Cool! A swordfight! Of course, you know it was mighty wrong of you to just stop there. All kinds of not being fair. Eagerly waiting for more.
Blue
Cool! A swordfight! Of course, you know it was mighty wrong of you to just stop there. All kinds of not being fair. Eagerly waiting for more.
Blue
Ahhh! Of all the places to end the chapter, you ended it THERE? That was evil! Okay, now I really want to see whats going to happen when they get back to the cowtown :yay:
Please update again soon. Will they get throught the portal before the others get to them or will there be a fight in Lucas' bedroom?
:chlexsign4:
Yayyyyyyyy!! An update!!! However, I was very sad :crygreen: (note the tears) to have you end it there...more please soon!!!
~Heida
Oh, my heart jumps :yay: , an update, finally. I'm so glad that you' re back, but why ending it there?
Now come back and update again!!
This fic is incredible! I love it! PLeeeaaaasseeee! Continue! :yay: :worship2:
:chlexsign3:
This fic is incredible! I love it! PLeeeaaaasseeee! Continue! :yay:
A/N: I know I don’t say this nearly often enough, but thank you so much for all of your reviews. They mean more to me than you could ever imagine. That said, I apologize for some of the filler fluff in this chapter. It had to be done to keep the story rolling along.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Because Chloe was asleep during her first portal experience, she wasn’t prepared for the sheer velocity with which she and Lucas were practically hurled through the swirling circular tunnel. She was even more ill-prepared to find herself launched directly at Lex as she shot out of it. She rapidly stumbled into his arms, knocking his newly-poured glass of scotch into the air, sending the liquid flying along with the shards of delicate crystal as it hit the ground.
“Lex!” Chloe exclaimed in surprise, quickly correcting herself by saying, “I mean, Mr. Luthor.”
“Chloe --- Miss Sullivan,” he responded, matching her brisk, uncertain tone.
They stared at each other, unblinking and mouths slightly agape as they didn’t know what else to say, for what seemed like an eternity, until Chloe pulled back slightly, Lex’s arms still holding onto her loosely. He noticed the drying blood spatters on her and frowned.
“Are you alright?”
Chloe barely nodded, somewhat in shock that Lex – the Lex from the world she had grown up in – had his hands resting on her hips as he seemed to be looking over her face and the sides of her head to make sure she wasn’t wounded.
“I’m fine.”
Lex didn’t seem convinced, but the sudden sting of a sharp metal blade at his neck made his eyes turn from her. He glanced toward Lucas, who stood next to them, sword drawn and Lex surmised, obviously ready to kill him.
“No!” Chloe yelled, completely pushing herself away from Lex and almost tripping back into the vortex. She caught her balance just in time, the portal closing mere seconds later. She clutched her hand to her heart and took a breath to steady herself, not immediately noticing that Lucas’s sword was still Lex’s skin. When she did notice, she stepped toward him and placed a small hand on his outstretched arm. “It’s Lex – Mr. Luthor – not Alexander,” she tried to explain. “He doesn’t like me like that.”
Lucas frowned at the fact that she was protecting his brother’s double, but took the fact that Lex was unarmed and holding his hands halfway into the air in front of him as a sign of surrender. He nodded once and slid his sword back into its hilt.
Lex slowly lowered his hands and then let his eyes run over Chloe’s body quickly, making it appear as though he was just taking in the way she was costumed.
“Nice dress --- and tiara.”
Chloe nervously raked her teeth over her lower lip as she looked back at Lex. There was no easy way to explain away something like what just happened.
“I can explain,” Chloe said. “It’s a long story and you probably won’t believe me, but I can explain. I know this is weird, but I’m not dead, and ---”
Lex, feeling considerably better now that his life wasn’t in immediate peril, managed a small grin at both of them.
“I wasn’t sure it would work,” he said. Chloe furrowed her brow in confusion and Lucas tilted his head to the side.
“You opened the gate,” Lucas said, more as a statement than a question. He glanced over at Chloe, moving his mouth much closer to her ear than Lex would have liked, but he wasn’t about to start an argument with someone carrying a sharp sword and perfectly willing to use it. “Are you sure he does not feel for you?” Lex heard him whisper jealously.
“Lucas ---”
“You have no idea how much your dad has missed you,” Lex cut in, helping her to avoid answering Lucas’s pointed question.
“My dad,” Chloe said in a choked voice, the tears already welling up in her eyes.
“The Smallville coroner is rather thorough apparently. He discovered that it wasn’t really you lying in his morgue.” Lex paused and gave her another glint of a grin. “I’m not sure Clark and Lana ever believed him ---”
“Figures,” Chloe mumbled under her breath.
“--- but I know for sure that your dad has never given up hope on finding you.” Lex knew it was probably completely inappropriate and perhaps even life-threatening, but he couldn’t resist adding, “Neither did I.” Lucas growled low in his throat, but Chloe smiled and wiped away the trails of wetness that slid down her cheeks.
“Speaking of which, how *did* you find me?”
Lex opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it when he saw the angry fire raging in Lucas’s eyes.
“Long story,” he offered curtly. To his surprise, Chloe seemed to accept his short answer without any further prying. “Would you like me to call your dad?” Chloe smiled and nodded, tucking a loose tendril of hair behind her ear.
“That’d be great. Thanks.”
Lex grinned at her again and turned on his heel to leave the room. There was a phone in his office, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to have Chloe overhear part of the inevitably bizarre conversation that he was about to have with her father, nor was he certain that he could maintain anymore civility toward the homicidal young man who had apparently appointed himself Chloe’s protector.
Lucas grumbled and ran a hand through his hair, avoiding eye contact with Chloe so she might not notice how upset he was.
It didn’t work.
“What’s wrong?”
“It seems our brother was correct,” he said ruefully. Chloe opened and closed her mouth, allowing a look of pure confusion sweep over her face.
“What?” she asked. “But I’m not dead – we *survived*. So, how was he right, exactly?”
Lucas raised his eyes from the floor and fixed a steely gaze upon her.
“He said that the Alexander of this world wasn’t listening to him, that he had become just as obsessed with you as my brother is.”
Chloe barely resisted rolling her eyes, opting for a shake of her head instead.
“It’s not like that,” she argued. “You heard him. My dad missed me – my dad is his plant manager, and if he’s not happy then ---” she trailed off, but Lucas looked at her expectantly. “Then nobody’s happy,” she finished with a light smile, realizing that he had probably never heard the saying before. “Everything is about business for Lex, just like everything is about war for Alexander. I’m sure he just wanted to get my dad back to his normal self so the plant would run smoothly.”
“Perhaps,” Lucas conceded, not meaning it at all. He lifted one of her hands and turned it palm-side up before leaning to kiss it. Chloe gave him an uneasy grin and he let go of her hand as he started to look around the room. “What is this place?”
“Looks like Lex’s office,” she said offhandedly, smiling when she saw the stained glass window she had been pushed out of a couple of years before. “Yep. You remember me telling you about all the trouble I got into while digging for stories?” For the first time since they had arrived, Lucas smiled.
“Of course.”
“Well,” she started, tugging on his hand to walk over to the window, “this is the window those burglars pushed me out of.”
Lucas nodded once and then took a closer look around the room. Most of the objects that it housed were foreign to him, but he was looking at the architecture, trying to place why the room seemed so familiar to him. His eyebrows rose when the answer came to him.
“This is my bedroom.”
“What?”
“My bedroom,” Lucas repeated, running his hand along one of the walls. “This is where my bedroom stands in the palace back home.”
“Ahh,” Chloe said in understanding. “Well, that makes sense. I mean, the portal was in your room there and we came into this room. It stands to reason that it would match up, right?”
“Am I interrupting?”
Chloe and Lucas both turned their heads to see Lex leaning against the doorframe. Lucas frowned, but noted that this version of his brother seemed almost friendly toward him. Lex wasn’t shoving Lucas away from Chloe, and, incredibly enough, he didn’t seem to be threatened by Lucas’s presence at all unless his sword was drawn. It was…refreshing. The corners of Lucas’s mouth lifted ever so slightly as he theorized that he could definitely get used to Chloe’s world.
“He’s on his way,” Lex said after neither Chloe nor Lucas spoke. Chloe smiled.
“Thanks,” she said again.
“My pleasure,” Lex responded, his eyes fixed on Chloe as he gave her the tiniest of smiles.
Lucas squared his jaw. He could get used to Chloe’s world, but not if Lex was going to try and woo Chloe out from underneath him.
‘He will need to be taken care of,’ Lucas thought to himself.
“Not to be insensitive, but have you considered sleeping arrangements?” Lex asked, the question directed at Chloe.
“Why?” she asked. “Don’t tell me my dad has rented out my room or something?” Lex let out a small chuckle.
“Not to my knowledge,” he replied, “but I somehow doubt that twin bed of yours is going to be able to fit both of you on it.” Chloe’s mouth dropped open as Lex’s words hit her.
“I --- oh. I hadn’t thought about that,” she admitted. Lucas reached out his hand and ran the backs of his fingers against the smooth skin of her cheek.
“I have no difficulty sleeping on the floor, my princess.”
Lex wanted to vomit.
‘That, or choke him,’ he thought to himself. He forced the tiniest of smirks onto his face, hoping that it would come across appearing genuine. “Or you could just stay here.”
“Lex – Mr. Luthor ---”
“Lex,” he said simply, hoping that she would drop whatever formality she felt still lay between them. After hearing her scream his name while in her husband’s bed, he didn’t think he could ever get used to hearing her call him by his last name again. She smiled for a fleeting second and then continued.
“Lex,” she corrected herself. “You don’t have to do that. I mean, he’s not your brother, and ---”
“Chloe, if you hadn’t noticed, there are plenty of spare bedrooms here. And sleeping on a bed has got to be more comfortable for him than sleeping on your floor.” Lex watched as Chloe and Lucas looked at each other, silently trying to decide whether or not to take him up on his offer. Although he wouldn’t admit it to anyone but himself, he was more than a little uncomfortable with the idea of Lucas sleeping under the same roof Chloe was, especially when she didn’t have a lock on her bedroom door to keep him from sneaking in to see her in the middle of the night.
Lucas narrowed his eyes at Lex with great suspicion.
“Why?” he asked. “As the princess has pointed out, you are not my brother, and therefore under no obligation to provide a bed for me.”
“Chalk it up to karma,” Lex said cryptically. Lucas raised an eyebrow and Lex let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he had been holding in. “My brother, the Lucas of this world, he died before I ever really got a chance to know him.”
“What? When did this happen?” Chloe asked, her features marred with a sympathetic frown.
“This morning,” Lex said, pumping a little more emotion into his voice than he actually felt.
“Oh, my God. Are you okay?”
“I’ll be alright,” Lex answered, refocusing his attention on Lucas. “I know it seems a little twisted and I should probably seek years of therapy for even coming up with the idea, but I think it might help me get over the loss if you were to stay here – get to know you the way I never got to know him.”
“Oh, Lex,” Chloe said, her heart practically breaking for the man in front of him. She knew that he rarely showed any emotion and for him to openly admit that he was grieving… “Of course Lucas can stay here.” Lucas turned to look at her as if she had lost her mind. “Hey, like he said, it’s more comfortable than the floor; and this way you don’t have to live in the same house with Lana.” Lucas grimaced.
“Is she ---?”
“Pretty much the same as in your world,” Chloe confirmed. Lucas made a face and Lex snickered.
“So, you’ll be staying here then?”
Lucas nodded regretfully.
“It would appear so.”
TBC…
:worship2: I love it ! The tension between Lex and Lucas ... it's so cool ! Thank you update soon !:
Wow, I just saw I forgot to review the last chap so I'm gonna do it now with this new one. You know I loved the chap before this, but I had to tell you again and the fighting scene was good. Lucas is starting to really grate on my nerves in his psychoness and that is saying something,coming from me! The axe thing was great, too!
Now to this chappy, again Lucas is grating on my nerves, but Lex thinking on his feet is of course nice to see. Sneaky sneaky our Lex :biggrin: And Chloe is already smitten with him, I just know it. Then an ounce of jealous Lex in there and *snap* I was a happy girl *G*
Update as soon as rotation allows
hugs,
Sabby
There are currently 5 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 5 guests)
Bookmarks