Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Title: It falls apart
AN: Thanks for the feedback. Your response to this story has inspired me so much that I actually decided to post the next chapter sooner than I anticipated. I realize that there are a lot of questions about Chloe's relationship with Oliver and I promise that they will be answered, although for now I thought it would be best to deal with the Lana situation. And yes there is a Lana scene in here. I tried to make it as short as I could, I'm not particularly fond of her so it probably shows in this chapter. Now on with the story...
Lex was operating mechanically. So much so that he didn’t mind Oliver tagging along with him.
A million thoughts rushed through his head as he drove them to the hospital. Lana had a stalker, yet again. That was nothing new. He took the necessary precautions in protecting the mother of his child. Hearing that the baby was lost completely threw him off his game. On one hand that meant that he would be rid of Lana, but he wasn’t heartless enough to want the child dead.
He stalked into the emergency room with Oliver in tow. His scathing tone brought him to the room that Lana was supposed to be in. The sight that greeted him was of Clark Kent on his knees, clinging to his Chloe, who was sitting on the chair before him.
“What happened?” Oliver walked past him and gave Clark a measured look.
Clark refused to let go of Chloe until she whispered something to him. He let go of her unwillingly and then glared at Oliver and then at him.
That was when he truly saw Chloe. She had a big bruise on her cheek, her left arm was in a sling and when Oliver hugged her Lex saw her wince, in pain no doubt.
“Stop hugging her!” Clark’s tone was angry, “Her ribs are sore from what happened, and you’re hurting her.”
Oliver ignored him as he caressed her cheek tenderly. But Chloe’s attention wasn’t on any of the two men glaring at each other. Her hazel eyes connected with his and conveyed such deep sorrow.
“What happened?” he echoed Oliver’s question as he walked towards her. She moved away from the two and touched his arm hesitantly.
“Lana’s stalker-”
“Was actually after Chloe. He only used Lana as a decoy. He was actually after Chloe all along. Lana brought him to the farm and when he finally had Chloe he pushed her down the stairs.” Clark murmured quietly.
“Clark I can take it from here.” She offered the farm boy a small smile. “Lana doesn’t want to see anyone right now.”
Lex wasn’t even thinking of Lana. All he could think about was how to exact revenge for what happened to Chloe.
“What happened to you?” he asked as he reached out to take her hand in his.
“The stalker, Brian Wesley, he was in my Journalism class in Met U, he tried to force me to come with him...but I had to help Lana.” Tears were running down her cheeks and he fought the urge to wipe them away. They still needed to keep up appearances even if they had nothing to hide. Not anymore.
“He wasn’t a meteor freak.” It was as if she read his mind for the question was already at the tip of his tongue.
“And where were you when all of this was happening?” Oliver gave Clark an accusing look.
“Drop the attitude Jonas. Clark had to be somewhere else. If it hadn’t been for him Brian would have succeeded in kidnapping me and Lana would have died.” Chloe interjected tiredly, unable to mediate between such strong personalities in her condition.
Lex once again fought against his instinct and sneer at Clark, ever the hero.
“Jonas?” Clark had a confused look on his face.
“Oliver’s middle name.” she replied dismissively and turned to him. “I think you should go in and see Lana. Tell her…tell her I’m sorry.” Her voiced cracked.
“It’s not your fault Chloe.” Lex muttered under his breath. He was close enough to her that she was the only one to hear his words. “Are you okay?”
She nodded slowly and her grip on his hand tightened. She was about to say something when the nurse approached them.
“Ms. Lang would like to see her sister.” The nurse told them as she gave all of them the once-over.
“She’s an only child.” Clark answered for them.
“She meant me Clark. Did she ask for anyone else?” Chloe shot him a worried look as she asked.
“She was insistent on only seeing you.” With that the nurse left the four of them.
“I should go in there. Wait for me?” she directed the question at no one in particular but he felt like she was asking him. All three men nodded in response.
Lex watched her as she disappeared from his view.
“Why weren’t you there to prevent this from happening?” Oliver demanded of Clark as soon as Chloe was out of the earshot.
“Clark is not superman Queen. And he isn’t a psychic either. None of this was his fault.” Lex was perplexed inwardly as he uttered the words. “She sustained a lot of injuries.”
“He pushed her around the barn before I got there when she refused to go with him. I saw him slap her across the cheek and he broke her arm trying to get her to come with him. I can’t believe Lana brought him there in the first place.” Clark looked torn as he ran his hand through his hair.
“She willingly brought the stalker to Chloe?” Oliver uttered with such disbelief.
“Chloe said Lana ran into him at the Talon and that he said he was a good friend of Chloe’s. Even Chloe didn’t know that he was the stalker until he pushed Lana down the stairs so he could be alone with her-”
“Where is he now?” Lex cut Clark off.
“The sheriff arrested him an hour ago.”
Lex took out his phone and turned his back on the two other men.
“Don’t do anything rash Lex. I know Lana has been hurt, but you should focus on her not on revenge.” Clark walked around him so they could face each other.
He wanted nothing more than to pulverize Clark’s face at that instant. The bastard hurt Chloe he deserved to die! His eyes narrowed to slits as he settled his gaze on Clark.
“Fuck off.” And he went about his business.
“He’s right Luthor. You shouldn’t take the law into your own hands.” Oliver muttered as he stared at the door to Lana’s room.
“Consider my words to Clark echoed for your sake Queen. You two may be willing to sit idly by as the women you claim to care for are attacked by some bastard. Fortunately I am not like either of you. The bastard will pay for laying a hand on the woman I love.” Lex was set to stalk away from the two idiots when the door that Queen was staring at opened.
“Lex.” Lex whirled around at the sound of her voice. His entire demeanor changed at the sight of her.
“Lana would like to see you now.” She uttered as she walked over to Queen.
Her eyes were red-rimmed and she obviously needed comfort. It took all of his willpower to keep himself from grabbing her by the shoulders and encircling his arms around her, with no intention of ever letting her go. It took more of his self-control to keep from snarling as Oliver did just what he wanted.
But she only allowed herself to be in Oliver’s arms briefly. She turned away from Queen and walked over to Lex. He didn’t know what to expect. But Chloe wrapping her arms around his waist was the last thing that he imagined she would do.
He held onto her tightly, not caring that Clark and Oliver both had shocked expressions on their faces, which promptly switched to anger when he held Chloe in his arms far longer than what they deemed as acceptable.
“Chloe.” He heard Clark try and interrupt the moment.
Either she was ignoring Clark or he already faded into the background for her since she had an intense look on her face as she whispered “I’ll wait for you,” against his chest.
He felt his heart constrict at her words and was even more reluctant to release her from his arms. He couldn’t help but feel that the words that she uttered were the entire summation of their relationship, she was constantly waiting. For him.
He could feel her reluctance as her arms slipped away from his body. She gave him a teary smile and nodded at the direction of the door.
At that point he no longer cared about appearances. He brought his hand to her cheek and caressed her bruised skin, she took his hand in hers and squeezed it tightly as she let go.
“Chloe, I’ll take you home now. You need to rest.” Oliver held out his hand to her, while he gave Lex a seething glare.
“I’m staying until I know that Lana is going to be okay.” She stubbornly replied even after she allowed Oliver to take her hand.
“I’m going to go and get your painkillers Chlo.” Clark nodded understandingly, but when he faced Lex he had the same expression as Queen’s.”
Lex steeled himself as he faced the door. He turned back and saw Chloe looking at him encouragingly.
*****
He entered the room as quietly as he could, hoping that Lana had drifted off to sleep. He had no desire to talk to her. Lex couldn’t stop himself from blaming her for what happened to Chloe.
Lana’s eyes were closed. He felt his eyes drawn to her stomach and the knowledge that his heir was no longer in her womb, it was as though someone had poured a bucket of ice cold water over his body. He felt nothing.
Her face was devoid of any bruising. Her arms were not in a sling; her legs were not in a cast. In fact there was no evidence that she should stay at the hospital. Except that she just lost a baby. Their baby.
Her eyes fluttered open and he found himself gazing into her brown eyes.
“Lex.” Her voiced pained as she spoke his name.
He was quiet. But a part of him felt obligated to play the aggrieved fiancé. He walked towards her bed and took hold of her hand. He saw her flinch at the contact and kept himself from yanking his hand away from her.
“The baby…” her eyes brimmed with unshed tears.
“I know.”
“I-”
Lana breathed in deeply, removed her hand from his. Lex forced down the urge to bolt and remained impassive.
“I’ll be staying at Chloe’s.” Lana said as she stared out the window.
Lex remained quiet.
“I just- I need some time. Away.” She was finally crying and clutching her blanket as if it was her lifeline.
Lex turned to stare at the same spot that she was looking at and had a mild look of impatience, wishing that she would blurt out whatever she had to say.
“I’ll come back Lex; I promise I’ll come back.” This time Lana initiated the contact between them. She clutched his hand and held on tight.
“If you need space I can just go somewhere else. I wouldn’t want you to impose on other people’s hospitality just because you need some time away from me.” Lex finally spoke.
Lana let go of his hand as if she had been burned. “Chloe won’t be around and Lois is in Washington with Mrs. Kent.” She replied coolly.
“Chloe won’t be in any condition to travel anytime soon.” Lex tried to keep the accusing tone out of his words.
Lana gathered the blanket and pulled it up to her chin, as if she was trying to ward off the chill of his words.
“I’m tired.” She said softly.
“Do whatever you feel is right.” He muttered conciliatorily. “Rest now Lana. I’ll make sure you have everything you need.” He patted her hand and turned to go.
“I’m sorry Lex. I just, I need to do this.” Lana’s tone was pleading.
“I understand.” He replied without turning back.
TBC
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