The Lesser of Two Evils - NC-17, Chapter 56 (May 27, 2016)

**sylvia** · 24th January 2005, 16:20

Yesyes. Update now would be very nice, please.

:chlexsign3:

**kitten** · 25th January 2005, 06:00

The Lesser of Two Evils
NC-17/ Angst

Disclaimer: Smallville, the characters therein, and all affiliated copyrighted materials are owned by the WB. This is a work of fanfiction not intended for profit or infringement, only for the pleasure of fans of the series.

Spoilers: All up to Season 4, except things will be twisted to the tune of Lex having never moved to Cowtown, U.S.A.

A/N: What would Chloe Sullivan have had to do to get from under Lionel Luthor’s thumb if Lex had never moved to Smallville? What would she have had to sacrifice to earn the son’s help against the father?

AU for Season 3 and 4, and strongly rated for a good reason:
THERE WILL BE BORDERLINE NON-CONSENSUAL SEX.

I’m posting in very short chapters so readers can choose when enough is enough for them.

Chapter Fifteen

Though neither could have known, both Lex and Chloe woke up feeling unsettled.

He wasn’t used to having any kind of feelings for a woman after sex, though he sometimes deluded himself into thinking there was something more than attraction between himself and a woman he was seeing. It never lasted longer than a few weeks, which made it all the more bizarre that he had been married several times.

Lying on one side of his bed, he put his arms behind his head and winced as he felt the stretch of his shoulders. His back was sore as well, but there was nothing to be done about it. Far better that he wake up in pain than she did. He looked to the unoccupied side of the mattress and remembered the little blond who had huddled there the night before.

Chloe Sullivan mattered far more than she should.

He winced at the thought and corrected himself. She mattered to him personally more than was expected, but it was no less than she deserved. Despite what his father had tried to teach him, Lex knew everyone mattered. He tried to respect other people but money and breeding did leave a sense of entitlement. He was a snob and a generally self-centered person.

He’d slept with hundreds or perhaps thousands of women, most of them one night stands. They were only attractive in the first blush, before their clinging hands and greedy expectations had stripped away the illusion of safety. No one was safe and no one understood. No one cared about him beyond the parties, drugs and money that made up his lifestyle.

Now that he was taking charge of various facets of management, Lex didn’t have time for the old routines to meet women. He wasn’t about to squander his few hours of free time mingling at parties he didn’t want to attend to meet debutantes he didn’t want to spend more than an hour with. He got off with hookers who didn’t develop any awkward attachments to him.

He thought the reactions he was having to Chloe would fade over time and distance, but for the moment he would be seeing her every few days. If he was this confused by the situation he couldn’t imagine how badly she was reacting.

Worse than wondering about it, he was worried about her, and that was something that hadn’t happened in a very long time.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

She opened her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling and took a moment to calm down as her mind oriented her body. She was in Lois’ apartment and she was safe.

Chloe pondered the term and sighed. She wasn’t safe. She was safer with Lex on her side, but by no means secure. Lionel wasn’t going to give up his plan just because it was marginally more difficult to enact. If anything he would be getting more determined to have her now that she had sex with his son. It was just the kind of twisted situation that he would enjoy.

Thankfully Lex didn’t have his father’s perversity, nor did he seem to be as cruel as the older man. She had the completely unsupported sense that he would do as he had promised, even if the reasons behind his protection weren’t entirely altruistic. He had enjoyed having sex with her both times, she thought, although she had been in no shape to judge the first time around and had almost run away last night.

The first time could be written off as something done to her, but she knew last night she had participated as much as she knew how. He had been as obedient as he promised, listening to her commands without any hesitation. The memories made her blush with embarrassment and a reluctant arousal. He wasn’t overrated, despite the rumours of his extraordinary skills. He also wasn’t who she wanted or someone she could imagine wanting to know.

The soreness in her body was less than the first night with Lex, but still present. She hadn’t taken any pain killers and regretted it as she sat up and propped her head against the arm of the sofa. In some ways the brutality had been easier to understand than the pleasure. There were only a few reasons to cause a person pain, and numerous reasons to make them feel good.

His humility and consideration for her went against everything Lionel was, but the resolve and persuasion were common in both father and son. Lex was stronger in it, more patient and more resolved. He wasn’t blinded by the arrogance of thinking he had everything worked out in his favour. He took notice of the details and nuances of behaviour that Lionel felt superior enough to ignore.

I think he’ll beat his father, she thought. I think he can do it.

There was a slam of a door down the hallway and trotting footsteps as Lois approached. Chloe smiled despite herself at her ebullient cousin as she darted into the living room with the grace of a child on a sugar high. Her hair was fixed in the careful disarray she preferred, though she was still wearing a nightshirt. Lois had her priorities sorted out.

“Rise and shine! I’ve got my father’s credit card. Do you want to buy an enormous breakfast and help me pick out a leather jacket?”

They were both surprised when Chloe’s stomach gave an audible rumble and both girls broke into giggles. She was very hungry and could only conclude the exertions of the previous night were the reason.

“Whoa Nellie, I don’t think we have a choice,” Lois said, yanking the blankets off her legs and pointing to the bathroom. “Grab a shower and we’ll get you a manly breakfast. Maybe a man, too.”

She gave her cousin a dirty look over her shoulder.

“I don’t need a man, Lo,” she said.

“I’ve seen the ones you’re hanging around with in Teeny Town. You need more!”

The hell I do.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chloe ignored her ringing cellphone for the third time in an hour, knowing who it was. She had already suffered through her doctor appointment and was now trying to dodge Lionel without pissing him off. She didn’t have time to deal with his random meetings this week. All he wanted to do was stare at her threateningly and circle her a few times, checking out her body.

Her report had included the few pieces of information she could give him without feeling like she was selling out the Kents. There was a sketchy recounting of Clark’s schedule and a few personal notes about strange reactions he had to some of her meteor theories.

She tried to finish at least one investigation every month and had faxed in a lengthy report on the effects of the rocks on local insect populations. It wouldn’t bend minds, but at least it showed she was still working on something. If she could conceivably ‘miss’ all of Lionel’s calls she would be able to make it through to Wednesday night and her next meeting with Lex.

She looked at Clark behind the other desk in her small office and cringed. He was her ideal, so earnestly wholesome and innocent. A virgin, a good boy who loved his parents and a charismatically hopeful person who could make anyone melt with his smile - when he was paying attention.

He was so oblivious to everything she was going through for him. He didn’t even notice that she always tensed when he hugged her or threw an arm around her shoulder. Simple physical affection was ruined for her, as was her sense of trust. He had been lying to her from the day they met.

She was angry at him.

Without Clark she wouldn’t be working for Lionel or sleeping with Lex. Without the Kents’ strange code of silence she would be able to tell him that he was in danger and let them deal with it. Without her hopeless unrequited love of him she would never had been sucked in by lies and intrigues.

Chloe would have gone to the sheriff and gotten an investigation into the vandals of her office if not for the worries that Lionel really did know something about Clark that would ruin his life. All of the meteor freaks they had discovered had been mentally unstable in some way and most of them who weren’t dead were in Belle Reve under the diagnosis of being criminally insane.

Clark wasn’t like them and her conscience wouldn’t let her give him up to Lionel, even if it meant handing herself over in exchange. He was a good person with secrets that made him selfish and furtive, but he didn’t deserve to be at the mercy of the unscrupulous man.

There was no telling how long she would have played along with the situation if he hadn’t started talking about making her his mistress. She wouldn’t let him touch her and he certainly wouldn’t have a claim on any child of hers. He was a neglectful, emotionally abusive father to his grown sons, and it was still suspicious to her that a third son had died before his first birthday. Lionel wasn’t a man to be trusted with young lives and developing psyches.

She smirked bitterly at the ironic thought. It could easily refer to her as well.

As much resentment as she carried for Clark, it all came from love. She wanted him and knew it would never happen, because he saw her as a friend who happened to be a girl. The only concession he’d ever given to that was not to toss footballs directly at her chest. With his growing popularity in the school now that he was a football star, she didn’t stand a chance romantically. Even if she did he wouldn’t understand why she wasn’t a virgin and she would always have to keep her job with Lionel secret. Her betrayal of Clark had made it impossible to date him unless she managed to get her freedom.

And that meant she was working and sleeping with Lex Luthor for a chance at happiness that would likely never come about.

“Hey Chloe, I have to get to practice. Can you finish up with this story? It just needs the background from last year,” Clark asked.

He was already putting on his letterman’s jacket and didn’t even notice the tears on her face, but she brushed them away quickly. She had her pride.

“Sure. Go, I’ll handle it.”

The dark-haired boy missed the anger in her tone as he glanced at her. He looked but didn’t see anything about her. He flashed the smile that had won her heart so many times and she felt nothing.

**crankychick** · 25th January 2005, 06:24

The internal thoughts of both Chloe and Lex are captured so well in your story, nonky. Lex's fragile self-security and Chloe's apparently well-disguised anger are laid out for us to read and analyse. I'm glad she's coming to the realization that Lex can reasonably beat Lionel.

Another well done update. :biggrin: :biggrin:

**hfce** · 25th January 2005, 06:32

I am so glad Chloe is finally waking up from her Clark dream. Bravo girl :clap: Now all she and Lex have to do is realize they belong together and cut of Lionel pee pee to make sure he doesnt populate the world with anymore of his seed.

:

Hope

**autumngold** · 25th January 2005, 07:01

Originally posted by hfce@Jan 25 2005, 06:32 AM
I am so glad Chloe is finally waking up from her Clark dream. Bravo girl :clap: Now all she and Lex have to do is realize they belong together and cut of Lionel pee pee to make sure he doesnt populate the world with anymore of his seed. :

Hope

I love Hope's ideas!! Now if only Lex and Chloe would follow them!! Thank you so much for the update Nonky!! I hope that Lex and Chloe get closer, without Lionel appearing, in your next chapter!! :yay2: :chlexsign4: :yay2:

**Impress** · 25th January 2005, 07:40

Wonderful update.

**lexchloe** · 25th January 2005, 09:43

Excellent update. I really liked how unsure and wary Lex is of any feelings he might be having for Chloe. Very in character. Also liked Chloe's own reflection on her situation, especially in relation to Clark (how completely oblivious is he?) Clark is just a boy who was never good enough for her and Lex is a man who is worthy of her love and I hope she grows to realise this.

:chlexsign3:

**Zannie** · 25th January 2005, 22:36

Well, honestly, you were a couple of hours past the 24 hour mark I had so strategically set . . . but I'll forgive you because it was such a good update.

I really like the gradual development of Lex and Chloe's characters, and how things are going in the right direction, but in a plausibly slow way.

Love this fic. Looking forward to more.