So as not to bore you with unnecessary repetition I decided to make a little twist. I realize that if I was the reader here I would get bored too quickly so... I hope you'll like it and won't be disappointed. At the end… finally you have the trailer to the sequel – be aware of spoilers! ; ]
CHLOE
[I]I'm sitting here, by the harbor. Freezing and shaking, hiding under the blanket they gave me.
I know I have to move on, go ahead, disappear, leave it all behind but I have no strength left in me.
I know they will eventually find me here but still, I don't want to move.
I'm must be in shock, I think. Tears don't want to flow just yet, I still think I will see him the next second and we will go together...
Go ahead.
"You're a fighter, Chloe. Fight for your life. Fight for what you want. Life is… too… short to… give up… Promise me… you will fight… and… please, find my father… tell him… tell him he… had a son…" I can still hear his words in my head. He was so cold when speaking that his teeth were chattering.
I reach to my pocket and feel the necklace and the piece of paper there.
The blue diamond.
The drawing he made for me.
Somehow the latter seem so much more valuable to me now.
Priceless.
I remember how…
***
We hit the iceberg and instead of panicking people were just playing with the ice that dropped on board.
But how should we know?
I was still with him. Holding his warm hand. Feeling love for him, being loved by him. Life was beautiful even if I knew I would have to stand up to my mother, break up with Davis and… escape while having nothing but love.
It seemed enough at the time.
I had to be brave enough so I went to see them. All of them at once. While still holding Lex's hand.
The look on my mother's face could kill…
Davis just smirked at me treating me like I was nothing more than a bug. Then, he accused Lex of stealing. He had the blue diamond in his pocket but, I remembered putting it back to the safe.
"How dare you?!" I finally raised my voice while they took Lex away to lock him up.
Davis slapped me in the face.
"Whore," he just called me.
I looked back at him while putting my hand to my burning cheek. If he thought I would cry or apologize to him now he was wrong. He only awoken some savage rage inside of me. Rage I hadn't even realized I was capable of.
"I prefer to be his whore than your wife," I said, my voice strangely calm. He'd just given me another reason to leave, he'd just made me sure of what I was going to do.
"I'm leaving." I turned to my mother. "Look at you. You're so greedy that you don't even care that he hurt me," I pointed Davis who finally got that smirk off his face and apparently didn't know what to do or say now. "I am your only daughter! I am the only thing that you have left! And what you're doing to me? You're making me so unhappy… I would rather die than stay here with you two." I turned to the exit.
"Chloe… you're crazy… you're blinded by that…" Davis caught my arm.
Fight, Chloe.
I snatched my arms out of his grip and kicked him as hard as I could without even thinking it over.
He bent over breathing heavily.
Yeah, I had that in me, I could fight, I could defend myself. I wasn't helpless little Chloe. I would fight for what I believed, for what I wanted exactly like my father had wanted for me and exactly like Lex wanted for me now.
Next, I had to find Lex.
***
The ship…
I'm still shivering under that blanket.
The ship just went down.
I didn't predict that one coming. I thought when I would find Lex and free him that everything would be alright. That we would go on together.
I shut my eyes close and wince my face when I remember the screams… the agony… the terror…
***
"LEX!"
Half of that level was already flooded but I kept going. I wouldn't let go. Not ever. I had to get to him and maybe we would still make it to lifeboats.
There wasn't enough of them…
It was ok, it was fine. Somebody would come for us, somebody would rescue us. Everything would be ok.
"LEX!"
"CHLOE!" I finally heard him.
And there he was. Cuffed to a pipe.
I could free him. There was nothing I wouldn't do now. I felt like on fire, fear and adrenaline mixed together in my body giving some explosive mix.
I open my eyes and look blindly in the distance.
Then, I realize that I see the Statue of Liberty.
Liberty… Freedom…
I am free now but for what cost?
It's funny like a couple of days can change your whole life, it's funny how a simple trip can. You live through years, feeling trapped, feeling powerless and miserable and then, when you think it will be like that forever you meet someone who changes your life within a minute.
How hard it is to find someone to love and how easy to lose them forever…
***
Ship was going down… there was no place in lifeboats anymore. Well, there was for me but I wouldn't go anywhere without him.
He was my life so I wouldn't be whole if I left like that.
"To the prow!" he yelled to me pulling me up there.
Then, there were just screams of terror, feeling of being so cold that I would freeze to death… his arms around me, protecting me, his lips next to my ear telling me that everything would be ok, that we would survive, that somebody would come for us, that I shouldn't give up, I should just hold on and survive… it was that easy.
The ship sank and we found ourselves in the water. Freezing water.
"LEX!" I was screaming not able to find him. "LEX!"
No, I couldn't lose him like that. Not now. Not ever. We would survive. Just like he'd promised.
"CHLOE!" he finally immersed from the water and…
***
I finally feel tears in my eyes.
Denial.
I am pass it.
Now, the grief comes…
Playing it all over in my head was just too much for me. I've been through freezing hell and suddenly I want to die too.
Why couldn't we die together?
Why he had to be the one to go?
"Find my father… tell him he had a son…" I remember his last words.
Then… then I was just looking at the frozen statue. His body captured in ice. It wasn't Lex anymore…
"Rose?" I hear Davis's voice. "Rose, are you here?"
Oh God! I knew he would finally appear looking for me!
His voice is what finally pushes me to stand up and move. If they find me I will never be able to reach Lex's father. Never.
So I go straight ahead, with the blanket still over my head. I keep my posture slightly hunched so Davis won't even look at me. He's looking for a young woman, not for some middle-age woman covered from head to toes.
***
I made it.
***
I still couldn't quite get over that night the Titanic had sunk.
I still couldn't go back to that moments in my head. It hurt too much.
Losing the person you loved always hurt and I'd lost Lex before we'd even managed to start our lives together. That was excruciating.
When the shock had wore off I'd finally dissolved into tears but kept going anyway.
The worst part was that Lionel Luthor – Lex's father – turned out to be one of the most influential businessmen in America now, he was also one of the richest.
Lex would have such a wonderful life if only he made it!
He would have everything he'd ever dreamt of along with me by his side.
How cruel life actually was?
For a moment there I'd felt whole, Lex had filled the empty gap inside of me and then… then I'd felt it twice bigger when I'd lost him.
Still, I wouldn't change a thing. I'd experienced love and thank to that I was a free woman now. I'd learnt how to fight.
It'd been hard in the beginning but I'd pulled it through.
First, I'd found a job in some diner and then, when I'd had a place to stay in – small, dirty apartment but still, it hadn't been the street – I'd looked for Lionel.
It'd taken me two months to finally get to Metropolis – the city where he was living. I'd had to have money for my journey but I'd finally got enough.
"Ms Sullivan? Mr Luthor will see you now."
"Thank you…" I said and stood up.
I took a deep breath and walked into Lex's father's office.
Lionel was sitting by the desk and when I came inside he raised his head to look at me.
"Mr Luthor," I said. My voice a little trembling.
"Ms Sullivan I presume." He smiled to me and stood up.
I kept looking for some resemblance to Lex but found only a huge difference – Lionel had a lot of hair. Was it really his father?
He was older than I expected, he must be in his fifties.
I came closer to shake his hand.
"Please, sit," he pointed me the chair. "I had to admit I wouldn't agree to our meeting but when you mentioned the name Lillian…" his voice trailed off and he was watching my face in anticipation.
"Yes…" I started taking a deep breath. His eyes, I finally realized, his eyes were just like Lex's eyes. "Did you know a woman name Lillian?"
"I did. I loved her."
"I… I don't know how to say this…" I hesitated looking down.
"Just do, please, I won't throw you out of here," he said obviously joking but instead of making it easier for me it did the opposite.
"You had a son, Mr Luthor," I just said because I had no idea how to tell him that. I could as well go along with it and drop the brick.
"Excuse me?" He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Had?"
"Yes, sir… Lillian… I don't want to pry buy if you had an affair with her… I mean… then, Lex… Lex was your son."
"Ms Sullivan, please, calm down. Do you want something to drink?" he suggested.
"No, thank you."
"Ok, then, so please… try to say whatever you were going to say more clearly. I don't bite."
He certainly looked like he was going to.
"I'm a survivor from Titanic," I started then.
"I'm very sorry for what happened to that magnificent ship," he said.
"Thank you… I… I was miserable, forced to engagement with a man that I didn't love and then, when I thought my life would never get any better… I met that wonderful young man. His name was Lex Luthor. He was just a poor boy who'd won his ticket while playing poker. He was looking for his father, Lionel."
"So, you think that he was… my son?" It finally seemed to sink in. "I have a son?"
I couldn't tell what it was on his face. Awe? Surprise? Happiness? Sadness?
"You had. He… died…" I stammered feeling tears in my eyes again.
"How?" he just asked not able to say anything else. I could sense he was doing his best to stay calm but the news shook him.
"Saving my life," I answered. "He wanted… his last wish was that I would find you and tell you about him. He was a very remarkable man."
"I don't have any kids, you know. When I met Lillian… I was young, stupid and immature. I didn't appreciate her like I should have. I was only interested in making money, in creating my own company… so she left me. I never knew she was pregnant. I tried to find her once but… I couldn't."
"I don't know anything else about her but I can tell you a lot about Lex if you would like."
"Yes, please… just, wait a minute." He stood up turning his back on me and I could've sworn he reached for a tissue. Then, he walked over to the door. "Megan, cancel please all my appointments today. Something came up. Thank you… So, Ms Sullivan… are you sure you don't want anything to drink?"
***
I did it. My conscience was clear. I did what Lex had wanted me to do.
Now, I had to move on.
But I had no idea how…
Lionel had suggested helping me, he'd offered me a job in his company but I'd refused. I hadn't wanted to see him every day, I would hate if I had to keep reminiscing over the past while being in there and beside... his eyes looked too much like Lex's...
I needed to start over.
I needed to go somewhere I wouldn't be hunted by my past and what was most important – where Davis wouldn't find me if somehow he didn't give up on me.
And that was how I found myself in Smallville – small town in Kansas.
***
Two years later:
Lionel was woken up early in the morning.
"What is it?" He opened the door for the person standing on the other side.
"We found it, Mr Luthor. We found… him. The body is in almost perfect condition."
***
I'm sorry if you're disappointed but changing the ending was never my intention. I wanted to write the sequel.
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