Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not the characters, not the show, nada. So, please don't sue.
A/N: Ok, this is hard. Me, not writing smut, who would've ever believed it. Yet, here I am. Hope you enjoy it and thanks to sabby for betaing it.
Summary: Chloe and Lex find refuge in each other after another disaster hits Smallville.
Chloe turned off her car and laid her head against the steering wheel, letting out a deep sigh. She couldn’t remember ever being this drained. The past few days in Smallville had been hell. A tornado, one even more devastating than the one two years ago, had ravaged the town.
There were dozens of people still missing and the town was in chaos. Not to mention that people who had rebuilt their homes had lost them again, being left homeless and bereft. The Sullivans had been luckier than most. The damage to their house was severe, but it was still standing. About thirty percent of the town had nowhere to go. The motels were packed and the roads out of town were not fit to be traveled on. This problem, at least, had been solved.
In the midst of the turmoil, a rumor had begun to spread around town. After some checking Chloe had found that the rumor was actually a fact. Lex Luthor had opened the doors of Luthor Manor to whoever needed shelter.
Chloe chuckled bitterly, remembering the reaction of most of the members of the town. Some had thought it was a publicity ploy, which was unlikely being that the Smallville paper hadn’t been running due to the fact that the press itself had blown away. Then there were those who had protested that they had always known the younger Luthor was a decent man. Of course, Chloe could never recollect any of them ever uttering a kind word about Lex previously. It made her see red.
‘Since when did you become president of the Lex Luthor fan club,’ Chloe asked herself while shoving her cell phone into her bag. Unfortunately, she had no answer to this question. Becoming friends with Lex had happened so gradually that she hadn’t even noticed it.
Their link had always been through Clark, but, in the past year, she had been a more frequent visitor to the Manor than the farmboy. Chloe had bounced story ideas off of Lex and he had asked her advice on the best ways to improve his company’s relationship with the town. It was a relationship built upon mutual respect, which was a first for Chloe, and she found that she liked it a great deal. It didn’t hurt that Lex was dead sexy, either.
That thought stopped Chloe in her tracks as she reached for the handle to her car door. Those types of thoughts had been flying unbidden around her head frequently these days and she had to put a stop to them. Chloe wouldn’t risk the invaluable friendship that she had with Lex on a silly crush. That had almost happened with Clark and she had learned from that experience.
‘But, you never felt *this* way about Clark,’ her mind piped up and she slammed her car door shut violently after exiting the vehicle. She was glad for the fact that she had a long walk ahead of her, because it gave her a chance to clear her head.
There were rows and rows of cars leading up to Luthor Manor. It was past one in the morning and Chloe was fairly certain that she would be the last lost soul to seek refuge in the Manor. She wished, not for the first time, that her father was with her.
As usual, Gabe was on a business trip. Thankfully, she had been able to contact him and let him know that she was alive and well. He had booked the first flight home, or rather, Lex had. However, Chloe insisted that he stay and do his job. There was nothing that Gabe could accomplish by coming back to Smallville. It was more important that he convince others in the business world that the Smallville plant would be up and running again soon.
It had taken all of Chloe’s skills to keep Gabe where he belonged. She was surprised to learn that Lex was as adamant about Gabe’s return. But, in the end, Chloe had played the ‘do it for me, Daddy’ card and had won. In reality, she hadn’t wanted her father to see the town, and the plant, like this. It would be better for him to return after some of the carnage had died down.
Lex, according to her father, had been furious. Lex had ranted about how Chloe was an ‘infernal girl.’ That, at least, had brought a smile to Gabe’s face. Or so Chloe thought, she had only been speaking to him over a telephone line; which was more than she could say for Lex. Chloe had yet to speak to him since Smallville had been turned upside down, yet again. ‘It’s not enough that we had a meteor shower that turned half of the town into freaks,’ she thought, ‘Nope. We have to have natural disasters in addition to the *un*natural ones.’
When the storm had hit, Lex had been in Metropolis and he had yet to return. Chloe smiled as she got closer to the Manor, thinking that it would be a perfect opportunity to snoop around. However, she also knew that Lex had ‘Chloe-proofed’ the Manor, as he had put it, when it became apparent that she was to be a regular visitor.
Chloe passed through the main gates and could make out the front door in the darkness. It was guarded by two familiar figures. When Chloe had won a debate about the Prussian War, she had made Lex beef up the security around his house; which had basically meant, actually hiring some security.
Even in the darkness, which was broken by a few lights that had been set up in the driveway, Chloe could see that the two burly men were clearly exhausted. She imagined that the whole staff of Luthor Manor looked that way. They had to be working overtime to keep the place running with the dozens of new guests.
“Hey, Bruno,” Chloe whispered as she neared the door, not wanting to startle the guard. His head quickly snapped up and met her face. The man broke out into a huge smile and strode over to her.
Lex had always set up a certain etiquette that the guards were to follow, one of them being, to follow his lead in the treatment of guests. At this point, however, Bruno had other ideas.
Chloe found herself engulfed in a hug by the 6’ 7” bald-headed black man. Chloe’s feet, she found, were no longer in contact with the earth. She couldn’t help but smile and return the embrace. When she was returned to her feet, she stepped back and regarded the rather intimidating looking man.
“Missed me, did ya,” she teased.
Bruno laughed, a deep rumbling sound. “Just glad to see you, Chloe,” he said, clearly embarrassed by his behavior.
“Chloe? Did you just call me Chloe,” she asked, surprised by his use of her first name. Bruno, like all of the other staff members of Luthor Manor, had always addressed her as Ms. Sullivan. The man was silent.
“Harry,” Chloe called over to the other man, who had watched the scene with a smile on his face. “Did you hear that?”
“Yup,” he said, smiling. “I’m a witness. Hell just froze over.”
Chloe smiled at the two men.
“Ms. Sullivan,” Bruno said, the usual businesslike tone returning to his voice, “I apologize for assuming a familiarity between the two of us. I was just….” But, Chloe cut him off before he could continue.
“No apologies. I think that we’re all just happy to see each other. I mean, I was even hugged by the jackass of a principal when I saw him,” Chloe said.
Both men laughed. There had been more than one occasion when she had come to the Manor, fuming, and had perfected her rant on them before giving it to Lex.
“Besides,” she smiled slowly, feeling like herself for the first time in a long time, “Lex owes me a twenty now. I bet him that one of *you* would call me Chloe before he did.”
Upon seeing the look of slight panic on Bruno’s face Chloe continued, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell him which one of you it is. And, I doubt that he’d fire either of you, being that he has you to thank for his head not being concussed in the past few months.”
“Yes,” Harry said, “Trouble did seem to find Mr. Luthor, didn’t it?”
Chloe smiled to herself. “Is he here,” she asked and was appalled to hear how hopeful her voice sounded.
Chloe didn’t like the knowing look that was exchanged by the two guards before they answered.
“No,” Harry said, “we don’t know when he’ll return. But, the next time he calls we’ll be sure to let him know that you’re here.”
Chloe held up her hands, “Oh, no, you don’t have to do that,” she said, feeling flustered. “Lex probably has a lot on his mind; I wouldn’t bother him with that.”
“Ms. Sullivan, we don’t have a choice. Mr. Luthor made it clear that if you were to come to the Manor, that he was to be notified,” Bruno informed her. “Now, why don’t you go inside? Though, I’m not sure if you’ll be able to find a comfortable place to sleep. The inn’s pretty full.”
Chloe nodded. “I’ll survive,” she said. Harry held the door open for her and she turned towards the two men. She quickly kissed each of them on the cheek.
“It’s good seeing you,” she whispered, fighting back her emotions. They both nodded curtly, doing the same.
Not for the first time, Chloe wondered what she was doing at Luthor Manor. Her day had been filled with helping Lana and Mrs. Kent prepare food and supplies for those who needed them. She had also cajoled Lana into giving blood with her. Clark had flat-out refused, but Chloe had given up trying to figure out his terror of needles. After the day was over, the Kents had asked her to stay with them at the farm, along with Lana.
She had begged off, saying that one guest was enough and that the Manor was closer. She had caught the look that both Lana and Clark had given her, but she thought that, at the very least, the Kents had bought her lame excuse. But, she was fairly certain that her friends knew the truth.
Chloe wanted to feel safe. And, these days, that meant Luthor Manor. Or, more specifically, Lex. If he wasn’t actually around, the next best thing would be to stay at his house, where she could be reminded of him. Where she could walk into any of the numerous rooms and remember a debate or argument that they had had there. Where she could see his influence.
As Chloe looked into each room, she began to second guess her decision not to stay with the Kents. The house was filled to capacity. There were people sleeping in every room on the first floor and Chloe began searching for a place to sleep on the upper floors. Along the way, she was able to find a quilt that no one had claimed.
Mounting the last set of stairs, Chloe began to yawn and knew that she would have to find someplace to sleep because she wasn’t going to make it much longer. She looked into every room in the hall and found them occupied, as well. She noticed that there was one closed door and tried the knob. Chloe cursed, finding it locked.
After briefly resting her head against the door that was taunting her, she turned around and rested her back against it, closing her eyes. When she opened them, she noticed a small couch directly across from the door. ‘Have to do,’ she thought briefly, as she made her way over to what was to be her bed for the night.
Chloe took off her shoes and her socks. Glancing around and seeing no one, she removed her shirt, leaving only her tank top covering her upper body. Her eyes briefly rested on the purple bandage that covered her venipucture wound from giving blood. She reached under the tank top and unclasped her bra, putting it in her bag. Even though she knew it would be uncomfortable, she left her jeans on.
The couch looked comfortable enough, but even Chloe’s small frame would not fit fully onto it. She curled up, snuggling into the blanket and closed her eyes. Within a few minutes, her breathing evened out and she fell into a fitful sleep.
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