Looking forward to what happens next.
Looking forward to what happens next.
A/N: Love you both. Here is more Chlex friendship!
Chapter Eleven
“Lois”, Chloe squealed as Lex lifted her up to see her cousin standing there.
“Hey baby”, Lois ran over and hugged her younger cousin, “It has been ages since I last saw you”.
“I know, it must have been last Christmas”, Chloe thought back. Wow, she really sucked lately. She had lost contact with everyone.
“You didn’t even tell me that you were coming back!” Lois complained.
“I know, I know, I didn’t tell anyone”. As loud as Lois was she knew that her cousin would be genuinely hurt if she thought that Chloe had confided in people other than her.
“Why the hell not? Something’s wrong isn’t it? I just got back off assignment and got an email from you asking if I wanted to come to your house warming and then you gave me this address, I thought that it was a joke!”
“It’s no joke”, Lex assured her coming up behind Chloe. He felt protective, he didn’t know why. He didn’t know much about Lois but he knew that she had had more success than she probably deserved while Chloe had struggled terribly. The disparity between their situations and just how close Chloe had come to complete and utter ruin were probably not things that she wanted brought up right then.
“So, what did you find out on him that you can blackmail him?” Lois asked conversationally.
Chloe laughed, “Nothing. Well, nothing that I have used yet”. Lex made a face but knew that she was only joking. “Lex offered me a job and it makes more sense for me to live here”, she shrugged the entire matter off.
“Oh, that’s so sweet”, Lois patted the shorter girl on the shoulder, “And later, you’re telling me the truth”.
“Always the reporter”.
“You have only yourself to blame”.
“So, what are we playing?” Lois demanded as she walked over to the board game, she was early and she didn’t care.
“Cluedo”.
She stared at the two men. “You got yourself into a game of Clue with the Chloster?”
“I thought that she was the Chloinator”, Clark looked confused.
“That’s when she’s in a bad mood, not a competitive one”, Lois said.
Lex laughed, Chloinator was a great name for her on a rampage. He might have to use that at some point.
“Don’t even think about it”, she warned him. She knew him far too well.
“Can you even play with three players?” Clark wondered, looking at the rules on the back of the box.
“Please, rules are for losers”.
“Whimps!”
“Wusses!”
The Sullivan girls chorused.
“In short, you Smallville”, Lois patted Clark on the shoulder.
Clark and Lex traded significant looks. They would have to team up if they were going to have any chance - they still had an hour until the party. They set out the pieces and got the note books and pens, the girls obviously having teamed up.
“I suspect Colonel Mustard”, Chloe announced.
“Nah, Mrs Peacock”, Lois decided.
“Aren’t we supposed to play the game first?” Lex wondered.
“Please, that way is for amateurs!”
Lex shook his head and sat back to enjoy the game. He had a feeling that he would never learn anything about the real rules but it might well be the funniest thing he had seen since Whose Line. Some time later, suitably amused, he announced, “I suggest Miss Scarlett!”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I can’t believe that you just did that”, Clark shook his head.
“What?” Lex couldn’t understand why he was being looked at as if he had kicked a puppy.
“You suggested Miss Scarlett”, Clark couldn’t believe it.
“Miss Scarlett is our girl”, Lois said.
“Spent a lot of time in the hoods of Metropolis?”
“Oh yeah, I’m down”, she created a fake gang sign.
“The evidence would seem to suggest that it was Miss Scarlett”, he looked down at his notes. They were clear and organised but, he reminded himself, he would have done that even if Chloe hadn’t made a rule about note-taking etiquette.
“Come on Lex, she’s: a femme fatale, 20-30s, blonde, smart, cunning, and brilliant. Of course we love her!”
“Yeah, only thing that would make her better would be being a brunette”, Lois added.
“No, blonde!”
“Let’s take a vote shall we”, Lois looked smug.
“That’s not fair, you know that the boys ...
“The boys?” Lex raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, you’re not girls”, Chloe said as if it were obviously before continuing with her original idea, “are both brunette fanciers”.
They both looked offended although she had no idea why. It was true.
“Oh please, you”, she pointed at Clark, “Lana Lang lust much?”
He blushed and could hardly refute the accusation such as it was.
“And you”, she turned her attention to Lex, “well, let’s not get started on your romantic history”.
Clark suddenly stopped looking like a pinkening haddock and his gaze (along with Lois’) snapped to Lex’s face. They were both suddenly afraid that Chloe might be able to find herself without a roof over her head.
Lex’s face held an odd expression for a few seconds, as if he were trying to make up his mind how he should respond to such an accusation but then he leant back against the sofa and said, “There must have been a blonde in there somewhere, a couple of red heads defiantly”.
Chloe shook her head and he couldn’t help but wonder how she knew that. True, she had done that research on him to Clark solve the mystery of his lover when she had still been in High School but that had been years ago. He was willing to bet that she hadn’t given him a second thought until a few weeks ago. So, how did she know?
“Sometimes cuffs and collar don’t match”, he shrugged.
“Chloe knows all about that”, Lois nudged her, relieved to see that Lex see wasn’t overreacting.
“There is no evidence of that”, Chloe shot back before she could think better of it.
Lex’s eyebrow raised. Not a bad image.
Chloe blushed, she hadn’t meant toa dmit that. She had never been so glad to see Lana and a couple of her other friends coming in
“Hi”, she bounced up to great them before asking, “wait, how are you getting in? Lois?”
“Rang the door bell”.
“I didn’t hear it”, she looked at Lex for clarification.
“It doesn’t make a sound, it sends a message to the beepers of members of staff”, he explained.
“Oh”, she would have to change that, she didn’t want people opening the door for her. That seemed like an absurd amount of laziness.
“We can change it if you want”, he said with a smile.
“That’s good”, she returned the smile, “so everyone thanks for coming to help me celebrate my new job and accommodation. Let me introduce everyone. Everyone this is: my cousin Lois, Clark, Lex, Lana, Kelly and Sophie”. He last two random girls from High School she had somehow stayed in touch with. They were nice. Although all of the new comers seemed nervous around Lex. She was a bit pissed about that. He was doing his best to be kind and suave and charming and they were being all dear in a headlights-y. They could at least try a bit harder. Thankfully Clark and Lois were helping but she had expected more from Lana.
Lex had obviously picked up on it too - when they went to get the food from the kitchen - he suggested that it might time for him to get going but she wasn’t going to allow that. “Okay Lex, if we are going to be friends you are going to have to get one thing through your head”.
“And what might that be?”
“That you have to stop being such a fraidy cat wimp!”
“Did you just call me a fraidy cat wimp?” He couldn’t believe that.
“Yup. Just because things get a little tough you don’t get to just bail on me”, she informed him as she removed the cellophane from over the sandwiches.
He shook his head at her, “Manipulation. Nice”.
“It’s how I roll”, she smiled, causing him to snicker. Only he would get that reference.
“So, come on”, she said, picking one of the huge platters of sandwiches back up.
“I still can’t believe that you got sandwiches for a party”, he shook his head,
“What else do you eat at parties?”
“How many parties have you been to?”
“As a kid? Loads. In High School? Two. University: One”, she trailed off. “I went to quite a few clubs though”.
“Well, that explains it. Let me educate you from my vast experience of parties”
“You were more of a loser in High School than I was”, she snorted.
“Loser?”
“What? Not the PC term?”
“No”.
“What about outcast?”
“Better, but”, he moved so that he was only a few inches away from her, staring down into her lively green eyes, “I prefer discerning”.
“Fine”, she rolled her eyes dramatically, “discerning”.
“Much better”, he took the platter from her, “Now Miss Sullivan, if our friendship is going to survive you are going to have to learn one thing”.
“What might that be Mr Luthor?” She raised her an eyebrow in what she clearly felt was a very Lex-ish expression. He placed the platter on the side so that both of his hands were free and stepped into her personal space. Chloe looked up and him in interest.
He smirked and leaned in even closer, so that his hot break caressed her ear as he whispered, “I’m not a man to be trifled with”.
Chloe felt a tremor go across her skin and controlled the urge to shiver, “Why, afraid of making a custard of yourself?”
Lex pulled back as he laughed and shook his head, “Okay, enough British comedies for you”, he teased before attacking her tummy viciously.
“Lex no”, she pleaded, trying to get him back or at least get away but he was too strong. His strong arms were wrapped around her waist tickling mercilessly.
“Lex yes”, he retorted. Not his most intelligent reply ever but he was rather distracted as she squirmed in his arms giggling for all she was worth, he changed his hold pulling her back against his body so that the soft curve of her ass was pressing against him and he could use one arm to control her upper limbs.
“Lex this isn’t fair”, she complained, laughing so hard that tears were running down her flushed cheeks.
“Oh, but I think that it is”. She was surrounded by him, his hard lean body pressing into her back, his arm around her, his tortuous hand trailing over her stomach, his mouth pressing against her ear. His scent and breath wrapped around her as he growled, “This is completely fair”.
“You have to at least give me the chance to defend myself”, she complained.
“Why?”
“Because ... Because you do!”
“Not a particularly convincing argument Miss Sullivan”.
“Well, my brain doesn’t work too well when you are”, she broke off with a squeal.
“When I am doing what?” He teased, allowing his fingers to trail just inside of the waist band of her jeans where she was particularly sensitive.
“Lex”, she shrieked, her legs giving out underneath her.
Lex’s arm tightened even more around her and hoisted her up, jostling her against him until he could place her on the side, narrowly missing the sandwiches.
“You big meanie”, she pushed him.
“Are you all right?” He grasped her wrists to halt her retaliation.
She smiled and nodded, he was relieved but he scowled. “I did warn you”.
“Yes you did”, their heads moved closer together.
“Hey are you guys all right, we thought that we heard ... Oh”.
They turned to see Lana walking into the kitchen, followed by Lois. “Oh, we’re sorry to interrupt. We’ll just get these out of the way”, she hurried forwards to grab a tray of sandwiches. “Come on Lana, help out”.
This spurred Lana into action, although she kept her eyes averted from the couple the whole time, her cheek beet red.
“Seriously Chlo”, Lois called over her shoulder as she was about to exit the room, “kudos on the impromptu love making in the kitchen but near the food? That is so unsanitary. Oh, and don’t worry about the noise, we will play some White Snake really loud”.
“Lois, we aren’t”, Chloe called back after her and trying to jump up but was still being anchored down by Lex, his fingers just inside her trousers. Yeah, okay, so this was going to be difficult to explain.
A/N: How do you explain something like that?
great chapter can't wait to see what happens/good banter between lex and chloe
More please
Wow, finally got another chance to catch up with the story. Love the flashback story and can't wait for more and the happily ever after.
A/N: Thank-you, thank-you and thank-you!!!![]()
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Chapter Twelve
“Oh God, oh God, what are we going to do?” Chloe began to panic and try to get off the kitchen counter.
Lex grasped hold of her hips, stilling her. “First of all stop doing that”, his voice was tight.
“What? Lex we have to do something, we ...” She looked down. “Oh”, she was grinding the seam of her jeans until him, she hadn’t realised that. “Sorry”, she scooted back a bit.
“That’s all right”, he assured her, moving away from the counter top and releasing her, only to hold out his hand to her to help her get down.
“Thanks”, she muttered trying not to look at his face, or anything lower down for obvious reasons but her eyes strayed back. He was a little firmer than normal. She swallowed.
“Chloe”, Lex said her name, knowing full well exactly where her eyes were. It was a natural human curiosity. “Calm down”. His quite authority worked.
“But”, she stared up into his face without thinking this time and saw the amusement in his face. She tried to lower her face again but Lex placed a finger under her chin, keeping it up.
“But nothing. Look at me and listen”. Had anyone else in the world said that to her she would have refused, just on principle but the warmth in his tone had a calming effect on her. “We don’t have to tell anyone anything. We weren’t doing anything wrong, certainly not what they think, but even if we had been so what?” He stroked his thumb along her cheek. “You Chloe Anne Sullivan do not need to explain your actions to anyone ... Except the police, knowing you, and then only in the presence of a lawyer”.
“I haven’t done anything illegal for ages”, she complained.
“Only because you have been working for me, you haven’t had time”, he pointed out.
“Still”, she shrugged.
He smiled down at her, he knew what she was up to. “Now, don’t change the subject. Are we on the same page?”
“Yeah, we are on the same page”.
“Good”, he leant down, going to kiss her on the cheek but stopping at the last moment when he remembered that that was an odd thing to do. He ruffled her hair instead, causing her to dodge out of his reach and complain that he had messed her hair up.
“Now they definitely will think that we did it”, she huffed.
He shook his head with a smile, “I thought I told you that you don’t have to explain”.
“I know, I don’t and I’m not going to. That doesn’t mean that I want people thinking that we were screwing on the kitchen counter-top”.
“Why not?” he didn’t particularly want anyone thinking that either, he wasn’t going to go out of his way to give them that impression but it didn’t particularly bother him if people chose to believe that.
“1. It is unhygienic. 2. I’m not that kind of girl. 3. I don’t want other people thinking that I’m taken”.
“1. We have anti bac. 2. I’m not so sure about that”, he shot her a teasing look and she scowled at him. “And 3. Don’t you know that other men are more likely to pay attention when there is someone else in the picture?” He didn’t bother mentioning that she still didn’t have a shot with Clark and that she should just move on.
“You aren’t being serious? I always thought that that was one of those urban myths”. Men couldn’t be that easy.
Lex let out a huff of laughter. “No, the more unattainable the better. I mean, a stuck up girl who doesn’t know that you exist, spends her time hanging out in grave yards instead of around the living and has a boyfriend who will crucify you for going near her ... That’s about the level of unattainability that drives a man wild”. He thought about it, “Oh, and mysterious. Mysterious is good too”.
“But then how to you send the earrings the following morning if you don’t even know her name or address?”
“Simple, you hit speed dial before you hit the mattress and then you sneak out before she is awake. Quiet often you meet the delivery guy on the way out, chat with him, tip him and then go and shower”.
“You have to be kidding me?”
“Hey, I never said that it was a good way to start a healthy relationship. I just said that it was what guys did”.
“I think that I am considering becoming a lesbian”, she rolled her eyes.
“Yeah”, he shook his head, “you really don’t know anything about guys if you think that that would be a turn off”.
“Okay, I’m done with you now”, Chloe threw up her hand and walked off back to the living room, completely having forgotten her concern about people thinking that she and Lex were mating on the work surfaces.
“Thanks for letting me know”, Lex responded good naturedly knowing that she didn t mean it. For the first time he knew that him saying or doing something stupid wasn't going to end this friendship. If he did something really bad it would probably get him screamed at and he would lose all his film choosing privileges, but she would not abandon him.
Lex’s long legs easily caught up with Chloe was the headed towards the sounds of White Snake.
“Lo, you seriously need to branch out in your musical tastes”, Chloe announced as she strode into the room.
“What? When you have found perfection, you should stick with it”, Lois replied, although she did deign to lower the volume. “You two weren’t gone for very long, your reputation undeserved huh Luthor?”
Luthor didn’t bother to answer that, going instead to sit next to Chloe. Chloe’s other friends were sitting on the other couch looking nervous and Clark and Lana were seated either side of Lois, trading hurt belligerent looks. Apparently they had missed something. No one had touched the sandwiches.
Lex leant over to whisper in Chloe’s ear, “As I know that you don’t have much experience of parties I thought that I would share a little tit bit with you: this wasn’t isn’t much of a success so far”.
~*~
“Wow, you two sure know how to throw a soiree”, Lois said as the last of the other guests left, the girls looking a little less nervous and Clark and Lana still looking as if they might throttle each other at any second.
“I can’t believe that the boggle didn’t work”, Chloe huffed.
“Some people are just beyond help”, Lex wrapped an arm comfortingly around Chloe’s shoulders. Those bastards, ruining the party she had been so looking forward to. Was it really so hard for Clark and Lana to get along for a couple of hours for the their friend’s sake? He had been half tempted to take both of them aside and tell them to either cheer up or fuck off because he wasn’t having Chloe upset because of their childish behaviour.
“What happened?” Chloe wondered, “Last I knew they weren’t getting along with Lex but were fine with each other?” She turned to the man in question, before pointing out, “Which you never explained to me”.
“And I probably won’t”, he replied amicably.
“Oh, don’t worry I’ll tell you”, Lois said pulling Chloe back over to the sofa so that they could gossip.
“I’m not sure that it is really our business”, Lex tried to but in.
“Oh please, I heard all about your fascination with wrecked cars Luthor, don’t bother pretending to be all moral and superior now. It is far too late!” Lois brushed him off.
He gritted his teeth.
Chloe appeared not to notice this and to transfer all of her attention to Lois.
“Right, I’ll be in my study if you should need me”, Lex turned and left the house without a backwards glance. He hated Lois. He was supposed to have Chloe all to himself now that she had moved into the guest house, this party should have been a celebration of that fact but now her cousin was going to stay the night apparently. He had spent hardly any one-on-one time with Chloe that Saturday and now that horrible brunette was going to try to turn her against him.
~*~
“Hey Mr Grouchy Pants”, Chloe called as she knocked lightly on Lex’s office door. She had had the butler let her in.
“I prefer Mr Grouchy Trousers”, he swung around in his chair to face her. Not surprised to see her there or that she thought that he was sulking. He wasn’t of course, but he knew that arguing the point wouldn’t convince her.
“Right Mr Grouchy Trousers”, she came in without waiting to be invited, “are you okay?”
“Sure”, he gave her a small smile, “just finishing up some work”.
“So”, she strolled over and positioned hereof on his desk so that she could look at him. “Are you okay?”
“Yes Chloe, I have been fine by myself for many years now. I dress and feed myself and everything”, he said, a little coolly.
“I know”, she looked a little uncomfortable and he felt like the world’s biggest jackass for not tempering his sarcasm. He was about to say something when she continued, “But I just thought that maybe you felt like you weren’t welcome and I didn’t want that”.
He hated that he was becoming so needy, hated that she could see it, hated that he wasn’t able to hide from her better. A tiny part of his hated her in that second but the rest of him - the vast, vast majority - was slightly choked up; he wasn’t accustomed to people considering his feelings. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze,
“I’m a big boy Chloe”.
“Yeah, I know. But still”, she shrugged, mainly to keep herself from hugging him. She didn’t want to have him pushing her back.
“But still”, he smiled. “Honestly, don’t worry about it. I’m fine, I promise. Did you have a nice time with Lois?” He sounded more like himself now, she was relieved to hear.
“Sure”, she grinned, “lots of gossiping. It appears that Clark and Lana have been having some problems though”, her smile faltered a little.
“Yeah, I gathered that. I’m perceptive like that”, he smirked.
“”You should have told me”, she turned serious once more.
“Told you what?” His brow furrowed in confusion.
“That”, she paused for a second.
“That what?”
She continued to be hesitant.
“Come on Chloe, it isn’t like you to be so silent. If you don’t say something soon I’m going to have to take you to the doctors”, he teased.
She didn’t look convinced, nor did she smile.
“Chloe, seriously, just come out with it”.
“You didn’t tell me that you were deeply in love with Lana”, there is was out. All in one breath.
He stared at her in what appeared to be genuine shock.
“I mean, had I known, I would have been more understanding. I wouldn’t have made you hang out at the Talon for a start”, she could only imagine how painful that must have been for him, “and I wouldn’t ...”
“I’m not”, he broke in.
She blinked.
“Chloe, I’m not in love with Lana. I promise”, he said steadily.
“But Lois told me”, she protested.
“Lois told you that I was in love?”
“Well no”, she thought over exactly what her cousin had said, “but that you two had dated. Lana and You, I mean, not you and Lois, that would be weird!”
“You said it!” Lex and Lois? Never going to happen in a million years, he almost shuddered at the thought. “We did date but that isn’t exactly an undying declaration of love”.
She stroked his cheek, trying to study his expression. He looked sincere, but then again, with Lex, that didn’t prove anything. He cloud always lie well.
He took her hand in his. “When they went off to college Clark and Lana decided that they just couldn't make it work. Lana and I developed something of a friendship, it didn’t really go anywhere. She went off abroad for a little while after her first year in college but then decided that she couldn’t hack it and came back here. Last year we flirted a bit, that was all it was. There is no reason for you to feel uncomfortable”.
“I don’t want you to be heartbroken”, Chloe whispered.
“I’m not”.
“Then why did Lana get angry only after she had seen the two of us together?” There was something that he wasn’t telling her.
“I haven’t the faintest idea, but quite frankly it’s not my main priority at the moment. So, where is Lois?” Not that Lois was his main priority at that moment either.
“Asleep”.
“Asleep? That raging party wore her out?” He asked in disbelief.
“No, but being out of town for three weeks and trying to get back without sleep did”, Chloe explained.
“So, it is just us for the rest of the night?”
“Yup!”
“I’m not watching Say Yes to the Dress again!”
~*~
When he finally walked Chloe back to her house that night she was all smiles and threw her arms around him in a spontaneous hug of pure affection. Lex returned the embrace a little awkwardly using only one arm, but Chloe didn’t mind. She knew that for him this was progress. If she kept this up she would have been nicely broken in in no time.
“Good night Chloe”, he ruffled her hair.
“Good night Lex”, she replied, giving his bald head an affectionate pat.
He shook his head with a rueful smile as she went in and he checked that the door was closed behind her before turning back to the castle. Once inside he took out his phone and called the familiar number, “Lana, we need to talk”.
A/N: So, what did you think? What do you think that is up with the Clark/Lex/Lana thingie?
No no no, why is Lex calling Lana? Bad Lex!
not good that lex is calling lana
A/N: Yup, bad Lex! Let's see if you will forgive him.
Chapter Thirteen
“Do do do do do”, Chloe sang to herself as she bounced down the steps of the guest house the following morning, smiling as she felt the bright sunshine bearing down on her. It was good to be back in Kansas. She made her way over to her new car which had been dropped off only a few hours ago and gave the red machine a little pat. It has such a cute little front, it looked like it was actually smiling at her.
Boop. Boop. She pressed her new key fob and grinned back at her car as the door popped open. That was much easier than with her last one. No need to brace one foot against the side or anything.
“You’re happy then, I take it”, Lex strode up to her.
Chloe jumped.
“Honestly Chloe, you need to go and get a massage or something. Learn to relax a little. You seem to jump out of your skin every time that I enter a room”, he teased her.
“We are outside Lex”, she pointed out.
“Still, you need to relax a little more”, he commented as she placed a hand on her back, standing next to her to examine her car. “Small”, he gave his verdict.
“Compact”, she corrected him, “and don’t act as if you haven’t already gone over every single inch of this with your mechanic as soon as it arrived”.
“Before it arrived actually, around the corner. Otherwise you might have seen it and wanted it regardless of the safety”, he explained.
“I’m not sure whether I should be touched her angry”, she muttered.
“Touched would certainly suit me better”, he informed her with a smile.
“I’m sure that it would”, Chloe skipped around her new car. It really was just too cute. “What are you doing around at this time on a Sunday morning anyway? You should be asleep”.
“I should?”
“Yes, you don’t get anywhere near enough rest”, she rebuked him, as she often did.
“I have to go into town for a bit, I need to pick up something from the Talon”, he said, without faltering.
“I can get if for you if you want”, she offered, “I need to go to the supermarket”.
“No, thank-you, I think that it would be better if I picked it up myself”, he said and she let it drop, although he could tell that she didn’t want to.
“As you wish”, she shrugged.
“Do you want to at least be a good citizen and safe gas?” Lex asked, so that it didn’t sound as if he were rebuffing her.
“Sure, climb in”, she beamed at him.
He beat her to the door of her car. “I meant in one of mine”.
“You must be kidding, I want to play with my new toy”, she dismissed that idea.
“That fills me with confidence”.
“Out of the two of us, who is the more reliable driver?” She demanded, hands on her hips.
“Probably you”, there were professional race car drivers who didn’t reach the speeds he did. Although he had been trying to be good recently. He could afford any ticket they gave him but if it got back to Chloe that he had been speeding - and it would -, he would never hear the end of it.
“Good, so get in and let’s go”.
Lex opened her door for her as he always did and closed it after her before getting in and trying to move his chair back. “How far back will this go?”
“It looks like you’ve got it all of the way back”, she checked, his knees were already quite high. “Can you manage this?”
“Manage this? Sitting?” What kind of wimp did she take him for?
“Sitting without getting a bad back or something?” She elaborated.
“Oh, yeah, don’t worry I’m not going to get a sore back?”
“You aren’t just doing this because you know that I want to drive my car?” She double checked.
“No, I’m not that kind”.
“You promise?” She tripled checked. She didn’t want him ending up with a damaged spine just to do what he thought would make her happy.
He laughed, “Let’s just get doing”.
She saluted and they were off, “I love this car!” She squealed with delight.
“So I had noticed”, he shook his head with a smile. He was glad that his mechanic had found the right one for her; he knew that she had never felt comfortable behind the wheel of one of his sports cars or being chauffeured around.
As they chatted about this and that he turned his head to stare at her. She really was adorable. It was a wonder that he had never noticed it when they had both been younger. So full of life and joy. His life was finally starting to go right and he had Chloe to thank for it.
~*~
Chloe bounced up the stairs of The Talon towards Lana’s apartment where she knew that Lex was and knocked on the door. She had been pottering around a few of the local shops before heading off to the supermarket and wanted to see if Lex wanted anything.
She waited and nothing. She knocked again and this time heard something which was muffed by the thick door. She reached out and tried the door handle and it gave. Cautiously she entered the room; you could never be too safe in Smallville.
She could only see Lex’s back - although she could hear his voice clearly - until he turned to her, revealing Lana.
“This better be the last I hear of it”, his words died on his lips as he heard the door opening and turned to see Chloe standing there.
“Sorry, I knocked and thought that someone said come in, I probably misheard”, she said, feeling like a cretin.
“Don’t worry about it”, Lana said dashing over to her friend as if she were her salvation.
Chloe embraced her friend before turning her attention to her best friend, he was staring at them, but she wasn’t sure which one. “I really am sorry for just barging in on you, I didn’t mean to, do you need a bit more time?”
“No”, Lana answered quickly, her face a mask of apprehension, “we’re done”.
“Okay”, Chloe said slowly, looking between the two of them. Something was definitely going on. “Anyway, I was just coming to ask if you wanted anything. I was about to go to the supermarket”.
Did he want something from the supermarket? He had never stepped foot in one in his life. That was what servants were for. He was about to offer to have someone go shopping for her, but stopped when he realised that that probably wasn’t going to do down well.
“Actually, I’ll come with you. I might see something I fancy”, he said, as much to his own surprise as to the girls’.
“Sure, great”, Chloe smiled, realising that he had shocked himself, “but don’t let me rush you”.
“No, as Lana said, we are done here”, he smiled back, a little strangely.
“Okay, cool”, Chloe hugged Lana again as she said her goodbyes and accompanied Lex downstairs to The Talon proper which was strangely busy considering the time of Sunday morning. But then again she was about to go grocery shopping on the Lord’s day. Once they were back in the car and heading towards what passed for a supermarket in Smallville, she asked, “Are you all right?”
“Any particular reason why I shouldn't be?” He inquired, not quite able to get used to being in the front of the car but not in the driver’s seat.
That wasn’t exactly an answer. “I wasn’t trying to listen in on your conversation but I heard a bit and you sounded, well, put out”.
“I was”, he admitted.
“Well then, are you okay?”
“Chloe I’ve lived many years in the world without you fussing over me. I won’t suddenly shrivel up and die if you aren’t ...” He stopped himself just in time, a fraction of a second before he destroyed everything.
Chloe blinked rapidly, gripped the steering wheel more tightly and attempted to swallow around the large ball in her throat.
He had existed for many years without anyone caring about him, never mind fussing over him. While he could do without the fussing, he liked the friendship. As they reached the supermarket and Chloe turned off the engine he reached out to take hold of her hand before she could escape from the vehicle.
“And I think that we have discovered why no one has ever wanted to fuss over me before. I’m sorry”, he squeezed her hand. This was hard. “When I snap. I don’t mean it”. The words were wrenched from him. Slowly and painfully.
“Well”, she huffed, “as if I didn’t know that”.
He smiled, she was letting him off the hook. She was far kinder than he deserved. He would try to pay her back for such indulgence.
Lex was a man of his word - even if he had only thought that pledge - but half an hour later he was strongly considering dragging Chloe out of the supermarket.
“Come on Chloe”, he sounded a little stroppy, “we have been here forever”.
Chloe looked down and checked her watch, “We have only been here for a little while, half an hour max”.
“I mean in this particular aisle”, he complained, and he was certain that it had been far more than thirty minutes. His feet felt like they were about to fall off.
“But I can’t make up my mind, there are so many options”, her eyes went from one breakfast cereal to the next and then back again. There were just so many possible choices. And they were all so colourful. GM. Non-GM. Fortified. Fortified. Fortified with reduced iron. Reinforced. She blinked. That last one must have been a typo.
“You don’t need anything at all”, Lex huffed as he selected a healthy muesli for her and tossed it in the cart without her noticing.
She gaped at him. “Of course I do”, she selected several multicoloured wheat based ones.
“Chloe, you don’t need sugared cereal”, he took the offending articles out of the trolley and placed it on the side, and while he was on it he removed another offending article he had noticed her slipping in earlier. “You don’t need chicken burgers either. Do you know how that stuff is made?”
“Yes, I did an article on it in High School, saw the pictures and everything. While I was shocked to see scraps of sluiced meat turned into something which strongly resembled strawberry ice-cream, in the long run, that doesn’t make it any less delicious”.
“Yeah, well, it’s going back”, he removed the item and placed it on a shelf, not caring that they were no longer anywhere near the frozen foods section.
“Hey, you can’t mess with my cart”, she protested.
“Looks like I just did”.
She narrowed her eyes at him, grasped the nearest box of sugared crap and threw it in the cart.
“Chloe”, he took it back out and replaced it neatly. “I am not going to keep playing this game with you”
That was blatantly unfair, she wasn’t playing a game. He was the one who was interfering with her shopping, he had been fine in the fruit and veggie aisle but now he was being a pain and she wasn’t going to put up with it. “I’m not playing a game, I’m trying to buy food. Do you want me to starve?” She threw another packet of something, God only knew what, in.
He took it out again, “No, you know that I don’t want you to starve, we’ve got plenty of healthy stuff. We can get you some healthy cereal and go to the butchers area and the bakery”.
“Just I want this one”, she reached out and grabbed a box, it didn’t matter which one. It was a matter of principle.
“God you’re acting like a two year old!”
“No, I’m not I’m acting like a grown woman who wants her cereal and not to be treated like a recalcitrant child”, she came close to stamping her foot. Instead she went to drop the package in the trolley but found that her slim wrist was caught in his large, strong hand.
“Don’t push me Chloe”. His voice was low, controlled, crackling with barely leashed power. It was the wrong choice of words.
“What are you going to do about it?” Chloe challenged without thinking, she wouldn’t be talked to like that.
Another wrong choice of words.
He pulled her to him, crushing the box of cereal between them, “Do you really want to find out?”
She stared up at him. She was so close to him that she could make out his pale eyelashes and the flecks of gold around his iris. His other arm had wrapped her waist like steel. She swallowed. She opened her mouth to deliver a Chloe retort, torn between being stubborn, curiosity and a tiny amount of trepidation.
Her lips quivered and his stare bore into her.
“I ... I ....”
“You what Chloe?” His voice was deep and warm.
“I like coco puffs”. She couldn’t believe that she had wimped out. She tried to convince herself that it was just because they were in the middle of a crowded supermarket.
“Your blood work clearly said no additives and colourings”, he replied placidly as he released her and took a step back, plucking the crushed box from her hand and replacing it.
“My what?”
“Luthor Corp blood work, your medical file. Did you not read it?”
She shook her head and he baulked.
“I read the first page, it said that there was nothing to worry about and I feel fine. If they had discovered a cancer or something then it would have mentioned it straight away”, she shrugged. “I filed it away. It is perfectly safe”.
He pursed his lips tightly, as if afraid that opening them even slightly would let something out. Something that he couldn't take back. After a few moments, when he appeared to have himself under control, he summed up, “You are lightly anaemia and allergic to preservatives, additives, e-numbers and colours”. She might not take her health seriously but he had read her file cover to cover. Then he had rang up the doctor personally.
“Well, I didn’t know that”, she felt a little foolish. “These have those things in them?” She hadn’t looked at the back of the packets, she had just been going for the nicest looking boxes. It had felt so good to be able to go around a store and have anything that she wanted, knowing that she didn’t even have to look at the prices. After four long years she was finally solvent again.
“Yes, they do”, his assistant had emailed him a list of all foods not containing anything she was allergic to and he had passed it along to his chef. The list had been surprisingly small.
“What about your expensive chocolate?”
“No”, he smiled, “that’s fine”.
“Thank God for that”, she couldn’t live without chocolate.
“You seriously didn’t read the fact sheet?”It was a good job that she had him to take care of her now.
“No, I can’t believe that you did”, she said defensively. Actually, thinking about it, she did; it was in his nature. Obsessive freak!
He just shrugged.
“Fine”, she sighed, “I will go into the boring healthy section however I will need you to apologise for your high handed manner and say that I can have it if I want because it is my choice”.
He smiled. “You really think that I’m going to go back on myself?”
She crossed her arms across her chest.
“Fine”.
“Fine?”
“That’s as much as you are getting out of me”, he said, taking the cart and heading towards the healthy section.
~*~
“Still not going to tell me what was wrong?” Chloe wondered, once they were seated back in her car. She knew that she was pushing and that she shouldn’t, but she couldn't help her nature. Well, technically she might be able to but she wasn’t having much success.
He sighed, “You don’t give up, do you?”
“You owe me!”
He raised an eyebrow.
“You wouldn’t let me buy half of the stuff that I wanted”, she reminded him.
“Fine, I was just a little annoyed. Next week, tomorrow, in fact, for a series of meetings in Metropolis”.
“Oh”, she was going to miss him.
“And Penelope called to say that she can’t be my arm candy”, he continued slowly.
“Oh”.
“Yes, oh”.
“But you have a lot of arm candy option, right?”
“Yes”, he agreed. Hundreds of options, in fact, but that wasn’t the point.
“Arrogant jerk”, she said, giving him a little nudge just to make sure he knew that she was teasing.
“Hey, it’s just a fact. When you have several billion in the bank; women are all over you”, he replied.
“Yeah, because the face and body have nothing to do with it”, she rolled her eyes. He could be poor and badly dressed and women would still be falling all over him.
“My my Chloe, I didn’t know that you had noticed”, he nudged her back.
“Yeah”, who hadn’t? She wasn’t attracted to him or in love with him or anything, but even she had to admit that he was sinfully handsome. “Shame about your personality”, she glanced out of the corner of her eye, she always liked to see his reaction to everything that she said and did. His face was addictive.
“You know I could find someone else to play with”, he threatened without malice.
“Sure you could!” She didn’t believe that, no one else was as fun as she was. “Anyway, you were saying ...”
“I was saying ...” He couldn't remember.
“Something about being replete with arm candy”, Chloe prompted.
“Oh, yes. Replete with arm candy”, he remembered. “I am, but none of them are right”.
“Well, I know that you will find this hard to believe but you don’t actually have to marry them”.
“I’m not Ross Chloe, I’ve only been married twice”, her influence on him had opened many more pop culture references to him.
“Yeah, but twice before thirty is a lot”, she pointed out.
“Do you enjoy sitting?”
“Yes, thank-you. I do”, she smiled cheerfully. “Anyway, you don’t have to marry them, do you? They will do for an ... evening”.
He shot her a look. He knew full well what she wanted to say and it wasn’t evening. “Yes, they would do for an ... evening but not for everything else. There are going to be dinners all week long, afternoon tea somewhere”, just thinking about it made his head hurt.
“They aren’t up to that?” That sounded pretty easy to her.
“A. They aren’t up to it. B. I’m not up to spending that much time with them”. He had told her the story about the girl who came to ask after him and when his secretary told her that he was ‘in conference’, she asked where ‘conference’ was.
“That’s a shame. Need to find yourself a nice prostitute”, she suggested reasonably.
“I beg your pardon”, his gaped at her.
“You know, like on Pretty Woman. A beck and call girl for the week”.
“Oh”, he smiled. “I don’t think that that would work.”
“Not a fan of prostitutes?”
“Absolutely not”, he declared adamantly. He hadn’t always treated women well - anyone like him came near Chloe they were going to die, painfully -, but he would never have gone to a prostitute. Taking a women he wasn’t sure was even truly giving herself to him willingly not only didn’t appeal to him, it disgusted him.
“So if I ever wanted to get back into journalism with an exposé on prostitution, you aren’t my in?”
“No, wait, you don’t want to get back into journalism, do you?” He thought that she had given that up ages ago
“No, it was just a joke”, she noticed that his expression didn’t alter one jot, “Don’t look like that! You aren’t keeping me from my true calling or anything. I did have an idea for an article like that once but I’m not going to do it, my future does not lie in journalism”.
“Good” He spoke with a little too much decision.
“You don’t want me to be a great journalist?” That was what had first impressed him about her, that was how they had met.
“No, too dangerous, too much stress, and not enough money in it”, he summed it up.
She smiled and shook her head. “Always looking out for me, huh Lex?”
“Always”, there was no point in denying it.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Continue to make sure you get jobs which don’t involve journalism”.
“I meant”, she clarified, “about your lack of appropriate date”.
“Oh, well, that is what I’m trying to work out”
“Come on, Lex, it is time to strategize”.
“Strategize”, he repeated.
“Yup, it will help. So, you need one girl for a week?”
“Yes, I need one woman”, he stressed the word, he most certainly didn’t want a girl, “for a week”.
“Okay, category one: physical. You need her to be beautiful, tall, willowy, brunette, with abnormally large breasts considering the dearth of body fat. Category two: mental. So that’s smart, well educated, able to walk and talk at the same”.
“Preferably”, although if she couldn't think of anything intelligent to say then maybe silence would be preferable.
“Category three: breeding”.
Lex raised an eyebrow.
Chloe rolled her eyes, “Get your mind out of the gutter, Luthor. Breeding: someone from a well known family, who’s rich with lots of connections. Category four: bedroom activities”.
“None necessary”, he assured her.
He shot her a look.
“I told you I need someone who”, he broke off, “do you want me to use your categories?”
She nodded.
“As you wish, milady”, he reached out to run his hand down her arm, “Category one: physical. Exceptionally beautiful yes, but I don’t have any other specific requirements”, he was partial to brunettes but not to that extent, “Although boobs would be nice; I am going to have to look at her after all. Category two: mental. Probably the most important. She needs to extremely smart, well educated (Ivy League)”, his glance slanted over to meet hers and she did a minor double take, “preferably with some knowledge of business, politics and Metropolis. And the final category: breeding. Yes, that is important. Not the money side, but no vulgarity”.
“Interesting”, she pretended to be considering the matter, “I think that Lois might be free”.
“Funny”.
“Lana?”
“Are you really going to make my come out and ask?”
“Ask what Lex?” She turned wide innocent eyes on him.
“Chloe, will you spend the next week with me in Metropolis?”
A/N: Yeah, that went completely off plan, I knew I should have let them go shopping in the middle there but Chloe was out of food.
Great update.
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