That was an excellent update
That was an excellent update
Wow! Profound thought and fast paced action all rapped up in one chapter...I'm impressed... More please...
Lark, Who's trying hard not to tease Kit about being a grown up...
That was a great update. I loved how in the end they helped eachother out. I hope they can get out of this soon.
Hope
"Everyone seems normal until you get to know them. "
Nice adrenilin (sp?) rush.
I love that Chloe is taking care of Lex, and that he is letting her. I hope Lex can take care of the guy that's after him and that they will be okay. Wonderful update!
A/N: No time, gotta go! Hope you like it!
Chap. 7-
The next day Chloe changes his bandage. She flinches when she sees the cut and somehow manages the difficult task of ministering to him while hardly glancing at the wound itself. She won’t look him in the face either. It gives Lex the chance to watch her instead. He sees the way a strand of hair falls against her cheek, watches how her fingers shake a little as she cleans the torn skin. She is so careful; more careful than Lex himself would have been. She reaches absently for a roll of tape and Lex can see her eyeing the mark on his other shoulder.
“I should learn to stay out of clubs.” He remarks lightly.
Chloe looks him full in the face then and her expression says quite clearly she finds nothing amusing in this scenario. Lex draws a sharp silent breath. It is the first time she has looked him in the eye since they woke, wrapped up in each other’s arms. She turns back to the bandage without speaking, smoothing the fresh gauze gently before tapping it.
She then proceeds to fashion a sling for his arm out of a sheet she has cut up.
“Where did you learn to do that?” He asks, mildly impressed.
“I looked it up on the internet.” Chloe replies coolly. “You should try to keep your shoulder immobile so the cut doesn’t tear open.”
“Yes.” He agrees gravely.
She doesn’t like to be mocked.
Chloe sits down very deliberately in the chair in front of him. “You weren’t surprised it was Perry, last night at the club. Why? What aren’t you telling me?”
The question is unexpected and it stings. Doesn’t she trust him by now?
“He was one of the names on the list, Chloe.” He sees her shift impatiently at the sound of her name on his lips. “Just because I use your name doesn’t make it a lie!” She jumps a little. Even Lex is startled by the vehemence in his tone. He takes a deep breath and continues in a more normal voice, “I was prepared for it to be any one of them.” That is not exactly true but he is in no mood to discuss his father. Chloe studies him for a moment, assessing and Lex forces himself to endure it calmly.
“Okay,” She says finally, “So what do we do?” She smiles a little, “To make Thomas Perry realize he should lose gracefully, that is.”
Strangely enough it is her way of apologizing for doubting him. Lex understands this but forgiveness has never come easily for him. “Nobody likes a smart-ass.” He tells her, as cool as she had been before.
It is impossible to cow Chloe. She smiles brightly at him. “Actually nobody likes a genius who rests on his laurels.” She stands and sweeps the supplies off the table into her arms, “Start thinking.” She throws over her shoulder as she walks away.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lex does think- for two days straight, considering potentialities, making plans, discarding them, then making new ones. Sometimes he talks points over with Chloe. She responses with an abstract calm that is totally unlike her. It is one more thing on the list of things that trouble him. An idea begins to take shape, anyway. Normally he wouldn’t require so much time but he sleeps a lot and the pain in his shoulder is distracting. He has no desire to give any drug a foothold in him again though and so he avoids any but the most basic painkillers.
Chloe herself is also proving to be somewhat . . . distracting.
She has taken to watching him since that night- not in an obvious way but he can see her, in the corner of his eye, her head always lowering as he raises his. The feeling of her eyes alternately pleases and irritates him. He wonders what she sees when she looks at him. He hates the quiet and he finds himself plagued by the desire to know what she is thinking. In eight days, they have come full circle and he is sitting back in the Talon a week ago, observing her and trying to understand what she is exactly. He is full of desires he doesn’t understand and desires he understands all too well.
Every night they sleep holding each other and never speak of it in the morning.
Lex watches her watching him and remembers. When he should be thinking of ways to destroy Thomas Perry, he thinks about how it feels when she presses her little body against him and throws one leg across his legs, pulling him closer. He can smell her in his clothes, on his skin when he wakes in the morning. He gets into the shower later and later in the day to preserve it. Last night she moved restlessly in her sleep and when he slipped his fingers through her hair to soothe her she burrowed closer and dragged her lips across his jaw. Instantly awake, he lay in the dark for what seemed like hours trying to maintain his already tenuous control over his body. Lex is loosing all perspective but he can’t care. He affects fatigue he does not feel and goes to bed early and eager.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chloe tends to Lex’s shoulder again the next morning. It is the third time she has done this and it doesn’t get any easier. She looks at the ugly mark that had poured blood like some obscene river just two days ago and forces her eyes away. The thought of what could have happened, what still could happen- if he gets an infection, if the wound turns septic and refuses to heal is almost paralyzing. She helps him put his shirt on. As she slips the last button through the button hole, Lex asks her,
“Do you want to hear the plan?”
Not really. She would like to sit here and touch him gently for a few more minutes or barring that, she would just like to sit here and not think about how the last eight days in this apartment hiding from mortal danger have felt like the safest of her life- until that night at the club. It never occurred to her before then that he might leave her. Now of course, that’s all he wants to talk about.
“Yeah,” She answers, feigning enthusiasm she doesn’t feel. God, she’s an idiot. I want to go home, she reminds herself. And she does- the thought of her dad and the Torch office are enough to make her eyes water but Chloe knows the minute they step out of the apartment doors for the last time, that will be it. Lex will act as though none of this ever happened and that thought produces an awful sick anxiety in her gut she can hardly bear. No matter what happens, he’ll be lost to her.
He’s watching her intently. She let’s her gaze skim his face but doesn’t rest it there. If she looks him in the eye he’ll see it all and she won’t allow that. She smiles vaguely in his direction and settles down into the chair to listen.
“We have enough evidence to implicate Perry but probably not enough to get him convicted,” Lex begins, his voice confident and calm. Chloe imagines it is the one he uses in the boardroom; it’s so full of self-assurance no one would even think of arguing with him. “and we can’t get out into the open to give it to anyone without endangering ourselves.” She nods a little impatiently. She knows all this.
“In two days my father is throwing his annual Halloween Charity Ball at the Luthor building. Despite our unfortunate disappearance he has decided not to disappoint his guests or the hospital board.” His smile is sharp and mocking, “Perry, and the rest of society will be in attendance. We can slip into the party through my father’s private entrance. . .” Chloe listens with growing horror that doesn’t show on her face. The plan is three things: impossibly brilliant, ludicrously dangerous, and undeniably dramatic. Chloe can’t believe he is seriously suggesting it.
She stands and walks towards the windows like she’s considering it. When she turns back towards him, her voice is hard, “Are you insane?”
“What?”
“What is this?” Chloe catches his eye for only a second and then turns sharply again, pacing and waving her arms a little, “A masquerade ball? An unveiling at midnight? Are we in an opera?”
“I have explained my logic to you, Chloe-“ She can see his coldly furious face.
“Ha! You certainly have! You-“ She stops abruptly and sees the answer. This is about more than Perry. Lionel- this is about him, to punish him, embarrass him. Lex will use this little moment to upstage his father. Another ugly-
She has made a mistake.
She’s still facing Lex. She knows, he knows something is not right. She can see it in his face. “Are you trying to get killed?” She demands. Keep him angry Chloe tells herself, keep him distracted. She glares out the window.
“What do you think I’m doing?” Lex asks her. He is on his feet advancing towards her, suddenly.
“It doesn’t matter what I think. We’re talking about you.” She moves restlessly to hide the fact that she has just put a chair between them.
“I think it does.”
The familiar sensation of panic is starting to set in. Even wounded Lex is still full of intimidating grace, is still implacable.
“You’ve never had a problem telling me your opinion before.” He observes coolly. He’s stopped pursuing her for a second and Chloe takes the opportunity to try and put something a little more substantial between them. She moves toward the leather couch and realizes she has walked straight into his trap. There is a point in the movement when she is between the chair and sofa, exposed and on a direct line with Lex. He takes advantage of it, is there suddenly in front of her. She takes a step back and another and finds a wall at her back. Lex leaves a steps worth of space between them but it is still not enough for her to run from him.
“What aren’t you telling me?” He asks softly, mirroring her question from a day ago.
“You’re paranoia’s getting worse.” Chloe is looking at the buttons on his shirt, his shoes, anything but his face.
“Tell me the truth!” His voice is a whip. All she can do is shake her head mutely.
Her evasion, her silence is more than he can take. Despair and desire drive him forward.
Lex pins her against the wall. Their bodies touching at thigh, groin, stomach, chest. His hands are like manacles on her upper arms. Chloe can see his pulse beating in his throat like bird wings against cage bars. He forces her head up. Forces her to meet his eyes, "What do you see?" He demands, "What do you see when you look at me?" He can feel her trembling frantically under him.
Trapped by his gaze and his body, she can’t do anything but answer.
"I see a wounded little boy, lost and desperate in a dark wood, getting angrier every second no one comes to save him." Her eyes are wet and burning at the same time, "I see someone just like me."
With a cry, somewhere between grief and release, Lex covers her mouth with his.
It is more than a kiss. It’s the opening of a floodgate. The force of it leaves no room for finesse or technique. All they can do is cling to each other and try to keep from drowning.
Chloe experiences a profound moment of shock when Lex sweeps into her, bringing their lips into contact. His mouth on hers is burning hot and hungry. He slides his tongue along the seam between her lips and she opens her mouth to him almost helplessly. She can feel one of his arms tight around her waist, the wall flat and cool underneath her and his body against hers everywhere. There are so many sensations and her heart is roaring in her ears- so she tries to concentrate on one thing. She focuses on the feeling of his tongue stroking hers. It helps for a moment, she almost surfaces but then he pushes against her, demands that she stay with him and she falls back into the flood.
With his limited mobility, Lex cannot get his left arm around her tightly enough. He cannot seem to get close enough to her. He makes a desperate noise into Chloe’s mouth to which she responds, wrapping her arms around his neck, somehow deepening the kiss. Chloe lifts one leg, dragging her sensitive inner thigh up his leg. He breaks their kiss long enough to groan and he rubs one hand along her lifted leg, pushing her back into the wall. It’s good but it’s not enough.
Chloe’s head falls back as she breathes frantically. Lex takes advantage of their position to kiss the sweet skin underneath her jaw. Her arms tighten convulsively and he repeats the motion, this time nipping the jawbone delicately. She responds with a little cry, pulling his mouth back to hers. Lex can’t lift her into his arms with his damaged shoulder the way he wants to, so he pulls her around, away from the wall towards the bed. This creates entirely too much space between their bodies and Chloe follows as close as she can, pushing against him as much as he pulls. They stumble a little over the coffee table and when the kiss breaks abruptly, Chloe draws her lips over his ear to the sensitive place just below it. The sensation of her tongue on this point forces Lex to stop moving for a moment. He slides one hand beneath her ass to press her up against him. He body is begging him for friction, for greater contact. He’s tempted to just pull her down onto the carpet. Impatient with standing, Chloe reverses their positions so that she is leading him to the bed.
Lex slides his hands under her shirt to caress the cool skin of her back. This time it is Chloe who stops them, to pull her shirt over her head. It flies away into the distance. He dips his head and tastes the skin that had so fascinated him two nights ago. It is sweeter and softer than he ever could have imagined. Chloe moans, an incoherent little whimper that sends him groping for the bed again. With shaking fingers, she works at the buttons of his shirt, pausing to slide a hand inside and run her fingers over his skin to his scalp.
They hit the edge of the bed as Chloe reaches the last button. She can’t seem to get it undone and with a harried growl Lex rips the shirt apart himself. She pushes the silk off his shoulders, running tender fingers and then lips over the scar before reaching for his mouth once more. Straining back to get free of his sleeves causes Lex to wince but Chloe’s mouth is on him again and he tips her back onto the bed and follows, covering her body with his.
They are so far beyond the territory Chloe knows there might as well be a map marked ‘Here be dragons’. She doesn’t care. She will lose Lex- but first at least she will have had this, at least she will have had this piece of him.
Ok you have to get back here and post the next chapter! This update was so full of emotion, I loved it!
That is such a sad though, wow that was great. Can't wait to see the aftermath.She will lose Lex- but first at least she will have had this, at least she will have had this piece of him.
Tracy, this chapter was gorgeous!
Finally, Lex and Chloe are giving into the deep feelings between them, and I really love that Chloe uderstands Lex's self-destructive streak.
Beautiful update
KATHY
"Don't quote me to me!" Detective Danny "Danno" WIlliams, Hawaii Five-0, episode 1.8 Mana'o
"This could barely fill up Thumbelina!" SALIGIA by westwingwolf
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Oh wow that was amazing.
Hope
"Everyone seems normal until you get to know them. "
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