Reboot
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing to do with Smallville.
Potential spoilers: S3
Summary/ramble: I was very annoyed when first watching the S3 episode Deleted that Chloe and Lex did not actually have that much to do with each other, this is my (very short) take on it. I have changed things around as best suits me.
Chloe looked around nervously as she stood before Lex Luthor. Her palms were sweaty, her head was throbbing and the blood pounded in her ears. This was not the position that she had wanted to be in the next time that she had to confront the younger Luthor.
She had hoped that she would have brought Lionel to justice by then and that Lex would be grovelling for forgiveness and promising her the world – and more to the point her Dad’s job back – if only she wouldn’t published her article. Well, hoped was a bit strong. That had been the fantasy that she liked to indulge in at bedtime as she tried not to think of how she had screwed everything up.
But such was not the case, she was not strolling into his office the cool, calm, confident reporter ready to lay her cards on the table. She was a scared girl who had got in over her head – a head which incidentally now sported a plaster from where her friend had beat her up, after she had been almost run over – and now needed all of the help that she could get.
Her eyes darted from one side of the room and then back again. There were too many doors to this room, too many entrances. She could see that neither Lex nor Clark were reading their emails, but that didn’t mean that someone else wasn’t.
“Thank-you for letting Chloe stay here”, Chloe heard Clark say and tried not to read too much into his statement. It sounded like he cared about her, he was trying to protect her after all, but that was just the kind of person Clark was. He would do as much for someone he had only just met, perhaps more willingly.
“Anything I can do to help”, came Lex’s smooth reply. Chloe looked over at him as they followed him over to his desk.
Damn him, he looked so put together, like everything was just business as usual. At least Clark looked a little concerned, although she had to admit that Lex’s response was a little more calming. In the Luthor mansion everything continued as it always had, the entire world could crumble around them and the Luthor abode would still be run like clockwork. In fact, the only change that Chloe would detect was in the jug of orange juice on the desk. Since when did Lex drink orange juice?
“Yeah, this is the last place anyone would look for me”, Chloe commented. She looked at Lex but then again around the room, not because she felt uncomfortable throwing what he had done to her father back in his face, but because she still expected someone to come charging in trying to kill her.
She could feel Clark and Lex trading one of their meaningful looks before looking back at her. She wondered whether they gave courses on meaningful looks somewhere.
“Chloe”, Lex said as he poured a glass of orange juice. Apparently the Luthor heir did imbibe OJ after all. “I’m sorry about what happened to your friend at the Daily Planet”, he handed her the glass. Okay, so maybe he didn’t.
Chloe took the glass, and stared into its depths. Anything was easier than looking up at Lex and seeing that the mocking arrogance that she was sure she would see in his blue eyes. Her ‘friend’ as he put it, was dead and it was all her fault. Not just because she had written the article and given it to him to read – she had tried to warn him – but because she shouldn’t have ever been at the Daily Planet to start with. Some friend she was. Maybe it was for the best that Clark now wanted nothing to do with her.
“You must really have had him over a barrel”, Lex continued, she could still feel his eyes on her and knew that she couldn’t avoid him any longer.
“Yeah, well, I obviously didn’t know what I was getting myself into”, Chloe tried not to sound too sorry for herself.
Lex regarded her with an odd expression. On anyone else she would have mistaken it for sympathy, but not on the face of a Luthor. He maintained eye contact as he made his way around the desk and sat down, seeming to realise that she desired distance.
“Just seems to be a nasty habit that I’ve picked up lately”, Chloe continued, hating the silence. She knew rather than saw that Clark was observing her sympathetically at this statement. It didn’t make her feel one iota better.
Lex, on the other hand, almost smiled. Despite himself, he was impressed at how well Chloe was baring up under the pressure, she had even managed to come up with a story. Trust her!
“So your theory is that Garner has turned Molly into his own email assassin. Using hypnotic suggestion”, he checked. That one was a bit out there even for Chloe.
“It’s not that far of a stretch. Somerholt goes from studying the brain to controlling it”, Clark explained before Chloe could, he clearly wanted to keep any Chloe/Lex interaction to a minimum, in spite of having asked Lex to look after her until this was all sorted out.
He considered Clark’s words, “It’s a pretty amazing breakthrough, if you don’t consider the application”.
“Well there’s no question, when it comes to brain warping, Dr. Garner is definitely the guy”, Chloe stepped forwards, her journalistic instinct taking over. Lex looked interested.
“I’m going to go talk to Garner”, Clark suddenly announced and started to head out of the door.
“No, no”, Chloe panicked and grabbed his arm. “No don’t Clark please, it’s too dangerous”. Lex watched the interaction, marvelling at how easily the physical contact and concern came even though Clark and Chloe were no longer friends. Not to mention how deeply entrenched Clark’s need to protect the blonde was. He doubted that they would be at odds for much longer.
“I’m not the one he’s looking for”, Clark reminded her, somewhat callously Lex thought. “It’ll be alright, just don’t leave the mansion. I’ll call you if I find anything”.
Lex couldn’t see Chloe’s face, so he didn’t see that she looked about ready to burst into tears. She schooled her expression before letting Lex see it.
Now that Clark was leaving, it was time for him to do that same. “Chloe, I have my tech guys trying to tract her, I’m going to go see what they’ve got. Make yourself at home”, he said in what he thought was a kind manner, then left.
~*~
Lex had barely got out of the office when he thought better of his actions.
“You git”, Lex reproached himself as he started down the corridor away from Chloe. What kind of man, what kind of person did something like that? He was furious with Clark, the poor girl had been through hell in the last 24 hours, she needed her friend to be there with her. He sighed.
No, she obviously needed someone, and she had needed someone since this began. He shouldn’t have blown it off yesterday. He knew what Chloe was capable of so it was not so strange to think that she could have pissed Lionel off enough to do something like this. As it happened, it wasn’t Lionel but he should still have taken it more seriously than he had.
Damn it.
He stopped walking.
He knew that Chloe had pushed Clark away, she had delved too far into his past, that was something that Lex could understand. If Clark ever found out how far Lex’s obsession really went then their friendship would be over as well, but with Chloe it was different. Lex did not believe that she could do anything maliciously. He had never seen a sign of real cruelty in her, he had never seen her look really scared before either, he thought.
He ran his hand over his head. As if unrequited love weren’t enough, she had lost her best friend, her father was out of work, two attempts had been made on her life and Lionel was apparently making things hard for her.
He found himself turning back to the office. Upon entering his inner sanctum, he saw Chloe standing where he had left her. She was looking around nervously and hadn’t had even a sip of her orange juice. He sighed, then coughed to alert her to his presence.
As he made his way over to her he smiled, pretending that he hadn’t witnessed her jumping out of skin at his cough.
“It will be okay, you know that don’t you Chloe?”
The smile she gave him was unconvincing.
Maybe more information would help to calm her down. “The internet connection for the whole of the mansion is down, the security is on high alert and no one else knows that you are here. You are safe and will remain so until I find out who did this.”
“Thanks”, she muttered.
She looked distinctly uncomfortable in his presence but she needed someone and he was the only one around. He supposed that he should come up with a reason why he was there, rather than just wanting to check on her, as he had told her that he was leaving before. “I just came back to tell you that dinner will be ready in an hour and the TV remote is over there”, he pointed.
She muttered her thanks again. Now he felt uncomfortable, he should probably hug or something – she looked as if she could do with a hug - but they didn’t have that kind of relationship; he had never really touched her except for shaking her hand and when he had put a needle into her heart and comforted her afterwards. Why did her life have to be in danger for them to be close?
Awkwardly he placed his hand on her shoulder and looked deep into her eyes, “I will protect you Chloe, you have my word”.
TBC
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