Buyouts, Hostile Takeovers & Matchmaking (PG-13/R)

[meg20]

Wonderful!!!!

Wonder what will be Gabe and Lionel's reaction when Celest tells them what she saw and shows them the picture!

[trixie mcbimbo]

Okay . . . at first I have to admit . . . my first reaction to Celeste was anger (did you see my post?) but now I'm kind of excited. The game's changed, and I have a feeling much hilarity will ensue. And I'm all for the hilarity. Next to Chlex (and Clois) hilarity is the next thing of good things on my list (of things I think are good).

[bluengreenswmer]

oh, please update before i leave for vacation....

please?

[BlueSabby]

A/N:Blue: Here's everyone going with the nuts. Enjoy!

A/N: Sabby: For a genius, Lex is sometimes remarkably slow on the uptake. But when he comes through? Boy does he ever *G*



Gabe woke up to the feel of something pounding his head like it was an anvil. He slowly cracked one eye open, no further than a slit and closed it again when the pounding got worse. The most creepy thing about the pounding was that it sounded about three times more often than it impacted
on his brain. Something was wrong there.

He started to sit up in bed and regretted the move instantly. The pounding in his head turned into a constant pressure that threatened to squish his brain to mush. The pounding outside his head turned into angry bangs that came slower, but that much louder. Gabe groaned as his hungover mind
made the connection. Someone at the door.

Taking a deep breath to fortify himself for impending doom of any kind, he got up and slowly made his way to the door. Gabe hoped that whoever it was would at least refrain from shouting. He would never drink so much alcohol again, ever.

Removing the chain with as little noise as possible, he slowly cracked open the door to see who was there. At first, he didn't recognize the woman on the other side, only seeing a flurry of red and green that came at him with a waterfall of words that made no sense at all.

If the door hadn’t opened at the moment that it did, Celeste would not have been held accountable for her actions. She’d already been given the runaround at the front desk about how they couldn’t give out Gabe’s room number. It had taken a great amount of threats and more than a few hundred dollars to finally squeeze the room number out of the bellhop.

“Oh, thank god,” Celeste said, slumping against the door frame. “I’ve been banging for the past few minutes and didn’t know what I would do if you weren’t here.” As she finally caught her breath, she actually looked up at Gabe.

He looked like hell. She pulled a face and said, “Rough night?”

The thought then struck her that she might be interrupting something.

“Celeste?” Gabe hadn't paid attention to most of the drabble since he'd been to busy trying to figure out who the hell was actually standing in front of him. “What are you doing here?”

He wasn't usually so slow, but after the amount of scotch he'd imbibed the day before until well into the night - maybe he should have stopped drinking once he'd gotten back to the hotel - his brain was not even considering working for him. He needed coffee, desperately. And maybe some light breakfast.

Gabe turned away from Celeste to get the hotel phone and order what he needed. Whatever Celeste wanted, she would have to wait a few minutes. Maybe he should put on some pants though. He stopped on his way to the phone, turned around and went for the chair instead to put on the pair he'd worn yesterday.

Even though Celeste knew that others considered her to be pushy, she usually wasn’t this bad. She knew that she should offer to come back but she wasn’t sure that if she left the room that Gabe would let her back in.

She knew that it was Lionel’s doing that she no longer worked on the case of their children but didn’t know how Gabe had felt about the whole thing. It wasn’t as if they had had any time to discuss it before she had to leave LuthorCorp.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know that this is totally inappropriate and that I’ve broken quite a few laws in doing what I’ve done.” She thought of taking the pictures of Lex, the speeding ticket she’d gotten while coming over here and the bribery she’d just partaken in.

“But what I’ve got to tell you and show you just can’t wait.” She slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out the digital camera. After Gabe had put his pants on, she handed it over to him. The first picture of Chloe and Lex already on the display panel.

Gabe stared at the picture uncomprehendingly for a moment. It showed Lex and Chloe, together, and Lex was helping Chloe into her car.

He looked back up at Celeste. “You'll forgive me, but I have no clue why you're showing me this picture.”

Why would she bang him out of bed at this unholy hour to show him an old picture of Lex helping Chloe into her car? He looked at the picture again and noticed something that he'd missed before. The time stamp on the picture. It had been taken today, not an hour earlier. “What the hell?”

If this was true, then Lex had helped Chloe into her car this morning shortly after five am. And what little background the picture showed did not look at all like the parking lot of the hotel.

“I need coffee,” he muttered as he made his way to the phone once more, still holding on to the camera. “And then you need to tell me just what the hell is going on.”

The last time Lex and Chloe had been within spitting distance, they hadn't even looked at each other, let alone interacted in any way. Of course there had been that moment when Lionel and Chloe had been talking. Gabe remembered now that Lex had reacted very oddly.

He ordered mechanically, then hung up and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Have a seat, then tell me what this,” he indicated the camera in his hand, “is all about.”

Celeste pulled out the chair from the desk and placed it in front of where Gabe was sitting. “I was working on another job that took me to this hotel. It’s about twenty minutes from here, right off one of the exits from the highway. I had just been about to leave when I saw them,” she gestured to the camera.

“What I could get a shot of them doing was saying goodbye. I was too stunned to move at first.” She crossed one leg over the other and then looked at Gabe. “They were kissing each other. And not in a friendly way. Once I was able to move, I grabbed the camera and got those shots.”

Gabe looked back down at the camera and appeared to be shuttling between the two pictures. Celeste knew she was taking a chance with her next words but she didn’t see how they couldn’t be true. “They’re together, Gabe. And, I don’t have any hard evidence on this, it’s just a gut feeling, but,” she paused, knowing that it was a dangerous leap to be taking, “it’s not casual.”

She shook her head and saw that she had Gabe’s full attention. “I’ve seen casual throughout the years. Often documenting torrid affairs with that very camera. It wasn’t like that. I think that this has been going on for a long time. They’ve been hiding it.”

“And I’ve only come up with one reason why they would be doing that. They know, Gabe,” she fixed him with a look. “They figured it out and they’ve been sneaking around, making sure that you and Lionel never found out.”

That information knocked the wind out of him. Suddenly the pieces clicked together despite the lack of coffee in his blood and the continued pounding in his brain. That's why Lex had reacted the way he did yesterday, that's why the two had gone from budding love, to hatred, to cold to complete indifference in the span of a couple days without any discernable reason. It had all been an act. An act to pay them back for what they'd done? “Shit,” he cursed under his breath before looking back up at Celeste. “What have we done?”

He got up from the mattress a little too fast, intending to pace through the room and almost sat right back down. Catching himself at the last moment, he started through the room in long strides. “Lionel can never know about this. And I...” A knock at the door stopped him in his track and he went over to answer it. He'd definitely have to apologize to both Lex and Chloe. If he'd known what effect Lionel and his meddling would have... Maybe once he had some coffee, he'd be able to come up with a plan to both outwit Lionel and fix what they'd messed up. Yeah, when pigs would fly….

When the door opened, Lionel was surprised by the sight before him. He’d intercepted the coffee that was intended for Gabe and had taken it upon himself to deliver it personally. That way he could see just how hung over the man was.

But he still wasn’t prepared for the tableau that greeted him. Celeste Guyan was sitting in Gabe’s room…as if she belonged there. He calmly looked at Gabe and said, “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

Could the man have been going behind his back in some way? Did he have some plan about their children that he had not informed Lionel of? Instead of just hurling accusations forth, Lionel decided that it was best to ask questions first.

“Lionel,” Gabe greeted while in his head there was a mantra of 'Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck shit fuck.' “Of course not, we were just...” he smiled, looking back at Celeste to buy a moment's time. There was only one excuse left he could use. “We were about to get ready for breakfast.” He looked back at Lionel, meeting the other man's gaze head on.

Now he could only hope to whatever higher being was up at this hour that Lionel got the implication the way Gabe intended it. Of course that would still mean pulling an explanation out of his ass about when things between Celeste and him had started and hoping that Celeste could play along believably without blowing the cover.

Celeste had been prepared for anything that Gabe said when she saw Lionel standing at the doorway. She’d go along with any and all plans that Gabe had. Clearly, he didn’t want Lionel knowing that the kids knew about their plan. However, when she saw the look on Lionel’s face, she didn’t know how successful Gabe was going to be.

“Well, now,” Lionel said, slowly, while looking around the room. “Isn’t that wonderful for the both of you.” He didn’t buy it for a second.

Gabe was half dressed but Celeste was fully dressed and even had her shoes on. Never mind the fact that they were both far too tense for what the situation dictated. Even if they were having an illicit affair that he had just discovered, something was amiss.

The bed was rumpled but he could see that only half of the pillows had been used the night before. Plus, there was no telltale condom wrapper scattered anywhere in the room. He’d wander over to the wastebasket in a minute.

Both occupants of the room were watching him closely as he made his way towards the bed, the only place left for him to sit unless he wanted to try Celeste’s lap.

He noticed a digital camera. “Why, Gabe,” he said, picking it up, “I didn’t realize you had it in you.” He saw the other man’s eyes widen at the object in his hand.

Lionel turned it over in his hand and felt his breath hitch in his chest when he saw the display. It was a picture of Lex and Chloe. He looked at the date stamp. From this morning.

He hit the forward button and saw a picture of his son staring off into the distance, after Chloe, Lionel assumed. He shuttled through the rest of the pictures but they were of a fat middle aged man with what was clearly a prostitute.

Things were falling into place. “You were planning on keeping this from me,” he stated, coldly. “After all of myself that I’ve put into this, into them, you felt it best to lie to me. Explain yourself. Quickly.”

Gabe closed his eyes and admitted defeat. Of course luck wouldn't be on his side when he was up against Lionel Luthor. “I know you, Lionel. And believe it or not, I know what's going through your head now, even as you're putting me through the wringer.”

He stepped up to the other man and took the camera from his hand. “Do you know what these pictures mean? They mean that our children are pretending to hate each other specifically to spite us.”

The whole situation had him tense as a bow string and he could feel himself getting more and more aggravated at both Lionel and himself, not to mention the whole damn plan they'd come up with. “Instead of getting them together our plan managed to achieve exactly the opposite! It's our fault they're hiding their relationship, meeting up in shady motels and have to act like they hate each other whenever we force them into the same place.” Gabe started pacing as it really sunk in. “Just like yesterday.” He couldn't imagine what hell Chloe and Lex had gone through the day before. And ever since they'd gotten into the fight all these months ago. “God, for months now!”

Lionel didn’t see what one had to do with the other. So, yes, Gabe may have a point that their children were sneaking behind their backs but there was no need to. Lex and Chloe were just being obstinate about the whole thing. But, why would they be? Why would they hide this? Why would they not tell them? Well, at least why wouldn’t Chloe confide in Gabe?

There could only be one reason for that. They knew. And would never admit their feelings in public because it would be giving in to what he and Gabe had done. Their children were together, but not in any real sense. Not in the way that would lead to a white wedding and grandchildren.

Lionel began to shake his head. The plan had worked. But in a way that things didn’t work out for anyone involved.

“They care for one another,” he stated. “Now all we need to do is get them to admit it.” He looked up at Gabe. “Don’t you see how close we are? How close they are to getting everything that they deserve? We can’t quit.”

Gabe ran his hands into his thinning hair and pulled it tightly. “Lionel, if we don't stop now, apologize to them and grovel like we've never done before, we're going to ruin whatever relationship there is!”

How could the man not understand this? He knew his son and even Chloe well enough by now to know that their stubbornness outweighed everything else, even if it was such a thing as budding love. “They know what we've done and I'm betting they at least guess that you haven't given up. If you don't stop pushing, you're going to split them apart for good!”

Celeste already knew that it wouldn’t be any good. Lionel had taken this whole plan very personally. She knew that he was trying to atone for every sin that he had committed with Lex. The man couldn’t let up or give up. If he did, he would never make it up to his son. He was blinded by fear. And, possibly, love.

After a moment, her suspicions were confirmed.

“It’s not the time for that quite yet, Gabe,” Lionel said. If need be, he supposed he could do that. But it would be so much easier if their love was forced to come to the light of day by some other means. And, it had to be love. Lex would certainly not meet a woman at a place such as the one in the picture for any other reason.

He handed the camera back to Gabe. “There are other ways of going about this.” A plan had already started to formulate in his head. It was daring, but it just might work. “I’ll see you at the meeting. Unless you’d like to actually follow through with the insinuation you made about yourself and Ms. Guyan.”

Gabe's jaw dropped. He didn't know what he wanted to do first. Scream his head off at Lionel for his stubbornness or refute the snide remark the other man had made about Celeste and him. “JESUS! Lionel, you can't do this!”

But by the time he finally got that sentence out, the man was already imperiously sweeping out of the room and swinging the door shut behind him. Gabe knew it would be hopeless to run after him. All he could do was get to Chloe right now and get a head start on the groveling. Lionel might fire him, or worse, but he didn't care. He would not let any more schemes get in the way of Chloe and Lex's relationship.

“Celeste, I need to go see Chloe. I need to talk to her before Lionel does whatever stupid thing he's planning to do now.”

“I agree that that’s the best thing to do,” she said as she got up out of the chair. “However, I have no idea where she is. I’m assuming she came back here. But, if I’ve figured out this situation, it may be difficult for you to talk to her.”

Celeste took out her cell phone. She looked up at Gabe. “I could have someone follow her?” She wasn’t sure if the man would take her up on the offer or not.

Gabe looked incredulously at the woman before him. “Don't even start...” He'd had it with professional help, he'd had it with schemes and he'd most definitely had it with anything that involved anyone outside the situation.

He grabbed his shirt from the chair and his key card from the night table and made his way out of the room to go find Chloe. She had to be still in her room and if she wasn't, he'd drive to her place right after the conference.

~~~
Lex had checked out of the posh hotel not twenty minutes after arriving. After the night of no sleep he'd decided to fuck the conference and simply get himself home and into his own bed. It wasn't anything that needed his involvement anyway, since Lionel was there. Of course Lionel would be going up the walls when Lex didn't show up, but that was just a fringe benefit.

After crashing for a few hours, he got up and decided this would be a good time to resume his planning for the future that had been interrupted the night before. Chloe might not have intended to start the process, but she had and now things couldn't go on the way they had been for the past few months. What was more, he didn't want to hide this relationship any longer. Chloe fit into his life, she was more than just a 'lover' or a short term relationship.

Lex sneered at the coffee machine as the whole fucked up situation presented itself before his mind's eye. They had a relationship that could actually work in the long run. They had a solid friendship that this relationship was built on. Things should be going great, they were in love and...Wait. Lex stopped dead in the middle of scooping a spoonful of coffee.

”SHIT!”

He hadn't told her. “Fuck!” She'd told him that she was in love with him and he'd been too shocked to properly react. “Shit!” And then the discussion had veered off to a totally different topic and... “I didn't tell her.”

He dropped the spoon and covered his face with his other hand. “I'm such a moron.”

She'd probably thought that he didn't return her feelings because he hadn't reacted right away and then she'd, of course, tried to brush it under the carpet to hide her hurt feelings instead of confronting him about it and giving him a chance to say the right thing. “She's such an idiot.”

Lex spun on his heel and made his way back to the bedroom where he made short work of slipping into a t-shirt, a pair of pants and his shoes before turning on a dime, grabbing his coat on the way out and heading straight for his car. “This is just stupid,” he stated as he pulled onto the express way in the direction towards Chloe's apartment.

~~~
When she opened the door, Chloe breathed a sigh of relief. Her father had been trying to get into contact with her all day but she didn’t feel like dealing with the man. However, it was a little reckless of Lex to just show up at her place. And he looked off somehow. God, she hoped that nothing bad had happened.

“Come in,” she said, and then quickly closed the door behind him. “Is everything ok?”

“No,” he answered, shooting straight past her into the living room, then turning around to face her. He noticed off handedly that she hadn't changed much in the apartment, even though she'd been so annoyed about not getting to decorate it herself in the first place. “Why didn't you say something yesterday?” He blurted out the one thing that had been on his mind the entire drive over. “I thought we were past this brushing things under the carpet stage. But you did it again.”

Lex reminded her of a whirling dervish. He was all nervous energy. “Lex, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She thought about any subject that she might have….oh, that’s what he was talking about. Her little slip about her loving him.

“What was I supposed to do,” she asked. “Demand that you say it back even if it wasn’t true?” Chloe was a little confused as to why this conversation was happening. She hadn’t meant to avoid the topic, they just had more important things to discuss.

“That’s not why I said it, Lex.,” Chloe said, slowly. “And you reacted in an honest way.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I didn’t think that we needed to discuss it anymore. I’m sorry,” her brows drew together, “I guess.”

She was still uncertain as to why this bothered Lex and why he found it necessary to come over here to talk about it. Chloe knew that it irked him when she just ran away from something uncomfortable but she honestly hadn’t been trying to do that.

Lex stared at her for a second. Typical. “And that is exactly why you should have said something.” How could she expect him to not be shocked when he got one bombshell after another dropped in his lap? “Because then I would've had the chance to not fuck up on my part.”

He didn't know much about this entire love thing, but he'd seen enough of the 'classics', thank you very much and he knew how it was supposed to work. “Instead, you didn't say anything and I fucked up.” He held up his hand to finish his sentence when Chloe opened her mouth to speak. “That's not how it's supposed to work.”

“Lex, you didn’t fuck up anything,” Chloe said. She got closer to him and waited until he looked at her again. “You didn’t fuck anything up,” she repeated. She couldn’t believe that he thought he had done something wrong. “and, how, exactly, do you think this is supposed to work?”

It seemed as if Lex had a certain delusion stuck in his head about the way people usually went about telling each other how they felt. But things often weren’t easy or the way they went in pop culture. It was messy and usually took a few go arounds before things got worked out.

How did he think it was supposed to work? Simple, and very obvious actually. “Well for one it wouldn't come on the tail of discussing my father's latest scheme, but even if, normally you say it, I say it and we both mean it.”

“Ok, but, and please don’t jump down my throat when I point this out to you, neither of us is normal, Lex.” Chloe didn’t think that there was anything wrong that they were both a little strange when it came to matters of the heart. It just meant that things would not follow the usual pattern that they did with other people.

“True, but that doesn't matter. I should have told you, because I do mean it.” And it just didn't sit well with him that she'd spent the last night with her thinking that he didn't care about her as much as she did about him. Because he did, which was a miracle in and off itself. It shouldn't have been fucked up by the wrong reaction.

“OK,” Chloe said, letting herself smile at both what Lex was telling her and the absurd way that he was going about it. But, considering the course of their relationship, it was the perfect way to tell her.

“So, really, you were mad at yourself? For not doing it perfectly and with hearts and roses?” Chloe hoped that he wouldn’t take offense to her making fun of him just a little in this situation.

Lex narrowed his eyes. She was making fun of him. He was trying to fix this flaw and she was making fun of him. “No...” he said at first, but then had to admit that at least part of her statement was true. Well maybe most of her statement, because if he'd had his way then she would definitely have told him in a nicer setting than in a dingy motel and most certainly in a different moment then right on the heels of dealing with his father.

“Well, maybe, but that's not the point.” And it wasn't. The point wasn't really the setting or the time or the details or anything of the like. The point was...”The point is...” ...Unfortunately, he realized at that exact moment that he didn't have any points left to make if he didn't want to repeat himself.

Lex released a growl of frustration and did the only thing left to do. He lunged forward and attacked. Grabbing Chloe around the waist, he managed to propel them both into the nearest wall as he put all his frustration over last night and both their stupidity into a fierce kiss. When he'd finally purged his system enough to think somewhat clearly, he pulled back to look at her and stated with finality, “I love you, too. That's the point.”

Even though she’d been surprised by Lex’s kiss, her body had done what it usually did in that situation. She had placed her hands on Lex’s body and closed her eyes. When she opened them he was staring intensely and almost defiantly down at her. Almost daring her to refute his words.

She allowed herself to smile widely at what he had just said. It took a second to sink in, that Lex loved her, but when it did….well, there wasn’t much that she could think of that felt better than the feeling that it gave her.

“Point well taken,” she breathed out as she pulled him even closer. “Just try to remember who said it first.” Before he could start in on how that wasn’t the point either, she pulled him back for another kiss.

It was rare that they’d be able to be in the same room and she wasn’t going to squander their time by talking to Lex when they could be doing so many other things.

When she finally let him go she asked, “Do you have to leave now? Or can you stay?” It occurred to her that they hadn’t spent any quality time at her place. Or, more specifically, her bed.

Chloe knew exactly what she’d slip into, as well. That nightie that Lex had bought her along with redecorating her apartment.

“I can stay,” he answered without even thinking about it.

Now that this flaw was finally fixed, all he had to do was come up with a solution to their other problem. Namely, their parental units. And that could wait for a few hours. He'd figure something out when he got back home. There had to be a way to get revenge on Gabe and his father without having to sacrifice their relationship. For now, he put the problem out of his mind and was looking very much forward to whatever Chloe had in mind for him. Judging by the look on her face it would probably be quite a while before he thought about anything outside of the bedroom again.

tbc

[trixie mcbimbo]

Awww. I love Lex. And I guess I'm slow like Lex as well. I mean, I knew he didn't say it . . . but I didn't realize that him not saying it was gonna be such a big deal. I'm happy he made it the big deal that it was. Can't wait for Gabe to start grovelling. And I'm a little scared . . . but nonetheless excited to see what Lionel wants to do now . . . Great update!!! I'll try to patiently wait for the next one!

[georgee5]

“I can stay,” he answered without even thinking about it.

Why yes Lex, yes you may.

[hfce]

Oh my goodness what a great update. We got an I love you from Lex and Gab and Lionel finding out that the kids know. I hope Gab can get to Chloe before Lionel excutes another plan. I have a feeling once he does it will be chloe and lex and Gab against lionel.


Hope :0

[biscuits]

Dear god,
If you're listening, please let Gabe get to Chloe before Lionel does something stupid and fucks it all up. Also it would be nice if Gabe didn't happen to finally get a hold of Chloe by walking in on her having sex with Lex. Awkwardness would ensue. Lastly, I wouldn't say no to some steamy Chlex smut and more developments between Gabe and Celeste in the meantime. Thanks.

Love,
Biscuits

[trixie mcbimbo]

I second biscuit's request for Gabe walking in on the Chlex.

[Clannadlvr]

Yes!! She admits it! He admits it!

They're not being idiots!

Yes yes yes!!!

*dances*

Now I'm just waiting for Gabe to barge in....*grins*

Oh, and btw? I love Celeste. Love love love.