No, I’m not”, he observed, crossing his arms across his bare chest.

Chloe pouted. She knew that he was just tormenting her for what he saw as her earlier decision to stand around letting herself get cold (plus her general disobedience) and that there was no real possibility that Lex would ever turn down the opportunity to be near her, especially not when she was naked. However, that didn’t alter the fact that she wanted him in the bath with her now, not when he felt that she had suffered enough. Still, she wasn’t going to beg. She studied his body ... No, she would stay strong and wouldn’t beg. She pouted instead.

His eyes immediately travelled to the lower lip and she tried to keep it like that rather than smiling but it didn’t work. “Are you going to stand there like that all night or get in?”

“I’m considering it”, he was teasing they both knew it. He just wanted to hear her beg.

“Oh, well that’s a shame”, she said with mock disinterest, as she stretched out, the swell of her breasts just raising above the waterline. She smirked as she saw his where his gaze was redirected. She was good. “Because you weren’t far off the mark when you said that I had been wet and neglected”, she bit her lower lip and shifted her hips, a movement discernible even though the water. “Still, I suppose that whirlpool jets can help with that if you are unwilling”. She flipped on the switch and let out a low moan closing her eyes and sinking down into the bubbling water..

“I’m not unwilling”, Lex protested shoving his trousers, boxers and socks off with one movement before leaping into the bath.

“My my Lex I didn’t know that you were so keen on bubble baths. A bit girlie, don’t you think?” She teased him.

“I’ll give you girlie”, he said, dragging her to him so that she was straddling his lap.

“My my Lex, is that a yacht or are you just happy to see me?” She giggled and tried to seem unaffected by the evidence of his desire for her. It didn't work. It never did.

“What do you think?” He pulled her so that she was nestling against him.

“Definitely very happy to see me”, she decided as she ground herself against him.

He burrowed his head in her neck, not caring when her damp locks began affixed to his face, he was just desperate to be near to her. “How do you want to argh!”

Chloe had reached down, slipping her hand between them and grabbed him, tugging on him quickly and efficiently. “I wasn’t kidding about being wet and neglected. Sex first. Foreplay and romance second”.

“My kind of argh argh Chloe”, once again she reduced him to a babbling drooling idiot.

She dragged the tip of his hardened length through the folds of her intimate flesh as she lined them up, causing them to groan in unison.

“Never letting your leave me for so long again”, he vowed with a growl.

“This from the man who goes on fortnight long business trips”, she shot back, eking out the moments before they joined.

“I’m taking you with me next time”, he said, as his hands slid down her body.

“I’m not sure that The Daily Planet would oh”, one of Lex’s hands had found its way to her clit while the other one held her so close that her hardened nipples pressed against his smooth bare chest. “Perry will get used to the idea”, she decided.

“Too fucking right he will. If doesn’t I’ll buy the damned paper and”, he gasped - in an extremely masculine way, of course - as Chloe impaled herself on him. “Late” and “pressie” were the only words he could get out for several minutes as relished the feel of being inside her tight warmth.

Chloe rolled her hips slightly trying to tease him for as long as possible as but as his thumb rubbed tight circles around her sensitive nub she felt her resolve snap. She braced herself against his shoulders and his hands automatically settled on her hips helping her to establish the fastest, hardest pace that there position would allow. They had been apart for far too long.

“Missed you”, she panted out as she worked herself up to fever-pitch. It took only a few minutes until the pleasure coiling within her became almost painful.

“Yeah. You’re never leaving again”, Lex repeated his earlier sentiments. From Lex Luthor that was kind and tender and romantic. It touched her hardened journalist’s heart, but not enough to keep her from teasing her, “Bossy pants”.

“Not wearing pants”, he pointed out. Always the literalist, not to mention pragmatist.

“Fine then bossy oh”, she was briefly distracted as thrust his hips, but that wasn’t going to stop her from taunting him. “Bossy no pants”, she got out just before a wave of pleasure crashed against her.

Lex opened his mouth to make some smug comment but only let out of a grunt as her inner walls spasmed around him. He sneaked his hand back down between them and found the tiny little bundle of nerves once more.

“Ahhhhh”, she screamed. Her breasts pushing into him. The only response he was able to give was to smash his mouth against hers as pleasure began to course through him. For several minutes they just clung to each other, each riding out their own pleasure, helpless to do anything else.

Slowly. Panting. The bright lights finally subsiding they returned to normal.

~*~

“Damn that was good. Especially for a quickie”, Chloe moaned against his cheek, where her head now lay. “Um always amazes me just how good is it” she sighed contentedly as she reluctantly pulled away from her delicious boyfriend in order to recline her semi-boneless body against the side of the tub.

“I hope that you are talking about me not the hot tub”, Lex smirked laying back himself, his arms stretched out across the sides.

“Mmmm”, Chloe replied non committally.

“That’s not quite the ringing endorsement of my love making skills that I was hoping for”, he said, goading into action. He felt all of his energy returning to him as it always did when he was challenged. “Guess that I will just have to prove myself against a bathtub”.

“Well it washes and massages and relaxes too”, she mumbled, pretending that she was drifting off to sleep. An image which was ruined when she cracked one eye open to look at him.

Lex noticed, he always did, but he played along. “Well, I think that I can manage those things”, he decided as he nestled against the side of the bath and pulled her over so that she was settled with her back against his chest.

“Lex you don’t to ...” She started to explain, “I was just teasing”.

He was taking the shower head off the wall and flicked it on. He tested the water with his hand before shaking the water droplet from it and placing it over Chloe’s forehead as he used it to wet her hair before returning it to its stand.

“Yeah, because touching you is such an arduous task. A real chore. I don’t know how I manage. I’m a real American hero”, he grabbed the shampoo and got to work on her hair.

“Oh gaaaa you’re so good at that”, she moaned.

He smirked. She was the most sensitive woman he had ever met. He had never been one of those men who thought that there were only two erogenous zones - three if you counted the boobs individually - and he had always known the the scalp was incredibly sensitive - a fact that Chloe had confirmed on him time and time again.. But she was insane. Her ivory skin was so sensitive and ticklish that he could drive her crazy just by washing her hair. At least in one respect Chloe was easy.

“I love you so much”, Chloe murmured as he tugged her hair gently at the nape of her neck.

“Nice to know”, he replied as he worked her hair up into a unicorn horn, then two devil horns. A far more befitting style for his wicked temptress.

He left her hair thus, as he moved his hands down massaging her shoulders, then lower then lower eliciting an increasing number of moans as he did so until finally she formed a complete word.

“Evil”.

He smiled at her assessment of his character, “You won’t be saying that in a moment”, he promised, ready to make good on his promise when Chloe pushed herself away from him with a languid smile. Lex was about to complain when he realised that she was only adding more hot water and some bath oil he had never seen before. She liked her baths hot enough to boil a lobster and he was happy just as long as she was.

When she returned to his arms, lazily swimming a few strokes through the steaming water, Lex clutched her to him. Kissed her and then proved that he was as good as his word.

Of course Chloe returned the favour immediately afterwards. It was only polite.

~*~

“And there you go, all conditioned, rinsed off and bubble free”.

“I miss the bubbles”, she teased, “I thought that they were a good look”.

“Everything is a good look on you”, Lex said, as he got out of the bath and helped her to do the same. His eyes raking over her body. Taking in the sumptuous curves, pink skin, and sparkle in her green orbs. He had had two orgasms quite recently but still he felt the beginnings of a familiar stirring.

He grabbed the towels and tried to wrap one around her but she dodged out of his reach and dashed into the bedroom. With a laugh he pursued her, catching up to her easily and wrapping his arms around her and hiking her into the air. He flopped onto the bed sideways, careful not to squash her and then engaged her in a drying/tickling contest.

For several moments they wrestled their hands flying all over their naked bodies until one of them emerged victorious. Thanks to his superior strength and speed, Lex won.

He sat astride her hips, looking very pleased with himself. “There is no escape”, he chuckled evilly as if he were a character in a James Bond movie.

“Who in their right mind would want to?” Chloe wondered.

“Good point”, Lex said, looming over her to kissed her smiling mouth.

“Umm”, she let out a sound of contentment, before destroying the moment by announcing, “as much as I would love another triple x throw down, get off me for a minute so that I can get dressed”.

“You’re getting dressed?” Lex asked, trying to hide his dismay but did as she bid.

“Well, not dressed dressed but pyjamas etc”, she clarified as she trotted over to her dresser and pulled out her favourite jammies not noticing the box at the foot of the bed which contained a silk Christmas themed negligee that Lex had brought especially for that night. “You should probably put something on too or you will freeze”. She chucked some pyjamas at him.

“Not if we both go back to bed”, he pointed out, with a seductive look. Hoping that his nakedness would convince her of his theory.

“Don’t look at me like that”, she pleaded, her legs rubbing together as if of their own volition. “We can do that, a lot, later, but do you know what I really want right now?”

“No”, he admitted honestly. The only thing on his mind was sex.

“Food”.

“Ah”.

“I’m absolutely starving”, she admitted, her stomach giving a loud rumble of agreement. Lex jumped to his feet. Ready to solve the problem and Chloe continued on heedlessly, “I haven’t eaten since last night and oh crap”.

His eyes narrowed. She had clearly not meant to let that bit slip out. “They didn’t feed you on the plane?” His voice crackled with anger.

“Long story”, she tried to dismiss his worries, begging him with her eyes to just let the matter drop and to not ruin their evening.

He grumbled. They were fucking lucky that it was mock Christmas Eve, if not heads would have rolled. As it was, they were safe ... until Chloe was asleep that night then he was getting to the bottom of this and people were going to pay.

“Lex”, she asked nervously, “are you alright?”

“Yeah, fine”, he flashed her a small, tight smile. He slipped into the silk purple pyjama bottoms had grey cotton top with which he had been furnished, putting all thoughts of sex and revenge out of his mind until after he had got her fed. “Put your hair up”, he reminded her tossing her a smaller towel so that it would dry without causing her to catch cold. He watched her as she performed a combination of acrobatics and origami which never ceased to amaze him and wrap her hair into a sort of towel turban.

“What do you think?” She asked with a slight laugh.

“You look adorable, as always”, he assured her crossing the room and kissed her on the tip of her nose. She was wearing bear paw slippers, purple yoga style pyjamas which at once hide and exposed her curves and had a towel on her head. She should have looked like a fright but he found her utterly intoxicating. He leant in and placed a gentle kiss on her lips this time.

“Lex”, his name came out somewhere between a groan and a whisper. “I really am famished”,

“I know, me too”, he pulled her closer to him.

“I mean for food”, she reminded him. She sounded as if she was reconsidering the whole eating to survive idea, but her stomach complained about its mistreatment loudly.

“Ah”, Lex acknowledged the problem with a sober chuckle. “We had better get that seen to”. This evening was certainly not going to plan.

“Yes, I would also like my tree, pressies and TV”, she informed him as she took one step back from him.

“Okay”, he said, somewhat dejectedly as he gathered up two of the towels they had used earlier and went to toss them into the hamper while Chloe grabbed the other one. “Come on stop being a party pooper”, she said, whipping his ass with the strip of linen that she was holding.

He turned to face her, an eyebrow raised. She was grinning at him mischievously, waiting for his reaction. He took one step towards her and she sprang into action, dumping the towel and dashing off out of their bedroom and down the hallway. She managed to remain a few steps ahead of him until she reached the stairs. He was just about to catch up with her when she called out joyfully, “Can’t chase me here on the stairs; that wouldn't be safe”.

She was right of course but Lex was even faster than she gave him credit for. He grabbed her arm, just before it became dangerous. “Gotcha!”

He eased her back away from the mouth of the staircase and spun her around. He gave her a kiss, then heaved her over his shoulder, jostling her a little to check that she was safe before giving her bottom an affectionate pat, gripping the hand rail and descending in search of sustenance.

“Cave man!”

“Damn straight”, he agreed, carrying her straight through into the kitchen. “So, what takes your fancy?”

“Lex, we’ve already been into this, I’m too hungry to think about sex at the moment”, she teased him as she checked that her towel was still in place.

“Get your mind out of he gutter”, he chided.

“First time that you have ever said that”, she snorted, stretching and then looking about her.

“I was talking about food”, he continued as if he had never been interrupted. “Unfortunately everything is a bit ...”

“Perfect”. He stared at her in disbelief. He knew that she didn’t want him to feel bad, but perfect was a bit of a stretch. Apparently seeing that he didn’t believe her, she popped a potato in her mouth. “I love really crunchy roast potatoes”, she declared, scooping some more up and popping them into her mouth one after another.

“Oh and chicken”, she moved passed the bird. She would need a plate and cutlery for that, unless she chose to attack it Henry VIII style. “Oh, and you made me a full five trays of brownies”, she bounced over to the desert.

“Yes”, Lex said, smoothing his hand across the crown of his head. He figured that there was no need to mention that it was supposed to be a soufflé and that the final one had been several hours ago.

“If Chloe had noticed that he was obviously hiding something from her, she didn’t mention it. Instead she was getting out plates and cutlery and piling both of them high as she asked, “Did you do all of this yourself?”

He didn’t respond, suddenly thinking that it was a very unmanly thing to have done.

“Lex?” She asked, placing the plates down and turning her full attention on him.

“Yes”, he admitted quietly..

“Come here you big sweetie”, she held her arms out to him.

“Luthor’s are not sweet”, he ground out even as he willingly embraced her.

“The one in front of me is”, she countered, pulling him down for a kiss. Then another one. Then another one. Then her tummy rumbled. “Right, dinner time”, she decided, finally releasing him.

“You’ve got to have your priorities”, Lex laughed. Chloe turned and smiled. It was common to hear him laugh now. Natural. Warm. Things had changed so much in one year. Less than one year actually. It was brilliant.

She shook her head before Lex could ask what had her so preoccupied and coaxed him back into the decorated living room and popped down on the settee ignoring the table laid out. “Alright Luthor. The Muppets’ Christmas Carol or the Vicar of Dibley. The choice is yours”.

~*~

“No, a little further to the left. No your other left”.

“That would be the right Chloe”, Lex’s exasperated voice wafted down to her.

“I know what I mean”, she huffed.

“Possibly but that doesn’t really help me at the moment, now does it?”

“You are supposed to be my soul mate and all of that rubbish, can’t you tell what I am thinking?” She counted her cross tone with pure unassailable logic.

“In this case ... No”.

“Well, you are doing it wrong”, Chloe folded her arms over her chest.

“Would you like to do it?” Lex finally snapped.

“I was trying to, you kept fussing with the ladder if you remember”, Chloe said from where she was standing surveying her boyfriend as he attempted to place the star exactly as she wanted it on their newly decorated Christmas tree.

“I do not call not wanting you perching on one foot, on your tip top of the step ladder fussing”, he argued.

“Fuss pot”, she huffed. She had been perfectly safe.

“Right that’s it”, Lex turned and took one step down from the ladder and moved it to the side. “Come on”

“Come on what?” He had been the one who wouldn’t let her get back on the ladder just because she had been a bit wobbly and almost fallen off and cracked her head open. Honestly, sometimes he could be so bossy and unreasonable.

“As you apparently know best, Bossy Madam, you are going to put it on”, he declared.

“I repeat, you me and the ladder don’t get along”. The earlier tantrum he had had when left the room for a few minutes to come back and only just catch her in time to stop her from cracking her skull open on the parquet flooring had proved that. That poor ladder was looking a little worse for wear after being kicked clear across the room. It really hadn’t been its fault. If anyone had been to blame it had been Lex for making her jump. Not that she was planning on sharing this theory with him.

“Hence this”, he handed her the star and then moved around behind her. He bent down and wrapped one arm around her knees and hoisted her up so that her thighs were in line with his head making her tall enough to place the damned star exactly where she wanted it.

“Are you okay?” Chloe asked, concerned about his back. There was nothing really wrong with it but he had had a twinge several months ago and had been lugging her around a lot that day.

“Yes, I’m fine stop fussing”, he informed her.

“I’m not the one who fusses, you are the one who fusses”, she huffed.

“No, I’m not”.

“Yes, you are”. Honestly, sometimes he told the biggest lies.

“No, I fuss when there is the remotest possibility that you might get hurt. You fuss when it is reversed”, he corrected her.

“I know that you can’t see from this position so I will inform you that I am sticking my tongue out at you”, she informed him helpfully.

“Noted. Now, can we get on with this?”

“Sure, one step forwards please”, Chloe directed him. Lex complied and she finally got the star into place.

“Done”, she announced with a smile and found herself being chucked onto the sofa. Hey”, she complained without rancour.

“Pain in the ass”, he accused her.

She pouted and held her hand out for him to help her up. Even knowing what was about to happen, he gave her his hands and allowed himself to be pulled down on top of her. He made sure to brace his weight on his fore arms either side of her head as her legs came up to wrap around his lean waist. Her arms wrapped around his neck. Hugging as much of him as she possibly could.

“Hello”, she beamed up at him.

“Hello”, he grinned in response.

“I love you”, she said, just in case he had forgotten the fact in the midst of their bickering.

“I love you too”, he assured her as he pecked her lips. “This is what I wanted. You know, it is rather terrible that I haven’t got you under the mistletoe yet. I must be slipping”.

“You don’t need mistletoe toe or any other excuse to kiss me”, she promised him.

“I know”, he kissed her just to prove it, “and believe me I plan on taking full advantage of that fact. But we mustn’t let these old traditions die”.

“No, we must not”. A slow, sly smile graced her full lips. “Lex, do you remember the oil I poured into the bath?”

He nodded.

“Well, as it contained extract of mistletoe I would imagine that technically we are both completely covered in the stuff”.

“Well then I guess I have a lot of kissing to do”, Lex sank down on top of her.

~*~

[HotCrossedBunny]

Eleven months earlier ...

Chloe sat at her desk in the office of the Daily Planet drumming her fingers against the wooden surface as she stared at her computer screen. She had been busting her butt for the newspaper ever since she had entered her first year of college first as an intern, then a part time reporter, and since graduation as a fully fledged reporter. She had turned in hundreds of articles, more than some seasoned professionals and she was still no higher than the basement.

Some of that could be blamed on the string of useless editors who wouldn’t have known journalistic merit if it had kicked them in the ass - which Chloe had only just refrained from doing on several occasions. But the new editor and chief was fantastic; he was as tough as nails with the ability to smell a story from four states away. Unfortunately, he was also bloody underhanded.

Perry White had an eye for talent and had noticed Chloe immediately. He had gone back through her old articles and spotted something special in her. He even favoured her over Clark and Lois. But his reporter’s nose and instinct had led him too far for Chloe’s own good that morning when he had clearly discovered her connection to the Luthors.

“That smug brat Lex Luthor has taken over LuthorCorp”, the white haired man had announced.

“I am aware of that”, she had informed him.

“I wouldn’t keep you around here if you weren’t”. That was as near as anyone ever got to a compliment from the irascible old man.

“After years of conflicts - brilliant newspaper fodder -, after going into an insane asylum, escaping from said asylum, putting his father behind bars, his father being released under mysterious circumstances which look like Lex exerted pressure, three reconciliations, two monumental fall outs and weekly skirmishes even when they are on the same side, everything is suddenly over. The old man has gone, retired to the Bahamas or something, and left the kid is in charge”.

She smiled at the thought of someone refereeing to Lex as a “kid” but tried to keep her composure. You were only supposed to laugh when you were sure that Perry was making a joke. The difference between the chief being funny and intentionally being funny had already got her in trouble several times that day.

“This is a reporter’s nightmare, unless they can be the only one to get an interview. That would be a reporter’s dream, Sullivan”, he stressed his words.

“I am aware of that”, she assured him. She was ashamed to admit it, but when she had the news her feelings had been divided between someone who was once almost a friend of Lex’s and a reporter who needed a story.

“Then what are you going to do about it?” He demanded.

She blinked. “I’m not allowed near the Luthors any more. Remember, the restraining order”. She wouldn't have thought that she would have had to remind him about that.

Perry laughed. “Ah yes, the time that you ended up in Lionel’s hotel suite disguised as a prostitute to get a quote. Some people have no sense of humour”.

“I think that it was the picture of the Viagra on the night stand that really ticked him off”, Chloe supplied thoughtfully. She was lucky to have him as editor-in-chief. For all of his faults (and his ex-wives could provide detailed lists of them), Perry backed his reporters up to the hilt. He single handedly spent more on lawyers for Chloe than most other major newspapers spent on their entire staff.

Perry giggled like a school girl for a second, the image of the blue pills still firmly cemented in his mind but then regained his composure. “You know me Sullivan I judge my reporters on three criteria: 1) how many stories they hand in, 2) how many times per week someone tries to sue them / I have to bail them out, 3) how often they laughed at my jokes”.

She laughed.

“That wasn’t a joke, Sullivan. In the first two categories you are head and shoulders above anyone else”, he continued.

“Good to know”. In fact, she had already been well aware of that fact, she had been miles ahead in those two fields for years.

“So why are you down here in the basement instead of with your own desk with name plate?” He demanded.

“Because you are too cheap to promote me?” She asked innocently.

“Funny Sullivan. Because you”, he poked her in the shoulder with a large sausage-like finger, “have yet to make it impossible for me not to promote you”.

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that this is the story of the century potentially and Lex Luthor doesn’t give interviews”.

“So?” She had a feeling that she knew where this was going but she wanted to make absolutely certain.

“So Sullivan, get me an interview”, he had roared.

Chloe stared at her computer screen wondering how to start her email. As if it mattered. The Luthors had dozens of secretaries and even more body guards plus firewall after firewall - last time she had had to hack her way into one of Lionel’s private accounts it had taken her a full three hours. She was willing to bet that Lex had worked out how the block feature on his email worked.

“What are you waiting for Sullivan?”

She jumped, spun around in her swivel chair to see her boss standing there glowering down at her.

“Right on it chief”, she saluted.

“I hope so, what do you think about me promoting Kat to that nice big desk?” He asked, probably just to light a fire under her.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Chloe exclaimed, jumping to her feet. She deserved it far more than some floozy who spent her day writing a gossip column. It was as if the girl had spent her entire time in school as the bitch and then graduated and realised that she had no actual skills so had found a way to make bullying into a career. Chloe never smelled the whiff of her imposter perfume but she remembered some of the ‘stories’ she had written about Lex and wanted to rip her head off. It didn’t matter that none of them had been true, who would believe Lex over Kat?

“Wouldn’t I?”

Her eyes snapped back to Perry and she sank bank down into her swivel chair. She took her time crossing her legs and stretching her neck before answering with a smile of extreme sweetness, “Not after that text I intercepted between you and your ex wife at the office Halloween party”.

“That’s the spirit that I like to see, Sullivan. Aim it at Lex and take him down”.

~*~

Chloe had deliberated for hours how to make the approach each of her plans becoming more absurd than the last until finally she had opted for simplicity. And so it was that she found herself standing in the middle of the afternoon waiting for Lex with two cups of coffee clutched in her shivering hands.

She stamped her feet. Snow might be picturesque and all that, but it was a pain in the ass. She was freezing cold, her nose was probably bright red and her hair must look like crap by now after the amount of wind which had tussled it. Not that it mattered. Some blonde hair wouldn’t have any effect on the younger Luthor. Now, if she had been a willowy brunette then it would have been a different matter.

Finally Lex emerged from the LuthorCorp offices. Not out of the front where he would be expected to leave, and where there were hundred of reporters clammering for an interview, but in semi-hidden private car park behind the offices.

He looked good, if older and more care worn than he had the last time that she had seen him. He walked purposefully towards the large black limo, surrounded by body guards as if it were nothing, talking on his phone.

Chloe had been raised right and didn’t want to interrupt him when he was talking, especially not as he could well be securing the United State’s oil reserves for the next decade or blackmailing the President knowing him. She remained where she was, semi-hidden behind a structural pillar, waiting for him to finish his phone call. Surely he would hang up before he got to the car. He didn’t. He was only a few steps away from the vehicle now, the door had been opened for him, and he showed no signs that he was getting ready to stop.

“I brought you a coffee”, Chloe called out, her manners deserting her as she dashed - as quickly as the snow would allow her - the couple of meters over to him.

One guard made to prevent her from getting any closer but Lex held up his hand, indicating that she was not a threat. Chloe watched, no longer surprised by the fact that such a small gesture could command so many fully grown men, as the guards backed off and Lex spoke in quick fire Japanese into his mobile before snapping it shut and slipping it into the pocket of his coat.

He turned his full attention to the reporter before him and studied her for a few seconds, an odd expression on his face. Finally he broke the silence and asked, “It’s not one of those disgusting cream and chocolate filled concoctions that you relish so much, is it?”

“No”, she assured him, not sure if he had done his research on her - seeing as she was one of the most persistent journalists that he had to deal with -, or if he just remembered from before. “It’s a triple espresso. Guaranteed to rot your stomach lining”

“Fine”, he extended his hand and took the warm beverage from her, his leather glove caressing her knitted one slightly as he did so. He took a sip and raised an amused eyebrow at her.

“With a shot of rum, for warmth on a cold day”, she added.

The corner of his mouth turned up slightly, “No truth serum?”

“No, I did look around LuthorCorp labs for something - although preferably one that wouldn’t kill me this - time but nothing”, she answered with an air of nicely underplayed nonchalance.

“On the secret level”, he joked.

“No,” she shook her head, “that was the first place that I looked. By the way, there is an absolutely huge dust bunny behind the second chair on the right as you come in through the secret passageway. It looks like it has been a steroids and it ready to take over the world. You really should have someone do something about that”.

He narrowed his eyes at her, as if trying to suss her out.

She smirked as she realised that he was trying to figure out whether she was joking or not. This had to be the first time that she had had the upper hand with a Luthor so easily, even if it would probably only last for a few more seconds. Still, she decided to press her advantage and continued. “I swear there is nothing in your coffee ... that I know of”.

As it happened she had been telling the truth about the unhygienic standards of his labs. She had been meaning to find some way to alert him to the fact ever since she had noticed it last week - she was hardly a neat freak, in fast, she still viewed the words closet and bedroom floor as interchangeable but the state of that one corner really had been disgraceful. Especially seeing as Lex was a former asthma sufferer. She wouldn’t mention the state of his air vents though. He was rather good natured but still the last time that he had actually discovered the way that she was getting into his labs he had closed up the breech without letting her know and she had ended up in completely the wrong room and covered in pink paint. She had sent him the dry-cleaning bill.

He took another sip of his drink, examining her closely before telling her, “So, what can I do for you? I presume that this is not a social call”.

“Well, I was in the neighbourhood and ...”

“You know that I don’t give interviews”, he cut her off.

“I have something for you”, she slipped something out of her pocket and handed it to him, interesting side down. He took it, moved his head to indicate that his guards should leave him alone. He turned the photograph over and demanded, “Where did you get this?”

“My sources are confidential”, she replied confidently.

His eyes flashed with anger, “I could have your ass, you know”.

She raised her eyebrow at him. A response she had seen him use time and time again to his advantage and coveted so much that she had spent hours practising it in the mirror.

“In court”, he clarified in a controlled tone but there was a whisper of something behind his light eyes.

“Eh, I end up there at least once a week anyway. What’s once more”, Chloe shrugged off the threat. She was on first name terms with half of the staff there and spent more time with most of the judges than their wives did.

“What the hell is this? Blackmail?” His voice was cool and clipped. Just like old times, as if daring her to stand up to him, not really believing that she would do it.

“Let’s call it bribery”, she countered easily. He was taking this far better than she had thought that he would.

“For an interview?” He looked about ready to murder someone.

“No, for the chance to convince you that I deserve an interview”, she explained. She might have been a callous reporter hell bent on getting ahead, but she wouldn’t have done something like that. Well, at least not to him.

The odd expression crossed Lex’s features again, this time only for a moment before he took another sip of his espresso. She knew that he was relishing making her wait. He had all of the power, he always did. In the old days that knowledge had made her nervous and as a result her attitude had been overly cocky. Her response was different now. She was different now. She damned good!

He pocketed the picture and shot her a challenging look. He was keeping it. Making a point even though he was well aware that it wouldn’t be the only copy.

She gave him a questioning look, placing her hands on her hips. The action involuntarily thrust her chest out and she noticed his eyes flicker down in that direction before moving back up to her face. The challenge was still there. She didn't know if he was interested, just trying to make her nervous, or thought that she was intentionally sticking her breasts in his face and amused by the effort.

“My limo’s over there. Can I offer you a lift somewhere?” He inquired mildly.

She smiled. It was his way of offering her the chance to talk to and convince him. “Well, mine is in the shop, so sure”.

He smiled back. The expression seemed to take him by surprise.

~*~

Lex Luthor had been having an awful day. He had gone to bed with a decanter of scotch in his stomach and had woken up feeling as if it had been smashed over his head. It was not a hangover - he was immune to them - just a persistent headache.

It was the kind that he had been used to associate with his father but now he was at a loss to explain it. He refused to believe that his constant source of support and sometimes only friend (alcohol) had turned against him.

He could probably continue to blamed his current state of malaise on his father. Whilst the magnificent bastard was now out of his life for good - retired to a private island with a copious amount of security - the ‘negotiations’ and build up to his ‘non-hostile takeover’ had taken its toll on him emotionally as well as physically.

Fortunately, everything had been concluded the day before but the overwhelming sense of joy and elation he had expected had, as yet, not been forthcoming. He just felt numb. Except for the headache.

The world seemed to drone on around him. His normal routine plodded along with only less interference from his father and even more reporters to dodge. It hardly seemed worth it if this was to be the pinnacle of all of this achievements and happiness. Then he saw Chloe.

She was without a doubt the worst reporter of his acquaintance - by which he meant the best. Chloe was ambitious, single minded, infuriating and too damned smart for her (and his) own good. Her energy was as boundless as her ability to get into trouble. The only thing he could say for her was that she was fair. Unlike a lot of the reporters who cared about bylines more than the truth.

He should have turned around and headed back into LuthorCorp, but he didn’t and not because it would look like weakness. She was different. Like a jolt of caffeine. Or several dozen jolts as the case might be. Just being in her presence got the synapses firing. Her voice lubricated the little grey cells. It gave him the thrill that had been lacking even with his conquest the day before.

That isn’t to say that he forgot all of her faults. She was vexing. Challenging him without even opening her mouth. He hated to admit it but there had been several times in the past - when they had been locking horns over a story she was trying to write on him - that the reason for getting out of bed had been to thwart her. She had been his addictive challenge. He also knew that she couldn’t have written several sensational stories on him with the information that she had collected but she never had. She was always surprisingly kind to LuthorCorp - well, his section of it at least.

Least year there had been a scandal concerning one of his companies and Chloe had been on the to ferret it out and bring the real culprit to justice, tarnishing Lex’s main competitor. He had been impressed, to say the least. He still was.

The fact that she was growing more beautiful by the day didn’t hurt either. Her style had improved since Smallville - and even more since she was actually receiving a pay cheque - still edgy and often bright but more mature and formfitting.

She had purchased a new coat just before Christmas - with a reporter as sneaky as her on his tail, he had to keep tabs on her -, it was a deep purple and hugged her figure and showed her black stockinged legs to advantage. The bright red wellies were practical and cute, in his opinion at least. A super sleuth should always wear appropriate foot attire.

He enjoyed sparring with her more than he had enjoyed anything since ... The last time he had taken her on. He had known that she wouldn’t accept anything out right, he had just been waiting to hear what she had to say. He smiled at the thought of her limo being “in the shop”. He couldn’t imagine her in a limo. She drove a cute little red Vovlo and it suited her.

“Shall we?” He placed his hand on her lower back as he steered her towards the limo. It wasn’t really necessary, in fact, it wasn’t necessary at all. They both knew exactly where the vehicle was - it was the size of five normal cars - and yet he still did it.

The gesture was familiar to him. He had been used to do it when they were plotting together. He was ashamed to think of it. Having been deprived of it throughout his life, he had always been acutely aware of how vital human contact was.

It could be used to manipulate people: to soothe them, to create a bond which wasn’t really there, to make them believe that you would never let anything happen to them. At the time, his reasons had been complicated. Selfish for the most part. Now, he did it without thinking - well as near as a Luthor ever came to doing anything without thinking. The risk assessment was minimal.

Being a gentleman - of sorts - he allowed her to slide into the car first, and found his eyes slipping down to the curve of her ass as she did so. She really was all grown up now. He had noticed it on occasions before, especially when he had caught her trying to climb out of his window in a Paris hotel wrapped only in a bath towel. Her dress had got caught on a nail and she had been desperate to get out of there before she was seen and someone could take her note book. It was still impressive, even through purple wool.

He got into the car himself, finding a warmth spreading over him that he was not sure was entirely to do with he change of location. He took another sip of his drink and blamed the shot of rum.

He turned to her and was unsurprised to note that she was already belted, drink in her hand, turned to him, ready to pounce. He decided to make her wait, just because he could.

He drummed his fingers along the side of his drink for a second, then looked out of the window as his guards got in the front, as if pondering a very weighty matter. Finally he looked back over at her, as if she really were of no consequence, and inquired mildly, “Is this your normal way of getting an interview?”

“No”, she considered the question, “I wouldn’t say that it was normal, but it’s hardly unusual either”.

He raised an eyebrow.

“Well, I don’t want you to feel too special”, she shrugged.

He smiled. “Are you going to let me in on some of your ‘normal’ ways?”

“What do you have to trade for such information?” She inquired as she crossed her legs elegantly, as if getting ready for a good story.

“Fair enough, keep your secrets”, he said, even as he thought that he would have to prise some of her stories out of her later.

“An un-Lex like line if ever I heard one”, she noted.

“People change”, he reminded her, pleasantly enough.

“Not that much”, she counted, with equal good humour.

“Touché, Miss Sullivan”, he smirked.

She rolled her eyes. “You have people following me, don’t you?”

“One or two”, he admitted. It wasn’t something that he was ashamed of.

“And they let you in on a few of my tricks?” She guessed.

He couldn’t help but smile, “Some might say that disguising yourself as that one man’s mother was going a little far”. He had almost wet himself when he had heard of her latest method of getting into one of his competitor’s main offices.

“And do you include yourself in that some, Mr Luthor?” She inquired, leaning forward with an arched eyebrow.

“You know I don’t, especially after the article you wrote damning him afterwards”. He had considered sending her a box of chocolates to celebrate her article but had become distracted by Lionel.

“Wait, how did you know that? It wasn’t published under my name, your men couldn’t have ...” She demanded.

“I have my ways”, he replied with a smirk. He took another sip of his drink and licked the excess from his lips. He noticed her gaze being drawn to them, so he repeated the action.

She worried her own for a second between perfect even white teeth, but seemed to realise her error almost immediately. “As do I”, she covered.

He smirked, “Blackmail included?”

“If needs be, but in this case, I just want a chance”, she admitted.

He nodded, slowly. “Lionel standing in his bedroom, with a packet of Viagra on the night-stand and his wig on the table. It’s a good story. Why didn’t you do it?” It would have paid off all of her student debts in one fell swoop. A picture like that would have been worth a million easily, and that was just to the ‘legitimate’ press.

He studied her and she appeared to be doing the same back. Something odd in her eyes. Staring at him as if he were a mystery to be figured out. Nothing odd there. But there was something else. Something he had never seen in her before. Suddenly, he realised what it was. He wasn’t sure if he was touched or angered by her pity. Either way he was relieved that she had not wanted to draw the scorn of the world on him once more.

“Why do you think that I would give you that chance let alone that interview?” He inquired, challenging her try to use him, preparing himself for the inevitable.

“No reason”.

He quirked his eyebrow.

“I’m not going to bring up the past”, she stated simply and there was no trace of dishonesty in her face, “You don’t owe me anything.”

He wasn’t sure if he could agree with that. His decision to allow his father to manipulate him into firing Gabe had put her in an impossible and extremely dangerous situation - strike one. Strike two: it was his fault that she had become infected. Strike three: then she had ended up on his father’s radar and he had used her rather than extracting her from the situation. Strike four: he had hidden her away that summer but her life was still in just as much danger. Strike five: his men hadn’t been good enough and she had almost been shish kabobed. Strike six: then he had used her in court, touched her, smiled at her then left her. Strike seven: then he didn’t kill his father when he came out of prison so his promise to her that she would never have to see Lionel again hat been broken. Strike eight: he gave her father his job back but nothing more. He owed her a hell of a lot more - a share of 54 million dollars among other things. Chloe could have tried to collect long ago but she hadn’t.

“But you do know me”, she continued.

“I do”, he acknowledged. From their joint past, the research he had done on her as an adversary, and just seeing her around he had a very good idea of what she was all about.

“You know why I do what I do”, she started. “That I don’t want to bring you down. That I will be fair”.

All of that was true, he had to acknowledge. If he were any sort of man he would give in now and give her the damned interview but there was something that stopped him. Even though he knew that he wasn’t being used it would look as if he were. Stupid but true.

He sensed that there was more coming and he was right. She seemed to be waiting to regain his full focus before she delivered her final line, “And it might not hurt you to have someone like that on your side”.

Someone like her. He pondered the thought. It would make a nice change. And with Chloe in his proverbial armoury men far scarier than he would tremble. Still, if something seemed too good to be true, it usually was. “Out of the goodness of your heart, I suppose?” He asked, dryly.

“No”, she corrected him with a roll of her expressive green eyes, “to get a promotion and to be the only person you deal with. I want the exclusive every time”.

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Well you certainly think a lot of yourself”. As a teen that would have made her blush, he was pleased (if a little flummoxed) to perceive that it now apparently had no effect on her.

“Yes. I’m good. I know it. And more to the point, so do you”, she gave him a delightfully, deliciously devious smile.

He pursed his lips as he pondered what he knew about her. She had changed in so many ways, but not in essence. He had always envied Clark - in far too many ways to mention - but his relationship with his friends had been one of the main reasons.

It wasn’t that Lex had had a crush on Chloe back then or anything like that, but he was still envious of her relationship with Clark. The way that she would run up to the plaid covered giant with the brightest smile that he had ever seen, throw her arms around him in an enormous hug and let herself be held by him. It was a display of such caring and trust. He had never experienced anything of the sort. He remembered how fiercely she had defended him even when she knew that he was lying to her (and everyone else). Lex knew that he could never have that level of devotion, but loyalty was within his grasp. If Chloe offered it, she was serious. It was a good offer. A great offer in fact from both of their perspectives but he was naturally cautious. He should say no.

They had pulled up outside the apartment that Chloe shared with Lois and Clark. He looked up at it. He had always thought it amusing that the nosiest person that he knew would live in a building known as The Watchtower.

He turned to see her looking him at expectantly.

“Come on Lex, don’t leave me dangling like this. I can always team up with another famous billionaire trying to reform his bad-boy image”, she huffed. She had always been impatient.

“Who?” His voice was a little more sharp than he would have liked.

“Uh - Oliver Queen, probably. There are a lot of you around”.

“Why didn’t you go to him first?” He knew that he was a bigger fish than Oliver and that she could probably get the preening blond to do as she wished anyway ,but it bothered him to know that he wasn’t her only option.

She shrugged. “I like a challenge”.

He laughed. This woman was dangerous. Far more than she was useful. He should decline and let her go but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He wanted to see her again.

“You can try to convince me some more. Tonight. Over dinner.”

~*~

[HotCrossedBunny]

The following morning, the bright Kansas sunshine streamed through The Watchtower’s stained glass window, casting a kaleidoscope of colours across Chloe’s sleeping face. She stirred gently, turning over slowly and lazily burying herself into the soft comforter.

She let out a warm, contented sigh. She was so happy that not even waking up could destroy her mood. She could get used to this. She snuggled down into her pillow, hugging it close to her for a few minutes until she decided that she really should be getting up.

With a soft yawn she turned over and blinked her eyes open, a warm smile already gracing her lips. She emitted a moan as she stretched, her arms not even the whole way above her head before she face split into a grin. She must look like a fool but she didn’t care. She had had a good time the night before. A really good time.

She giggled as she stretched out for her phone, which was sitting on her bedside table, and bit her bottom lip to keep her face from splitting in two as she read the text that she had received the night before as she had been getting ready for bed.

“I look forward to seeing you tomorrow”. Those seven little words shouldn’t have made her tingle all over, but they did.

He had been the consummate gentleman, walking her back up to her door at the end of at the end of the evening and even sending her a text only a few minutes later. She couldn’t work out why he was single.

She kicked her legs up and then bounced off the bed in excitement in a way that she had rarely done since her childhood. It was embarrassing but no one could see her so what the hell.

Her burst of excited energy propelled her from her bed - without bouncing on it - and skipped down off the platform which was her bedroom to the bathroom.

“Chlo, you alright?” Lois’ disembodied voice inquired.

“Lo?” Chloe called out, turning around to try to locate her cousin. “Is that you?”

“Unless Clark’s voice is finally breaking”, her cousin popped up from behind the kitchen cabinet.

Chloe sniggered. “It was rather funny when that happened the first time. Where is the little guy?” She had absorbed some of Lois’ attitude to Clark over the last few years of living together.

“Probably asleep, tuckered out and all that but don’t try to change the subject Missy”, Lois chided.

“I wasn’t aware that I was”, Chloe widened her eyes.

“Don’t try that innocent look on me. I was the one who taught you that”, Lois reminded her, placing her hands on her hips.

“Yeah right” Chloe scoffed. “I mean, what are you talking about?”

“What I am talking about Missy is you all giggly and happy and getting back really late last night. And your favourite, incredibly expensive chocolates on the counter. By the way, I may have tested some of them for you”, her tongue flicked out to check for any traces of chocolate which might have been left. “You had sex didn’t you?”

“No”, Chloe denied, truthfully.

“Didn’t you?” Lois prodded further.

“No!”

“Didn’t you?” Lois wiggled at eyebrow at her.

“No!!!”

“Please you have more of glow about you than you did when you came back home after you know who, you know where, you know when, with you know what”, Lois stuck to their agreement never to bring it up again - technically. She loved a good technicality. That was something that Chloe had taught her.

“Lois!” Chloe screamed then winced, “Damn it, we are going to wake Clark up”. The last thing that she wanted was a bloody lecture from the pious pillar of plaid, as she had affectionately renamed him.

“No, we are not. He can sleep through anything once he is out. Once I had this guy here on the ...”

“I don’t need to hear this Lois”, Chloe threw her hands over her ears and headed for the bathroom making the ‘la la’ noise.

“You can’t get away from me”, Lois declared, cutting her off. “What happened”, she tugged Chloe’s hands off her ears.

“I went out to dinner with Lex Luthor but nothing happened, but”, she stressed the word, “I do have an interview with him today that I have to get ready for”.

Lois’ eyes went wide as she studied her cousin. “Well then what are you waiting for woman? Get in that shower and don’t forget to shave your legs. And your armpits. And your ...”

“Stop right there Lois”, Chloe ordered.

“What? It pays to be prepared”, Lois gave her a wink. “And tonight I want details. Or tomorrow at the latest. You know, if you don’t make it back tonight”. She added another wink for good measure.

“Goodbye Lois”, Chloe closed the door on her cousins’ grinning face.

Chloe studied at herself in the large mirror. She wasn’t fairing much better than her cousin; she was grinning like a lunatic. Was it any wonder? She was happy. Delighted in fact. But she wasn’t going to make a fool of herself because of it.

She had done exactly the same thing last night when she had been getting ready for him with butterflies fluttering about in her tummy. She had spent over an hour in the bath and she didn’t need Lois’ advice; she had shaved yesterday and was still baby soft and silky smooth. She also had very nice pedicured toes. Not that she thought that he would see anything. But it was nice to know that your toes looked nice.

She looked down and saw them now and saw ten little bright red ovals waving up at her. She had then spent another hour choosing what to wear but it had been well worth it, although she hadn’t thought so at the time. She had taken longer than she had meant to and had tore out of the bathroom running terribly late. She knew that she wasn’t going to make it to the restaurant on time when there was a ring at the doorbell.

Chloe had scrambled over to the door - inwardly consigning the ringer to the devil - thinking that she would have to race upstairs and call Lex to inform him that she was going to be late only to be met with the handsome man himself. He was standing erect, in a dark grey suite with both hands behind his back.

“Chloe”, he had breathed her name as his eyes trailed over her body. She was glad that she had put in the extra time. She just wished that she could have stopped smiling and blushing; it didn’t look very professional.

He smiled back and offered not explanations as to his presence so she assumed that he had always been planning on picking her up and the time he had given her had been for his arrival not when she should have got to the restaurant. That was a relief.

“You look amazing”, he complimented her warmly.

“You too”, she responded. He had been magnificent. Gorgeous. He was an Adonis. She blushed. She was not playing this cool.

As if realising the source of her distress and wanting to relieve it, Lex spoke. “Thank-you. I do have a question before we proceed any further”.

“Oh?” She blinked. It was bound to be something about the interview. Maybe if she would agree not to ask something in particular. Perhaps if she would refuse to do it completely.

“When you are being subjected to a dinner in which you are being pestered into giving an interview on the basis of an embarrassing picture of your Dad, what is the right present to bring? Two dozen roses and/or chocolates?” He asked with a straight face.

“I don’t think that you are supposed to bring anything”, Chloe assured him.

“Right”, he revealed the box of chocolates from behind his back, “just ignore the flowers outside your door. I don’t know how they got there.”

Chloe grinned at the memory. She also broke out into the embarrassing dance. She had had a fantastic night - and not just because of the chocolates. Lex had been attentive. The way that he looked at her. The way that he had placed his hand on her back, touched her shoulder, nothing overt just enough to make her turn to jelly. Everything had been calculated to make a girl swoon.

He had taken her to the best restaurant in all of Metropolis. There, cloistered away in the private dining room they had talked about absolutely everything: TV, cinema, art, books, the news, politics, beanie babies - he had invested in them, she still owned some -, food, travelling, exes. They hadn’t left the restaurant until the early hours of the morning, laughing and holding hands.

He had been the perfect date and gentleman all night long and when he finally did walk her to her door he had held her hand far longer than he should have, neither one of them wanting to let go until finally she had leaned in and brushed her lips against his cheek.

It was the most innocent of kisses and yet somehow still managed to be the most thrilling one of her - still relatively young - life. It had only been after the door had closed that she had realised that she might have made a mistake, then she had received his text.

Chloe danced her way into the shower and belted out a chorus of “I’m walking on sunshine”.

~*~

Chloe wasn’t a vain woman, really she wasn’t. It was inexplicable why she kept checking her reflection in the shiny interior doors of the lift as it rose to the top floor of the LuthorCorp building. Absolutely inexplicable.

The doors opened with a ping and she didn’t even have time to look around before Lex came striding over to her with a smile. He held out his hand to hers to shake in an oddly formal gesture but then clamped his other one around it and held it for a few seconds.

He broke away with a smile and a nod to the guard who he had accompanied her up there. “It must be a novel experience for you entering my office by way of the lift for once.”

She pretended to consider this as she was shown into his office and he shut the door behind them. “It was interesting, but it doesn’t burn as many calories as going up the fire escape”. In reality that particular escapade had burned far too many calories, her calves had been killing her by the time that she had finally arrived and the wind had given her earache. She was willing to go through a lot for a story, but if she could get her exclusive and not break a sweat then why not?

“Well then let’s say that this way I am saved from receiving the bill when you break your heel”, he teased her, as he went and poured them both some coffee returning to her and handing her a steaming cup full.

“Well honestly, I tell you who your leak is and a girl doesn’t get any privileges”, Chloe said, referring to the fact that two days before she had climbed the fire escape, and through the window of the men’s bathroom into the LuthorCorp building she had alerted Lex to a mole with a note and asked for a pass in order to investigate. She had not received it. Hence the unprecedented work out.. “Anyone would think that I was persona non grata”.

In fact she was. As the security guard had made perfectly clear when he had located her, scooped her up and carried her over his shoulder out of he building and to the nearest police station. Fortunately for her, while Lex had not informed the police that he did not wish to press charged until several hours later - after all traces of the story had been removed - he did make it clear that she was to be kept away from all other prisoners and the security guard had stayed with her just to make absolutely sure that she was safe. He had been quite nice. He had a kid who went to the school that Chloe had used to go to when she had lived in Metropolis. She had another name on her email Christmas card list now.

“Well that is never going to happen again. You are always persona gratissima”, he assured her with unusual warmth as he showed her to her seat, pulling it out for her just like the night before.

Chloe studied him as he walked around to the other side of his desk. He oozed feral grace, control and command. He also took the power position. “You know that none of this is going to change a thing”, she informed him as he placed her coffee on a coaster on the desk and slipped her notepad out of her bag, the latter of which she left by her feet.

He quirked his eyebrow up the way that he had done strategically so many times the night before, making her blush.

“I’m not going to go easy on you”, she licked her lips, but only because her mouth was dry. “I only promised to play fair”.

“I can handle a woman who gives as good as she gets”, he assured her with a knowing grin.

“You know that you are going to have to start rebuilding your reputation now”, she informed him. “That takes a lot of hard work. People aren’t always willing to try something new”.

“I think that you will find, as you get to know me better, that I can be very persuasive. And extremely thorough. I have no problem working with you, putting in the hours, moving slowly from the bottom to the top if that’s what it takes. In fact”, he stopped and took a sip of his drink before licking his lips, “I look forward to it”.

She blushed, right down to her chest. It was so unbelievably corney that it should have made her laugh. In fact, in the movie he had pinched the idea from, it had. But now it made her feel hot all over. Thousands of images crowding her mind, all of them x-rated. His words shouldn't have had this much of an effect on her.

He smirked.

She narrowed her eyes. She might be stirred by him. Oh, who was she kidding, she was as hot as hell for him, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t at least try to hold her own. “So, Mr Luthor ...”

“Please call me Lex”, he stared at her again with those irresistible eyes of his. They were so green, so perfect, sparkling so brightly with devilish mischief. He looked as though he wanted to devour her and she was all for it. Really he had to get the central heating in his office fixed. It was getting hotter by the second.

“Fine, Lex”, she conceded, as she took out her Dictaphone and clicked the record button before placing it on the table between them, “can you confirm that it is okay for me to record this, please?”

“Well, I’m not normally one for recording my interactions with women, but I suppose that I could be persuaded”, he somehow managed to make it sound dirty. He was worse than Joey. Maybe she could get him to say “Grandma’s chicken salad” sometime, just to check.

She blushed her and damned herself for doing so but continued, “I am afraid Mr”

He raised an eyebrow at her.

“Lex”, she conceded and he smiled at her. “That trying to make references to kinky love making will not count as an answer in this case. I need a recorded confirmation. Oh, and thank-you for granting me an interview”. She hadn’t quite forgotten her manners.

“I do apologise Miss”, he paused, as she had done, “Chloe. I, Alexander Joseph Luthor, do hereby confirm that I have consented to one Miss Chloe Ann Sullivan recording this interview for the purposes of her notes”. He was greeted with a lovely smile. “And I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for the taking the lift this time, and for the picture, and a lovely evening”.

Before she could melt into a big pile of goo, she tried to flip into her business character. “So, what comment do you have to make about your taking over LuthorCorp from your father after your tumultuous relationship? Was is really peaceful or did you bury his body in the back garden?” Chloe asked, before adding, “For the record Lex Luthor at this point raised an eyebrow thinking that he could intimidate a reporter for just asking what everyone else wanted to”. She had warned him.

“He is now smirking and leaning forward”, Lex narrated his own movements, “I want to make sure that it gets every single word”.

~*~

Chloe sat in her brand new office, her eyes moving from the newspaper in front of her to the computer screen. The paper contained her first major article published under her own name. The computer contained the rest of the series of articles that she was doing on the famous billionaire.

The first article had poured out of her. As had the outline of the next ten. It wasn’t surprising really as Lex had kindly given her enough material for an entire novel if she wanted, what was surprising (and galling, in the extreme) was the progress that she was making on the second. It had started off just as easily as the first one, but the last paragraph was sticking terribly. Her original article wasn’t serving to help her with that one section either. It was crucial. It was the culmination of her second article.

She sighed. She might have to go home and listen to the recording again - she was never going to bring that into the office, just in case. She drummed her fingers on the desk but amazingly that didn’t help getting the article published.

After a few more minutes, she found her eyes wandering over to the phone. Who was she kidding? She knew why she couldn’t finish this article. It was because the interview had been yesterday and her article had come out in the paper over an hour ago and yet she still had no word from Lex.

She had been true to her word. Fair. Impartial. Unbiased. But also bitingly sarcastic and had poked fun at him and some of the hypocrisy of the business world in general. Perry had loved it. Lois had loved it. Clark had, well Clark had been smacked on the head with a rolled up copy of it, but the other news reports coming in reported that it had been a hit and that the city was viewing him in a decidedly more favourable light. Just as she had intended. Still, she stared at the phone, maybe she had gone too far. Maybe Lex hadn’t appreciated it.

She wondered if she should call him. Maybe he had taken it the wrong way. Glanced back at her original article.

Okay, so there were parts that could be taken wrongly, but really she was just trying to make him seem more human without seeming any less confident or professional.

Damn it, she had probably gone too far. Who else would ask the toupee question and even worse print the answer? She decided that she was going to ring him, an hour and a half was more than long enough to for him to have read it and got back to her. If he hadn’t then it was because something was wrong.

Just as she was dialling his private number there was a knock at her door. Why was it that people always wanted to interrupt you just when you had made a decision to do something? It really was most annoying.

“Come in”, she called. Rather than seeing the delivery boy Jimmy, she just saw his hands, wrapped around twelve dozen red roses. She scrambled over to him, bashing into her desk once before she remembered to go around it rather than trying to go straight through it, and grabbed the card. On it she saw Lex’s neat precise handwriting, “12pm. My office”.

~*~

Five years (minus three days) after their first Christmas together ...

“Finally”, Lex smiled with contentment. The chocolate soufflé was light, fluffy and perfect. And on his very first attempt of the year too! He slowly and carefully slide the dessert onto the kitchen side.

“Daddy”, a small voice broke through his thoughts, “Your brownie’s brokened”.

Before he could open his mouth to inform her that it was a soufflé and that after five years it had finally gone right, another little voice had joined the first. “Don’t worry. I’ll fix it”.

He turned his head just in time to see one of his little ginger headed cherubs arming herself with a child friendly fork and attacking it.

Never one to be left out, her twin joined in, ‘helpfully’ deflating Daddy’s “brokened” brownie. Lex watched this, his hands instinctively going out to hold them up even though they were in safe on their little helper steps with their mother supporting them.

The three loves of his life stood together, the youngest two pulverising his soufflé. The entire Luthor family was covered in flour from an afternoon and early evening of baking but that couldn’t dull the light in their eyes or his babies’ bright red curls.

Lex felt his heart swelling as it always did when he looked at his little family. He had always thought that Chloe was the best thing that had happened in his life until she had announced that she was pregnant. Then they had discovered that they were having twins. From the second that he had heard the news, he had loved them. From the second that he had held his little angels and seen their chubby little cheeks he had been a goner. They were perfect.

If Chloe had changed is life, Lillian and Alexandra had changed the entire world. And if they wanted to destroy his soufflé then they could destroy his soufflé.

Once they had finished they turned the cherubic faces towards him for adulation which was their due.

“Thank-you, that was just what it needed”, he smiled down at both of them, ruffling their hair affectionately.

“Your welcome”, they replied politely and he couldn’t resist scooping them up and holding their sticky forms to him, no doubt ruining yet another shirt. His babies and his wardrobe were at constant odds.

“Such polite little babies are you?” He cooed at them proudly.

“I’m not, I’m not a baby”, Lillian, always the first to speak, protested.

“I’m not either”, Alexandra crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. In spite of the red curls, she looked so much like Chloe when she did that that it wasn’t even funny, “I’m a big girl”.

“Big girl”, Lillan backed her sister up.

“Well, I do apologise”, Lex said with great gravity, “that was a very silly mistake of Daddy to make, wasn’t it?”

“Yes!”

“Yes, but we forgive you”, their answers came.

“See what polite big girls they are?” He asked, looking over at Chloe who was standing just in front of him, her hands on the girls’ backs.

“I see what big naughty girls they are staying up well past their bedtimes. I seem to remember being promised that if you were allowed to help with the soufflé that you wouldn’t stay up to see it baked” they had decided that the children wouldn’t be involved in the soufflé because it might be too upsetting for them if it didn’t work out. But once they were finished with dinner and heard that more baking would be done once they had gone to bed, they had insisted on staying up to help.

“Well, they are Luthors. They wanted to see the project through to its conclusion”, he defended them as they held onto him, both pulling odd expressions at their mother which he recognised as innocent looks but to the untrained eye could have been mistaken for constipation.

“Hmmm so I suppose that they want to stay up even later and help cook cleaning this mess up rather than having their bathes too?” Chloe asked, apparently without humour.

“No, bath time!”

“Bath time!”

They were in agreement. Bath time over cleaning up.

“See, they known tat it is bath time”, Lex pointed out, even though bath time had actually been an hour and a half ago. But he couldn’t say no to those little faces, especially not at Christmas.

“Well then come on, we had better get you two in the tub and cleaned up lickety-split if you are going to have time to say good night to Father Christmas because you know that he won’t come unless you are in bed and ...” Chloe didn’t manage to finish her sentence as the girls were already scrambling down - all interest in their Daddy well and truly gone - and dashed off.

“I think that you may have discovered the magic words”, Lex teased Chloe as he pulled her into his arms for a kiss. He wasn’t worried about the girls, their nanny was just around the corner and would get them upstairs safely.

“Father Christmas?”

“Father Christmas”, he agreed, “have I told you just how delicious you look covered in flour?”

“You did make some comment about wanting to eat me up”, she purred in a sultry manner, until she added in her normal voice, “then the girls heard you and it turned into a discussion on Red Riding Hood and then why they couldn’t have their own pet wolves”.

“Ah yes”, his adorable little monsters had their mother’s hearing abilities, not to mention her loves of the written word and ability to talk at one hundred words a minute without taking a breath. He had to keep his wits around them to avoid agreeing to things he didn’t mean to agree to. They could baffle his legal team if it suited hem. On the subject of wolves in the house he had been firm, but he had been considering the possibility of huskies. They were a bit wolf like

“No”, Chloe said firmly.

“What?” He blinked, coming back out of his own thoughts to focus on his wife.

“No, you are not locating and domesticating a pack of wolves for the girls”, she expounded upon her objection.

“I hadn’t even thought of such a thing”. But now that she mentioned it ....

“Lex!” Her warning tone actually had more effect on her husband than it did on their girls.

“I wasn’t. I was considering huskies”, he defended himself.

“They don’t have anywhere near the concentration to focus on dogs for long enough and as we pop to other countries all of the time it wouldn’t be fair on them”, Chloe continued to talk him out of it.

“I know, you’re right. I just hate to see them disappointed”, Lex sighed.

“They won’t be disappointed, you don’t have to give in to every passing whim”, she assured him.

“I”, there wasn’t really anything he could say after the personal pronoun.

“Shall I let you in on a secret?” She offered, wrapping her arms more tightly around his waist.

“I didn’t know that you had any secrets from me any more”, he gave her a corresponding squeeze.

“Well, this is something that you should know but have apparently forgotten”, she moved to that she was whispering against his lips. “The girls love you. Adore you. And that doesn’t change even when you are strict, or say no, or that time that you wouldn’t let them have their own bucking bull because they had decided that they wanted to be cowgirls”, she kissed him. “And I’m quite fond of you too. You don’t have to buy their love”.

He grinned at her. “Only quite fond?”

“Well, I’m less impressionable than the babies”, she kissed his cheek.

“God I love you”, he held her close to him.

“I had an inkling”, she teased him.

“You don’t make things easy for me, do you?” He chuckled down at her.

“Never!” She declared, “You’d get bored”.

“Around you? Impossible”, he kissed her again. How was he supposed to resist?

She grinned at him. “If it makes you feel better you could get them cuddly toy versions”.

“Of the wolves?” He beamed. That was a good idea.

“Come on you big fat spoiler, we had better get up there, their bath will probably be run by now”, she took his hand, “and let’s stop them from getting too over excited”.

“You are bringing Father Christmas to them and you don’t want them to get too excited?” He just didn’t see how that was going to be possible.

“Well, it was the only time that he could manage. Besides, it worked out well as Clark called to say that he was running about an hour behind”, Chloe reminded him.

“What’s his ETA now?” Lex asked, checking his watch.

“Um, I’m not sure, hang on. I’ll check”, Chloe slipped her phone out of her pocket and read it through. “He says that he should be ready in another ten minutes or so”. She relayed the information the message contained and then decided, “He can wait until the girls are ready now that he is already late”.

Lex smiled. “Clark is going to dress up as Father Christmas and fly down the chimney?”

“Yup!”

He opened his mouth to ask what on earth she had on him to make him do something like that - he hoped that the chimney had been swept - then he remembered and closed his mouth. He knew that Chloe wouldn’t forgive Clark’s attitude to their relationship at the beginning easily - even if it had lasted only a few hours.

Seeing his expression, Chloe informed him, “It is a chance for him to make up for his earlier stupidity”.

“You have been playing that card for the last six years”, he reminded her, gently.

“Damned straight”, Chloe said, then corrected herself. “Dill pickle straight”.

With a huff she removed her hand from Lex’s and went over to grab a piece of paper off the note pad and wrote an I.O.U. for one thousand dollars and popped it into the college fund/swear jar that they kept on the kitchen counter. It too was covered in flour.

“Don’t look so smug. They can buy Oxbridge after last years’ soufflé disaster”, she reminded him causing her husband to growl. “I know, baby. I know”, she reassured him, returning to his side and patting his arm. “That soufflé had no right to collapse like it did”.

~*~

“Come on, it’s time to get into your pyjamas now”, Chloe coaxed the girls.

“Where’s Daddy? I want Daddy”, Lillian demanded.

“I want Daddy too”, Alexandra followed suit.

“I told you that he went downstairs and do you really want to explain to Daddy why you are running around your bedroom bare rather than putting on your nice cuddly jammies?” Chloe tried to reason with them.

The girls thought about it and looked at each other as if they were having a conversation that only they two could hear. That was always a sign of impending naughtiness.

“Girls”, Chloe got their attention again and used the eyebrow. Focusing on Alexandra. For several seconds they did battle, mother again daughter, cute blonde against adorable redhead. Just as Chloe was about ready to give up, Allie shook her head and allowed herself to be dressed. She was always easier to deal with than Lillian. Lex said that that was because she was more like him and less like Chloe. Chloe on the other hand blamed the red headed gene - which was entirely due to Lex. Normally they were pretty good but now they were over stimulated and overtired. Not a good combination. Even splashing in the bath hadn’t settled them down.

“Now Lillian Luthor are you going to get dressed like a big girl too and show Daddy how good you can be or ...?” Chloe was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Come in”, the girls called to their visitor, both losing all interest in their mother as they ran to the door. It must be heir Daddy. He always knocked.

“Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas”, a large circular man entered the room.

“You’re not Daddy”, Lillian said, looking up at him. Still very naked.

“No”, Allie agreed.

“No”, the strange figure agreed. “I’m Father Christmas and you little one don’t seem to be dressed properly so I suppose that I will just have to go away and come back next year”.

“No”, both girls attached themselves to his red legs.

“Lilly go and get dressed”, Allie ordered with unusual force.

Lillian looked from one face to the next, worried that if she let him go he would disappear.

“If you go and get dressed right now young lady, I will wait”, he promised, in a low voice.

“Okay”, she hurried over to her mother and her waiting jammies and tried to shove herself into them only to end up with her arm in and leg whole and visa versa. Chloe calmly corrected the problem as Father Christmas went to sit on the end of one of the beds and popped Allie on her knee. She hugged his huge bulk, happily staring up at him in wonderment.

“Are you really, Father Christmas?” Allie asked, awestruck.

“Who else would be wearing this suit?” He asked, avoiding the question.

She considered this matter for a few seconds but seemed to see the wisdom in such a statement.

“So, have you been a good girl this year?” Father Christmas inquired.

“Yes, ever so ever so good”, she said, genuinely. Apparently she had forgotten a few incidents - such as drawing on her Grandfather’s picture, telling the world that he wore a wig, running around the house in the nude when she had the chicken pox, and cutting off another child’s hair, amongst others. But Lex was fairly certain that those didn’t count.

“I think so”, he said, “that’s what your Daddy said when he let me in down stairs”.

“You didn’t come down the chimney?” Allie pointed out.

“No, Father Christmas’ back isn’t want it once was”, he admitted. “You don’t mind me coming through the front door, do you?”

“No, it’s probably safer”, she nodded sagely.

“I agree”, he returned the expression only to have his attention distracted as Lilly climbed up onto his lap without invitation and hugged him as well. “Well, isn’t this nice”, Father Christmas announced. “Is Mommy going to give me a hug too?”

“I suppose so”, Chloe said, coming to sit by the trio and resting her hand on his back.

“Where’s Daddy?” The girls couldn’t be distracted by the magical stranger for too long when they had a Daddy to locate.

“He is downstairs, someone called and he had to answer the phone”, Father Christmas explained. “He will be back shortly but he did let me in on a little secret”

“Was it about that hamster we put down that boy’s trousers?” Lilly asked worriedly.

“No”, Father Christmas didn’t do a very good job of disguising his mirth, “Father Christmas already knew about that and understood exactly why you did it. Nothing but coal in the stocking of that little boy”.

He was met with three nods of agreement. “But first of all I heard that you drew some especially nice pictures of me this afternoon. May I see them, please?”

With excited squeals the girls scrambled down and dashed over to their little drawing desks in their room so that they could retrieve the highly coveted artwork.

“Lex, what is going on? Where is Clark?” Chloe asked, in a whisper.

“He can’t come he’s saving lives. The real Father Christmas is a flake too!” Lex complained in equally subdued tones.

“What was his excuse?” Chloe wondered, Lex had been as good as his word about stopping global warming.

“A few billion other kids on the planet or some guff like that”, he said dismissively. “No one let’s my babies down. He’ll be lucky if I don’t have his home bulldozed”.

“How do you know it’s location?” Chloe wondered, her inquisitive nature getting the better of her.

“Google Maps satellite images”, he shrugged as if it were obvious.

“Of course, what was I thinking? But before you consider”, she stopped talking as the girls returned, pictures flapping around. Father Christmas was surprisingly good with them, having Lex’s knack for holding them safely and soothing them. He admired their drawings - and knew exactly what every single thing was. He never noticed that it was a eighty-two piece jigsaw in one of the packages which his elves were in the process of wrapping.

“I bet that that would make a mess if it were dropped”, he observed.

“Yes”, they agreed.

“Do you always tidy up after yourselves like big girls?” He continued.

“Yes!”

“And always eat all of your dinner?”

“Yes!”

“And always go to bed on time?” He asked, surprised.

“Yes!” The chorused once more.

“You always do all of those things?”

“Well”, they leant over to confer, “Most of the time”.

He chuckled, “Well, then at least you are both honest. So, what is it that you would like for Christmas?”

Chloe tried to stifle a groan as she heard the extensive list - although it did end with a please. A Unicorn. Wings. A Real Fairy wand. Chloe wondering how Lex was going to manage that. Their bedroom and every other room all ten Luthor homes already made Hamleys look understocked.

Fortunately by the time that they had gone through their list, and told him all about what they had been doing to get ready for Christmas and he had told them a Christmas story he had managed to get them tucked up into bed.

“Night night”, he said, as he kissed them both on the forehead. Chloe followed suite.

“No”, they whimpered when she moved over to the door.

“Yes, it’s time to go to bed now”, Chloe told them.

“No, haven’t said night to Da... Da”, eyes fluttering shut.

In a flash Father Christmas had disappeared, only to replaced a few minutes later with a slightly hot and sweaty looking Lex. He had returned to bid them ‘night night’ and double check that Father Christmas had done a good enough job of tucking them in and assure them that he had given their chubby visitor the brownie. You couldn’t be too careful with things like that.

Those tasks accomplished, the girls drifted into a peaceful sleep and their parents were free to sneak outside and close the door softly behind them.

“Father Christmas, huh?” Chloe smiled at up him.

“Well, I couldn’t let them be let down”, Lex defended himself with a shrug.

“I know that you couldn’t”, she assured him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “That’s one of the many reasons why I love you”.

“Good to know”, he held her close.

“Although I am a little disappointed”, she admitted.

“Why?”

“Well”, she stroked her hand down his front. “I didn’t get a chance to sit on Father Christmas’ knee”.

“Ah”, he smiled wickedly. “Well I think that Father Christmas was very upset about that too. He had several things to discuss with you. It seems that this year you managed to knock me off my number one spot on the naughty list”.

Chloe gaped. “I have been a perfect angel this year!”

“Yeah, only according to the girls’ definitions of well behaved”, he informed her, “and as Father Christmas’ emissary, I think that it is my duty to deal with it”.

“Oh you do, do you?” She asked pulling back from him with her hands on her hips.

“I do”, he affirmed as he grabbed her and flung her over his shoulder.

~*~

“Merry Christmas”, two small but strident voices greeted their parents the following morning as they climbed up onto their bed and proceeded to walk right over their parents limbs in an attempt to get to their faces where they once again sang their Merry Christmas song.

“Oh”, Chloe let out a surprised yelp as she was jerked from sleep, “you are up even earlier than normal”. She didn’t need to look at the clock to know that it was before 5am; Lex always woke up at five on the dot.

“Yeah”, Lillian agreed with a cheeky smile, apparently oblivious to the way that her parents were squirming around beneath to covers, trying to get their clothes back on.

“This is much earlier than last year” Lex confirmed as he finally managed to get his boxers on, and started to relax once more. “Hello bab ... Darlings”, he corrected himself. As of five weeks ago, they were no longer babies apparently.

“Hello Daddy. Hello Mommy”, Lillian greeted crawling up to nestle herself between the two of them.

Allie?” Lex reached forwards and stroke her back as she lay across his shins staring at something.

“Daddy?” She turned over and scampered up to sit on his chest.

“Yes sweetheart?”

“Why are Father Christmas’ clothes stuffed under your bed?” She asked innocently.

“He needed them dry cleaned?” He tried hopefully. He cast a glance over to Chloe, hoping for some help only to see that she was trying not to giggle.

“Do you really think that we are going to believe that”, Lilly asked as she stood up, put her hands on her hips and then over balanced and fell on his face.

With a laugh Lex picked her up and placed her back between them safely. Then deposited Allie with her. Nice and safe.

“Okay, I’ll tell you the truth. It is my secret identity. You know, like Uncle Clark is Superman?” The girls had figured it out the first time that they had seen a picture of Superman. They were geniuses. And knew how to keep a secret. “Well, I’m secretly also Father Christmas but it’s a secret”.

He turned so that three faces were staring at him. Chloe’s eyes were wide with disbelief and she was trying not to laugh - clearly thinking that he was never going to get away with that - while his girls looked at each other - having a mental discussion which only twins could - then back at him.

“Okay”.

“We won’t tell”.

“Thank-you darlings. That’s very kind of you however there is a dark side to this. I have a weakness. A kryptonite, if you will”, he tried to hide his wicked grin until it was time to reveal it.

“What is it?” This time Allie was the one who piped up like Lilly stared at him anxiously.

“I cannot be exposed to little frilly socks before five o’clock in the morning without ...” he pulled an odd expression, “without ...” he gave a little lurch, “Chloe”, he reached out for his wife, “it’s happening again. The tickle monster is taking over”.

“No, not the tickle monster”, Chloe sounded terrified but wrapped her children in her arms so that they couldn’t get away as Lex began in his tickle attack.

The girls squirmed and tried to retaliate but all for nothing. “Uncle”, they cried.

“No, I’m Daddy”, he said cheerfully.

“We give in”, they finally squealed.

“Good. I must be appeased”, he grinned cuddling all three of them close.

“Yes, lots of kisses for Daddy”, Chloe announced and they all fell on him smooching him.

~*~

Ten years later ...

“Dad we are coming in in exactly two minutes so for God’s sake be dressed this time”, Lillian’s unmistakable tweenaged voice called through her parent’s bedroom door at precisely 5 o’clock on Christmas morning.

“Alright, I’ll just untie your mother”, Lex called back sitting up and slipping on his pyjama top as well as bottoms. If his little girls were going to be rude, then he could be rude too.

“Ewww Dad!” Lilly complained.

“Dad that’s gross!” Allie joined in.

“Lex!” Chloe also made her disdain known. “You can’t say things like that with the children around”.

“Ow!” Lex complained, rubbing the spot on his arm where Chloe had mock hit him. “We don’t hit Chloe”, he reminded her. Honestly!

“Come here”, she pulled his arm to her and kissed the place that she had never actually struck better.

“Hey evil geniuses have feelings”, he said, as she rubbed it as well.

“I know you do baby, but let’s try not to scar the other babies”, she then patted the ‘poorly’ spot.

“When have I ever scarred them?” He demanded.

“When they came in extra extra early to open their presents a few years ago ...”

“They shouldn't have been up that early, or late rather. 10pm is not acceptable time for them to be out of their beds”, Lex stated firmly. He was used to them pushing the limits on Christmas but that one year had been too far.

“Well I don’t imagine that they will do it again after seeing their mother across father Christmas/Daddy’s knee getting her Levis’ spanked”, she blushed at the memory. He had been patting her, teasing her about the naughty list when the door had swung open and their children had stood there, mouths open.

“I think that I covered that well”, Lex defended himself.

“You implied that I was in that position because I hadn’t eaten my spinach Lex!” Chloe reminded him with a roll of her eyes.

“It’s called parenting Chloe. We’ve had clean plates ever since haven’t we?” He rested his case.

Chloe rolled her eyes again. Clearly it hadn’t done the girls any harm as they had never been in the slightest bit afraid of Lex. Besides it was hardly any worse than when they had walked in on them “wrestling” or that time that they had come in to see why Mommy was screaming to find Daddy’s head under the covers “looking for the scary spider that had scared her”.

“Mom? Dad?”

“It’s okay girls, your Dad is as decent as he is going to get”, Chloe called before yelping, “Oh”.

Lex quirked an eyebrow at her, daring her so say something. She mock hit him, he could pinch her bottom for cheekiness.

The girls burst in still a flurry of auburn curls and cheeky smiles, dressed in pyjamas and with a tray of brownie in their hand. They bolted over to the bed and jumped on their father.

As was their Christmas tradition they (and their mother) covered Lex in hugs and kisses.

~*~

15 years later ...

“Lex you are decrepit old man”, Chloe mutter into the pillow she was trying to bury her face into as her husband’s insistent spooning roused her from sleep.

“I’m 62”, he complained, as his hand found its way around to her breast and began to massage it gently.

“Yup”, she nodded, the soft silk pleasant against her cheek. “You’re a decrepit old bugger and it’s far too early in the morning for any of that stuff”. It wasn’t that she didn’t still enjoy their passionate and still surprisingly active sex life. She just need a bit more sleep and coaxing now. She wasn’t the only one. Her wonderful husband was interested but still soft against her butt. A few years ago - okay a decade ago - he would have been as stiff as a rod. She wasn’t worried, they would both get there. After a bit more of a nap.

“It’s not to early. I’m awake”, he argued.

“Yeah, well read a book for another hour or two and practice getting over this compulsive need of yours to wake up at five. It’s weird and I think unhealthy”, she groused.

“I normally let you sleep until 6:30” he point out, “until I wake you up”.

“Until you begin with the grouping, you mean”, she snuggled down into their bed.

“Potato potato”, Lex dismissed her criticism.

“Who says that?” Chloe asked the question that she had always wonder. Poe-tar-toe just sounded weird to her.

“No idea”, he didn’t really care. “But don’t six hundred of hours self-control on my part count for anything?”

“Six hundred hours? I’m only half awake but shouldn’t that be closer to 550?” She wondered. His mathematical abilities must be rubbing off on her.

“Five hundred and forty-seven and a half actually based on a one and a half hour wait per day but I let you have several extra lie-ins over the course of the last year”, he explained, his hand continuing to stroke her.

“And you made a note of all of them and want to be paid back for them now?” She surmised.

“Well, I wouldn’t say paid back but I was rather hoping that you know as a Christmas present and all”, he stepped up his game, nuzzling her neck.

She turned over. It seemed to take a lot of effort. “What’s wrong baby?”

“Nothing”, he pulled her close to him, “I just want to enjoy my wife”.

“Lex”, she said in the warning tone she had perfected after raising two little girls. They had their father’s stony face when they didn’t want to tell her something, especially if they were upset.

“This is going to be our first Christmas without the kids coming in on Christmas morning”, he said in a stubborn voice.

“Oh baby”, she cooed, running her hand down his cheek and kissing the corner of his eyes where fine lines were beginning to form and his cheek and everywhere else she could quickly reach. “You will see them in a few hours”.

“I know, but it’s not the same. This is going to be the first year without them. They’re all grown up now”, the words came out of his in stilted bursts. He was getting better at sharing his feelings with his wife, but he was still a Luthor.

“I know”, Chloe said, her resolution to be brave crumbling as she embraced him. This was their first year with two married daughters - one of whom also had a child who was going to be one soon. Their babies were big. And grown up. And they weren’t going to see them until breakfast.

“G - gw”.

They both shot up in bed.

“G-gw”, the sound was heard again, even more imperatively this time. Then there was a light tapping at the door.

“Come in”, they both called, hardly able to breathe with excitement.

Their girls burst in, Allie carrying their first grandchild in her arms. Lilly their second in her stomach. They scampered over to the bed.

“Hi, we didn’t know if you would be up but this little madam demanded to see her grandparents immediately”, Allie explained, in case they hadn’t heard or hadn’t been able to interpret her baby’s two syllables through the thick wood of the door.

“G-gw”, baby Chloe cried again in a demanding fashion, stretching out her little arms.

“Of course she did, it’s Christmas morning”, Lex said, getting up and taking the baby. Lucky he had remember his pyjama bottoms last night. “Come here, how is the most gorgeous little princess in the world?” He asked her his adored first born grandchild and stared at her not just in adoration but as if he were actually expecting an intelligible, intelligent response.

“Bo”.

“Oh yes well that is perfectly understandable. I feel that way too sometimes”, he returned to the bed so that they could be with Chloe.

“Hey, notice how we are already being downgraded?” The twins teased.

“You know I still love my other babies too”, Lex said as they clambered up onto the bed too. Very carefully in Lillian’s case.

“Good, now everyone give Daddy/Granddaddy lots of kisses and cuddles”, Chloe instructed, “You know how stroppy he gets when he starts to feel unloved”.

Whilst his two sons in law slept on, Lex was covered by his five girls in cuddles and smoochies with a sunken chocolate soufflé waiting him downstairs - although he doubted that Chloe would let him have it for breakfast - and fifty eight sacks of presents ready and waiting for his babies. A personal best, even for him.

Life was good.

--The End--

A/N: So, for anyone who read this please review. Did you like it? How would you feel about more information on how they got there?

[phillydragonldy]

More please! Pretty please! Prettiest of pleases! I love this. So sweet and hot and fun.

[layell]

I really enjoyed this story. I like the way Lex and Chloe interact.

[malugargula]

Really awesome
And I'd love to know more