OK. Disclaimers are: I own nothing but the idea that formed this story.
It's rated "G" which actually surprised me too.
Of course it's CHLEX
and I hope you like it.
~Kat~
Only Chloe
He'd been drinking for the better part of two hours. Fighting the urge to feel sorry for himself, telling himself repeatedly that it didn’t matter, that no one knew about it, and no one would care even if they did. He wasn't doing too well with that self argument as he refilled his glass.
The glass only filled a quarter of the way before droplets slowly dripped inside. He pointedly looked at the empty decanter, and turned around to call for Enrique to bring him another bottle when his eyes caught a small package sitting on the coffee table on the other side of the room.
His mind retraced his appointments from that day, then remembered he hadn't had any. His brow creased at who had been in the mansion, as far as he knew no one had stopped by. He sat down on the chair in front of the package, staring at it uncertainly for a few minutes, then disregarded it with a self loathing huff. As far as he knew, there was only one person alive who knew when his birthday was, and he had stopped acknowledging it years ago.
Getting to his feet he turned to go back to the wet bar to find Enrique refilling the empty decanter.
"I didn't hear you come in."
"Yes, sir." Continuing to pour the liquid from the bottle to the decanter.
"How long has that package been sitting there?"
"Since this afternoon, sir."
"There's no postal mark. Who's it from?"
"Miss Sullivan, sir." Turning around with the empty bottle in his hand. "Will that be all for now, sir?"
"Yes, thank you."
He filled his glass and went back to sit down in front of the package. He lounged back in the chair, and stared at it, languidly sipping his drink. Another few minutes went by before he pulled out his cell phone to call Chloe.
"Hello?" She was driving and hadn't checked the caller ID. The fact that it was fairly late at night didn't mean anything for her phone to ring, it could be most anybody.
"I heard you stopped by the mansion today," he spoke into the phone, still staring at the package.
"Yea," she replied, recognizing his voice immediately. "I only had a minute and you weren't available so I couldn't wait."
"I wanted to thank you for the package."
"Did you open it?"
"No."
She chuckled openly. "Lex, it's customary to 'open' the package before you say thank you for it. How do you know if you'll like what's in it otherwise?"
"I'll like whatever is in it, Chloe."
"Lex, are you ok?" She had a suspicion that he had one too many scotches, but since she'd never seen or heard him after having too much to drink, she wasn't sure.
"I'm fine." Making sure his voice sounded more natural.
"Well, why don't you open it while I'm on the phone with you, and then you can tell me if you still like it or not."
He reached over and picked it up, placing the cell on the table temporarily. After having it in his hands, he could feel that most of the bulk was pure packaging, which meant the item inside was smaller than he had figured.
"I don't hear you opening it, Lex," she sing sang into the cell.
He half smiled, glancing at the cell phone with amusement. Grabbing the pull tab at the top, he ripped the package envelope open. Peering inside, he picked out the extra wrapping she had stuffed it with until he found a blue flat box of about three by four inches in the center. Disregarding the rest of the packing, he sat back and stared at the little box between his long fingers.
"Unless you've developed x-ray vision, you're not going to see what it is until you OPEN IT!" she yelled.
Her every word came to him crystal clear. He slid his gaze to his cell on the table. 'How did she know...?' he thought, not even finishing his own thought. Leaning forward, he picked up the phone.
"Interesting," he said into the cell.
"Ok, not the reaction I was hoping for, but I'll take it considering who I'm talking to."
"I was referring to your accurate assumption that I was simply staring at it."
"Oh. Do you realize that kids do that all the time? You buy them the most expensive thing in the store and they play with the empty box."
"Somehow I don't think this box is empty, Chloe, nor would I believe it was the most expensive thing in the store."
"Well, there's only one way to find out now isn't there?" she taunted him good humouredly.
He had already flipped the lid open before her taunting statement was finished, and found himself once again simply staring at it. It was a rare coin. A collectors dream from the Alexander the Great era. He had had one just like it when he was a boy, but it was stolen from him, and he was never able to find out who took it.
"Where did you get this, Chloe?" Trying to keep his voice steady, despite the tightness of his throat.
She bit at her bottom lip, thinking she may have went overboard with trying to be nice. But what the hell do you buy the guy who owns everything for his birthday?
"I can't tell you all my resources, Lex," she half laughed nervously.
She had accidentally found a newspaper article about Lex's coin being missing when he was eleven years old. Following up on the story, she found that it had never been recovered. She had cracked her knuckles and went to work. After eight months of investigating and research, she had found it.
"Lex? Are you ok? Do you want me to come over?" she asked when he remained quiet.
"No, Chloe, don't come over," he answered almost too quickly. He had too much to drink, he was being too emotional, and he was afraid of what he might say or do if she got close to him at that moment. "I can't tell you how much this means to me."
She smiled in the darkness of her car, relieved that he at least appreciated it. "Just consider it good investigating," she told him. "It’s the same one that was stolen from you, I'm just returning it."
"Thank you," he whispered.
"You're welcome." Smiling into the phone, pleased with herself. The tone of his voice was worth every second she had spent on his behalf. "Happy Birthday, Lex."
~~~
Enrique returned an appropriate time later with another bottle of scotch in his hand. His brows arched with surprise at seeing the decanter still full, seemingly untouched. He looked over at his employer to find him lounging in the chair, quite sloppily, simply staring at something in his hand. His glass sat, half full, on the table in front of him.
"Sir? Is everything alright?"
Lex turned his head and looked at Enrique unseeingly at first, then his eyes focused. "Everything is fine, Enrique," he smiled at the man. He got to his feet, and walked toward the door. "That'll be all for the evening, you may retire for the night."
He left the room with a steady unfaltering step, leaving his butler to watch after him in bewilderment.
end
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