Title: Lost Souls
Author: Reese
Rating: R (language, angst)
Disclaimer: They're not mine...blah blah blah...wish they were...blah blah blah.
Author's Notes: Okay, don't hate me. This came to me at 4am the other night after excessive consumption of peanut butter cookies. What I didn't know at the time was that they were dark, angsty, evil peanut butter cookies.
So yes, I blame the cookies. That's my story and I'm sticking to it...
To June and Zannie: Man, I'm sorry. I mean it...I'm really, really sorry. I don't even like me right now.
***
“Don’t look at me like that.”
He doesn’t say anything, just walks past her into the changing room.
She watches him and waits. They’ve done this before. She knows the drill.
She hears him changing in the other room. A loud and violent display of undressing.
He’s so angry, he can’t control it.
She didn’t realize this would happen tonight. She’s not sure she’s prepared.
Then she realizes she’s been waiting for this for a long time.
He walks back into their bedroom, no longer in his formal wear, but still wearing the same disapproving glare.
“How could you?”
She just shrugs and sits on the edge of the bed. This is the part where he starts pacing.
“How could you do this? And then not tell me? After all this time…after everything we’ve been through?”
“I’m sorry.”
“You slept with my father, didn’t tell me about it, married me and then let my father tell me -- tonight of all nights -- and all you can say is ‘I’m sorry’?”
“It was a long time ago.”
He just stares at her for a moment, his mouth slightly open. He’s being uncharacteristically melodramatic, she observes. It doesn’t suit him.
She’s starting to get bored with this discussion.
“And it’s not like I’m the only one in this room that’s ever kept a secret.”
She gets up from the bed, deciding that’s it finally time for her to change from tonight’s event as well.
He grabs her arm before she can pass by him.
“Don’t walk away from me.”
His voice is low…and threatening.
“Let go of me.”
She levels him with an intense glare. It’s one of the many things she’s learned from him over the years.
He releases her arm but holds her in place with his eyes. “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”
“Yes, actually.” She pauses. “Two words: Lana Lang.”
“What?” He looks at her like she’s crazy, like she just offered the most ridiculous excuse in the world for her behavior.
She realizes this is the last time they will ever fight like this.
“I know.” She channels years of hidden resentment into her eyes as they stare into his.
“You know what, Chloe? What are you talking about?”
“I. Know.”
He eyes her for a moment and then stiffens, looking away.
She smiles ever so slightly.
Because he just realized this is the last time they will ever fight like this.
And that, in the end, it has nothing to do with her or his father.
And everything to do with one night in the Talon after hours.
He finally pulls himself together and looks back at her. “How?”
“She told me.”
He just nods. “When?”
“The night before our wedding.”
More nodding on his part. “So why did you marry me?”
“Because I loved you, Lex. I thought I could work through it, get over it.” She pauses. “I was wrong.”
He takes in the expression on her face but he can’t seem to decipher what it means.
“So why stay with me all these years?”
“Because your father didn’t get around to telling you until tonight.”
That’s when it dawns on him. Despite his well crafted mask, she can still see the moment he realizes.
“Revenge.”
The smile that spreads across her features makes even her own blood run cold.
“Yes, Lex. A dish best served cold. You taught me that.”
He almost smiles. The smile of a man who realizes he’s been beat at his own game.
“So when did you and my father…?”
“The night before our wedding.”
He narrows his eyes at her but leaves the question unasked.
She answers it anyway.
“He came to offer his congratulations and found me crying alone in the dark. I don’t know why but for some reason, I told him. And he seemed genuinely surprised and disappointed.” She pauses, a sadness crossing her features. “And that’s when I knew.”
“What?” Lex speaks, hoping to break her from her own reverie.
She looks back up to meet his gaze. “I knew that it was over…my love for you. Because I always knew you could fool me…but to fool him?” She looks almost amused. “That was a clear indication of what you were capable of. That and the fact that I never really knew you to begin with. And you let me believe that I did.”
“So you slept with my father the night before our wedding to get back at me?”
“I slept with your father for the first time the night before our wedding, yes.”
He looks away, unable to keep up the mask of indifference but still wanting to shield as much of his response from her as possible.
He can’t look back when he asks the next question.
“It was more than once?”
“Oh yes, Lex.” She tilts her head to the side, trying to get his attention. But he won’t look at her.
He can’t.
“You see, unlike Lana – who realized immediately that she’d made a mistake and never wanted to be near you again – Lionel felt drawn to me. Again and again.”
Lex looks as if he is going to be sick.
“And, at that point Lex, I’d already lost my soul so I gave myself to him…again and again.”
His hands start to shake.
And this makes her smile.
She takes a step so that she is standing directly in front of him. He has no choice but to look at her now.
“And you know what, Lex? You could learn a thing or two from your father in areas other than business.”
She reaches one hand up to his face but he jerks away from her touch.
She just shrugs and lets her arm fall back to her side.
“I loved you so much, Lex. I was willing to give up everything for you. I almost did…that summer. Don’t you remember?”
Her words are soft and almost nostalgic in nature.
He feels the tears in his eyes and realizes he’s powerless to stop them.
“I trusted you with my life.” She pauses. “I trusted you with everything, every part of me. I trusted you in a way that I’d never trusted anyone before…or since.”
A tear escapes from his eye and she reaches up slowly, gently brushing it off his cheek.
He leans in closer to her, taking in her familiar scent and wanting to get lost in it all over again. He reaches out and caresses her cheek with the back of his hand, then traces her jaw line with his fingers.
There’s so much he wants to say.
But he doesn’t get the chance.
“But then you went and fucked Lana Lang, of all people.”
He involuntarily jerks in response to her words. He pulls his hand away from her face and lets it fall to his side.
He can barely stand to look at her.
But he can’t bring himself to look away.
“Chloe.” He whispers her name and expresses more emotion in that one word, in that one moment, than he has in all of his life.
She holds his gaze for a moment, resting her palm against his beating heart.
Something in her eyes taunts him with its ambiguity.
He realizes for the first time that she is indeed a Luthor.
And had been even before he’d slipped the ring on her finger.
She pulls her hand away and her expression changes completely.
It’s back to business.
“We should really get to bed. We have that breakfast to attend in the morning.”
He doesn’t say anything, just stands silently in the middle of the room.
“Come now, Lex. We really need some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.” She smiles at him before making her way to finally change. “You might have received the party’s nomination tonight, Lex, but this is only the beginning. It’s a long road to the White House.”
She disappears into the other room and he can hear her humming his victory song from tonight’s celebration.
He crawls into bed slowly, every muscle in his body aching from the tension of the day, and he waits.
Waits for the future First Lady to join him.
***
The End
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). Well done
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