A/N: Sorry it took me so long to get this part out. The good news is (well, if you like the fic anyway)... this part is done. The bad news is I'm taking the month of November off to participate in NaNoWriMo (nanowrimo.org). So this will not get updated again until December. On a plus note, if anyone cares *snicker* I'm going to be writing my first Chlex crossover fic. I'll be crossing over Smallville and Kindred: the Embraced for anyone that actually remembers that show. The first part of that should be out maybe this weekend. Anyway... thanks for all the feedback. I'm glad people like this, really. I'm not sure why I made Lana so likeable.... but I'm happy you guys like her in this fic even if you wish her dead in all others *grin*
~*~Part Ten~*~
No verbal protest was necessary, the look on her friend’s face said loud and clear that she didn’t want to talk about it. With emotions so glaringly obvious that they might as well have been on a sign tacked around her neck, Chloe Sullivan was declaring to the world at large that she was not in a good mood.
But Lana thought that she needed to talk about it with someone. Whether it was her... or a shrink, and knowing Chloe she was more likely to open up to her than any psychiatrist.
Still... Lana couldn't help but broach the topic cautiously.
"So... how are you today?"
Chloe looked up from the sheaves of paper that were strewn all over the desk, her forehead wrinkling with confusion. "Lana, you've been here for two hours now and we're just getting around to the 'how are you' stage of the conversation? Color me confused, but didn't we do that when you first walked in?"
"Well, yes." Lana nodded. "But you looked like you needed someone to ask again."
The other woman arched an eyebrow, her lips pressing together. It was a move so characteristically Lex that Lana just knew that Chloe would have a fit if she saw herself right then.
And it was an expression that Lana didn't like to see on her friend. Especially if she was on the receiving end of it.
"What's wrong?" Chloe asked after a long moment of silence had passed between them, her face unreadable.
Lana sighed, shaking her head both in frustration and sadness. They'd gotten to be such close friends, bonding over their shared dislike of Clark Kent aka Superman aka That Jerk, and this was how Chloe was going to act toward her when she was just trying to get to the bottom of her bad mood?
Well, fine.
"Nothing," Lana snapped. She rose to her feet, meeting Chloe's cool gaze with one of her own. Well, at least she hoped that's what she was doing. She wasn't very good at that cool aloofness thing that both Lex and Chloe seemed to have mastered. "I have to go do... something."
"We're leaving in an hour," Chloe protested.
"I'll drive over myself when I'm done."
"But --"
"Look, Chloe - we're friends, right? And friends don't put up emotional walls between each other."
The other woman let out a long sigh, shutting her eyes. Her face was such a mask of misery that Lana almost felt sorry for making her feel even worse by pointing out, however roundabout, her behavior. Almost. The days when she let people walk all over her because they were having a bad day were long gone, though, and that was Chloe's influence on her. So Chloe could deal with the monster she'd created.
"I'm sorry," Chloe whispered. "I just don't want to even think about what happened the other night... or the morning after."
The morning after? Lana's eyebrows shot upwards, her eyes fixed pointedly on the woman in front of her until Chloe was forced to ask -
"What?"
"You can't just say 'the morning after' and not elaborate!" Lana bemoaned dramatically, flopping into the chair across from the desk.
"I didn't mean 'morning after' as in, well, a 'morning after'." A faint blush spread over her cheeks, her tone biting but not unfriendly. "I meant the morning after what happened that night. There was nothing inappropriate going on between me and Lex after you left, Lana Lang."
Lana snickered. "Can't be considered 'inappropriate' at this point - you're marrying him. That fine expanse of flesh is all yours."
"Lana!"
She laughed aloud at the scandalized look on the other woman's face. "What? He's hot. He always was and darn if he won't always will be."
"He's a jerk."
"And you love him and that's why this is eating you up," Lana stated firmly, meeting Chloe's gaze unwaveringly even when the blonde's eyes went distant again. "Oh, get over it already! Not the whole he hurt you thing or the emotional issues thing... but the fact that you love him. I spent years dancing around Clark Kent - I know the signs and so do you. The little looks... the heartfelt sighs... staring off into space..."
"I do not engage in heartfelt sighing... or little looking," Chloe retorted quick enough.
Too quickly.
Chloe’s protests aside, Lana knew that what she’d said was the truth. She took a deep breath and continued, "The two of you are getting married and it looks like it’s pretty permanent unless you have aspirations to be yet the next in a long line of wives that tries to kill him right off the bat - so why not try forgiving him? He loves you... you love him..."
"I want him to be miserable."
"The only person you're making miserable is yourself, in case you haven't noticed."
~*~*~
The words were spoken with such simple honesty, biting right through that wall Chloe had begun to build up around herself. It shattered, leaving her bare to the truth of the matter.
Lex wasn't hurting. If anything he was more determined than ever. She'd done her damndest to rebuff his efforts, to make him hurt, and yet he was still right there, patient as ever and just a little amused. Despite her best efforts, she was the one that was miserable... even more so now that she realized how much he still meant to her. She was the one keeping him at arm's length, not the other way around.
God... why did love have to suck so much?
"I wish forgiving him was that easy," she whispered. "I wish -trusting- him was that easy."
"Do you honestly think he'll ever do it again?"
Now that was the question. Did she think that Lex would ever cheat on her again? If he was being truthful about loving her, and she didn't doubt that he was now, then he had all the reasons in the world to never hurt her again.
So, no, she didn't think he'd ever cheat on her again.
Easy to admit that she should trust him again... harder to actually put that practice into action. His very name defied trust. Luthor. It was the kind of name that put fear into the hearts of both the young and old. First Lionel and now Lex. And, okay, sure... Lex was practically nothing like his father. But he was still ruthless. Still a businessman.
Okay, so he was more like his father than she would have liked to admit. The difference being that Lex had a heart. One that he was choosing not to use to let her go free, of course; but such was the way her life went.
And, like his father, Lex was still not to be trusted by everyday people.
Which she was not.
No, she was Chloe soon-to-be-Sullivan-Luthor... and she trusted him, as much as she hated to admit it.
But the forgiveness still wouldn't come.
She sighed again and gave Lana a genuine smile. "Sorry I'm being a whiny bitch. I'll figure it out... soon... I hope."
"Me too... otherwise the honeymoon will be pretty darn boring."
It was the leer and wink from Lana that did it for Chloe. She nearly fell off the chair as her laughter consumed her. She gripped the edge of the desk, hanging on for dear life. Only Lana could make that statement, those looks, seem amusing as hell rather than suggestive.
"You mean...spending...a week in paradise...glaring at my husband... isn't your idea of a fun honeymoon?" Chloe managed to gasp out between gales of laughter.
"No. And if it’s yours we have even more serious issues than trust to work through," Lana grinned, rolling her eyes. "At least promise me that one way or another you'll take advantage of that man on your honeymoon. Love him. Don't love him. But **use** him!"
"Living the vicarious lifestyle through me? For shame! Someone needs to get herself a boyfriend..." Chloe teased in a singsong voice. Talking things out with Lana, while not particularly constructive, had helped. And admitting that she loved Lex and could trust him had been another peg in her happiness chart for today.
Forgiveness was something else entirely, however. She could trust him to never hurt her again. Trust him to do everything in his power to attempt time and again to make her happy.
But forgiving him for the pain he’d caused her because of some sick, twisted Luthor outlook on love?
She wasn’t there… yet.
Her eyes darted to the guest list that Lex's secretary had faxed over earlier that afternoon. These were the people that had RSVP'd so far. Nell. The Kents - all three of them! Pete! She hadn't seen Pete in forever and now he was coming to watch her marry Lex Luthor?
"Are we absolutely sure Pete won't try to kill Lex?" Chloe asked with only a trace of humor.
"Nope."
"Alright, then. Next on the list o' weirdness --"
"List of weird? Ooo - can we sneak into the school and tack it up where the Wall of Weird used to be?"
"Pinkie --"
"Yes, Brain?"
Chloe lost the mock-glare she was trying to hold onto. "Cute."
"I try." Lana preened. "Seriously, though - you invited these people."
"Did not!" Chloe protested. "Lex did. In an effort to drive me insane."
"Short trip."
Chloe narrowed her eyes at the other woman. "I thought you were on my side, Miss Lang."
"Thinking again - that always gets you in hot water."
With a shriek of indignation Chloe launched from the chair. She stalked around the desk, detouring at the couch to grab up a pillow.
"Want to take that back, Pinkie?"
An hour later the maid found herself caught in the pillow fight crossfire when she came to tell them the driver was there to take them to Smallville.
~*~*~
“Is everything in place?”
“Yes, Mr. Luthor. All has been arranged according to your specification. We –“
“It was a yes or no question, Frederick,” Lex snapped into his desk phone, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. Chloe was on her way to Smallville even as he sat there, enduring this whining toad’s gushing. “I don’t need to know what you did. I’m sure everything is exactly like I wanted it to be.”
Or else he’d make sure that there was one less florist working in Metropolis come tomorrow morning.
~*~*~
“Oh…dear… God…”
“I’ll second your ‘dear God’ and raise you an ‘oh my fucking God’,” Chloe quipped. It was… horrendous. Her eyes swept over the roses that littered the foyer, taking in the irises that adorned the stairs, then the orchids that disappeared into one of the nearby rooms.
Was the entire mansion like this?
“It’s sweet.”
“It’s revolting,” Chloe growled, kicking at the nearest bouquet. The mixture of red and white roses tipped, spilling onto the wooden floor, water going everywhere.
Ha, she thought with a touch – just a small one – of accomplishment. Let the water ruin his floor. He deserved it.
Did he really think he could fix the problems that he had created with a bunch of flowers?
Okay, admittedly a whole florist worth of flowers.
Maybe even a couple florists’ worth, if there were more in the other rooms.
But that was beside the point.
She could not be won over with material things!
How many times did she have to say that before he got the hint?
“I bet he put tulips in your bedroom.”
“Lana – there’s no way he would remember that“ But even as the words left Chloe’s mouth she knew she was wrong. No if’s, and’s or but’s. Lex remembered everything, even the things he didn’t want to remember.
He’d have put her favorite flower in her bedroom, of course.
She swallowed, an emotion she didn’t want to recognize welling up inside of her as she walked past Lana’s superior gaze. Hand on the banister, she trailed up the stairs slowly, past the bouquets that seemed to litter each and every step, not caring if Lana followed or not. On one hand, she wanted to know if he’d done something that thoughtful… and on the other it was breaking her heart to think that he would have remembered her favorite flower.
The door to the room Lex had already told her would be hers was shut, the petals strewn outside of it telling the story of what she was going to find inside. She hit her hands on the wood of the door, leaning her forehead against it.
“Why is he doing this?” she whimpered.
“Because he loves you.”
Chloe turned her head to the side so that now her cheek pressed against the cool wood. She narrowed her eyes at Lana. “You’re still on my side – aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Good.”
Because Chloe didn’t think she could take much more of this without having an absolute and complete breakdown. Her heart was conflicted so much more than she had ever imagined that it could be. She loved him, she really did. But loving someone didn’t mean that you forgave them for everything. Not big things. Not like what he’d done. He deserved to hurt just like she’d hurt… to feel the pain that she’d felt when she walked in and saw…
Her stomach turned as images from that night flooded her mind’s eye. She winced, pressing the heel of her hands into her eyes, trying to block out the pain that came with remembering.
“I’m not going to forgive him,” she whispered as she pulled her hands down. She gave Lana a tight smile. “Never.”
“Never is a loooong time.”
I know, Chloe thought, turning the knob to her bedroom with a sense of dread. The scent of tulips, like warm sunshine, assaulted her almost immediately….
… and she was lost.
~*~*~
He watched on the private feed coming right from the manor, face unreadable as he watched Chloe react to his surprise.
Shock.
Anger.
Outrage.
And then… sadness.
Damnit. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. Again.
He watched her beat her hands futilely against the door to her bedroom, the anguish on her face betraying the fact that she already knew what she’d find on the other side. There was no audio, so he had no idea what Lana was saying to her, and Chloe’s mouth was too blurred for him to make out how she was responding to the brunette.
But there was no mistaking the tears in her eyes when she opened the bedroom door.
Lex cursed under his breath, flipping off the screen just as Chloe threw herself on the tulip bedecked bed he’d arranged just for her.
Her favorite flower…. He’d thought that it would make her happy to know he still remembered things like that.
Apparently he was wrong.
He hated being wrong.
With a frustrated growl, the young billionaire scratched angrily through ‘flowers’ on the list in front of him.
If at first you don’t succeed…
~*~End Part~*~
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