Title: For You, I Die
Characters: Chloe, Lex
Rated: R, language
Notes: spoilers through season 4 episode Gone, but it's set during season 3's finale. This is more of me trying to get Chloe well enough so I can actually do a damn Chloe/Lex story I'm happy with. I'm also practicing third person objective so my entry for oxoniensis's challenge can be good.
Chloe’s eyes are wide, and there are tears shining in them. Lex’s hand is covering hers and he’s worrying his lip between his teeth. “Chloe, I’m sorry. I know this is difficult for you.”
“Do you,” Chloe asks, laughing a laugh without humor. “Really? Cause this is just… I mean you want to-- Really?”
Lex frowns and his hand tightens on Chloe’s hand. “I think this is what’s best. This way I can control it.”
“Well good,” Chloe said, her smile just as blinding as always if a little shaky. “Wouldn’t want you to lose control, Lex.”
Gabe’s fingers are in Chloe’s hair, and he tugs on one strand, smiling softly at her. “Honey. It might be the best way.”
Her eyes widen even more as she looks at her father. “Dad! He wants to kill me!”
“So that my father can’t,” Lex nearly yells, sitting back in his chair, his face neutralizing just as quickly as it had lost control. “Chloe. He will. He will hire someone to find out where you are, what you’re doing, who you’re with. And then that man will walk right up to you, and put a bullet in… your… skull.”
Chloe blinks and a tear falls out of her eye. “Lex, I have to tell you, you’re very good at scaring the shit out of me. I’m not sure it’s my favorite quality of yours.”
“Chlo,” Gabe says, his hand falling to her shoulder. “Don’t say that.”
Lex holds up a hand. “Mr. Sullivan, your daughter has every right to hate me right now--”
Gabe looks at him and his already false smile, the same one he’s been wearing for days, turns stale. “I meant for her to not curse.”
“Sorry Dad it’s just… this is kind of blowing my mind,” she says softly, reaching over and taking his free hand in hers. “Dad, I’m sorry I got you involved in all this--”
“Oh, honey--”
Chloe frowns, biting her lip and looking at Lex. Lex looks away, his eyes drifting over to the fireplace. “Listen, Dad. Could you do me a favor?”
“Anything,” Gabe says, his hand brushing lightly through her hair again.
She closes her eyes briefly and takes a few deep breaths. “Leave the room?”
Gabe’s eyes widen slightly and his smile falls. “Wh--”
“It’s just…” She looks at Lex again and laughs slightly. “I might curse again, and Lex won’t care.”
Gabe’s eyes flit over to where Lex is sitting, still looking away, trying to blend into the mahogany chair like he’s not in the room at all. “Honey, I won’t mind--”
“Please,” Chloe tries again, smile filling half of her face, even though it’s crooked and almost as fake as his. “Dad. I’d like to talk to Lex alone. Please?”
Gabe nods after moment, looking again at Lex before leaning over to press a kiss to her temple. Smiling down at her he ruffles her hair. “I’m just a hop and a skip if you need me, sweetie.”
“I know,” Chloe says, her eyes already concentrating on Lex’s profile. “Thanks Dad.”
The door clicks shut and Lex finally lets out a breath, closing his eyes and tilting his head back. “Chloe.”
“Shut up,” Chloe says softly, bending forward to put her elbows on her knees. “Just let me think.”
Lex sighs and stands, walking around behind his chair, his hands clasping around the back hard enough for his knuckles to go white. He rocks the chair back slightly and stares at the seat, carefully avoiding Chloe’s eyes.
“Shit,” Chloe hisses. “Shit, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”
Lex huffs out the barest laugh. “Yeah. Pretty much my thought process too.”
“God, Lex,” Chloe says, looking up at his with wide green eyes.
Lex frowns and closes his eyes briefly before finally, finally, looking up into hers. “That too.”
“Ok. Logical. I’m going to be logical,” she says, nodding to herself as she starts ticking her fingernails against the side of the chair. “Explain the plan to me again.”
Lex’s hands loosen on the chair and he straightens up, taking a deep breath. Taking another, he steps around the chair and sits in it, scooting it closer to her. He meets her eyes and smiles the tiniest sliver of a smile. “When the FBI brings you to your safe house--”
“Oh, holy shit,” Chloe says, a hand flying to cover her mouth.
Lex blinks at her. “What?”
“The FBI is in your fucking pocket?!” Chloe shakes her head. “I mean, excuse the language, but… Jesus, Lex.”
Lex’s smile is tight. “Chloe. It’s really better if we don’t discuss that part.”
Chloe rolls her eyes and laughs for maybe the first time in the last few days. “Right, cause that’s the important part. Forget that your father wants me dead. Forget that you want to pretend I’m dead. Chloe can’t know that Lex has the Feds in his pocket!”
Lex’s laugh is startled and sharp and it quickly fades. “Chloe.”
“I know, sorry,” she says, waving her hand. “Go on.”
He takes another deep breath and lets it out in a huff. “When the FBI takes you to your safe house, they’ll lead you directly into an underground bunker. The house will then explode. Your, and your father’s, body will not be recovered, but remnants will be.”
Chloe shudders, closing her eyes. “God. I don’t even… I don’t think I want to know what they actually will be finding.”
Lex laughs again. “I know someone in the MetU medical lab.”
Chloe’s eyes widen. “Lex, is there any department anywhere that you don’t know someone in?”
Lex grins and very carefully doesn’t answer. “Aside from me, and a few of my most trusted employees, you will be thought dead. The dental records, the DNA tests, everything. Everything will point to you and your father having been--”
Chloe’s smirk is a sharp line. “Incinerated?”
Lex closes his eyes briefly, his hand coming up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. “Killed.”
Chloe nodded slowly, looking down at the ground, her eyebrows furrowing together briefly. “How long?”
“I’m sorry?”
Chloe looks up at him. “How long will they have to think I’m dead?”
Lex bites his lip, looking away. “Until the trial.”
Chloe lets out a tremulous breath, leaning her forehead into her hands and bending over. Lex reaches out to steady her shoulder but she pulls back, her hand staying on her forehead as she looks at him. “That’s three months, Lex.”
“I know.”
Chloe closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. “Three months they’ll think I’m dead.”
Lex’s hand closes over her shoulder again and this time she doesn’t pull away. “Yes.”
“Three months I’ll be isolated from everyone. Three months I won’t be able to go to the library. Won’t be able to go… God, anywhere. Won’t, probably, even be able to go outside. Three months I’ll be…” Her nose wrinkles as a tear falls down her face and Lex’s hand tightens on her shoulder. “Alone.”
Lex sighs and lifts his hand to wipe away her tear before leaning closer to her. “Chloe, I know it’s not any consolation, but I really am sorry it has come to this.”
She looks at him and nods, smiling weakly. “I know.”
He lowers his hand and wraps it around the back of her neck. “This is what’s best, Chloe. He will come after you. Prison will not deter my father. He will find a way.”
Chloe nods. “I know that Lex. If there’s anything I’ve learned over the past year it’s that when Lionel Luthor is determined, nothing stands in his way.”
“If there were any other way--”
Chloe nods, sitting up straighter and laughing at herself, embarrassedly reaching up to wipe at her face. Lex’s fingers move smoothly, soothingly, over the back of her neck. “We can’t even tell Clark?”
Lex’s frown deepens and his eyes avert once again to the side. “Chloe--”
“I know”
“We can’t tell anyone--”
“I know.”
He looks into her eyes, his eyes full of pain and regret. “I’m sorry, Chloe.”
She smiles. “I know.”
He sighs, his eyes drifting over her face, his thumb rising to wipe as another tear tracks down her face. “Chloe--”
She lets out a slight laugh and reaches up to grab both of his hands in hers. “Really, Lex. I know.”
He sighs heavily and lowers his hands to her legs, gripping her hands tighter. “Really regretting doing this for me now, aren’t you,” he asks with a wry smile.
She looks at him and uncertainty flickers through her eyes. “Lex. Can I…” She frowns, letting go of one of his hands to brush a piece of hair back from her face. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course,” Lex says without hesitation, a resolute nod to punctuate it. “Anything.”
She bites her lip. “I can’t-- Lex.” She rolls her eyes and laughs at herself again. “I just can’t imagine what this must be like for you. How can you be so… calm?”
He frowns, shaking his head. “I don’t understand.”
“Lex,” she says, raising an eyebrow dubiously. “Your father is the kind of man that will kill. The kind of man that has killed. You’re willing to kill me, on paper, to prevent your father from doing what we both know he is fully capable of doing.” She shakes her head and shrugs her shoulders. “I can’t imagine how much that must hurt you, knowing that about your father.”
Lex smiled bitterly, looking down. “I’ve had 24 years to come to terms with that.”
Chloe shook her head. “You could have 24 more, and it would still hurt.”
His eyes flick up into hers and his eyes show confusion. “Yes,” he says, and he looks startled as soon as it’s out of his mouth.
“I can’t even…” She shrugs again, looking down at the floor to avoid his piercing gaze. “I can’t even imagine how it feels. I don’t know how you do it. I can’t even put words to how that would make me feel.”
He laughs softly. “Chloe, I’ve spent 24 years trying to put words to it. You know what I came up with?”
Chloe looks at him. “Desolation? Devastation? Heart-broken?”
He smiles and lifts both his hands to wipe Chloe’s face one final time before dropping his hands to his knees. “Nothing. There are no words. They don’t exist.” His smile widens slightly and Chloe’s breath catches as he looks at her with haunted eyes. “My father defies every language known to man.”
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