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Thread: The Tipping Point (R)

  1. #11
    NS Full Member dagney's Avatar
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    Re: The Tipping Point (R)

    This fic has my heart pounding. Great job with action, how can Lex be so blind to Chloe's loyalty and love. Dagney

  2. #12
    looking for updates Senior Member somethingeasy's Avatar
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    Re: The Tipping Point (R)

    Any chance of an update... I really don't know whether I want to see TP-Lex continuing his hysterical tantrum, or watch him acting like an ass to other innocents, or whether I want to see him groveling to Chloe to forgiveness. I just know I want MORE!!!

    heh, I'm not a betting person. But I do know the third option (Lex getting over himself and asking for forgiveness) is one hell of a long-shot

    Please update this fic. I'm seriously missing it, and I'm desperate to know what happens next.

  3. #13
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    Re: The Tipping Point (R)

    A/N: Blue: Let the angst games begin! "Enjoy!"

    A/N: Sabby: Tsk tsk. You people are seriously underestimating Lex. And Chloe. And our cruelty. Perhaps this chapter will enlighten you. Enjoy *G*



    “How’s the arm?” Clark had no idea what he was doing there. Well, he had an idea. Lana told him to go over and see how and what Lex was doing. But she wasn’t the one who had to have the conversation with him.

    He’d known about Chloe’s plan and had been waiting for a phone call. But not the one he got. Not Lana telling him that Chloe was crying. Not one that included Lana saying that Chloe wasn’t sure that Lex would ever speak to her again. Not that phone call. It wasn’t right.

    So here he was in the lion’s den. The lion currently had a sling on his left arm. Wow, Chloe hadn’t been exaggerating when she said she thought she’d hurt Lex. That had been her major concern. His arm.

    Lana had informed Clark, in no uncertain terms, that he was not to call her or show up at her doorstep unless he had some sort of news to report. He was thankful that she, along with Chloe and himself, had decided to come home this summer. He’d have a lot more explaining to do if he went to Lex’s and then showed up in Metropolis five minutes later.

    “Sprained,” Lex answered neutrally as he assessed the situation.

    Clark hadn't shown up on his doorstep in quite a while. Their friendship had been strained ever since the 'Lionel debacle' and Lex didn't delude himself into thinking Clark was there for any other reason than to play messenger.

    “So do you want to tap dance around the issue for a while or would you prefer getting right to the point?”

    He wasn't in the mood to pussy foot around. After Chloe had dropped the bombshell on him, Lex had spent the better part of his time brooding, cursing and trying to come to grips with the situation...while throwing things.

    “Right to the point is fine,” Clark said. If only he knew the point. He knew what he was supposed to get out of Lex but wasn’t sure how to do it. Then again, he’d just said that he’d get right to the point.

    “You told her to leave you alone,” he said. “For how long?”

    He knew that Chloe was afraid that Lex never wanted to see her again. He still couldn’t believe that she’d sprained Lex’s arm. But he knew that Chloe could be very powerful when she needed to be. He wasn’t sure how she’d take the news of the injury, though.
    Lex's brows furrowed. That was what he'd come to ask? Lex's lips thinned. His marriage just went down the drain. He had a million phone calls to look forward to where he would be calling off arrangements and explaining to people why he wasn't going to get married next Saturday. Not to forget there was the press to deal with. And Clark came here to ask how long Chloe was supposed to stay away?

    Lex shook his head. “Is that all you have to ask?”

    “Of course not,” Clark said. He shoved his hands in his pockets. “But I figured if I even ventured to ask how you were doing, if you needed any help or if you needed to talk you would consider that tap dancing.”

    He walked over to the front of Lex’s desk. “We haven’t been close for a long time but that doesn’t mean that I’ve written you off.”

    “But I know that you’ll just lock however you’re feeling inside of you, go on and pretend to be OK. It’s your way.” Clark had seen it too many times to count. “That doesn’t make it the right decision or mean that I agree with it. But Chloe isn’t like that. You’re sitting here rightfully feeling angry and hurt and confused, I’d guess but you’re not the one who’s…”

    He stopped there. It wouldn’t do to tell Lex how Chloe was at the moment. He was fairly certain that Lex hadn’t yet figured out how Chloe felt about him.

    He sighed. “What I’m saying is that I’d like to know how you are and if you’d like any help with the dozens of things you’d have to handle. But I didn’t think you’d volunteer any of that information or admit that you’d rather have someone who you might not consider a friend anymore aid you instead of one of the people you employ. So, I went with a question I thought you might answer.”

    “Clark,” Lex paused, trying not to give in to the asshole inside. And failing. “That was possibly the gayest speech I've ever heard.”

    The only thing missing was for Clark to be wearing a Joyce Brothers' tweed suit and take out a white cloth tissue, delicately dab his eyes and then offer him to talk about it over a couple of pink ladies.

    That mental image was so disturbing that he had to go for a drink. He poured himself a double scotch and downed it, trying to shake the images from his mind.

    “You can tell Chloe that I did not throw her out permanently,” he said as he looked down into his glass.

    Anything else, he wouldn't use the farm boy fast messaging for. He'd lashed out at his friend and Lex didn't need to be a genius to know that she was probably crying right now. Trust him to be assigned the role of asshole while Clark got that of savior in fuzzy flannel.

    Clark couldn’t really argue with Lex’s assessment of his speech. Even as he’d been talking, he’d been thinking about how he’d been hanging out with the two women in his life for far too long. But the gayest ever? He thought that award went to when he asked Lex to run away with him to Metropolis, so to speak, a few years ago.

    “Ok, thanks,” he said. He paused for a moment. “Does that mean that you don’t want to tell me how you’re doing? Besides the arm, I mean?”

    Lex looked over his shoulder, trying to figure out if the boy was serious. He was confronted with huge puppy eyes and a shuffling boot that ruined yet another increment of his expensive hardwood floor. During the years that Clark had come over more frequently, he'd had a very happy carpenter in his employ.

    His gaze trailed up from the size twelve boot back to the hands shoved so far down the pockets of his pants that they should by all rights be slipping down from the pressure to leave him standing in his boxers. Up the never changing flannel shirt and right back to the puppy dog eyes. His hand itched for a rolled up newspaper.

    “What do you think how I'm feeling, Clark?”

    Clark tried to imagine the position that Lex was in. But he couldn’t. He had no idea what he would do if everything that had happened to Lex happened to him. Instead of making up something, which was his fall back position, he said, “I honestly have no idea.”

    “I’d guess that you were pissed beyond belief. But after that statement you put out to the press, it wouldn’t be that difficult a guess.” The scathing statement had exposed Andrea for all that she was. She was going to have a hard time finding another rich man to marry her.

    “But hurt, none the less. Angry at yourself for not seeing it. And then there’s the whole Chloe thing.” He shrugged. “So why don’t you tell me.” He paused and then added, “Instead of tap dancing.”

    Lex rolled his shoulder and turned around. “Pissed, insulted, procrastinating like a madman,” he tried to sum up the general situation. “Wondering what I did to deserve this shit and trying to figure out what to do with six tons of white and yellow roses, about four hundred gallons of wine and champagne, not to mention a five level wedding cake and a Versace gown size 4.”

    It was enough to make him want another drink. “Not to mention there's about twelve hundred guests who found out from the newspaper that the wedding is not going to happen and the phone would be ringing off the hook right now, if I hadn't been smart enough to unplug it. In fact, I think I don't even want to check my email or the regular mail cause nothing gets an RSVP as fast as a cancelled wedding.”

    “Eh, fuck the guests, they’ll keep.” Clark waved a hand in Lex’s general direction. He saw one eyebrow rise on his skull. “Yes, I said fuck, it does happen.”

    “Is all of that stuff paid for already?” Lex nodded. It was a dumb idea that would get shot down but he’d try it anyway.

    “What about going through with it then?” Lex stopped as he was about to take another drink of the glass he had just refilled. “Not the wedding, of course, just a party. A gala or whatever you would call it. Seems like a waste. Celebrate the fact that the bigger mistake was avoided.”

    Lex was still looking at him as if he’d grown another head or had told him that he was an alien from the planet Krypton and that Chloe was full on in love with him. “I know that you’re not in the partying mood. But,” he shrugged, “maybe it’ll do you good to get drunk. And not alone.”

    “And the priest is going to cover the entertainment part of the evening I'm assuming?”

    The idea was ludicrous. Who'd ever heard of a gala with a wedding theme? Not to mention that the guests surely wouldn't be attending to celebrate a 'non-wedding'. “You've read Lewis Carroll a few too many times, I think.”

    If he wanted to make a gala out of it, he'd need a damn good cause. “And I can hardly serve a wedding cake at a gala event.”

    And it was a shame about the cake. It was a lemon crème something something and then something in French. Lex hadn't listened to the rambling of the woman who'd made it but he'd tasted an example cake and it had been bliss. How long would it take to eat five levels alone? Was it even possible? He wondered if his metabolism could cope with that much sugar.

    Uh huh. Clark thought that with a little prodding that Lex could be convinced to let the show go on. “No, but I’m sure whomever you’ve hired could do something in a week’s notice to make it a different kind of cake.”

    This idea was sounding better to Clark. “You can throw a party for whatever charity you choose. I’m sure that the people would still come. Say any wedding gifts will be returned for cash and donated.”

    The press had already started in with harping on Lex. “It would also be a chance to spin this in your favor. Show the bastards that it didn’t break you. And that bitch, too.”

    Lex's brows furrowed as he thought about it. “An auction on the wedding gifts, donating everything to charity,” he trailed off as he looked at the farmboy in part shock and part astonishment.

    “Clark, I believe you just had an actually useful idea.”

    He could arrange it, somehow. All he had to do was make the phone calls, answer the emails and resend invitations, change reservations and get in touch with the chairmen of the charity foundation, convince them to show up for the good cause as well and then figure out how to make up for the loss of the 400 guests attending on behalf of the ex-bride. In short, he needed help.

    His assistant would strangle him and then quit if he dumped this on her. Even the Luthor name wouldn't get him a coordinator with only a week to prepare for the event. He did not want to deal with the coordinator who'd 'helped' him arrange this wedding, ever again.

    Looking up at Clark, he tried to keep his expression neutral. “Just how mad is Chloe with me right now?”

    Clark was a little confused at the question. Yes, Chloe was pissed at Lex because she had only been trying to help him. But she was more concerned about him and about their relationship than anything else. Lex clearly did not understand her priorities. He was almost as dense as Clark was.

    “Mad isn’t the word that I would use to describe it.” He had to tread lightly…even though he thought the whole thing was ridiculous. Had Chloe learned nothing from thinking she was in love with him? Yes, the timing was horrible but she should just tell Lex and be done with it.

    He saw Lex’s face tighten and he realized he’d made a mistake. Again. “No, I don’t mean that she’s furious or enraged or anything,” he held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Lex, she’s…” he looked for a word.

    ‘In love with you,’ leaped to his brain. Well, maybe he could say that without saying it.

    “She learned Dutch for you.” Lex looked at him blankly. “She never learned Dutch for me. But she learned it for you.”

    “Clark, I hate to have to state the obvious, but there never was a reason for her to learn Dutch for you.”

    He had no idea what the boy was trying to tell him with this comment. It came completely out of left field and didn't have anything to do with his question. “She learned Dutch, not for me, but to get at some information that she couldn't have gotten else, to prove her theory. She would have done the same if it had been anyone else involved.”

    And why was he even discussing this when all he wanted to know was how he'd have to approach Chloe to get her to forgive and forget and help him to save what was left of the ill-fated wedding?

    “You know what, I'm just going to go ask her myself.”

    The farmboy had never been a source of useful information so Lex really should have thought better than to try and question him when he could get it from the horse's mouth.

    “Can you at least tell me where she is right now?”

    Clark actually rolled his eyes. He couldn’t tell Lex, Lana would kill him but he needed to know. Clark thought that there were far too many cat and mouse and cloak and dagger games going on at the moment.

    “She’s at Lana’s right now.” Lex nodded and picked up his suit jacket. It wasn’t that Clark didn’t think that Lex should go and talk to her, Clark just wanted him to have all of the information he needed at his disposal.

    “Lex,” the man stopped and looked at him. “She would not have done this for anyone but me, you and Pete. Not because we’re her pals but because she loves us.” Lex nodded as if to say, I know that, you dolt.

    Fine. “But not equally,” he said. “She learned Dutch for. You. She stayed up nights doing this. Called in every favor that she had, ran up her credit cards and made us help by varying between threatening us and promising us things. She couldn’t watch you marry someone else.”

    He waited for Lex to take that in. Clark walked over to him. It looked like the other shoe was dropping.

    “Do you understand what it is that I have been told over and over not to tell you that I’m trying to tell you, Lex?”

    Lex was a little dumbstruck. So dumbstruck that he wondered if Clark would get a drawing board and try to sketch it next if he didn't tell him he got it.

    “This might be a problem,” he finally said.

    How the hell was he supposed to work around the fact that Chloe had gone and fallen for him? What the hell did he do to cause that? The irony was killing, truly. The woman he planned to marry turned out to be yet again the wrong one, while the girl he'd chased away had gone and fallen in love with him.

    Dead poets had to be rolling over in their graves at that. If in laughter or agony, depended on the individual author, he thought.

    “I'll,” he trailed off, not willing to say 'work around it'. Chloe was his friend. She also was playing the same game she'd been through with the boy who stood in front of him, staring like he was waiting for a light of thought that wouldn't come. “We'll figure it out, somehow.”

    Just one more thing to deal with. A regular week in The Life of Lex Luthor. He wondered how much money he could make if he turned it into an actual TV show.

    Clark could see that Lex had been woefully unprepared to hear that. And that he didn’t feel the same way. His heart went out to Chloe.

    “There’s nothing to figure out,” Clark said. He had lowered his voice. Lex needed to get this. It wasn’t some passing phase for Chloe. “She, um, she learned Dutch a while ago and she’s only become more fluent. I just thought you should know.”

    Lex looked back at Clark and decoded the message, trying not to groan in frustration. Wonderful, not only had Chloe fallen in love with him, it was apparently something that had been there for a while and Clark thought it was there to stay.

    ”Well, I'm not sure how much she'll like to hear that my Dutch in general has gotten quite rusty and I have no idea if we're speaking the same dialect.”

    He couldn't believe that he'd actually sunk to using the same metaphor as Clark. Then again, if he'd tried for something more fancy, the boy wouldn't have gotten it.

    With everything going on, the last thing on his mind were his own personal feelings. First he had to take care of the big mess his ex-bride had caused, then he could try and sort out any kind of feelings he might be having aside from annoyance at the situation in general.

    ~~

    Chloe was upstairs when there’d been a knock at the door. Lana looked at the ceiling to see if the blonde would come down the stairs to check on who it was. When a few seconds passed, Lana knew that she was staying put. Maybe she’d finally gotten some sleep.

    Lana had stayed up last night, listening to what had happened between Chloe and Lex. Then, of course, she and Chloe had to analyze everything that had happened. They were women, it was what they did. Required by their genes or hormones or something.

    When she opened the door, she looked at the man standing in front of her. He didn’t look mad. Which meant he was there to make things right. “It’s about frigging time.”

    She turned around and then gestured for him to come in. She picked up her coat from the coat rack.

    “She’s upstairs,” Lana told him as she put her coat on and cleared her hair from under the collar. “Second door on your right. She might be asleep so you may have to wait. Don’t,” she said, looking over at him, “wake her up. She hasn’t gotten much sleep.”

    Lana picked up her purse and started to walk out the door. She stopped and turned back to Lex. “I know that I’m not scary and that you’re not threatened by me. You never will be. But I will say this, if you hurt her more, I will find a way to make you sorry for it. You’re not the devil or a bad guy but just keep that in mind.”

    She paused for a second and thought about Clark and what he might have said to Lex. “I’m assuming that Clark told you about her feelings.” She’d expressly told him not to, had threatened him, so that meant that he had probably disregarded all of that.

    By Lex’s reaction, she knew that she was right. “Let her down easy,” she said, softly. “She already knows you don’t love her but she still hoped…”

    Lana shrugged her shoulders. “Please just be direct and don’t pity her.” Having said her piece, Lana walked out of the door.

    Lex looked bemusedly at the closed door for a moment before shaking his head and turning to go upstairs. Who'd have thought Lana could be so direct? Of course she'd been right that he wasn't the 'devil' or the 'bad guy'. He was just the guy who got stuck in tight spots again and again without anyone giving him so much as a spoon to dig himself out of the hole that others had dumped him into. And he was getting his metaphors mixed up which was not a good sign for his mental state.

    Taking the stairs two at a time he made his way up and to the room that Lana had mentioned. He knocked on the door as silently as possible and opened it a crack, looking inside to see if Chloe was indeed still sleeping.

    He tried to make as little noise as possible as he stepped into the room. Chloe looked to be sleeping still so maybe he should have gone downstairs again and waited on the couch.

    What he did though was walk over to the chair at the desk and settle down to look at her. 'Let her down gently' Lana had said. Easy to say. There was no such thing as doing it 'gently'. It was like saying 'Break her arm, but do it softly.'

    Lex crossed his legs and perched his arm on the desk as he kept looking at Chloe. How the hell was he supposed to do this and then turn around and ask her for help to get a charity event together in less than a week?

    Chloe had been in and out of consciousness since she’d decided to lie down. Or, well, until Lana had forced her to go to sleep. She kept tossing and turning and having weird dreams.

    She rolled over again. She felt like there was someone else in the room. She sat up and looked around. She wasn’t sure he was real.

    “Lex?”

    “Yea, it's me.” Lex shifted his legs apart and leaned forward to brace on his knees. “Sorry if I woke you up.”

    She'd looked rather fitful the few minutes he'd watched her sleep and Lex still had no idea how to let her down. It wasn't like a few years ago. That had been an accident and they'd both agreed it had been a stupid thing to do and to forget about it.

    “Your knight in shining flannel showed up,” he said at her confused look. “On a mission to make me see the error of my ways.”

    He hadn't meant to throw her out like he had. The problem was that he didn't deal well when someone made his card houses collapse and didn't like people around while he tried to pick up the cards and start again.

    Chloe blinked a few times and tried to get her wits about her. So Clark had gone to talk to Lex. Did that mean he was only here to placate Clark? She shook her head at that thought. Lex wouldn’t do that.

    “I didn’t ask him to do that,” she said. Things felt weird between them. Neither was good at apologizing. But that’s not all Chloe was worried about.

    She had to tell him. He had to know. It wasn’t fair for Lex not to get why she’d been so crazy about the whole thing.

    Chloe cleared her throat and looked back at him. That’s when she noticed his left arm. Her face fell.

    “I did that?”

    Lex looked where she was looking. He'd completely forgotten about the sling. His wrist didn't even hurt anymore and he had no clue why he was still wearing the constricting thing.

    “I could've been a bit smarter going down,” he said as he took the sling off and placed it on the desk. His wrist was still wrapped, but that might not be a bad idea. Reminded him he healed fast, but shouldn't make too much of a show of it.

    The last thing he wanted was for Chloe to beat herself up about a minor injury. Compared to all of the shit he'd gone through in this town, this was peanuts.

    “It's nothing, really.” He held up his arm and turned it, waggling his fingers back and forth to prove there wasn't anything broken. “Just sprained.”

    Bringing his hand back to his lap, he looked at her with as much sincerity as was possible to show on a Luthor face. “I came to apologize for throwing you out like I did. I wasn't thinking clearly at the time.”

    Chloe shook her head. “You don’t need to do that.” She’d been thinking a lot about her actions and she realized how much of a nutcase she must have sounded like after they’d established that Andrea was up to no good.

    “I know that I didn’t handle it in the best way that I could have.” She looked back up at him. “And I shouldn’t have jumped on you. Or kicked your legs. Or….” She trailed off.

    “So, I’m sorry and you’re sorry about yesterday, ok?” Lex nodded slowly.

    Silence stretched out between them. “And I’m sorry about Andrea, too. I know that you wanted things to work out between you two.”

    It was now or never. “But I didn’t want it to work out,” she said, honestly. “I haven’t been a very good friend to you in a while, Lex. My own feelings have been getting in the way of that.”

    “I’m in love with you, Lex.” She was able to look at him when she said that. She was proud of herself. Even in the dimness of the room, she could see his reaction. He looked, well, almost devastated.

    She had expected his reaction to not be to her liking but it still hurt. Like a son of a bitch. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and she blinked them away. “You don’t have to say anything, I know you don’t feel that way. And maybe I’m selfish for telling you, but I had to take my shot, you know?”

    Lex nodded mutely, trying to figure out what to say. For a moment he'd hoped to get away with his skin in tact. He hadn't thought she would bring it up, but she had and he'd been unable to cover up his reaction fast enough by the expression on her face.

    “I'm sorry, Chloe.”

    There was no way he could demand of her what he'd come to ask. She looked absolutely crestfallen at the confirmation that he didn't return her feelings and Lex had no clue how to deal with that. He liked women, a lot, but he'd never understood them or learned how to handle them when they were close. The cynic in him was wondering if that was the reason why some of them had tried to kill him. If they would have been nicer if he'd figured out what they wanted and given it to them.

    Wow, this was worse than she’d thought. She prepared herself for it. But she hadn’t expected the huge lump in her throat or feeling like her stomach was trying to crawl up and out of her esophagus.

    “Me too,” she said, softly. They both didn’t know what to say. It was a banner moment for them. If anyone else had been in the room they’d be surprised to see what could put both of them at a loss for words.

    Chloe took a deep breath and let it out. They had two choices. They could let this get in the way of them being friends or they could just move on. She chose option B.

    She took another breath and found that she was on the verge of tears. Damnit. She didn’t want to do this. She had promised herself that she would take it ok. She knew he didn’t love her so why was she reacting like this?

    Ducking her head seemed like the best option at the moment. Her chest was constricting and she felt the telltale stinging in her eyes. Christ, how bad did the humiliation have to be?

    Lex swallowed as he watched with a sense of dread. Her eyes had started to go all wet and he knew what was coming. Shit. No, no, no, “No, Chloe, please,” shit damn, there went the shoulders shaking.

    He approached her with both hands held out, no clue what to do. “Don't, don't cry,” he heard the pleading in his voice but he was just a little too anxious to care.

    Lex didn't know how to handle women at their best times, he had no fucking clue what to do with them at all when they started crying. Should he leave her alone? Should he try to comfort her or something? Hand her a tissue? Chocolate? His credit card? No, that wouldn't work.

    “I'm not crying,” she said. But her voice was stalling around those hiccupping breaths that he knew meant she was about a second away from all out bawling and he still had no clue how to handle this situation.

    Lex reached out hesitantly to pat her shoulder. It was awkward standing over her, bending down, so he slowly turned and sat down next to her on the mattress. This was bad, this was very, very bad and he had no clue how to make it less bad.

    Worse, he still didn't know what to say. What did you say to a woman who was crying because you just broke her heart? And he hadn't even done anything. Which probably was the mistake. Lana really could have been a little more forthcoming on what he was supposed to do or say to 'let her down gently'.

    Lex patted Chloe's shoulder again, wondering where he could find a tissue or something.

    This was wrong. Lex shouldn’t be the one to comfort her. He was the reason that she was crying. But life sometimes didn’t make any sense and sucked at the same time. His presence calmed her down a little. She could hear the confusion and regret in his voice. Poor, broken Lex didn’t know what to do but he was trying for her.

    It made her cry even harder. He cared. Just not enough. They never cared enough.

    When she started to really lose it she felt Lex’s arm wrap around her shoulder. It was placed there lightly and he kept murmuring things like ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘Don’t cry.’

    She turned slightly and cried into his shirt. Chloe felt his other arm wrap around her and he pulled her towards him.

    It only took one hand to count the number of times she’d hugged Lex. And this was not the sort of circumstances she wanted it to happen under. But she couldn’t help it, she found herself plastered against him and holding on for dear life.

    As if holding him tightly would make him forget what he’d just said and give in and lie and say he loved her.

    She shouldn’t be doing this. Her grip relaxed and she used her forearm to push against his chest. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “No.”

    She got off of the bed and tried to pull herself together. Her back was towards Lex, it was hard to look at him at the moment, as she wiped under her eyes. She caught a glance of herself in the mirror and decided that reflective surfaces were not her friend at this point.

    Once her face was dry, she ran her hands through her hair. After a few more seconds, she turned back towards him.

    But had no idea what to say.

    Lex sat stiffly on the mattress, but he really wanted to get up and get the hell out. He had no idea what to say. 'I'm sorry' didn't really cut it in a situation like this. He wondered if he should offer her to stay out of her sight. Then again, that might make it worse too. But he wouldn't say the 'let's stay friends' thing. That one, he'd learned from the Clark and Chloe fiasco back in high school. But what the hell else was he supposed to say then? It didn't look like she knew what to say either.

    All he knew was that he didn't like it that she looked at him so absolutely devastated, like he'd just killed her pet and then handed its dead and bloody remains to her with a smile and a shrug.

    He bit the inside of his cheek, trying to keep his face impassive as he looked her over. “Is there anything I can do?”

    Lex wanted to smack himself. No, scratch that, he wanted to kick himself down a long set of stairs and then throw his broken carcass to the wolves. Like there was anything he could do. Like it was a matter of buying something or arranging something or plain putting his signature on a piece of paper to pay whatever the hell price a broken heart had these days.

    Chloe gave Lex a wan smile. “Unfortunately, no. But thank you for asking. I know that you’d do something if you could.” Some might find Lex cold and uncaring but those were people who didn’t know their ass from their elbow.

    “I’m just going to have to deal with this my way.” She thought about how she was going to do that and realized she had no idea. “Whatever that is.”

    Lex was looking up at her and he had the strangest expression on his face. It was a mix of so many emotions that it was overwhelming. “You’ll just have to excuse me if I act a little strange for a little while, that’s all.”

    As she thought about the past few days, she remembered that she hadn’t asked Lex how he was faring. “What about you? Are you ok?”

    “Me?” Lex was completely taken aback by the question.

    What the hell did it matter how he felt right now? She was a mess and he'd caused that and she turned around and asked him how he was? He didn't even know how he was except maybe, confused and way out of his depths.

    “Things could be better,” he said vaguely. For example, if she wasn't in love with him, and he didn't already see the end of their friendship coming at him like a big yellow End of Road sign.

    Chloe nodded and then sat down in the chair he had vacated a few minutes ago. She took his sling off of the desk and started to nervously run it through her fingers. “I’d say that they couldn’t get any worse but I don’t want to tempt fate.”

    She sat back in the chair and placed the sling back on the desk. “Listen, we’ve always been direct so I don’t see why that should change. My feelings make things horribly awkward and I’m aware of that. But,” she said, looking up at him, “I’d hate to think that I’ve ruined everything by telling you.”

    “Maybe things won’t ever be the same and we won’t be friends again.” It was more than a distinct possibility. She knew how uncomfortable Lex was around real emotions. Which was why he dated the women he did. “But I’d like us to try. Does that sound like something you could do?”

    “Is it something you can do?” he leveled the question right back at her.

    As far as he was concerned, he was feeling responsible somehow for creating this mess and if she gave him a chance, he'd try ...well pretty much anything. He didn't have many friends and she was the only one of them who was actually around. Lex just wasn't sure that she'd be able to cope with being around him while those unreciprocated feelings stood in the room like a huge invisible elephant.

    That was the real question. Right now, everything was so raw. But she knew that she’d heal. Eventually. But could she face Lex everyday still feeling like she did? She’d done it once but did she really want to put herself through that again?

    “I honestly don’t know,” she said, quietly. “But I’d like to try. If it’s too much,” she looked away from him. “I’ll tell you.”

    “Okay,” Lex agreed, trying to keep his tone neutral.

    He really wanted to throw a tantrum. He wanted to throw things and rant about the unfairness of it all. He'd just been cheated out of his wedding and as if that wasn't enough, his best friend was in love with him and would now pull away because he couldn't return those feelings. It really wasn't fair, at all. His natural pessimism wouldn't allow him to even consider the option that things would turn out alright.

    Life sucked.

  4. #14
    An Accused Heretic Senior Member Kit Merlot's Avatar
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    Re: The Tipping Point (R)

    This was a beautifully angsty chapter, and I liked your version of Clark and Lana. They were looking out for Chloe and trying to be a good friend to her. And they both treated Lex like he truly was--a well intentioned, if not troubled man, and not the devil.

    The idea to auction off the wedding gifts was brilliant and I like the idea of having a party to show everyone that he isn't broken. Awesome.

    But here is the big question: why do Clark and Lana assume that Lex won't return Chloe's feelings? True he wouldn't have been marrying another woman if he loved Chloe, but Clark and Lana are both acting like it's out of the realm of possibility for Lex to see Chloe in a romantic light.

    And these two passages intrigued me:

    She'd looked rather fitful the few minutes he'd watched her sleep and Lex still had no idea how to let her down. It wasn't like a few years ago. That had been an accident and they'd both agreed it had been a stupid thing to do and to forget about it.
    That was the real question. Right now, everything was so raw. But she knew that she’d heal. Eventually. But could she face Lex everyday still feeling like she did? She’d done it once but did she really want to put herself through that again?
    This hints at a deeper relationship then friendship. Did they sleep together and then decided that they were just going to be friends and that's when Chloe started to fall for him?

    By the way, excellent work on this update, and I can't wait for more
    KATHY

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  5. #15
    NS Senior Member Senior Member
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    Re: The Tipping Point (R)

    Remember I said I had a thought to where this was going but didn't want to say anything? Well, the thought was because Lex was so upset about having to cancel everything for the wedding that he would just go through with the wedding only to have Chloe as his bride as some sort of idea like she owed it to him to save face because of waiting to the last moment to inform him. Well, I think the auction/charity thing is a great idea but you know if you still got that priest hanging around and Lex is still feeling guilty about hurting Chloe's feelings, who knows what might happen.

    Putting aside my crazy thoughts, this story is breaking my heart and I think it's only going to get worse as their friendship is in jeopardy. I hope they can work through this or find a way to make it better or Lex can realize that Chloe's right for him, but I think that'll be a while.

    Good to see that Clark and Lana are not annoying me in this story. I look forward to more of them if they can behave themselves and be helpful towards the Chlex. The scene between Lex and Clark was fantastic from the advice to the whole Dutch metaphor.

  6. #16
    NS Full Member jem's Avatar
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    Re: The Tipping Point (R)

    i actually like the stories where clark and lana arent as stupid or one dimensional as other ppl easily paint them as...

    ha, i mean lex and chloe relationships are at best complicated enough already...

    man i feel so bad for chloe, they really had a friendship tho
    to talk about it and bring it up...

    i think lex is being selfish tho, and i actually wish chloe
    pulled away a little, find someone else, and then lets
    see if lex cares for her any other way...

    also, what happened between them a few years ago??

    pleease update soon! thanks for updating! yesh very veyr
    angsty...
    i do so like green eggs and ham
    i do so like them...sam i am
    –Dr Seuss “Green Eggs And Ham”--

  7. #17
    NS Full Member toryjhay's Avatar
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    Re: The Tipping Point (R)

    life sucked. succint and says it all. wonderfully angsty. i can't believe that clark actually told lex and he was all sorts of surprising in this one. and lana, i just may be able to stand her in this story.

    as for lex and chloe, i don't know...i really what to know what happened in the past, 'the accident', really curious about that one. and i actually like their friendship, they're very direct and at least they know where they stood. love this as always, more soon please!!!

  8. #18
    looking for updates Senior Member somethingeasy's Avatar
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    Re: The Tipping Point (R)

    This was an AMAZING chapter. Truly! I didn’t think it was possible to create angst and cruelty out of something that was so subtle and understated. But THIS fic made me want to cry… perhaps because it’s such a classic scene that everyone can relate to… Being in love with someone who doesn’t mean to be cruel, but just doesn’t or CAN’T love you in return. There’s nothing worse than that.

    Amazing chapter, incredibly heartbreaking development, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

    Lana had informed Clark, in no uncertain terms, that he was not to call her or show up at her doorstep unless he had some sort of news to report. He was thankful that she, along with Chloe and himself, had decided to come home this summer. He’d have a lot more explaining to do if he went to Lex’s and then showed up in Metropolis five minutes later.
    heh, I thought it was pretty funny, but apt that Clark had been ‘sent’ to ‘assess’ the situation before reporting back to Lana. There’s a lot of drama that happened, and I cannot imagine either Lana or Clark were happy about not being ‘in the know’ about what happened.

    Not to mention the fact that they were concerned about what was happening with the Chlex duo. Both Chloe and Lex are miserable, and I think it’s sweet that Clark and Lana genuinely wanted to help make things better ANY way they could.

    Lex shook his head. “Is that all you have to ask?”

    “Of course not,” Clark said. He shoved his hands in his pockets. “But I figured if I even ventured to ask how you were doing, if you needed any help or if you needed to talk you would consider that tap dancing.”
    I really liked how Lex demanded that Clark should NOT waste time dancing around the subject (LOL! Even though it seemed like a case of the pot calling the kettle black), and just come out and say/ask whatever he came to the mansion for.

    And I ADORED how Clark actually managed a witty retort to Lex that he HAD to dance around with his questions, because Lex didn’t like answering directly phrased questions. ROTFLMAO! I LOVE this savvy version of Clark.

    He walked over to the front of Lex’s desk. “We haven’t been close for a long time but that doesn’t mean that I’ve written you off.”

    “But I know that you’ll just lock however you’re feeling inside of you, go on and pretend to be OK. It’s your way.” Clark had seen it too many times to count. “That doesn’t make it the right decision or mean that I agree with it. But Chloe isn’t like that. You’re sitting here rightfully feeling angry and hurt and confused, I’d guess but you’re not the one who’s…”
    I also LOVED this heartening look into Clark’s interaction with Lex. He has acknowledged that they don’t get along like they used to, but he still cares about Lex, and he’s making it clear that he’s there to genuinely help Lex out during his time of ‘emotional distress’.

    “Clark,” Lex paused, trying not to give in to the asshole inside. And failing. “That was possibly the gayest speech I've ever heard.”

    The only thing missing was for Clark to be wearing a Joyce Brothers' tweed suit and take out a white cloth tissue, delicately dab his eyes and then offer him to talk about it over a couple of pink ladies.
    ROARING outrageously while I’m ROTFLMAO! This. Was. Brillaint! I loved how Clark built up a whole emotional scene with his heartfelt and earnest words… and then how Lex undercut the tension with his wry (and slightly horrified) observation. BRILLIANT! I’m going to be remembering that comment, and laughing for a VERY long time after this.

    Not to mention the image of Clark wiping away his tears and offering to help him ‘talk through the pain’. ROTLFMAO!

    Anything else, he wouldn't use the farm boy fast messaging for. He'd lashed out at his friend and Lex didn't need to be a genius to know that she was probably crying right now. Trust him to be assigned the role of asshole while Clark got that of savior in fuzzy flannel.
    heh, I was VERY pleased to see that Lex had very quickly realized that he WAS being an ass, and that he had probably hurt Chloe quite badly through his lashing out.

    Clark couldn’t really argue with Lex’s assessment of his speech. Even as he’d been talking, he’d been thinking about how he’d been hanging out with the two women in his life for far too long. But the gayest ever? He thought that award went to when he asked Lex to run away with him to Metropolis, so to speak, a few years ago.
    ROTFLMAO at Clark’s astute (and amazing) sense of self-awareness and self-depreciation over here. Heh, hanging out with two women too long. LOL!

    Reminds me of something Xander (from Buffy) said after making a semi-crude joke that no-one laughed at… about how he REALLY needed some guy friends.

    Did he seriously ask Lex to ‘run away’ with him to Metropolis? Which episode was this??!! LOL!

    Lex looked over his shoulder, trying to figure out if the boy was serious. He was confronted with huge puppy eyes and a shuffling boot that ruined yet another increment of his expensive hardwood floor. During the years that Clark had come over more frequently, he'd had a very happy carpenter in his employ.
    LOL at this VERY interesting insight. It’s something I should have guessed on my own, but just didn’t realize or think about. I can imagine Clark would be oblivious to how his super-strong footmarks damage ‘delicate’ floorboards. LOL!

    His gaze trailed up from the size twelve boot back to the hands shoved so far down the pockets of his pants that they should by all rights be slipping down from the pressure to leave him standing in his boxers. Up the never changing flannel shirt and right back to the puppy dog eyes. His hand itched for a rolled up newspaper.
    ROTFLMAO at the image of Lex snapping a newspaper against Clark’s head. I NEVER would have thought of it that way, but it would be an apt response to Clark’s hang-dog expression. LOL!

    “I’d guess that you were pissed beyond belief. But after that statement you put out to the press, it wouldn’t be that difficult a guess.” The scathing statement had exposed Andrea for all that she was. She was going to have a hard time finding another rich man to marry her.

    “But hurt, none the less. Angry at yourself for not seeing it. And then there’s the whole Chloe thing.” He shrugged. “So why don’t you tell me.” He paused and then added, “Instead of tap dancing.”
    I am seriously impressed by Clark. He’s showing tact, sensitivity, and a certain sense of adeptness with wordplay. I LIKE this Clark!

    “Eh, fuck the guests, they’ll keep.” Clark waved a hand in Lex’s general direction. He saw one eyebrow rise on his skull. “Yes, I said fuck, it does happen.”
    ROTFLMAO! Oh MY! Widdle Clark is all… grown up now. When did THAT happen?

    I really liked how Lex was surprised by Clark’s cussing, and how Clark was bemused by Lex’s surprise.

    And it was a shame about the cake. It was a lemon crème something something and then something in French. Lex hadn't listened to the rambling of the woman who'd made it but he'd tasted an example cake and it had been bliss. How long would it take to eat five levels alone? Was it even possible? He wondered if his metabolism could cope with that much sugar.
    I have to admit, I swooned at Lex’s description of the wedding cake. It sounded delightful, and far too good to waste, throw out (or set on fire). I was SO glad to hear that it wasn’t going to be wasted after all. Although Lex’s thought of eating it himself made me giggle! I get the feeling the man doesn’t even LIKE cake that much.

    Uh huh. Clark thought that with a little prodding that Lex could be convinced to let the show go on. “No, but I’m sure whomever you’ve hired could do something in a week’s notice to make it a different kind of cake.”

    This idea was sounding better to Clark. “You can throw a party for whatever charity you choose. I’m sure that the people would still come. Say any wedding gifts will be returned for cash and donated.”

    The press had already started in with harping on Lex. “It would also be a chance to spin this in your favor. Show the bastards that it didn’t break you. And that bitch, too.”
    This was actually… a BRILLIANT idea! From Clark?! Who would have believed that the boy would have thought up such a savvy plan worthy of Lex’s finest team of PR-people. I really think Lex owes Clark some kind of monetary compensation for this kind of brilliant advice.

    Lex's brows furrowed as he thought about it. “An auction on the wedding gifts, donating everything to charity,” he trailed off as he looked at the farmboy in part shock and part astonishment.

    “Clark, I believe you just had an actually useful idea.”
    I share Lex’s shock over the brilliance of the suggestion. Amazement at the suggestion itself, and amazement that this brilliant suggestion came from CLARK! LOL!

    And it would be a really clever way to turn the tables on the fiasco of ‘Lex ‘almost’ getting fooled again’ from something that Lex is hiding from to something that Lex is celebrating.

    He could arrange it, somehow. All he had to do was make the phone calls, answer the emails and resend invitations, change reservations and get in touch with the chairmen of the charity foundation, convince them to show up for the good cause as well and then figure out how to make up for the loss of the 400 guests attending on behalf of the ex-bride. In short, he needed help.

    His assistant would strangle him and then quit if he dumped this on her. Even the Luthor name wouldn't get him a coordinator with only a week to prepare for the event. He did not want to deal with the coordinator who'd 'helped' him arrange this wedding, ever again.

    Looking up at Clark, he tried to keep his expression neutral. “Just how mad is Chloe with me right now?”
    THIS part confused me. Lex has considered the fact that a PAID PROFESSIONAL wouldn’t be able to pull off a job of re-coordinating a wedding into a charity gala within a week, so he wants an unpaid amateur to do it instead??!! I know Chloe is smart and all, but there are certain things that require skill and experience to handle… If a professional wouldn’t be able to handle such a job, why would Lex believe that Chloe could pull it off?

    Oh well, I suppose he has a LOT of faith in Chloe, and he’s willing to take on a significant amount of the coordinating work on his own shoulders as well. Perhaps their combined determination and genius IQs would be able to make up for lack of skill, training and experience…?

    “She learned Dutch for you.” Lex looked at him blankly. “She never learned Dutch for me. But she learned it for you.”

    “Clark, I hate to have to state the obvious, but there never was a reason for her to learn Dutch for you.”

    He had no idea what the boy was trying to tell him with this comment. It came completely out of left field and didn't have anything to do with his question. “She learned Dutch, not for me, but to get at some information that she couldn't have gotten else, to prove her theory. She would have done the same if it had been anyone else involved.”

    And why was he even discussing this when all he wanted to know was how he'd have to approach Chloe to get her to forgive and forget and help him to save what was left of the ill-fated wedding?
    LOL! I love how Clark broached the subject of Chloe’s feelings for Lex. It was a sneaky, tactful and indirect way of letting out information… SO sneaky that Lex didn’t even catch on without a LOT more hints. LOL!

    I’m really enjoying the Clex interaction in this chapter.

    “Lex,” the man stopped and looked at him. “She would not have done this for anyone but me, you and Pete. Not because we’re her pals but because she loves us.” Lex nodded as if to say, I know that, you dolt.

    Fine. “But not equally,” he said. “She learned Dutch for. You. She stayed up nights doing this. Called in every favor that she had, ran up her credit cards and made us help by varying between threatening us and promising us things. She couldn’t watch you marry someone else.”

    He waited for Lex to take that in. Clark walked over to him. It looked like the other shoe was dropping.

    “Do you understand what it is that I have been told over and over not to tell you that I’m trying to tell you, Lex?”

    Lex was a little dumbstruck. So dumbstruck that he wondered if Clark would get a drawing board and try to sketch it next if he didn't tell him he got it.
    ROTFLMAO! Plenty of hints later, Lex ‘finally’ got it! And I found it hilarious that Lex actually got concerned that his ‘dumbstruck’ expression would induce Clark into sketching diagrams to get his point across. Who would have imagined the day would come when CLARK would need to spell things out (slowly and phonetically) for Lex’s benefit.

    I also love that Clark told Lex about Chloe’s feelings. It was a HUGE secret, and it would have been frustrating as HELL to see Chloe dancing around her stifled emotions while Lex remained ignorant and idiotically oblivious.

    Thank you for bringing it out into the open, BlueSabby!

    “This might be a problem,” he finally said.

    How the hell was he supposed to work around the fact that Chloe had gone and fallen for him? What the hell did he do to cause that? The irony was killing, truly. The woman he planned to marry turned out to be yet again the wrong one, while the girl he'd chased away had gone and fallen in love with him.

    Dead poets had to be rolling over in their graves at that. If in laughter or agony, depended on the individual author, he thought.
    LOL! I’m going to vote for ‘laughter’. But I can see why Lex would find this to be a tragic irony instead of a happy occasion. On one hand, this loyal, intelligent, passionate woman who happens to be his best friend is in love with him, which is great news. BUT he doesn’t return her feelings, which is awkward and TERRIBLE.

    Just one more thing to deal with. A regular week in The Life of Lex Luthor. He wondered how much money he could make if he turned it into an actual TV show.
    For an angsty fic filled with crying characters, this update has a LOT of humourous one-liners and observations in it. LOL!

    Lex looked back at Clark and decoded the message, trying not to groan in frustration. Wonderful, not only had Chloe fallen in love with him, it was apparently something that had been there for a while and Clark thought it was there to stay.

    ”Well, I'm not sure how much she'll like to hear that my Dutch in general has gotten quite rusty and I have no idea if we're speaking the same dialect.”

    He couldn't believe that he'd actually sunk to using the same metaphor as Clark. Then again, if he'd tried for something more fancy, the boy wouldn't have gotten it.
    ROTFLAMO at the way Clark was carrying on using the same metaphor to CONTINUE explaining the whole picture to Lex. All because he doesn’t want to actually use the words ‘in love’. And I also giggled at the way Lex was feeling frustrated and irritated about carrying on with the same ‘code language’, but ALSO not willing to start using direct terms like ‘love’ and ‘devotion’.

    The two of them are SUCH a pair of guys! Talking about feeling directly is a big no-no.. but referring to them in ridiculous analogies is just fine.

    When she opened the door, she looked at the man standing in front of her. He didn’t look mad. Which meant he was there to make things right. “It’s about frigging time.”
    heh, and it seems like Lana also had an actual spine, as well as an non-self-absorbed concern for her friends. Excellent!

    Lana picked up her purse and started to walk out the door. She stopped and turned back to Lex. “I know that I’m not scary and that you’re not threatened by me. You never will be. But I will say this, if you hurt her more, I will find a way to make you sorry for it. You’re not the devil or a bad guy but just keep that in mind.”

    She paused for a second and thought about Clark and what he might have said to Lex. “I’m assuming that Clark told you about her feelings.” She’d expressly told him not to, had threatened him, so that meant that he had probably disregarded all of that.

    By Lex’s reaction, she knew that she was right. “Let her down easy,” she said, softly. “She already knows you don’t love her but she still hoped…”

    Lana shrugged her shoulders. “Please just be direct and don’t pity her.” Having said her piece, Lana walked out of the door.
    Woah! Lana is not only concerned about OTHER people, but she’s also quite observant and intuitive about what’s happening around her, AND the best way to go about handling it. She’s compassionate and smart. Who is this pod person… and how do we get her on the SV show? She might actually make the insipid triangle a ‘little’ more bearable.

    Lex looked bemusedly at the closed door for a moment before shaking his head and turning to go upstairs. Who'd have thought Lana could be so direct? Of course she'd been right that he wasn't the 'devil' or the 'bad guy'. He was just the guy who got stuck in tight spots again and again without anyone giving him so much as a spoon to dig himself out of the hole that others had dumped him into. And he was getting his metaphors mixed up which was not a good sign for his mental state.
    ROTFLMAO at Lex’s thought process. He really IS in a nasty, confused and befuddled place, isn’t he? LOL!

    Heh! Trapped in a tight hole without a spoon to dig himself out. THAT is a mental image that’s going to keep me giggling for a while.

    What he did though was walk over to the chair at the desk and settle down to look at her. 'Let her down gently' Lana had said. Easy to say. There was no such thing as doing it 'gently'. It was like saying 'Break her arm, but do it softly.'
    And then, VERY suddenly (but naturally) the mood turned sombre. I’m glad to see that Lex realizes that anything he says over here is going to have traumatic and painful repercussions on Chloe, but he’s desperately searching for a way to minimize the hurt.

    He really is a sweet guy… once you get past the tantrums and the tendency to marry women that he doesn’t love. WHAT the heck was he marrying Andrea for anyway? Surely he’s still a little too young to be needing a social wife and breeder of heirs?!

    He hadn't meant to throw her out like he had. The problem was that he didn't deal well when someone made his card houses collapse and didn't like people around while he tried to pick up the cards and start again.
    oh well, he’s being so sweet and repentant now, we forgive him for the silly temper-fit he pulled. AND he managed to keep from setting himself and Chloe on fire, which is a plus

    Chloe cleared her throat and looked back at him. That’s when she noticed his left arm. Her face fell.

    “I did that?”

    Lex looked where she was looking. He'd completely forgotten about the sling. His wrist didn't even hurt anymore and he had no clue why he was still wearing the constricting thing.

    “I could've been a bit smarter going down,” he said as he took the sling off and placed it on the desk. His wrist was still wrapped, but that might not be a bad idea. Reminded him he healed fast, but shouldn't make too much of a show of it.

    The last thing he wanted was for Chloe to beat herself up about a minor injury. Compared to all of the shit he'd gone through in this town, this was peanuts.

    “It's nothing, really.” He held up his arm and turned it, waggling his fingers back and forth to prove there wasn't anything broken. “Just sprained.”
    ouch! I imagined Lex wincing when he realized that he had thoughtlessly come to Chloe bearing physical evidence on the ‘pain and suffering’ she inflicted on him. I’m SO glad to see he was sensitive enough to realize that Chloe was in for enough pain within a few moments without having to deal with guilt as well. It was VERY sweet of him to reassure her by removing the sling, assuring her it was minor, and even wriggling a few fingers to prove everything was all right.

    I have to say, it’s amazing the way BlueSabby gradually transitioned the mood from the hilarious and ridiculous Clex conversation to this cruel and angsty Chlex discussion. Amazing work, ladies!

    Bringing his hand back to his lap, he looked at her with as much sincerity as was possible to show on a Luthor face. “I came to apologize for throwing you out like I did. I wasn't thinking clearly at the time.”

    Chloe shook her head. “You don’t need to do that.” She’d been thinking a lot about her actions and she realized how much of a nutcase she must have sounded like after they’d established that Andrea was up to no good.

    “I know that I didn’t handle it in the best way that I could have.” She looked back up at him. “And I shouldn’t have jumped on you. Or kicked your legs. Or….” She trailed off.

    “So, I’m sorry and you’re sorry about yesterday, ok?” Lex nodded slowly.
    This was REALLY good. They have managed to put apologize and put a close on all the issues from the last chapter before proceeding onto the REAL conflict and drama.

    Silence stretched out between them. “And I’m sorry about Andrea, too. I know that you wanted things to work out between you two.”

    It was now or never. “But I didn’t want it to work out,” she said, honestly. “I haven’t been a very good friend to you in a while, Lex. My own feelings have been getting in the way of that.”

    “I’m in love with you, Lex.” She was able to look at him when she said that. She was proud of herself. Even in the dimness of the room, she could see his reaction. He looked, well, almost devastated.
    This was incredible. Chloe came clean about her emotions, so they could have an open and honest discussion about it instead of getting distracted by tip-toeing around the subject, or Chloe wasting time by denying the truth OR getting angry at Clark for letting the cat out of the bag.

    I thought it was SO incredibly brave of Chloe to bring it out like that. But I wanted to cry when I saw what Lex’s reaction to her bravery was. I think he broke her heart within a second of her confession.

    She had expected his reaction to not be to her liking but it still hurt. Like a son of a bitch. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and she blinked them away. “You don’t have to say anything, I know you don’t feel that way. And maybe I’m selfish for telling you, but I had to take my shot, you know?”

    Lex nodded mutely, trying to figure out what to say. For a moment he'd hoped to get away with his skin in tact. He hadn't thought she would bring it up, but she had and he'd been unable to cover up his reaction fast enough by the expression on her face.

    “I'm sorry, Chloe.”
    I mentioned before how this was so sad because it’s something that everyone can relate to…? I wanted to weep for poor Chloe, and the way her feelings were actually inspired PITY from Lex. That sad little line she said about ‘I figured I had to take my shot’… It sounded so hopeful, which must have made the rejection all the more devastating.

    The words ‘I’m sorry’ are really so inadequate, but I honestly cannot think of anything better he might have said.

    She took another breath and found that she was on the verge of tears. Damnit. She didn’t want to do this. She had promised herself that she would take it ok. She knew he didn’t love her so why was she reacting like this?

    Ducking her head seemed like the best option at the moment. Her chest was constricting and she felt the telltale stinging in her eyes. Christ, how bad did the humiliation have to be?
    Oh NO! I don’t blame her for crying, it’s a natural reaction to a moment as emotionally charged as this. But I can ALSO understand why she would be so humiliated about the tears coming out. Tears would only embarrass herself as well we Lex.

    Lex swallowed as he watched with a sense of dread. Her eyes had started to go all wet and he knew what was coming. Shit. No, no, no, “No, Chloe, please,” shit damn, there went the shoulders shaking.

    He approached her with both hands held out, no clue what to do. “Don't, don't cry,” he heard the pleading in his voice but he was just a little too anxious to care.

    Lex didn't know how to handle women at their best times, he had no fucking clue what to do with them at all when they started crying. Should he leave her alone? Should he try to comfort her or something? Hand her a tissue? Chocolate? His credit card? No, that wouldn't work.
    This was a really sad scene, but I still snorted in amusement at Lex’s desperate thoughts about how to ‘make the tears STOP’… offering her chocolate and a credit card? LOL!

    But seriously, the poor guy might be desperately out of his depth here, but he’s being really sweet, kind, considerate and sensitive about how he’s handling the situation. I love how terribly awkward he felt, but he was doing his best to ‘brave his way through it’.

    He’s such a sweetheart. No wonder Chloe fell hopelessly in love with him. It’s really not his fault he doesn’t return her feelings.

    Worse, he still didn't know what to say. What did you say to a woman who was crying because you just broke her heart? And he hadn't even done anything. Which probably was the mistake. Lana really could have been a little more forthcoming on what he was supposed to do or say to 'let her down gently'.

    Lex patted Chloe's shoulder again, wondering where he could find a tissue or something.

    This was wrong. Lex shouldn’t be the one to comfort her. He was the reason that she was crying. But life sometimes didn’t make any sense and sucked at the same time. His presence calmed her down a little. She could hear the confusion and regret in his voice. Poor, broken Lex didn’t know what to do but he was trying for her.
    Awww, Lex is being too hard on himself. He’s doing just FINE in letting Chloe down as gently as possible. I can’t think of anything he could do to make things gentler or easier for her.

    It made her cry even harder. He cared. Just not enough. They never cared enough.
    This part made my heart sting. Poor broken Chloe! ‘they never cared ENOUGH’… The poor sweet, loyal, loving girl deserves BETTER than to keep losing her heart and head over guys who can’t love her back.

    It only took one hand to count the number of times she’d hugged Lex. And this was not the sort of circumstances she wanted it to happen under. But she couldn’t help it, she found herself plastered against him and holding on for dear life.

    As if holding him tightly would make him forget what he’d just said and give in and lie and say he loved her.
    This part also made me want to cry. Despite everything, she’s STILL holding onto some desperate tendril of hope that he’ll ‘suddenly’ change his mind. I don’t blame her for holding onto that hope… in fact, I can relate.

    Lex sat stiffly on the mattress, but he really wanted to get up and get the hell out. He had no idea what to say. 'I'm sorry' didn't really cut it in a situation like this. He wondered if he should offer her to stay out of her sight. Then again, that might make it worse too. But he wouldn't say the 'let's stay friends' thing. That one, he'd learned from the Clark and Chloe fiasco back in high school. But what the hell else was he supposed to say then? It didn't look like she knew what to say either.

    All he knew was that he didn't like it that she looked at him so absolutely devastated, like he'd just killed her pet and then handed its dead and bloody remains to her with a smile and a shrug.

    He bit the inside of his cheek, trying to keep his face impassive as he looked her over. “Is there anything I can do?”

    Lex wanted to smack himself. No, scratch that, he wanted to kick himself down a long set of stairs and then throw his broken carcass to the wolves. Like there was anything he could do. Like it was a matter of buying something or arranging something or plain putting his signature on a piece of paper to pay whatever the hell price a broken heart had these days.
    I smiled again (a sad smile, but a real one nonetheless) at Lex floundering to find a way to ‘fix things’ in this impossible-to-fix situation. That is SUCH a Lex-response to handling emotional breakdowns.

    I liked seeing how he’s trying to get a grip on himself by trying to figure out a way to fix the situation in the way that he’s accustomed to fixing things… like throwing enough inventiveness and money at the problem would be enough to alleviate Chloe’s pain.

    He’s really such a sweet fellow… even if he IS out of practice (or experience)in handling an emotional crises, he bluffed his way through it remarkably well.

    “I’m just going to have to deal with this my way.” She thought about how she was going to do that and realized she had no idea. “Whatever that is.”

    Lex was looking up at her and he had the strangest expression on his face. It was a mix of so many emotions that it was overwhelming. “You’ll just have to excuse me if I act a little strange for a little while, that’s all.”
    I was so impressed by Chloe. This was a lovely, wise and mature response from her. She might be able to get thorugh this after all. Given enough time.

    “Things could be better,” he said vaguely. For example, if she wasn't in love with him, and he didn't already see the end of their friendship coming at him like a big yellow End of Road sign.
    I liked this. Lex is not heart-broken like Chloe, but he ALSO has cause to fear and mourn in these circumstances. Lex cherishes and treasures his friendships, and losing a best friend would be a horrible prospect for him. Especially a friend as challenging, entertaining, loyal, loving and generous as Chloe.

    He really wanted to throw a tantrum. He wanted to throw things and rant about the unfairness of it all. He'd just been cheated out of his wedding and as if that wasn't enough, his best friend was in love with him and would now pull away because he couldn't return those feelings. It really wasn't fair, at all. His natural pessimism wouldn't allow him to even consider the option that things would turn out alright.

    Life sucked.
    LOL! That was a brilliant ending statement to an angsty, twisting chapter. Chloe has had a bad couple of days, but Lex has ALSO suffered quite a lot from all kinds of humiliations and losses. The poor Chlex! I can’t wait to find out where they go from here.

    Quite honestly though, I’m surprised that Lex didn’t at least ‘entertain’ the thought of marrying Chloe. After all, she’s his best friend, and she’s obviously hopelessly in love with him… what better qualities (love, loyalty, devotion) could he ask for in a wife. Granted he doesn’t love her… but he didn’t love his last wife either, and he was willing to go through with it.

    Of course it’s obvious that it would be horribly cruel and unfair to ask Chloe to participate in a marriage where only SHE was the loving spouse, but Lex can be a bit of an emotional retard, and he would probably believe that all the money and conveniences in a Luthor Marriage would make up for the fact that she wasn’t ‘loved’ by her husband.

    And it seems like Chloe has a severe complex about finding someone to love her. She’d probably be willing to ‘settle’ for ‘whatever she could get’ instead of waiting for ‘what she actually deserved’.

    Heh, just a scary little possibility that came to mind. I’m sure BlueSabby will think of something better.

  9. #19
    NS Senior Member Senior Member lj715's Avatar
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    Re: The Tipping Point (R)

    Great chapter.

  10. #20
    NS Full Member dagney's Avatar
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    Re: The Tipping Point (R)

    I'm crying along with Chloe. Wonderfully moving the depth of feelings you've expressed. my heart aches for them both. Dagney

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