The Bachelor (R)

[Sab_Luthor]

oh oh oh oh c'mon come back please you can't let us just like that please come back you are killing with all this suspens

[argentlife]

Is it just me or do I sense a back story between Chloe and Lex?

*just sitting here, waiting for the update*

Loved the story, the idea is just wonderful and to read how Chloe's handled that *cough* bitch *cough* was hilarious.

Thanks for another great start

[happy bunny]

Ooh, I'm gonna love this, I know it. Can't wait for some chlex interaction, it will definitely prove to be interesting. One little question, what's Lex doing on the Bachelor to begin with? Feel free to ignore.

Oh yeah, and update soon.

[ladymichelle]

I love it! :yay2: :yay2:
I can't wait to see how Lex reacts to Chloe or how the other girls will react when they learn that Chloe and Lex have history.
Update soon please!

Michelle

[sylvia]

Oh wow, very interesting first chapter! Can't wait for the next update :)

[ghostwriter]

heh, interesting, veeeeeeeeeeeeeery interesting. :biggrin: Can't wait to see how lex reacts lol

[airria]

I always hated this show, but i just love the chlex version!

More please soon!

[jem]

oooooohhhh.... exciting stuff... please please update soon!?

[Not An Addict]

You know, you said you'd update this afternoon . . . and then you didn't . . . and then I CRIED. Is that what you want, Kris? To make me weep? You cruel, heartless thing. No, in all actuality, I realize something probably came up that prevented you from posting. But pleeeeeease update soon! Pretty please? I'll give you a pony. ^_~

[scifichick774]

“Do you mind if I take cuts?” Cynthia asked. “I really hate to leave you with him after I let him know that he has no chance, but you know, it’s like a band-aid. You just have to do it.” Chloe blinked at Cynthia’s mixed metaphor and then grinned as she politely stepped behind her. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Unfortunately, it was a problem. It left Chloe right smack at the back of the line, and she had a bad feeling that she would be expected to stay and chat with Lex a little longer than the others had while the crew got the ‘informal gathering’ set up.

‘Maybe he won’t recognize me,’ Chloe thought hopefully. ‘You’re wearing a nametag,’ a little voice inside her head pointed out. Chloe frowned, looking off to the side so Lex couldn’t see her face as Cynthia approached him.

“Hi…Cynthia. Nice to meet you,” Lex said, shaking the young woman’s hand.

“Ye-ah – about that ---” Cynthia started, trailing off and giving him a slight grimace. Lex arched an eyebrow. “No offense, but I can already tell that we’re not compatible. So, if you’d cut me out of the running tonight – that’d be terrific. Thanks.”

She patted Lex’s upper arm somewhat condescendingly and then shuffled off to talk to some of the other women who were standing by the buffet table.

“O-kay,” Lex strung out under his breath.

‘Shit,’ Chloe thought. Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself and plastered a fake smile on her face as she awaited his reaction to seeing her there.

“Chloe?” Lex asked in startled surprise.

“Lex,” she returned.

“What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question,” Chloe pointed out. “Last time I checked, you didn’t need any help in finding a wife.”

“I lost a bet,” Lex said dismissively with a slight shrug of one shoulder. “It happens. What’s your excuse?”

“Lana signed me up without my knowledge.”

A corner of Lex’s mouth lifted upward.

“Will funeral arrangements be necessary?”

“She’s alive…for now.”

Lex gave her a curt nod of his head.

“Even if she did apply for you – you could have easily opted not to participate,” he said in an observational tone. “Why come on the show if you weren’t interested?”

Chloe smiled, though it was more cat-like than amused.

“Two words: Caribbean island. When you live in a city like Gotham, that’s a hell of an incentive.”

“Ah. So, you were…what? Hoping to get a tan and that the guy wouldn’t choose you?”

“Something like that,” Chloe said with a more genuine smile.

“Okay,” Chris said, slapping his hand on top of Lex’s shoulder. “It looks like you two are hitting it off, but you need to spread your time out a little more evenly. The other girls are starting to get jealous,” he continued with a wink, not so covertly motioning Lex toward the small groups of women waiting to vie for his attention.

Chloe snickered and Lex turned back to face her.

“You find this amusing, don’t you?”

“Kind of,” Chloe admitted, her smile softening at Lex’s displeased look. Apparently he *really* didn’t want to be there any more than she did. “Come on Lex, you have to admit that the whole situation is kind of funny. Billionaire playboy forced to go on a reality show because he lost a bet with…”

“Your ex actually.”

Chloe raised an eyebrow. The only man she had sort-of dated that Lex would know about was Clark, and the last she had heard they weren’t exactly on speaking terms.

“Wayne has a really sick sense of humor,” Lex continued, his lips curling into an oddly twisted smirk after the words came out of his mouth. “Although, it looks like I get the last laugh.”

“Bruce?” Chloe asked. “I went out with him *twice*, Lex. That hardly constitutes an *ex* status. Of course, with *your* relationship history, I suppose…”

Lex gave her a tight, non-humored grin.

“No need to get into that,” he said. “After all, this show is about my possible future, not my past.”

Chloe glanced past where Chris was standing, looking back and forth between them with a mixture of irritation and suspicion, to the women gathered to clamor for Lex’s attention.

Then she let a derisive, scoffing snort slip from her nose.

“Good luck with that,” she said mockingly, leaving Lex to stand there in surprise while she walked away to talk to one of the few women she got along with; the one who coincidentally happened to be the closest to a possible exit.

If timed correctly, she could slip away from the group and the cameramen, and have some time to herself on the beach before Lex gave her the boot during the first round’s eliminations.

“Well, that was different,” Chris said. “It almost seemed like you two knew each other.”

“We do. We haven’t seen each other in a few years, but ---”

“Oh. That’s…unexpected. I’ll have to consult with legal to see if she can stay on the show or not.”

“I thought that was my decision.”

“It was – I mean – it is…maybe,” Chris uncharacteristically stammered. He plastered a clearly fake, really nervous smile on his lips. “Hey – look! You r future bride could be in that bunch. Better go find her.”

~*~*~*~

“And then I thought – why not just combine them?” a woman said as if it was the most obvious conclusion in the world, flailing her hands excitedly in front of her as she spoke to Lex. “I made regional manager the next month,” she continued proudly, oblivious to his boredom. “Can you believe it?”

“Remarkable,” Lex replied with no enthusiasm whatsoever and then looked pointedly down at his watch in the hopes that the woman would get the hint.

She didn’t.

It had been like that for the last four hours. From boring to vapid, to just plain trying too hard; Lex hadn’t met one woman that stirred enough feeling in him to even make him want to have sex, let alone get married.

‘Well, there was…’ he trailed off, refusing to complete the thought.

The unexplained reunion with the one person other than himself who knew how his father had really died had gone smoother than he would have expected it to, but that was the problem. It had gone *too* smoothly.

The lively banter he had long ago referred to as verbal judo was still there, but now it was perfected rather than coarse, and perfection was unsettling – especially when he was associating the word with Chloe Sullivan.

With someone like Lana Lang, it would have been fine to use the word, because it was everyone else’s idea of perfection – not his. But with Chloe…he had never applied anyone’s standards to her other than his own and the fact that he had now subconsciously associated the word ‘perfect’ with her in any sort of context was…disturbing.

He made a silent vow to make Bruce Wayne suffer dearly when he got back to the ‘real world’.

Lex’s eyes scanned the large room for the woman who was occupying far too many of this thoughts. If he could talk to her again before the ‘party’s’ time ran out in a couple of minutes, then perhaps he could see her for who she truly was, who he had always pictured her as.

Clark’s bubbly teenaged friend who got in over her head when she agreed to work for his father.

Except she wasn’t.

Not anymore.

The beautiful, confident woman he had bantered with had more than shoved that fact in his face without even trying.

He frowned when he looked all over the room but couldn’t find her. Even if there was no physical attraction between them, at least their conversations provided some sort of mental stimulation; and that was much more than he could say for the woman he was supposed to be talking to.

He motioned to Chris with a lift of his eyebrows, pursing his lips a little when the man scurried over to him.

“Problem?” Chris asked, causing the woman Lex had been listening to yammer on to let out an offended huff of air and stomp away.

“Where’s Chloe?” Lex responded.

He needed to speak with her and get the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach settled once and for all. They would talk and he would either convince himself that their previous conversation had merely been a fluke, the familiarity of it being what caused the spark of…something…to run through his veins.

Or, they would talk and he would see their relationship for what it was, what it should have been all along. Friendship.

Lex was fine with either of those options, conveniently denying the possibility of a third.

“Chlooooeee,” Chris strung out, hoping that rolling the name off his tongue would equate the name with a face.

“The woman I know,” Lex said to remind him.

“Oh! Um…” Chris paused and looked around, but didn’t see her. “I don’t know. Maybe she went to the bathroom?”

Lex caught sight of the open patio doors smirked. It was so like the Chloe he used to know to take a good opportunity when one presented itself.

“Or escaped,” he said, more than half-tempted to follow her example.

Chris followed his gaze and then shook his head in opposition to Lex’s suggestion.

“I’m pretty sure those doors have been open the whole time,” he said. “There’s no reason to think that ---”

Lex slapped him on the back.

“Just find her before the elimination bit.”

“But that’s not until tomorrow morning.”

‘Oh, God,’ Lex inwardly groaned. “I thought it was supposed to be on the first night.”

“Usually it is, but since the participants had to fly here…”

‘At least I’m staying in a different house so I don’t have to spend my entire night with these people,’ Lex thought and then gave Chris a tight grin. “Well, I guess that gives you ample time to find her then, doesn’t it?”