A/N: Blue: Here's the big winner. Apparently you guys are ready for some drama. We hope you enjoy it!
A/N Sabby: Ironically enough, this was supposed to be a humorous piece, look what happened.
Chloe walked through the doors of Lex’s study and he looked up from whatever it was that he was doing at his desk. He seemed a little surprised but not as much as he should have been. Or as much as he would be in the next few minutes. And he’d get angry, too. And then the questions would start.
But Chloe had prepared herself for that. She’d mentally gone through all of the responses that the man could have. That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t pull out something that she hadn’t prepared for. But that was the chance that she was taking with what she had come here to do.
It had to be done, though. For his own good.
He started to get up from his chair but she wasn’t going to let him do that. If he did, he’d be able to physically push her out of the door. If she hit him with her opening line while he was still in his chair, he might be shocked into not standing up.
“I think you should call the wedding off.”
Lex looked at her blankly, trying to figure out what kind of joke this was supposed to be. “Pardon?”
They'd been friends for a few years now, age difference not withstanding, and Chloe's honest and upfront attitude had always been something he'd admired, but she couldn't be serious with this. The wedding was in a week.
He'd done his research this time and knew the woman, Andrea, for more than a few months and he had made sure she wasn't out to kill him. This had to be a joke.
“Okay, what game are we playing now? Is this some early stag night hoax?”
On top of intelligent and straight forward, Chloe had proven to be devious and cunning, so Lex wouldn't put it past her to cook up a scheme to surprise him.
At least he wasn’t starting out mad. In fact, he looked downright relaxed at the moment. When she didn’t answer, he leaned back in his seat and a slow grin spread over his face. It used to be that that smile would make her nervous and do something weird to her insides. She’d become used to it by now.
“No, it’s not a joke or a game or anything else of the like, Lex.” Chloe needed to make sure that she was clear about everything. Now was not the time for misunderstandings.
When he saw that she was serious, the smile disappeared off of his face and he sat up straighter. His mouth was now set in a grim line.
In for a penny…
“She’s a harpy and she’s all wrong for you,” she said. It had taken her awhile to figure that out. She’d given Andrea a chance at first. But something had not sat well with Chloe and she knew better than to ignore her instincts.
Lex's eyes narrowed. “I happen to like the woman you call a harpy a great deal. We share a mutual respect, have a lot in common and happen to have mutual interests; she doesn't want to kill me and has plans for her future that are compatible to mine.”
Having laid out the basics, trying to remain calm, Lex moved on to the crux of the matter. “So since that pretty much negates your statement that she's 'wrong' for me, I would like to know what problem you have with me marrying her.”
This was the first he heard of it. Chloe seemed to be seriously crazy. There was no reason for her to believe that Andrea was anything but a suitable candidate for marriage. Sure he didn't 'love' her in that Soap-style that was expected for a couple about to get wed, but what the hell did that matter?
Even though she knew that Lex would kill her for thinking so, she almost felt sorry for him if that’s what he thought marriage was. Yes, there were couples that had it be some sort of business arrangement. But there were also couples that actually liked one another. He needed to get it out of his head that he could only be a member of the former kind.
“Putting aside the fact that you’ve just given clinical reasons for marrying her.” Chloe took another few steps forward. “And the fact that you’re obviously not in love with her. There is something else.”
Lex had asked her opinion of Andrea in his round about way. She’d told him, flat out, that she didn’t trust the woman or think that he should keep seeing her. He’d proposed a month later.
“She really is an unpleasant cunt, Lex.”
His jaw dropped before he could stop it. “What?”
He'd never heard Chloe speak in such a manner, she did cuss occasionally, especially when she had one of her klutzy moments, but he'd never heard her talk about another person that way.
What the hell was going on here? His friend was obviously not fully there. Couldn't be, if she talked like that. Maybe it was the meteors. Heaven knew the damn stones were involved with pretty much every weird thing happening in this bumfuck town.
“Where the hell do you get that? She's been nothing but polite and nice whenever you were around her and I haven't seen anything that would warrant you insulting her like that.”
“Of course you haven’t seen it,” she blurted out. Could he really be that dense? “She’s not an idiot, Lex. She knows that she can’t be herself in front of you.”
Chloe was fairly certain that the woman knew she was on to her. It was just a look that Andrea gave her every now and again. The look would always precede the woman draping her claws all over Lex.
“But I have. And I’m not the only one.” Yes, the woman didn’t really seem to care about what anyone else saw. Chloe had to hand it to her that she knew Lex well enough to know that he made his own decisions.
Half of the town had been subjected to the woman’s antics. Chloe knew that both Clark and Lana had said something to Lex, as she had, but he had shrugged it off. He usually told them that it was probably just a misunderstanding.
But Chloe now had a tally of the woman’s transgressions and Lex needed to hear all of them in one sitting.
“She talks down to everyone,” Chloe started. Lex may be rich but he treated people with respect. “She makes fun of people when they're not around. She actually refers to the people that work for you as 'the help' and she made Lana cry. I'm not Lana's biggest fan, mind you, but she was out for blood.”
The woman had wheedled Lana for about five minutes on where she had gotten her outfit. Chloe had tried to jump in but Andrea was relentless. Lana hadn’t cried in front of the woman, Chloe had been proud of her for that, but she knew that it had happened later.
“Plus, her tits are totally fake.” That might have been neither here nor there. But the woman prided herself on her looks and often said that she was just genetically blessed. Chloe had been able to dig up a variety of pictures of the woman from the past. She clearly had work done, and there was nothing wrong with that, but she wouldn’t admit it.
Chloe knew that that wouldn’t sway Lex so she went back to her complaints that had more substance to them. “She called Martha 'homely,'” Chloe knew how much Lex admired the matriarch of the Kent clan and that he wouldn’t take kindly to that remark.
“She threw Pete her car keys because she thought he was the valet. After she'd met him. Four times.” Pete wasn’t his favorite person but that was no excuse for her behavior, either. “She touches Clark for far too long and she's only really happy when you give her gifts.”
Somehow, Chloe had found herself in the chair facing Lex. “She's a gold digger.” The other things hadn’t really affected Lex that much. At least outwardly. So she’d get down to the business part of their arrangement. Being it was the only thing he was hanging this marriage on.
“Lex, I went through her finances, they're a mess.” His eyes had narrowed at that. Now she had his attention. She sat back a little in her chair, “Let me guess, the prenup is very generous to her.”
Lex had been waiting for the end of her rant to refute every single claim she made. Until the last part. He'd checked and double checked. And Chloe knew that. There was no reason she would bring up this last point. Unless she'd found something he hadn't.
“You're obsessed.”
It wasn't what he'd meant to say initially, but it was true none the less. She must have stalked Andrea and interrogated everyone she came in contact with to get all this information. Not to mention, she must have done a pretty thorough research, more thorough than his, for that last part.
“I went through her records. You know that. Her finances seemed absolutely fine to me.”
There hadn't been anything indicating that she was after his money. “What could you have found that I didn't? I checked both her maiden names.”
And then some, and there'd been nothing at all to prove or even suspect something was iffy.
When Lex spoke, Chloe knew that she had uncovered something that he had not. But it would have been easy to miss what she had found. Unless you were looking very closely, which she had been.
“Both her maiden names, you said? And all businesses associated with them.” Lex nodded at this. That was where he’d made his mistake.
“She’s been married three times, Lex.” His eyes widened slightly. This was news to him. She was sure that he would have asked her how many times she’d taken that fateful trip down the aisle. The number she had given him did not jibe with three.
“Andrea was all of 16 when she got married the first time, Lex.” Chloe didn’t relish telling him all of this but it really was to prevent further damage to him later. “The groom was 42.” It still disturbed Chloe that her parents would allow this. But they seemed to know, even that early, that Andrea was their meal ticket.
“If you or your people didn’t find that,” she said, “then they didn’t find the bank in the Netherlands that is tied to that name. And the numerous personal loans that are associated with that account.”
She didn’t want Lex to think that she was having fun with this. She wasn’t. She wished that the man could just open up his eyes and pick someone who deserved him, who loved him. She wished that he would see that she fit those criteria.
Her tone softened, “Lex, I’m sorry. But, I couldn’t let you marry someone like that.”
His eyes narrowed at the new information. He had indeed not been aware of a third name under which to look. It went without saying that he hadn't known about anything else that followed on the heel of that information either.
Then again, why should he believe anything without seeing proof? Chloe was desperate, which was easy to see in her face and stance as she sat across from him. In desperate situations, people were capable of a lot of things.
“Prove it.” He folded his hands as he leaned over the table. “Bring me the papers that have the evidence on them.”
“Lex,” she said, exasperated, “I don’t have them down my pants.” He just sat there. That’s when she realized something. “You don’t trust me.” The words came out in a shocked tone of voice.
After years of being friends, she still hadn’t earned that. They’d gotten close during the craziness with his father and they’d stayed close after that. He was willing to marry some woman he didn’t know, take her word on issues, but from her he wanted proof.
Chloe had been prepared for that, but it smarted, just the same. “Fine,” she said, her teeth clenched. She rose up out of her chair and rounded the desk. Lex’s chair was on wheels so she gave his shoulder a push and the chair moved away from the computer in front of him. Chloe didn’t look at him.
Instead, she picked up the phone and dialed quite a few numbers. Lex could afford the long distance charges. She could feel his eyes rooted to her movements but he didn’t speak.
“Hallo, Gerritt. Het Chloe.” She listened as the man expressed his delight at hearing from her. She made some idle conversation and then got down to it with him.
As she spoke on the phone, she took her flash card out of the pocket of her jeans. She put it in Lex’s computer and waited until Gerritt had confirmed her password. Now that that was done, the documents on the flash card would be decrypted.
“Dankzegging, Gerritt.” And now was the time that she had to explain to him that they lived half a world away so their love could never be.
Lex looked at her aghast as she spoke Dutch with only the slightest accent audible. “You speak Dutch?” To say he was bewildered would be an understatement.
From what he could glean of the conversation, and the remnants of Dutch left in his own brain, she'd just called somebody that had to do with the bank and asked for specific account information to be faxed. And now she was explaining something about love and impossibilities and a big amount of salty water?
Gerritt was still trying to get her on a plane. He was prattling on endearingly so she was able to answer Lex. “I picked up a little while I was looking into this,” she explained. She used her shoulder to cradle the phone to her ear as she clicked on a few windows on the screen.
Lex's brow rose skeptically. “And how long have you been 'looking into this'?”
One didn't learn Dutch in a few days, and with all the information she'd dumped in his lap... Lex still didn't want to believe, but the problem was that most of him already did. He wanted to hold on to the hope that this would all turn out a hoax after all. That he hadn't aimed in the wrong direction yet again. And he hadn't even let his feelings blind him this time around.
All Chloe said in answer to his question was, “Awhile,” which wasn't exactly specific and then she had the audacity to 'hush' him. Not just that, but she was actually taking charge of his computer and he cursed himself for having forgotten to turn it off when she entered. It should have been habit to do so. Damnit.
“OK,” she murmured to herself. “Just another second.” Sometimes the connection between the bank and the states wasn’t the best. Which was odd considering how much international business they did.
Once everything she needed was up on the screen, Chloe thanked Gerritt again and promised him a date if she was ever in the neighborhood.
She hung up the phone and then pushed Lex back in front of his computer screen. Then, she went back to the chair she’d been sitting in and waited for his reaction.
Lex looked at the screen blankly for a moment, stumped by the wordless quasi manhandling she'd just submitted him to. Then he turned his attention to the screen and read. And narrowed his eyes. And read a little further.
“That bitch!”
It was all true, all of Chloe's allegations in front of him as evidence in black and white. Andrea had more debts than a seasoned gambler and the damn prenup would have taken care of all of them.
Lex's face went stoic as he stared at the screen. His world didn't exactly crumble, but it was a hard hit to take. It was the third time that he'd taken up with the wrong woman. And he didn't even love her! What the hell was wrong with him?
He picked up the phone without looking and dialed the number for his lawyer. He waited until the man finally picked up and interrupted him before he could start his spiel. “Lex Luthor. Shred the prenup, it won't be needed.”
He hung up without saying a word and got up from his seat, then stalked towards the doors. He needed to get out. This was all just a little too much to ask of him right now. The wedding would have been in a week. Everything was arranged. The cake, the priest, the guests, the decorations, the party, the flowers. He'd had to take care of most of the goddamn things himself because Andrea had shown to be mostly inept. Not so surprising looking back and knowing her true motivations. What do you care which flowers are arranged for your wedding when all you want is the money you get out of the divorce.
“That fucking, money digging bitch!” Lex slammed the door shut behind him as he stalked towards the master bedroom.
And he'd made space in his closet for that. Had bought endless gifts and taken her out to dinner and done his best to be on his most perfect behavior and at his most charming.
He was so furious it felt like he was burning. No, scratch that. He felt like burning something and he knew just where to start. He'd have to have the locks changed as well before Andrea came back from her extended shopping trip.
“Fucking damnit!” He'd have to have her credit card cancelled as well.
Chloe watched him stalk out of the room and let him be. For as long as she could. She heard vague crashing sounds coming from another part of the Manor. She quickly got up out of her chair and followed the sounds.
They were coming from a part of the Manor that she’d never been in before. She assumed it was the few rooms that Lex actually lived in when he wasn’t entertaining guests.
She found him in what she assumed to be his bedroom. He was chucking clothes out of the window. Expensive, women’s clothes to be more exact.
“Lex, what are you doing?” Yes, the woman was the spawn of evil but it seemed such a shame to take it out on the clothes. They were gorgeous.
Priorities, Chloe, she reminded herself.
Her question was a stupid one but she thought it could be forgiven in this situation. He ignored her and went back into the closet. She quickly picked up some of the clothing that he had missed and placed it back on the bed.
“Lex, stop.” She took hold of his arms. Now what? “I appreciate the cathartic effect this has but it would burn her more to know that you donated her clothes to the underlings that she hates so much.”
He didn’t say anything, just yanked his arms back and hurled the clothing out of the window. This wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought.
Chloe waited until he was in the closet and then tried again. She grasped the hands that were reaching for another hanger. “Just stop it. She doesn’t deserve anymore of your attention.”
Lex’s body was so tense that Chloe thought he just might snap at any moment, but he needed to hear this. “Not your rage or your disgust. She’s nothing, Lex. She never deserved you.”
He pulled his hands out of her grip and glared at her. “How very dramatic. Did you read Shakespeare lately?”
Chloe didn't deserve the venom he was spewing, but damnit he was angry and he wanted to get rid of some of his anger by having a little bonfire down in the backyard. So what was it to her?
“If you want to give anything that belonged to the 'unpleasant cunt' as you so aptly called her to give it to the servants, you should hurry up or it will be gone.”
He grabbed another set of clothing and picked up the leftovers from the bed as he went towards the window.
This was very much unlike him. Well, unlike the him that he usually let people see. This was closer to what Chloe figured that Lex was actually like. He was a man who went through a great deal of emotions. He just never let them out and this was what happened when they were finally set loose.
“When you’re done with your tantrum,” his gait slowed down when she used that word, “I’ll be in your study if you want to talk.”
She watched as he picked up some more of her clothes. “As for any items of hers, I wouldn’t touch them. They might burn my skin off.”
Lex smirked coldly as he tossed the last set of clothing out the window. “Oh they will burn, no doubt about that.”
Maybe she was right. Maybe he was having a tantrum, but he didn't fucking care. He hadn't had a good tantrum in years and now was the perfect time. After all, his third attempt at a wedding had failed before he'd even gotten as far as the vows.
He had to get a little satisfaction where he could.
Lex stalked out of the room, not caring where Chloe went. He was going to make his way to the kitchen and get some gasoline and matches. And maybe marshmallows while he was at it. To add some flavor to the whole experience.
Chloe immediately got his intention. “Oh no you don’t,” she muttered as she ran after him. She watched as Lex purposely stalked down the hall and on the way to the stairs. “Lex, no burning. This is ridiculous.” Lex had ample reason to get upset but setting shit on fire was not going to make him feel any better. She had some personal experience with that and the clean up alone was more annoying than the actual relationship.
“Lex. Lex, wait. Lex, stop.” But he just kept on trucking.
“Oh, yes,” he replied, not looking back at her, “It’s my private proper….what the fuck? Get off me!”
Chloe had taken the opportunity to leap onto his back. If he wasn’t listening to her words, this was her only recourse.
In the next moment, Chloe felt her back thump against one of the walls. Lex was trying to dislodge her. She held tight with her arms and her thighs.
“No, I'm not going to let you burn this place down accidentally because of that little whore.” In the mood and state he was in, she doubted he’d be very careful with his placement of the fire.
“God fucking damnit, get off!” Lex kept cursing and turning, trying to get her off his fucking back but she was clinging like a fucking limpet.
When he got one of her arms loose, her legs tightened around his waist and vice versa. “Why the hell do you think I threw her damn things out the window?!” he yelled as he turned around again.
He was furious. Scratch that, he was beyond furious. A new word was needed for the state he was in. All he wanted was to burn a fucking pile of clothes and his supposed 'friend' wouldn't even let him do that. Instead she was fucking accosting him and clinging to his goddamn back. “I'm not going to burn my own fucking house down! Now, get. OFF!”
She knew that Lex was mad. Not mad. Furious. And now he wasn’t just mad at his former paramour, he was mad at her. But she knew just how destructive he could be when he wasn’t thinking. She had seen it far too many times to count. Hell, she’d been there the next morning in order to help him pick up the pieces, whether it was actual physical pieces of a plant or mental.
“No,” she said, “No setting fires. Say it.” Chloe didn’t really think she was going to win this one. She could already feel her grip slipping under Lex’s strong hands.
Before she could get her answer, she felt her body being shifted and then almost lifted. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground, staring up at an enraged Lex, her ass stinging from landing on it.
He snapped. “I will not be coerced by a bloody nuisance of a fledgling reporter!” he roared as he bent over and hauled her over his shoulder, finally dislodging her from his back and sending her to the ground where she landed on her ass.
Glaring down at her, he continued, “If I want to start a fucking bonfire in my backyard I'm going to goddamn do so and you,” he pointed at her, “Are not going to stop me.”
With a snarl, he started past her, stalking on, only to feel his feet being pulled from under him. With a roar of frustration, he landed on his arm, pain flaring up like lightning.
Chloe was now fairly certain that her own rage was at least almost matching Lex’s. That he had the audacity to say that. He had no idea how much time, energy and her own money had been spent to get the information that she had just given him. He wasn’t thinking about that now, but it didn’t matter. She was angry. And hurt. And now yelling.
“I am not a nuisance, I'm your goddamn friend you fucking asshole!” She yelled those words at a Lex that was down on the ground. She’d taken his feet out from under him when she’d seen the chance as she’d lain on her ass.
Seeing her opportunity, she got to her feet and ran down the stairs. Maybe if she could find whatever Lex was going to use to set the bonfire before he got there, she could stop him.
Lex got up from the floor, cradling the arm he'd landed on. He didn't think it was broken, but it hurt like a son of a bitch.
“A friend?!” he yelled in outrage as he started after her.
“A fucking friend would have been a lot more tactful! A friend would have come to me earlier than on the last fucking week before the wedding! A friend would not have jumped on my fucking back and almost broke my arm!”
The pain was still radiating all the way up to his shoulder and she was running ahead of him like a fucking headless chicken. The way she was going, she'd end up in the gym before she ever made it to where he was planning on going.
Lex stopped at the bottom of the stairs for a moment, trying to get a handle on his control before he went on towards the kitchen. He did want to set a bonfire, yes, but that didn't mean he was going to risk his own neck doing it.
Chloe yelled over her shoulder. “I tried tact. It didn’t work. I tried telling you I didn’t like her. That didn’t work. I left you clues and that didn’t work, either.” Lex wasn’t a whiner so she really must have hurt his arm. She’d apologize for that later. Right now, she was more concerned with finding the lighter fluid that he might be after.
There was silence behind her. For the first time, she took stock of where she was. Then she cursed. Because they’d come down a different staircase than the one she usually used. She was turned around. The kitchen was the other way.
When she made it there, it was clear that Lex had already come and gone. Chloe changed direction again and ran out onto the lawn where the clothes had ended up. She saw Lex cradling one of his arms and the bottle of lighter fluid in the other.
Without thinking, she sped up and got directly in the way of the spray. It burned like a son of a bitch. Being that Lex only had one good arm, it wasn’t that difficult to wrestle the slippery plastic bottle out of his hand.
By the time it was in her hands, they were both doused with the fluid. She saw that there was a box of matches at Lex’s feet. “I wouldn’t if I were you,” she panted out as she gestured to the matches, “we’ll both go up.”
Lex glared at her, chest heaving. He was doused in lighter fluid and she'd just effectively managed to take away his last joy of the day. “Great! Just marvelous!”
He threw away the matches, and started stalking off. “Do me a favor, just get the hell out and leave me alone.”
Chloe watched him go. She wanted to go after him but she knew better. Lex was good and pissed and wound up…and injured. She couldn’t forget that part of it, either. He should probably get some medical attention. It was more likely that he would do so without her around.
She waited until he slammed the door back into the Manor before beginning to clean up a little. She put the top back on the container of lighter fluid and then picked up the matches. The pile of clothes could stay for now.
Chloe trudged back to the Manor and was happy to find that Lex hadn’t locked her out. Enrique was there waiting for her. He silently handed her her jacket and bag. An order from Lex, no doubt.
She took them after placing the bottle of lighter fluid and matches on the floor. “Tell Mr. Luthor…tell Lex I’m sorry about his arm.”
Enrique thought for a moment and then nodded.
Chloe quickly exited Lex’s house and wondered when and if she’d be back. Yes, she’d saved him from his latest marriage but, in the process, she might have decimated their friendship.
Once her car was started and on the road, she made her way to Lana’s house. She’d promised to let her know how it had gone. She didn’t get very far. Once she saw Lana she started crying.
tbc...
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Originally Posted by westwingwolf
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