Blockage (R) Ch. 36. 04-08-08

[jedi]

that was fantastic!!!
I've already seen your first chapter at FF and left you a feedback there but I couldn't be able to read the next chapter. Then I've just checked NS and seen that you posted it also here. That made me very happy.
All chapters were well-written, oh no just well written, more more better than well-written. The characters are just spot-on. I already said that Lex is amazing in your story and now all other characters included Lois are amazing as well. Chloe is very powerful and her boot fetish was histerical.

I liked so much Lex's reaction to loss of his meteor power. The show had forgetten that sub-pilot long ago and I think it would make a lot of more interesting the Level 33.1 and his other project if they remembered he is also kinda meteor freak. So I loved how you connected the story to his passive meteor power and how he embraced his unusualness and freakiness as his nature. Seeing him to suffer from hang-overs, the flus and the other things like the other people was so good and so insightful for charater wise. I didn't realized before how much his characteristic behaviours come from his passive meteor powers. So kudos to you, finding that interesting plot to show us this in this amazingly well-written story.

Lex-Lionel confrontation was done very done and I saw clearly the early S3 dinamics there. Totally loved it. But I loved Lex's weariness at the end the best. After all of their usual banter, snark and accusation, he felt just weary as usual. I wish I could explain myself better but my english doesn't serve me well just that moment so I just say again that I loved whole scene and found it so much in characters.

But the best moment for that chapter must be this part.

Lex barked out a laugh. Well, someone hadn’t done her homework! I’ve been untreatably bald since I was nine, bitch. Pay attention. “I hate pigtails,” he said gravely. “Thanks for the update. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Oh my, 'I hate pigtails.' I don't know exactly why but this line made laugh so hard and at the same time it made me so sad. You managed to show his dry sense of humor here so well and I think after his confrontation with his dady the dearest, with his weariness, this line hit me at the heart. funny and heartbreaking. I think the reason why I like so much your Lex is that. You don't make him a complete woobie, or antichrist, or a complete moron unlike the show. You're well aware of the characters down and up points and aren't afraid to show them to us openly. It is also valid for Chloe. She is also amazing here. You don't make her say stupid snarky things for just the sake of snark or just a moment of comic relief just beacuse she is a snarky character.

Geez, this review has became ridiciously long, and I hope I'm not making entirely unsense. But bear me, please, I'm no somethingeasy.

Just one thing before I'm gone. The cousins was awesome at last chapter and oh dear, I LIKE Lois. I didn't think that it was possible But the Lois I saw was nothing like the show's poor intereption of her. This was the Iconic Lois, the one I've loved since my childhood, the one that I had said her name when I was asked what I was going to be
when I grown up while I was a child. This was the Lois I've always remember with a smile on my face. I saw the flashes in her from my dearest childhood hero.[Yeah, I love Lois more than Superman]

She stood on the slippery street with her long legs spread, her long hair and the smoke of her cigarette blowing around her head. Like a statue. Like a soldier. Irrepressible and unassailable.

Except, as it seemed, by Clark Kent.

Yeah, that was what I'm talking about.
So beautiful!!!!

Hope that you'll update really soon because I'm totally hooked up your story. And can't wait to see chlex interview.

Bye!

[somethingeasy]

LOL! I don’t blame you for getting caught up in writing Lois for this chapter. I love the way you’ve captured and portrayed her personality in this fic. She’s brash, loud, tactless and slightly on the vulgar (in terms of being coarse, offensive and distasteful) side, which is exactly how SV has been portraying her… BUT you’ve given her some wonderful redeeming qualities… such as brains, intelligence, competence and a ruthless, merciless dedication to journalistic investigations, not to mention a fun sense of humour.

I adore this character you’ve created. It’s obvious that she’s the kind of person who takes a little getting used to, but her company and friendship is definitely worth the time and trouble.

‘You cheating fuck’

No, Chloe thought, and deleted what she had written, can’t start like that.

‘Dear Mister Smith’

“Hell no, lying bastard.”

‘Mister Smith,’ That was good, nice and neutral. ‘I have run your papers through my associates at several medical institutions and would like to run you through now.’

“No, that last bit has to go.” She chewed on a stray lock of hair.

‘I am happy to say that your accusations are unfounded. LuthorCare is not experimenting on these kids, at least not with malicious intent. I do not know what made you believe this was the case, but I can tell you one thing, you son of a bitch, that if you want to blackmail Lex, you’ll have to come up with something better.’

I really enjoyed how very angry and outraged Chloe is on Lex’s behalf. She’s furious about how yet another person has been trying to spread malicious lies about Lex… not only that, but also how this person was actually able to make her form her own doubts about Lex and the limits he was willing to go to. She was angry about Lex being maligned, and ALSO about being made a fool of herself. It’s really wonderful seeing the level of trust, care and regard Chloe has for Lex… she’s a true friend to him.

Then why was she so convinced that something more was going on? Smith must have known he was providing false and misleading comments. Why would he do that? To see whether she would really check? To test her integrity? Or was it something else?

When he talked about Lex, his eyes had glittered with hatred. And he’d said he knew one of the kids that died of cancer. But if he got those files from someone who was working at LuthorCorp and had some knowledge about the experiments, how could he then gotten the idea that Lex was harming the children? He wasn’t. He was saving them. Anyone knowing anything about Kryptonite must know that. Yes, it was illegal because they hadn’t received official permission to use the meteor, but…

“Aargh. What the hell do you want from me, Piggy-eyes?”

I’m really loving Chloe’s sharp, astute and ever-questioning mind. She’s not taking ‘anything’ for granted. Not even the possibility that Mr. Smith might have simply made a mistake by misreading the information he had. She’s assuming that he ‘knew’ the interpretation of the figures he gave her were nonsense, but that he had an ulterior motive for lying to her and stringing her along on this wild-goose chase. I have to admit that I am ALSO mighty suspicious of Smith’s actions, and I am also wondering what he was hoping to achieve by riling Chloe up like this. What IS he up to?!? LOL, I can’t wait to find out!

“He’s got HAIR!! Watch it, they’ll probably show him again, yes, there his is! Look! Look at him!”

Chloe held the phone away from her ear and listened carefully. Yes, she could hear Lois one floor down. Working late, just like Chloe. Working alone, by the sound of it; someone would have shut her up if anyone else was still present.

While Lois raved on about the why and how about the sudden appearance of ‘red grass on that white cue ball’, Chloe watched the screen and felt a slow smile spread her lips. She completely missed what Lex was speaking about and just enjoyed the view. She’d been right. He was rather adorable. He didn’t look at all ridiculous. She couldn’t understand why she hadn’t ever deduced that he’d had to have been a red head. With that pale skin with the dusting of tiny freckles that only showed when he got even paler, for instance if he got angry, he just had to be. The red fluff somehow made his face look softer, and surprisingly, very young. It made him human, she thought.

LOL! it was really fun seeing Lois’s excited (and slightly nasty) reaction to Lex sporting a new crop of red hair. ROTFL, ‘red grass on that cue ball’? Oh that is just MEAN, but also kind of funny! I’m beginning to understand why Lex was so frantic about the possibility of this becoming news (and mockery) in Metropolis.

Heh, and I also liked Chloe’s observation about Lex’s hair… how it should have been obvious that, with that pale skin and inability to get a tan without burning, it should have been obvious that Lex had been a red-head. Squeee! And she’s noticed Lex’s cute freckles?!? Oh, that is just TOO precious!!! ROTFL!

Over all, it seems like Chloe liked Lex’s new look… which means that he has someone to help reassure him and bolster his confidence when he whines about how the media is making fun of his radioactive red shade of hair, LOL!

“How’d you think he did it, huh?” Lois was still going on. “Implants? I doubt it myself because why would anyone choose such a horrible color, but hey who knows, maybe he’s just being eccentric. Or did he experiment with something, do you think? Maybe you can ask him tomorrow. He’s got to…”

LOL! Oh Lois is just so NASTY! But still so much fun. And it’s really interesting because I feel like I’m getting what the majority reaction to Lex’s hair will be in Metropolis by observing HER reaction. Everyone is going to be mocking and suspicious… Lex was quite right to be so paranoid about people finding out.

Chloe smiled. She knew very well why Perry always chose her to do interview the Luthors. Luthor Senior: she’d been tricked by him so often it didn’t work anymore. He didn’t frighten her anymore, and she’d gotten very good in reading him. As for Luthor Junior…Lex liked her. She never misquoted him, nor put him down any different than he was. Because she, in turn, liked him. The result was open, interesting conversation, in which he would let slip much more than he would to any other reporter. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement: Lex could trust her to publish the truth about him—as far as Lex was ever truthful, of course—and Chloe’s rank at the Planet had risen from obituaries and advertisements in the cellar to interviews and a neat little desk on the first floor. And she had a column. On Wednesdays. It was called ‘Sullivan’s Lighter’, and only those who had known her previous unpaid and undervalued job at Smallville High got the pun of it.

Oh this was a delicious insight into Chloe’s appreciated skills as a reporter and truthseeker. I LOVE the idea that her ‘walk through fire’ experiences with the Luthors gave her, not only some wisdom and strength, but also some specially acquired skills that have come in VERY handy later in her life. It was delightful knowing that Chloe is no longer intimidated by Luthor senior!

ROTFL! How it must ire the old bastard to know that his lost battle against Chloe made her lose every trace of fear she ever held for him. And I’m sure it makes Lex feel very pleased and smug about how one of his closest friends is NOT going to be manipulated, used or scared off by his father because she’s already faced and survived the worst of what daddy has to offer.

I also liked how Chloe’s friendship with Lex makes her a better reporter to interview him too… It was lovely to see that their friendship is not complicated by their ‘at odds’ professions… on the contrary, it seems like they both have settled into a beautiful symbiotic agreement about how to deal with personal and professionals lines between them.

“Actually,” Lois said, fishing for her lighter, “I was hoping for something more Italian.”

“Pizza is about as Italian as you can get,” Chloe argued.

“Not if you’re talking about Shakey’s, or Yo-Joe’s. Those pizzas have never even seen real mozzarella. Let alone oregano. And they most certainly don’t have any Chianti. No, I want my pizza made AND served by a tiny little genuine Italian man with a nasty moustache and huge amounts of oily, curly chest hair.”

ROTFL! I can understand why you fell in love with your Lois. She has a brash and honest to the point of vulgar way of talking, but she’s also got a terrific sense of humour which makes her VERY fun company.

“Ok. We can walk then.” Lois opened her mouth. Chloe put the cigarette back where it belonged. Lois took a big puff and almost choked on a cough. “When are you going to stop smoking? I thought you said you’d give it up about two months ago.”

“I did. I was weak. What can I say? I need a better reason to quit than just some…vague wish. Like a New Year’s resolution, or something.”

“That’s what you said last year, and it didn’t help you then.”

The cousinly bonding and interaction I’m seeing over here is WONDERFUL, I am having a lot of fun seeing them both kid and tease each other. It’s a lovely close kind of family bond they have between them, and I’m so glad to see Chloe gets along so very well with a cousin who is her intellectual equal, instead of the stupid, brainless ‘sex symbol’ who is being toted out as Lois Lane in Smallville.

“My Windows crashed,” Lois grumbled. She shook another cig out of her packet, lit it with the stub of the last one and tossed the butt away. Chloe shook her head. “Swallow it and like it, Chlo. As I was saying, my Windows crashed and it wouldn’t reinstall Word—in fact it wouldn’t do anything but go prrt, prrt, krrrrrrrll, and then stop, so I’ve been using that dusty old thing in the corner, the one we only use to send mail to persons of questionable conduct with whom we don’t want to be associated—or to download porn, in the case of Joe Darham and Buster Jennings; I mean, I actually saw them do it. Unless, of course, ‘Deep Inside Tia Bella’ is actually some kind of hacking program. But anyway, that thing only has internet and notepad, no spelling checker, and I kind of freaked out without all those red squiggly lines, so…” She paused to take a breath and a drag, “I thought; let’s watch the news and see what everybody’s making such a fuss about. I mean, there’s this kid missing and all they’re talking about is Junior’s new hairdo. I’m sure it’s just another one of his weird ass publicity stunts. Crazy bastard.”
She huffed out another plume of smoke.

ROTFLMAO! Oh this was hilarious! I loved this entire tirade from Lois. It was SO much fun seeing ‘a life in the day of Lois Lane’ as told from her sarcastic, sardonic, cynical point of view. I especially loved what Lois said about how she got freaked out when she didn’t see those reassuring ‘red squiggly lines’ while she was typing. LOL! I imagine lots of writers must experience that same freakout session whenever they are forced to work with any program except for good ol’faithful MS Word… the ONE bit of software that Microsoft got right, LOL!

Chloe said nothing. Like Clark, Lois refused to see Lex as anything but The Enemy—perhaps because he had once told her that she smelled like an ash tray. Or maybe tasted like an ash tray, she couldn’t be sure about that, but she doubted that Lex and Lois had ever come closer than the most formal of handshakes, if that. She knew better than to waste her breath defending Lex to Lois. Her cousin would just check her temperature and then claim that he had brainwashed her.

LOL! Actually, I think it was because Lex once made fun of her for being a Muffin Peddler, LOL! I did think it was interesting that Chloe has basically no-one to talk to when it comes to the subject of Lex Luthor. Who does she complain to when he’s being an ass? LOL, I guess Lex is the only one who must listen to complaints about himself when he’s annoyed or irritated Chloe, LOL!

While Lois grumped about the Evil of Luthor, Chloe mentally rescheduled her Tuesday. The message had only read ‘Next time, answr phone. Tomorrow Int. Luthor Jr. SV Mans. 5.30 w. Cam. Team. I’ll mail. P.’, but it effectively filled her entire day. She had to be there by 5.30, but it was always better to be at least fifteen minutes early to set up the cameras and stuff. So, a two and a half, three hour drive there…Make that three and a half with a coffee break or two and possible traffic jams. She had to leave Metropolis by one at the latest. If she was early, she could always look up some old friends—those unfortunates who had never left Smallville. As for after the interview...

oh dear me! That’s a LOT of time dedicated to one single ‘news event’, and it doesn’t even seem like hard-hitting news either. It’s interesting that even Lex’s fluffy, self-promoting interviews are important news if the editor is willing to let one of his star reporters spend an entire news-gathering day focusing on this one person.

“Here we are,” Lois said with a flourish, pulling Chloe out of her thoughts. She rubbed out her cigarette with the toe of her boot. A tiny, seedy-looking restaurant stood huddled away between a bookshop and a grand café. It was called ‘Antonino’s’, and Chloe thought it was very well possible that the Godfather himself had founded it in his more desperate days. But as Lois had predicted, her reservations all disappeared when they opened the door and a truly divine smell of freshly baked pizza with oregano and other home cooking, garlic and lit candles washed over them.

“Mmmm…” Chloe moaned. She wished her nose had taste buds.

“Nice, huh?” Lois grinned with pride. She flashed all her splendidly white teeth at the small, moustached Italian waiter with the white, stained apron who’d come hurrying from the open kitchen, his hands still white with dough, to lead them to their table.

Oh, this restaurant sounded DIVINE! Dammit, is this based on a real place?!? Because I desperately want it!!!

On the inside, the little restaurant was as lovely as it was hideous from the outside. About twenty people, mostly in pairs, sat in the cozy half dark, eating and talking. About half of the customers spoke Italian, Chloe noticed. It was probably a good sign. Red-hooded lamps cast a warm light over gleaming, dark oak tables, and lit candles flickered wherever the shadows threatened to become to dark. Peculiarly-shaped wine bottles hung from the ceiling, reflecting the light in odd patterns. The walls were painted in yellowish hues with a few faded frescoes tucked away in the corners. There was one small statue of some doubtlessly famous Ancient hero, a man with a tiny dick but abs and pectorals to die for. Chloe sighed with pleasure and took a sip of wine, letting all of her frustration with Mister Smith drain away.

The restaurant still sounds amazing, and I really, REALLY wish I could jump into the screen and sit on one of the tables, savour the sights, smells and sounds of the place… and then jump into the kitchen to taste all the choice entrées I can get my hands on before they throw me out. You built up a BEAUTIFUL atmosphere Kleine_Kat! Incredible, excellent writing! I’m starving for Italian myself now.

Lois snorted. “Apart from the usual Rape and Incest stories Perry usually drops on my plate?—Why’s he do that, anyway? It’s not like it’s nice to interview girls who’ve been assaulted by their gym teacher, but whenever I hold out my hand for a subject—like an opening of some building, or a museum, or something else remotely pleasant he gives me another fifteen-year-old with a ripped hymen as if it’s my UB40.”

“I think he thinks you can handle it,” Chloe said. “I couldn’t. Neither can most of the men. You’ve got a way to reassure them, help them, convince them to sue AND get a story out of it as well.”

Chloe hadn’t been able to do that. She’d done one incest victim interview and spent half an hour hugging the girl, crying just as hard as her. Then she’d taken a knife and had almost unmanned the girl’s uncle, who’d raped her from the day she turned eight. Only Clark’s speedy intercession had saved her from spending the prime of her life in jail. Lois was much better with those kind of things. She published their stories with an objective tone of voice—although her reports on a criminal sent to jail because of her intervention were always darkly exultant.

This was REALLY interesting, fascinating and even heartening. I suspected that Lois was an intelligent, competent, cut-throat journalist, and it was fantastic getting conformation on that. I loved hearing about Lois’s speciality in reporting… and it was SERIOUS and important reporting too, not something outrageous and stupid like the SV version’s obsession with alien spaceships and the like.

I also loved how Chloe and Lois would seldom cross paths in their reporting investigations because they both have separate interests and approaches to writing and investigation which makes them highly skilled at THEIR particular specialities. Chloe goes after anything corporate and Luthor, while Lois deals with horrific criminal reporting. Both are very important and respecatable, and it’s not very likely that the two of them will cross paths.

Heh, I also LOVED how Chloe reacted to the one time she tried to take on one of ‘Lois’s jobs’. Her intense, outraged, passionate reaction was AWESOME, and I saw the same reflection of that same outraged passion in the way she’s cursing out Mr. Smith for maligning ‘dear, sweet innocent Lex’. LOL! Let’s wait and see what happens when she gathers a little more information on the ‘poor maligned man’.

But Lois waved her hand and said, "I think it was Jones, actually. Anyway, this Tippitt guy is combing down the entire Orizon organization and then snap! He's gone. One day later another employee bites the dust. "

"I remember.” The wine was still warm in her stomach, but despite herself her curiosity was piqued. Lex had been very upset with Mowett’s death, and the woman’s death only a week later had disturbed him to such an extent that he’d called her for coffee. At one in the morning. Sometimes she’d swear the man didn’t sleep at all. “They found her under a pile of rice bags. They called it an accident—I remember thinking that was the most unlikely accident I'd ever seen. That was a cover-up if I ever saw one."

This sounds like a very intriguing and compelling story. It’s filled with all kids of yummy ingredients like the suggestion of murder, corporate espionage and scandal cover-ups. I think it’s brilliant that Lois is investigating a case as involved, important and complicated as something Chloe herself would cover… I always hold Chloe as the standard for good reporting, and it’s lovely to see that Lois is right up there with Chloe as one of the top-dog reporters at the Daily Planet.

LOL, only poor, invisible Clark Kent is still stuck down in the basement, and he can’t really risk drawing attention to himself to prove what a capable reporter he can be… poor fellow. Hopefully the say when he becomes Lois’s junior partner is not too far off, LOL!

Hmmm, and it was very interesting because there were some little hints about Lois’s investigation with Tippet and LuthorCorp HealthFood, which ‘might’ eventually be linked with the Cancer causing granola bar that Chloe is coming close to uncovering. MWAA HA HA HAAA, the plot thickens!

AND, on top of everything else, it seems like it’s Chloe’s hated friend, Smith who was responsible for pointing Lois is this direction too. Smith actually has a LOT more manipulative, sneaking intelligence than I could have given him credit for, which is really saying something. It’s possible that he’s approaching this attack on Lex Luthor from two separate angles… at least! This plot line is becoming more intricate and interesting with every passing chapter, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out in the end.

“Oh,” Lois said airily, “my little investigator can take care of himself.” And there was something in her voice, some strange mixture of affection, envy, annoyance and absolute reliance that told Chloe who Lois’ investigator was, as clearly as if she’d said his name.

“Clark!” she exclaimed, then hushed her voice as several patrons looked up from their meal, “You’re using Clark to check out Tippitt!”

“Using is such a negative word,” Lois protested. “He suggested it himself. He’s getting sick and tired of summarizing football matches. And you know how he reacts to everything remotely Luthor-related. Speaking of Luthor, do you have any idea how he cultivated that crop on his head?”

LOL! This is also an interesting new information… so Lois knows all about Clark’s strange gifts, and has no problem taking shameless advantage of his talents. LOL, and Clark is such a little doormat, he’s probably ‘grateful’ every time Lois makes use of him, LOL! This is great! I’m so happy to see that there is a genuine chance for a Clark and Lois romance on the side of this delicious plot line (and the possible developing Chlex romance ).

“I don’t think…” Chloe began, but then the pizza arrived, and she forgot all about Lex. The pizza was at least 30 inch wide, very flat, and smelled so good she wished she could snort it, like tomato coke.

“Use your knife, Chloe,” Lois giggled. “You’re not very sexy with cheese up your nose.”

Oh I got the funniest visual in my head from that sentence, LOL!

When the pizza was finished, Lois suggested tiramisu for dessert. It was, again, marvelous, and liberally doused with Amaretto. By the time Chloe and Lois had finished their coffee, they were both giggly and flushed, and when they tottered outside, waved a warm goodbye by the generously tipped waiter, tightly arm in arm despite the difference in height, they hardly noticed the bite of the wind or their uneasy footing due to the ice on the street.

“Oh Lois, don’t smoke, you’ll belch fire!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lois scoffed. “It was only 5%. You can’t spit fire with Chianti. Now the original Russian Wodka, that’s the stuff to use…Say Chloe, do you want to stay over? You probably shouldn’t drive in the state you’re in.”

ROTFL! Oh they both are so CUTE!!! I loved how they flipped their discussion onto more lighthearted, fluffy topics like movies, clothes and television gossip. It’s nice to see that the two cousins are not so focused on work ALL the time, and they can shut off their professional lives to have some non-intense conversations too.

And they both are such cute, adorable little happy drunks. It was fun seeing them tipsy and trying to maintain their footing (literally as well as figuratively) with a couple of glasses of wine sloshing around inside, LOL!

“State?” Chloe huffed. “What state?” She briefly considered staying over at Lois’, then decided against it. Lois’ apartment was a little like a student’s flat—not because it wasn’t respectable, but because her cousin did not believe in the benefits of tidying, cleaning, or not-smoking at home. Neither was she afraid of spiders. Chloe’d spent a few nights on Lois’ couch, and quite a few of those nights had been sleepless, anxiously following the progress of some small, black, many-legged shadow on the ceiling and/or floor.

ROTFL! I giggled like a mad thing at this description of Lois’s apartment from Chloe’s POV. The descriptions actually suited Lois perfectly, and it was funny as heck, ROTFLMAO!

“Huh. Must be that helpless, ‘please protect me!’ aura you have.”

“I’m not helpless!” Chloe said sharply. “I can take care of myself. And I don’t need anyone to protect me!”

Lois glanced down at her and kept a firm hold of her arm when Chloe tried to pull loose. “Hit a nerve?” she asked calmly.

“No,” Chloe growled. “Let me go.”

“No. I know you can handle yourself. Not gonna change anything. I still hold the record dropkicking evil men and I, for one, don’t want to find out you’ve been kidnapped by some crack-freak in the morning.”

“As if I’m being kidnapped every other day,” Chloe grumbled, but she relaxed her arm and let Lois hover. “I’m not Lana, for god’s sake.”

hmmm, this was an interesting reaction from Chloe. I can understand why her independent spirit would resent being referred to as a victim in any way, but her reaction seemed quite extreme… it could have been the tipsiness from the wine, or it ‘could’ have been because Chloe is secretly afraid it’s true…?

“Clark wants her,” Chloe cut her off.

And lo and behold, Lois faltered. Her mouth twitched a couple of times, smiling, but there was a strong hint of irritation in the curve of her lips and it took more than five seconds before she said, “Yes, well, we both know he’s got a fatal flaw recognizing a woman who’s actually worth anything, don’t we?”

True words, certainly, but no longer consequential to Chloe. She’d gotten over Clark years ago. Ok, every time she saw his ass she wanted to bite it, but hell, every female alive would want to do that, so that was ok. Chloe glanced at her cousin from the corner of her eye. Could it be that Lois, Warrior Princess…

“Man’s got biologically grown produce for brains,” Lois grumbled, angrily tapping another cigarette from her package. Chloe hid a grin. Oh yeah. She recognized the signs of Clark infatuation, Lois-style setting in. Give her a few weeks and she’d probably start to physically assault him. The grin won out, and she giggled.

woah, WOAH! Now THIS was a very interesting revelation! Lois is interested in Clark, but he doesn’t notice her?! I was very honestly expecting it to be the other way around. Aaaargh! That idiot is STILL Lana-obsessed, and he’s STILL ignoring the amazing, intelligent, passionate woman who is pining after him… LOL, as much as Lois is capable of pining, anyway, ROTFL!

*sigh* That idiot still has a LOT to learn! I look forward to seeing him eventually realize what an amazing woman he’s ignoring so he can start grovelling for HER attention instead of a stupid, boring Pink Princess.

“Will do. On both accounts.” They hugged, and Chloe got in. Lois waved. She stood on the slippery street with her long legs spread, her long hair and the smoke of her cigarette blowing around her head. Like a statue. Like a soldier. Irrepressible and unassailable.

Except, as it seemed, by Clark Kent.

As she turned up the radio, Chloe started to laugh.

LOL! I also laughed a little bit at the distinct streak of sadistic pleasure and humour Chloe is taking in seeing another person wanting Clark while he remains oblivious. I’m sure it’s a lot of fun for her to be a dispassionate observer now that she’s finally gotten over her own crush. But let’s hope Lois never notices how Chloe is giggling at her plight, otherwise Lois is going to end up bringing a lot of PAIN to her cousin, LOL!

This was a really, great fun chapter, and I enjoyed every second of it. I loved watching the interaction and bonding between the two cousins. Seeing exactly what their relationship is, and getting some clues about their bond with Clark Kent as well. It was beautiful, and I look forward to seeing more of Lois Lane in the future.

Please update soon. The fic is getting REALLY interesting now, and I’m seriously on the edge of my seat wondering what’s going to happen next.

[Kit Merlot]

This was a truly awesome update!

‘

I am happy to say that your accusations are unfounded. LuthorCare is not experimenting on these kids, at least not with malicious intent. I do not know what made you believe this was the case, but I can tell you one thing, you son of a bitch, that if you want to blackmail Lex, you’ll have to come up with something better.’

I love that Chloe recognized that this Mr. Smith had a hidden agenda when he brought her those files. His extreme hatred of Lex should have tipped her off, but at least now she has the proof to throw back in his face.

Maybe it's my extreme love for Damian Lewis, but I'm finding Lex even sexier, knowing that he's a redhead

I'm also enjoying your version of Lois: she loves Chloe, and is protective of her. It also seems as though she has become a good reporter--not as good as Chloe of course, but still good. I feel bad that she has developed a crush on Clark, but I did like Lois cutting up on Lana Lang--that's always enjoyable.

Continued excellent work on this fic

[kleine_kat]

There we are again! Thanks, as usual, for the lovely reviews, and sorry for the late update—which is not because of the down time (Thank you Julie for getting us back online!) but because this chapter just grew and grew…and grew. I hope the board even accepts it, since it’s huge.

So, no more blathering and on with the story:

Seven: In which Chloe and Lex get close but romance is curiously lacking

Tuesday morning had broken with a clear blue sky after its customary mid-night snow. The trees were fluffy with snow, and ice crystals twinkled in the rising sun. One of the mansion’s staff, a cleaning lady called Margaret, was beating the dust out of her duster, singing cheerfully.

Lex was sitting in front of the blazing hearth, on the animal skin (which he loathed but had kept around because his father had suggested not once but twice he get rid of the thing) with his back against the front legs of a loveseat. He clutched a mug of steaming coffee in one hand and pressed his cell phone to his ear with the other.

“So,” said Lex, clenching his jaws together to keep his teeth from chattering, “how do normal people experience fatigue? Does it include headaches and muscle spasms?”

“Headaches? Sometimes,” Dr Scanlan said. “Muscle spasms, not so frequently. Did you lift anything heavy, recently? Your muscles might have to get used to…”

“No,” Lex interrupted him. He clamped down on his molars. He sounded like a pair of fucking castanets if he didn’t. “I was fine yesterday. A bit tired.” And possibly suicidal. And drunk. And freaking out. And tired as hell of being normal.

He did not say those last things, of course, instead waiting and hoping for an explanation. However, the good doctor only made an inquiring sound, urging him on. Damn the man. Lex didn’t want to talk about his failing body. He didn’t want to list his weaknesses one point at the time. He just wanted to know what kind of pill to swallow so he could function again.

“Now my back hurts, and my legs hurt, and my head hurts, and I’m coughing my lungs out,” he snarled, getting as much unpleasantly private facts on the table in one go.

“I see,” Scanlan said with a hint of a smile in his voice.

“Well, I don’t,” Lex snapped, then clenched his teeth together before they could rattle out more than a very short salsa beat. “Please, enlighten me.”

“How are your sinuses?”

“Excuse me?”

“Are you sneezing? Is your nose clogged? Do you…”

“No, thank god,” Lex sighed. He coughed, swallowed, coughed some more. He sounded like a dog. A dog with castanet teeth. “I’m just cold. So what prescription can you give me?”

“Not much, I’m afraid,” Scanlan said. “One more thing. Do you have a fever?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you standing outside?”

Lex gazed out of the window. It looked cold and wet outside, and he shivered. “No, I’m sitting in front of the fire.”

“Then you’re running a fever,” Scanlan concluded. “Congratulations, Lex. You’re the proud new host to the Metropolis influenza virus.”

“I have the flu?” Lex said blankly. He’d always thought flus an colds were mild afflictions. This morning when he dragged himself out of bed he thought he was going to fucking DIE. “But there’s no…”

“Overflow of mucus?” Scanlan said with unreasonable cheer. “There’s the difference between a cold and the flu to you. Colds generally make you feel miserable; they give you headaches and a stuffy head, but they don’t give you a fever. The flu does.”

“Fascinating,” Lex grated out. “So what do you suggest I do? I have loads to do…interviews, meetings… Papers to write and factories to inspect, and I can’t do it like this. Is there something you can subscribe to repress the symptoms?”

Scanlan, who turned out to be a doctor from hell, chuckled. “Lex, you can’t suppress the flu. What I suggest you do is go back to bed with a hot water bottle, get yourself a pot of tea with a healthy dollop of whiskey, a couple of paracetamols or, if you’re feeling very poorly, one ibuprofen, and sweat it out. This flu seems to run its course in a relatively short time; three days at the longest. You should feel fine in a week. If you don’t feel better in two days…Do you have a thermometer?”

“No?”

“Of course not. You’ve never been sick before. Well, get a thermometer and call me if your fever rises above a hundred and one, or if it doesn’t drop in the next two days.”

“Two days?!” Lex cried. “I don’t have time to lie in bed for two days!”

“Do you feel up to working now?” the doctor asked calmly. Lex seethed in silence. No, he didn’t feel up to working. He hardly felt up to SITTING at the moment. “I thought so. Ibuprofen will help with the headache and generally make you feel better, but really, the one thing to cure the flu is bed rest and fluids. Make sure you keep warm, stay inside, and drink lots of tea, juice and water.” He stopped. After a few seconds he asked, “Lex, are you still there?”

“…Yes.” Even to himself he sounded like a whining child. “Thank you. I’ll do what you suggest.”

“You should feel better soon,” Scanlan comforted. “The first two days are the worst. I’m sure that by the weekend, you’re back to normal.”

“Thank you,” Lex said despondently, and hung up. He didn’t want to go back to normal. He wanted to go back to sublime. This whole business was getting most dreadfully out of hand. Children missing and children dying. He himself turning hairy, stupid and sick, and no sign of anything of the above improving soon. What a drag. Of course it was almost Christmas, so it didn’t really surprise him that his days were filled with gloom and misery, but still…this was one December to remember.

He sat there moping for a little longer, sipping his coffee and feeling sorry for himself until his Luthor heritage reared its proud head and forced him to his feet.

“Stop whining,” it told him sharply in his father’s voice, “and DO something about it. Luthors don’t sulk! Scanlan said something about ibuprofen, so go and get it and get a move on, boy!”

“Right,” said Lex. He reached out for the handset. At least he wouldn’t have to go and buy the stuff himself. He would send Margaret to fetch his medicines and a thermometer, swapping two flies at once: he wouldn’t have to show his face at the local pharmacy, and he’d also be rid of Margaret’s horrible singing.

“Take pleasure in small victories when it seems you’re losing the battle,” he murmured to himself, then rang and gave his orders. It would take Margaret about half an hour to ride to town, get his supplies and return to the Mansion. He wanted to be at the plant at ten, so that gave the ibuprofen exactly 30 minutes to patch him up again. It had better succeed in that. If not, Lex Luthor would personally oversee a lemming-like mass drowning of pills in his private bathroom.

*

Chloe stepped into her little Honda at twelve thirty exact, just as she had planned. Punctuality was of the utmost importance, to a good reporter. Unfortunately, she had to stop again not two streets away from the Daily Planet because her heels were so high and thin they kept sliding from the accelerator, and she had to take off her boots and put on her sneakers. Even though she had brought the second pair of shoes with her for exactly this reason, it still made her sigh. It always looked so easy in movies. Why could Kate Beckinsale hunt vampires in a corset and five-inch heels, and was Chloe unable to drive in only three? It just wasn’t fair.

However, the day was so clear and lovely Chloe quickly forgot her disappointment in her boot-wearing skills. The sky just outside Metropolis was bright blue with the occasional falcon trilling in the air, hunting for field mice or rabbits, and the thin layer of snow glittered in the sun. The Darkness piped cheerfully through her speakers and Chloe, remembering the man’s outrageous costume in the video clip, sang along as loudly as she could:

Faking joyous surprise at the gifts we despise,
Drinking mulled wine with you.
On the twenty fifth day of the twelfth month the slay bells return,
Ringing true

Snowflakes melt in hell
That it would end
Don't let the bells end
Christmas time
Just let me leave please

Hmm, she thought, still singing, it’s actually a pretty sad song. It sounds so cheery, but it’s all about hating Christmas and missing people. It was the perfect song for Lex. Maybe she should buy him a Darkness cd and give it to him at Christmas. She grinned at the thought. Then again, he probably already had the song. Memorized. Possibly put the lyrics on his door instead of a wreathe with holly and pine apples.

Poor Lex. She’d love to invite him this Christmas, but since she spent it with Clark, Lois and Lana, like usual, she doubted anyone would actually thank her for such an invitation.

Well, the weather is cruel, she wailed, And the season of love warms the heart
But it still hurts
You’ve got your career spend the best part of life’s joy apart
And it still hurts

So that’s why I pray, each and every Christmas day
That it would end
Don't let the bells end
Christmas time
Just let me leave please

Why did Lex hate Christmas anyway? He’d told her that he did, but he never explained why. Some other traumatic family history? Perhaps she should try to get him drunk, one of these days, now he was less resilient, and get him to open a few mental closets for her. His were so stacked with skeletons that there was hardly any space left for healthy, red-cheeked children—or jolly Santa Clauses, this time of the year. A good early spring cleaning might just give him some space to gather some happy memories—to un-Scrooch him, as it were, and turn him into a happy Grinch.

Christmas time, Don't let the bells end, Chloe sang merrily, steadfastly ignoring the depressive text. Yes, she could make this her project. The ‘Help Lex Through Christmas Project’. It had a nice ring to it. And it was for a good cause, and it might be fun too, and it might just absolve her from her selfish decision not to hand out presents to poor children this year. She’d done it for four years in a row, now, and she really wanted to have an ordinary Christmas this year. One with a tree and turkey and bad punch or eggnog instead of a presents-filled but empty office with only her conscience keeping her warm.

And this year, she resolved, as the Darkness trailed off and The Pretenders came on, she was going to have sex at Christmas. It didn’t matter with whom—well, ok, maybe it did, but…yes, definitely sex. Whether it was with old exes or with newly picked boyfriends, she wanted to wake up on Boxing Day and find herself locked in the loving arms of some wonderful Mr. Big. And whether Mr. Big then removed himself after bringing her breakfast in bed, or pledged his undying devotion to her while pampering her all day was really unimportant. She was sick and tired of waking up alone with a hangover for company. She was a wonderful woman, damn it, and men should be crawling at her feet, begging for attention (according to everyone she knew, in any case) so all she had to do was bend down, close her eyes and pull one up.

“Santa Claus is coming to town!” the Pointer Sisters exalted. He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice. Chloe, for some reason feeling guilty, abandoned the somewhat kinky picture of dozens of naked, writhing men in her head and sang along.

Does imagining half your male colleagues, your befriended billionaire, your alien never-to-be and two actors naked at your feet constitute as ‘naughty’?

Chloe laughed.

Santa Claus is coming to town!
He sees you when you're sleeping,
He knows when you're awake.
He knows when you've been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake!

“Dear Santa,” she said, tapping the steering wheel with her fingers. “Please give me a man for Christmas. I don’t care if he comes in a stocking. I’ve been a really good girl.”

Then she considered. Perhaps she could combine the ‘Help Lex Through Christmas Project’ with her Christmas Resolve. After all, he was bound to be lonely. She could celebrate the evening with the Smallville gang and drive over to Lex’s afterwards and find out whether he was red everywhere…

You better watch out, you better not shout! the Pointer Sisters warned, and Chloe, grinning, pulled her mind out of that gutter. She obviously needed coffee. Soaring high in reporter mode she should be, not fantasizing over her interviewee. Chuckling to herself, she put out her light and drove up to the nearest roadside café.

*
She was just driving into Smallville, two hours and two breaks later, when her Daily Planet phone mewed. It sounded just like a real cat; Chloe had acquired the sound by holding the phone over a nest with kittens and pressing record. She pulled it out of its leather holder on the desk board. The display read ‘HIM’, short for His Infernal Majesty, also known as Perry.

“Sullivan!” she called into the receiver. Perry hated people who answered a call with only their first name, or even worse, ‘Yeah?’.

“Chloe? Perry speaking.” As usual, the picture of a huge walrus sitting behind a desk sneaked, unbidden, into Chloe’s mind. “Where are you at the moment?”

Chloe looked out of the window, where the Talon just slid out of view.

“Smallville, sir. I’m a bit early, but I was thinking…”

“You can turn around,” Perry grumbled.

“Excuse me?”

“He canceled them! Luthor canceled every single appointment he had today—well, any he had with the press. He’s bailed out!”

“What?” Lex, as far as she knew, had NEVER canceled a press meeting. He thrived on them. “Why?”

“I don’t know.” Perry was pissed off; his voice sounded as if he’d gargled with gravel. “That cold-hearted bitch of his didn’t specify a reason. But I’m afraid you’ve wasted a drive to that godforsaken…”

“Hometown,” Chloe interrupted brightly. “I’ve spent most of my childhood here.” She punched the air when Perry was silent for a long moment before saying,

“Ah. Well. In that case…”

“I was planning on looking up some friends if I had any time to spare.” Chloe continued. “And now it seems I have lots of time to spare, I can see quite a few. I mean, if you want, I can drive back, but I won’t be back in Metropolis before six, and since I’d planned to stay the night here…”

“Okay okay okay, fine,” Perry snarled. He was a nice man really, but he always sounded like an evil stepdad. “As long as you hand in your column on time.”

“Already sent it, sir. And the article on the flower shops, too. Oh, and sir?”

“Yes?”

“Since I’m in Smallville anyway, I might check out the Mansion. If he’s here, maybe I can see him anyway.”

There was a soft, scraping sound on the other end of the line. Chloe imagined the walrus thoughtfully rubbing one flipper over his two o’ clock shadow.

“Yeeeeesss…you were childhood friends, weren’t you?”

“Well, friends is a bit of an exaggeration.” In Smallville it was, anyway. She briefly wondered what their relationship would be called now. Less than friends. More than lovers. Acquaintances that sometimes abandoned all pretenses and licked pasta sauce from each other’s face. It was complicated, really. “But he might see me when he refuses to receive other visitors. If I drive by the Mansion just after dinner…”

“Good, good,” There was a beep on the line; another call coming through. “Do what you can. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” And gone was the ever busy Perry.

“Goodbye to you too,” Chloe sing-songed to the tone, switched off her phone and, chanting along with another Christmas carol, made a U-turn back to the Talon.

*

It was strange, Chloe reflected, how little the town had changed, and how that little bit of change had made it completely, unrecognizably different from the town she’d lived in as a child.

The Talon looked mainly the same, but Mrs. Kent wasn’t in, hadn’t been in for weeks, according to the pimply young man who’d made her her double moccaccino with chocolate sprinkles and cream, and without Lois or Lana or her old class mates the place felt…distant. The chairs were the same, and she had managed to get her favorite overstuffed leather chair in the corner next to the window, and it smelled the same, but…

“I’m getting old,” she muttered to herself. One knew that one was joining the aged when one started growing nostalgic over coffee-stained chairs. The students that still seemed to be the Talon’s most fervent guests, all seemed horribly young. Much younger than she’d been at that age. God, they looked like they couldn’t be older than twelve!

Oh, there was Jack Voight, from her own class. Chloe hid behind the jutting sides of her chair and spied on him as he ordered his coffee. She’d never spent much time with Jack, but he was good with electronics and had fixed her scanner a couple of times. Correction, the Torch’s scanner. She remembered him as a rather weedy boy with a friendly face and very fair, tousled curls. Now he was losing his hair and was wearing a biker jacket and a goatee that made him look like a garden gnome.

She sighed, and stayed out of sight until he had left.

While she was sitting there, trying to feel like she’d come home but in fact only realizing that she’d left it for good, she called Manning from the camera team to make sure Perry had told them the interview had been canceled. He had. Chloe sipped her coffee. She found a copy of the Torch tucked away between a couple of magazines and risked losing her chair to get it. The new editor was an idiot, and the articles were boring. The only thing remotely interesting, a story around a young woman gradually disintegrating, reeked of cheap sensation, made-up evidence, and was crawling with grammatical errors. Where was the research, the evidence, the passion? It made her depressed reading such sloppy journalism.

Halfway her second mug (one thing hadn’t changed: Talon coffee was still wonderful, and so was the pie) an old friend she did want to talk to came in, and they spent about an hour in blithe conversation, recalling the ups and downs of school life and Harvest Parties. Then, at five, Caroline had to go and pick up her child at the crèche. Yes, she had a daughter, a boy of just two and a half years old. Didn’t time fly? Hadn’t Chloe received the birth card?

No, Chloe hadn’t. She watched Caroline leave, still stunned to find someone of her own age a mother, and noticed how Caroline’s choice of clothes had hardly changed in the past six years. You really couldn’t wear those kind of skirts anymore, in Metropolis. But here in Smallville they were obviously still the height of fashion.

Chloe looked down on her beautiful sitting boots, recovered once she’d left the car, on her 60 denier tights, her stylish little brown suede/ black velour skirt, on her low-cut black sweater that so well displayed the small golden fish hanger that rested in the hollow between her collar bones, and sighed. Again. Ok, in Metropolis Caroline would be the laughing stock, but here in Smallville, it was Chloe who felt completely out of place.

How on earth had that happened? Clark hadn’t changed. Not much, in any case. Whoever set eyes on him still thought 100% corn-fed Kansas farm boy, and he’d never said anything about not blending in here anymore, when he went to see his mom.

“But Lana had it too, when she came back from Paris,” she thought aloud, and somehow that cheered her up again.

Now she had to lose half a liter of coffee, and then it was time to meet with another friend. She wouldn’t have been able to see her if she’d have had to do the interview, but now she could have dinner with Jenny before visiting Lex and finding out why he was playing hokey.

*

Dinner was nice, and Jenny was good fun, as she’d always been, but Jenny was recently married, and she couldn’t leave her husband waiting. It was hardly a quarter past six when Chloe swayed back to her car, feeling oddly disappointed and more than a little put out.

Nothing was as it had been anymore. The town seemed oppressively small, the people superficial. She was ashamed for feeling this way, yet couldn’t help thinking that here, in Smallville, time had stood still and nothing had progressed. Without the endless golden cornfields and beautiful countryside in the summer, Smallville just didn’t have anything to offer. Perry was right. It was a hole in the ground, a twinkling, Christmas-lit hole in the ground.

And suddenly, no matter how ridiculous it was, she was acutely homesick for the town she was in, the way it used to be, not the way it was now. It didn’t make any sense; she was happy with her current life…and yet…if only she could be fifteen again, and be editor of the Torch, running around chasing mutants with Clark and Pete and…

“And have a pair of brains,” she told herself angrily. She wiped at her eyes, cursed as she rubbed mascara into her eye. Now that wouldn’t do. She’d look as if she’d been crying all night and she had to look smart to impress Lex into giving her his interview. No more tears. Fresh make-up. Fresh deodorant. There was no time to waste on stupid memories or wishful thinking. Vigorously, she reapplied new mascara. Lex had better see her. If he wouldn’t, or wasn’t home, she would be forced to show her disappointment in some way, for instance with her key in the paint of his car.

Chloe glared into her mirror. There was no sign of melancholy in her face. If the mascara was on a bit thick, it only made her lashes stand out more.

*

There were lights on at the Mansion, and if she was correct, that was Lex’s favorite red Porsche parked on the driveway. He was home, she was sure of it. Nevertheless, she spent several minutes collecting herself. How best to approach him? Call him to say she was in the neighborhood because his message came through late and get in on his guilt? Play it personal and act worried? She wasn’t worried, just curious. Or maybe bluff the guards and say he was expecting her, trusting that he wouldn’t send her away? He probably wouldn’t. After all, this was Lex they were talking about. But if he really was busy with something else, something that was urgent enough to cancel his appointments…

“Cool, professional, poise,” she whispered to herself, then snorted and picked up her kitty phone. There were no names in its phonebook, only nicknames. Lex’s was Spaghetti. She didn’t think anyone would ever connect it to him.

It took hardly one ring before he picked up the phone with a short, hoarse, “Luthor.”

Chloe pulled the phone away and gazed at it in surprise before quickly bringing it back to her cheek. He did have this number, didn’t he? Hadn’t he seen it was her?

“Hey Lex, it’s Chloe. I…uh…” She waited. The tone of his voice would tell her what strategy to use to get into his house—at least, she hoped so. His initial answer hadn’t been all that forthcoming.

“Chloe?” He was hoarse. And he sounded tense, if not unfriendly. “Sorry, I was expecting someone else.”

“Are you busy?” Well of course he was, otherwise he wouldn’t be expecting another to call. She ploughed ahead, “I, uh…I was in the neighborhood and I thought…”

“You’re in Smallville?” Was that hope softening his voice?

She put in a girlish giggle for good measure. “Yeah. In fact, I’m standing right in front of your door. Your cancellation came through just as I rode into town.” Stranded woman at your door, dear sir. Gallantly ask her in, if you please.

“I’m sorry.” Good, but not good enough.

“Why’d you cancel the interviews, Lex?” she asked. “You never do. Are…is everything all right?” Suddenly, she thought of all those poor little kids. What if he’d rearranged his schedule because of them? God, she’d never live down the shame if she kept him from helping them!

But Lex just sighed, and coughed. Coughed! Now she was worried. And even more curious.

“Lex? Can I come in? If you’re not too busy? If you’re busy, that’s ok, I don’t want to keep you from anything, but since I was here anyway and I don’t want to drive all the way back in the dark, I…”

“It’s all right,” he said huskily. “I’ll tell Charlie to let you in. You can…” Beep. “Wait, there’s my call. Just come on up.”

She drove to the gate. It opened with a haunted house screech, and as she looked at the Scottish monstrosity looming, dark and threateningly, over the winter-bare garden a cold finger trailed along her spine. What a horrible place it was! Why didn’t they put some lights in the trees or on the walls?

She parked her car behind Lex’s, crawled out and crunched her way to the front door over the pebbles in the driveway. A muscled man with a bulge under his shoulder opened the door at her ring, and she was let in with a ‘Mister Luthor is expecting you in the study.”

Well duh, Chloe thought, but she upped her watts for him, and he was suitably impressed. She click-clacked down the hall, still knowing the way by heart even if she hadn’t been here for ages. Darkness all around inside, too. Why Lex even returned here was a mystery to her. He’d once told her something vague about castles being fortresses, and how he liked being holed up here far away from the city…but that was just a load of crock. If Lex came here, it was either to have dealings with the plant, or when he was running away from something. So what was he running from now? The press? No, he’d assented to the interview at first. The Amy disaster, or the other kids? It wasn’t like him to turn his back on something like that. So why then?

So ask him, Sullivan, a walrussy voice growled in her head. She hastily pushed Perry out.
First things first. She heard Lex’s voice through the closed door of the study and, after a short knock, let herself in.

The first thing she noticed was the fact that he was red and fluffy, and a little shock passed through her. Somehow, over the evening, she had managed to forget that he wasn’t all white and smooth anymore. It temporarily silenced her—which was fine, since Lex was still speaking into his cell phone. His laptop was…not on his desk but on the table in between the two black couches. A big, stylish tea pot hunkered down next to it, steam rising from its spout, and a decanter half-filled with golden liquid stood in the shadow of the computer’s raised screen. And empty mug sat abandoned on the carpet.

Eh?

Lex himself was not behind his desk, or walking around as he usually did while on the telephone, but sitting on one of the couches. Or rather, he was draped over the couch, the arm leaning on the arm rest supporting his head while he spoke.

Eh??

He wasn’t wearing shoes, only socks, and despite the heat of the fire he had on a thick, gray cotton sweater, no tie or even a shirt collar in sight. Without the distortion of the phone line, the roughness of his voice was even more distinct, and when he turned his head to face her his eyes seemed strange and gleaming and dilated. Combined with the high color in his cheeks and the uncharacteristic slump of his body, it made things abundantly clear.

Chloe gaped. He was sick. He had cancelled his interviews because he was sick! She didn’t know whether to laugh wildly or be severely alarmed.

“…Right. Right. Keep following him,” Lex told the person on the other side of the line. He pushed himself to a sitting position and beckoned Chloe in. She sat down on the cough opposite him, still watching him with unabashed interest. The corner of his mouth twitched, then he cast his eyes down and went back to his conversation. “If he does, notify me and follow him, but discreetly, of course. What? No. No, you shouldn’t. Stay out of sight.” He listened for a few moments, nodding into the phone. His left hand kept rubbing at his temple, unconsciously, Chloe thought, and she winced in sympathy. “Yes, that’s a good idea. You do that. And get back to me, will you? You’ve got my number; call me if you find anything out.”

He flipped his cell closed with a practiced movement of his wrist and turned those strange eyes on her. “Hello, Chloe.” And damn, hearing her name pronounced with his ordinary drawl but in that throaty voice did weird things with her stomach. “Sorry I made you drive all the way here for nothing.”

“That’s ok,” she reassured him. He smiled.

“Can I get you something to drink?” She started to shake her head, No, you just sit, I’ll get it myself, but he had already hauled himself up and moved towards the liquor cabinet, silently concluding she’d want the cherry brandy she always had when she came here. Chloe studied him as he walked; everything he did was slow, as if he were moving in slow motion. Even blinking took twice the amount of time it normally would, and once she thought he would fall asleep while he was filling her glass.

“Uh, Lex…”

His cell rang and he started, mouthed sorry to Chloe, opened it, barked his name into it. Then he bowed, brought his hand to his head and started speaking in the strange, shlupping singsong of Chinese. And then, Chloe witnessed, for the second time in all the years that she’d known him, Lex Luthor unravel like a badly knotted carpet.

She didn’t know squat about Chinese. But she did know that pauses like the ones was putting between words couldn’t be normal. He sat down on the arm of the loveseat near the hearth, eyes tightly closed, the hand that wasn’t holding the phone pressed hard against his forehead, face tight with concentration. He spoke for about seven minutes, getting ever more frustrated, and when he finished the conversation he all but crushed his cell in his hand and whispered, “Fuck!” with such distress it really upset Chloe.

“Are you all right?” she asked again, and his eyes opened with a start.

“What? Yes, yes, of course I am. Just…there’s very little distinction between the words ‘daughter’ and ‘pig’ in Chinese, and I’m having difficulty getting the right tone because of my voice.” He smiled blandly, then suddenly bent double and began to cough.

Again, Chloe winced. It sounded painful. In mid-cough, the phone rang yet again, and Lex swallowed hard in order to be able to answer it. This time, it was his father—at least, Chloe assumed there wasn’t anyone else he’d greet with an icy, if rasping, “Hello, Dad.”

Speaking to his father drove him to pace even though his body obviously wasn’t in the condition for pacing; he swayed dangerously when he rounded the grand piano and had to lean his hand on the hood to keep from falling over. He apparently cut Daddy off in the middle of something he was saying, snarling, “I haven’t got time for this now, Dad!” and slamming the poor phone down on the piano. It immediately began to ring again.

“Shut up!” Lex yelled at it exasperatedly. He picked it up, hissed, ‘Fuck you!” when he saw the caller’s identity, and pressed the call away. Within ten seconds, it rang again. Again, he cancelled the call. After another two times the phone finally remained silent.

Lex leaned heavily against the piano, breathing fast.

Chloe simply watched. She’d seen him freaking out on hallucinogens, but even then he’d been more in control than now…but after a few seconds of breathing air, Lex pulled himself together and faced her with a wan but genuine smile.

“Sorry,” he said. “Rough day.”

His laptop made a soft, chiming sound.

“Has it been like this all day?” Chloe asked. Lex, dragging himself away from the piano, shrugged.

“No…just from about four.” He smirked. “Nice boots. Did you put those on for me? You really shouldn’t have.” The computer pinged more insistently, and Lex regarded it with comical disgust. “I’m coming! Did you have dinner yet? I have…” He stopped, both in words and motion, between the two couches, and rubbed his fingers over his face. “What was I doing?” he asked, almost plaintively. “I was doing something, and then…”

This, Chloe thought with rising alarm, is not good.

“Why don’t you sit down?” she suggested, rising herself and pulling him down next to her. She made to put the back of her hand against his cheek but he pulled away and caught her hand in his.

He shook his head. “I’m fine. It’s just…” His brow wrinkled as he tried to think. Finally, he threw his head back and burst out, “How do you deal with this? The sluggishness. The…the stupidity! My freaking brain is on strike!”

“Uh, Lex…” She shouldn’t laugh, really. It really wasn’t funny. But it was so comical to see Lex deal with what was obviously the flu in a typically Lex way; that is, to fight it and rile against it while the only thing to do was sit back and endure. She didn’t like the way his eyes looked, though, all glassy and wet, and made another try to touch skin.

But he was back on his feet again, heading for the liquor cabinet. “I used to be able to do five, six different things at the same time,” he spat as he splashed brandy into a glass. “Now? Two. At the most. See, I was offering you something to drink but then I was distracted by that phone call. It’s hopeless.”

Right, if he was going to be difficult, she didn’t have to be pitiful. “Well, what can I say, Lex, men can’t multi-task. You’re not supposed to be able to do so anyway. Now women, can,” she continued smugly. “And if we follow that line of thought, we can conclude that before Amy undid what the meteorites did to you, you actually were…”

“You say ‘woman’,” Lex said threateningly, “and I show you how well I can multitask with my Kill Bill prop sword, the poker, a flaming log and this carafe of brandy.”

Chloe grinned at him. “Lex, you’re all yak and no shack. You’re hardly able to move. I could push you over with my little finger.”

Lex huffed. “I’m suffering here, and you’re talking about shack. You’re a cruel, cruel…” He burst out coughing. Chloe grimaced as it went on and on; He’s going to rupture something, this way. Finally she got up and went over to pound him on the back.

“That’s a nasty cough you’ve got there, Mister Luthor,” she said when the fit eased and he could breathe again. She rubbed his back in great circles. “Did you have it checked out?”

Lex gulped down the contents of the glass he’d just poured. “Didn’t need to,” he gasped, “Doctor diagnosed flu by phone and told me to sweat it out. I don’t have time for sweats.” He blinked at the empty glass. “Oh. Sorry. Force of habit. I’ll get you another.” He took a clean glass, but had to stop to cough again.

“Ok,” Chloe said, plucking the glass out of his fingers and leading him back to the couch, “Let’s forget about my drink and sit down. No, sit down. Turn your back towards me. Ok, sit still.”

She cupped her hands and began to drum out a quick rhythm on his back, only hitting him with her fingers and heels of her hollow palms. Lex let her; he was too busy coughing his lungs out to be able to struggle. After a while, though, he subsided, and Chloe smiled when he made some inarticulate long-stretched sound that her drumming distorted into a kind of bleating. It seemed no one, not even grown men, could resist bleating when pummeled on the back.

When he hadn’t coughed for almost a minute, she stopped, and pressed her fingers against the back of his bowed neck. Oh yes, he definitely had a fever, and a pretty high one at that. But he was smiling as he turned back to her, a strange, dreamy kind of smile she didn’t think she’d ever seen before.

“Better?” she asked.

He nodded. “I remember my mother doing that, when I was sick as a child. I hadn’t connected it to being a remedy against coughing.”

“You were sick as a little boy?” Chloe asked. He gave her a lopsided smile. “Um. Yes. Why not.” Lex rubbed his forehead, lost in thought. “Mine, too,” said Chloe. “I used to get bronchitis from the Metropolis smog. She said it was to loosen the slime.”

Lex stared at her. “Now that was a perfectly good memory you’ve just despoiled for life,” he said dryly.

“I don’t see why you’re so revolted by a bit of slime, Lex. It’s all human. Slime and snot and sweat and blood…I’m sorry you’re feeling sick, but it’s something we all have to go through.”

He snorted. “I didn’t. Correction, I didn’t use to.” He sighed. “Well, at least I was spared the phlegm and other…”

Ping, whined the laptop. In a Pavlovian reaction, Lex lifted the screen so that he could see it. The LuthorCorp Logo was doing a slow trot over a black background. When he moved his finger over the mouse pad, a password slot came up, and he typed something so fast Chloe couldn’t see what it was.

“…disgustingness. Oh, for god’s sake…” He knuckled his forehead.

Chloe snuck a look at the screen, and it was a testimony to how bad Lex was feeling that he didn’t turned it away from her. What she saw was a list of names, several of which were highlit, and some of which were crossed through. She wondered what had made Lex moan like that; the names that were emphasized, or those that weren’t.

Professional reporter mode, she thought. Initialize!
It was a bit hard with Lex sitting so close she could feel the heat radiate off of him. Unhealthy heat. Clark was always warm, even on cold days; benevolent alien heat, the warmth of the sun stored in his flesh like a battery. While Lex always made sure his hands were warm (“A cold hand triggers sensors in the mind that automatically conclude that the owner is either nervous, disinterested or in any other way inferior,” Lex had once told her. “Just like clammy palms and dirty fingernails, and hands that don’t squeeze when you shake them.”), he usually was as cool to the touch as he looked. Maybe it was the remnant of her infatuation with Clark, or maybe she had, against all odds, some twisted nurse’s instinct, but she could hardly keep her eager little hands off Lex’s feverish skin.

Focus. She could always touch him later.

“What’s that you’re doing?”

“This?” He glanced back at her but didn’t lower the screen. “It’s a list with names from LuthorCare. I’ve put a few people on it to check alibis, backgrounds, family, the whole shebang…But it’s going far too slow, and…”

He opened an email flashing at the bottom of the screen. Again, under her eyes. Either his brain had boiled dry or he just didn’t care that she saw it. It read:

We’ve had to separate three of the children from the others and move them to a secluded room. Their vitals are stable but very weak. The new Ct4-R treatments has taken some effect, but we are worried especially about Emmy Sittard, who has lost seven pounds since last Saturday, when her condition started to rapidly deteriorate. We…

Lex closed the email; apparently he still read about three times as fast as Chloe. His entire figure was drooping.

“Emmy,” Chloe said slowly. “She’s one of your Cradle Cancer kids?”

Lex nodded. “I need to kill her mother.”

“Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“I do, though,” Lex said. “If it weren’t for that stuck-up bitch her daughter wouldn’t be dying now.” His phone rang, and an expression that was pure pain flashed over his face.

“I’ll get it,” Chloe said, and went to retrieve it from the liquor cabinet. “It’s…um… Lucifer?”

Lex grinned. It was a bit strained but definitely a grin. He held out his hand. She dropped the still ringing phone into it and he opened it. “Dad,” he said silkily. “You are not up to your usual excellence today. What made you think I would have changed my mind about discussing your project in the last ten minutes? No, this is not a good time. Yes, I know that.” He was squirming, ready to get up any moment now and start pacing again. Chloe, as she sat down again, put her hand on his back. His muscles jumped at her touch, then coiled back into hard ropes while he fought one of his little verbal battles with his father.

Chloe had witnessed them a few times before; once in person, two or three times by phone. Lex usually cut them short—armistice, he’d sometimes say with a smirk—when other people were present, and Chloe had gotten the idea that he kind of liked these little fencing matches, just like he liked fencing with epees. Now, however, as she listened to what he was saying, and the way he said it, and the way his entire body tensed as if it were a physical fight, she began to believe it might not be that way after all.

Christ, she thought, I can’t even imagine talking to my dad like that! Or him saying things to me that’d make me respond like that! It’s awful! Poor Lex!

Then Poor Lex said a firm goodbye to Daddy, studied his phone with half-lidded eyes, and finally turned it off and threw it onto the other couch. Chloe heaved a sigh of relief.

“Would you like some tea?” Lex asked dully. “I’m afraid I’m not much of a host today. Did I offer you brandy already?”

“You did. Tea’s fine. D’you have a mug somewhere? I’ll get it myself, Lex, just point.”
She searched a cupboard for a mug and found one with a cow on it. When she whisked around and returned to her seat, holding up the mug in triumph, she caught Lex somewhat unawares, that is to say without his ‘me cool’ mask in place, and her cool, poised, professional reporter’s heart turned to something soft and gooey because, Oh, poor Lex! He looked absolutely miserable. The mask clicked in place only a second later, but she still wanted to hug him and tell him things would be all right.

Yeah, like he’d even WANT you to do that. He’d probably be horrified.

“I hope you like jasmine tea,” Lex said, pouring.

“I do! It smells lovely.”

“Hm. That’s what I thought this morning. After a gallon or two you’ll feel different about that. I hope it’s still warm enough. Honey?”

“No thanks.”

“Whiskey?”

“Lex, is there anything you don’t put hard liquor into?”

He opened his mouth. Shut it. “I’m not sure,” he said, pondering. “I don’t think I put anything in my orange juice this morning. It’s doctor’s orders, though.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, mask slipping again.

“Why don’t you go to bed?” Chloe asked gently. “You look completely done in. Didn’t the doctor order that, too? Bed rest?”

Lex sighed. It ended in a cough. He reached for his computer again. “I don’t have the time. Besides, it’s barely eight yet. I should have…”

“Do you have a headache?”

Once more that twitch of the corner of his mouth. I get it now, Chloe realized. It’s amusement at his own shortcomings. Oh my sweet boy, are you one screwed up puppy. She put her mug on the armrest. “Put your head on my lap.” Dilated eyes looked at her as if she’d just grown a second head. Chloe patted her thighs. “Come on, I won’t bite, and it’ll help. This was another thing my mother used to do for me when I was sick.”

“You’re hardly my mother, Chloe,” Lex said huskily.

Down, boy. “I know that,” she said patiently, and patted her lap again. Lex sometimes reminded her of a panther, one of those big, white ones, and weren’t cats supposed to react to thumping sounds? Of course, he was more like a ginger tabby at the moment, but still. “Oh, come on. You didn’t mind smearing tomato sauce all over my face and licking it off, I don’t see why you’d be shy about putting your face…no, that was not a Freudian slip…your head in my lap.”

“That was different,” Lex murmured, but he did lie down and put one cheek on her thighs. Almost immediately he was struck by another coughing fit, sat up again, and coughed until Chloe really feared he’d bring up a lung. After that, she had no trouble whatsoever pulling him down again.

“Do you know,” Lex drawled in a breathless whisper, “if I’m lying like this, I can see all the way…” She pressed her knees more firmly together, even though he was lying ON TOP of her skirt facing OUTWARDS and COULDN’T POSSIBLY see ANYTHING, “into your boots…”

“Bastard.” She swatted his ear, but very softly. “You’re sick, so act like it.”

Lex stiffened again, but now she put two fingers on his temple and began to rub them in circles, and after a while he relaxed, his head heavy on her thighs. His eyelashes tickled her knees through her tights when he blinked. And now she finally had the chance to investigate…his hair.

It was still very short—too short to do anything but stand up straight from his head, but already it had grown long enough to feel more like a very soft brush than like stubble. A bit like velvet, stroked against the thread. His cheeks and jaws were very smooth, though; he must have shaved late in the afternoon, or maybe twice a day. She wouldn’t put it past him. Hell, if she’d suddenly wake up with a beard, she’d shave it off twice a day, too. Most people smelled off, when they were sick. Lex smelled of shaving cream, whiskey and detergent. His face and neck were hot against her legs.

Still rubbing, she made an inquiring sound.

He made an equally non-verbose sound back, which she thought was affirmative. He didn’t move, in any case. It moved her, to some extend, that he trusted her enough to let her hold him like this now that he was vulnerable—Lex liked to be the one in control of the situation, be it a conversation, an action, or sex. He was willing to relinquish some of that control, knowing that it was him controlling the forfeit of it, but only if he could take it back whenever he wanted to—but she actually thought it might not be so much a question of trust as of sheer exhaustion.

The man was a total mess.

The total mess cleared his throat. “Aren’t you bored?” he asked sleepily.

“Not really.”

“You can watch TV, if you like.”

Ah, so he was comfy. Chloe smiled. “Won’t it hurt your head?”

“You’re working on that, aren’t you?” Control. Freak. “The remote’s on the side table next to you.”

“Ok. I see the remote but I don’t see the TV.”

“Green button. Aim for the ugly painting with the half-naked woman on it.”

Chloe did. The painting slid aside and revealed a 40 inch flat screen. “Neat,” she muttered, impressed despite herself. Doctor Phil’s untrustworthy con-man’s face appeared larger than life, and she quickly switched to another channel. “Who’s the painting by?”

“Some French guy. Don’t remember his name at the moment. It’s a copy, anyway.” He jerked when Clint Eastwood rode in on a horse and started shooting people with an alarming din.

Chloe lowered the volume to a bare whisper and reassuringly stroked his forehead. She wasn’t sure, but she thought he was growing even hotter.

“You sure you don’t want to go to bed?” He just mm-ed, so she shrugged and got comfortable, rubbing Lex’s temple with the fingers of one hand and holding her mug with the other. When Clint Eastwood started painting the desert town red, Lex shifted and moved one hand to her thigh—not to do anything interesting but to curl it in front of his face—and promptly fell asleep, increasing his weight with about 100 pounds, it felt like.

Chloe sat there, sipping tea, watching High Plane’s Drifter, her mind calm and content. She wasn’t sure why she was so happy with the whole situation. Sick people were boring. She always visited them, (and in once case opened her heart to him while he was unconscious, and had it kicked closed with a single muttered name) but she most certainly wasn’t some caring Florence Nightingale. Considerate, that was what she was. Or was it compassionate? Maybe she was just dumb.

She changed her position; her leg was falling asleep. Lex murmured something, but settled down when she caressed his cheek. He slept so deeply she could hardly feel him breathe. It was getting late. Clint Eastwood had almost wiped out his entire town, and one of the antique clocks grated out eleven ancient-sounding dingdongs.


Time flies with sleeping billionaires on your knee.

But now the tea had completed its circuit, and unless Lex liked large wet stains on his leather couch, she really had to go to the bathroom. Carefully, she wriggled out from under Lex and went off to pee; when she came back, Lex was stabilizing himself with one leg still on the couch and one foot on the floor, both hands leaning on the back, balance awkward after sleeping like that. One side of his face was striped red from where it had lain on her skirt, the other side flushed with fever.

“Aww, you poor thing,” Chloe sighed. She almost didn’t recognize him.

Lex chuckled a little. “It’s a bit like…being high,” he whispered. “Only without the ecstasy and the flashy colors. Had I known that before…”

“Let’s get you into bed. Do you have a thermometer?”

“Everybody keeps asking me that,” Lex said crabbily. “What on earth am I to do with a thermometer? Will it make me feel better?”

“No, but it’ll tell me what your temperature is,” Chloe said. And although she was feeling really, really sorry for the guy, she couldn’t help laughing at him either. She knew men often tended to sputter and act macho when facing sickness, but she’d never actually witnessed it close up. Her dad was a bit of a wimp when it came to the flu. He never protested being pampered. Or being taken his temperature.

“I assume it’s higher than usual,” Lex said. He shut down the laptop with slow, clumsy movements. “I wonder when it’ll start raining. If it won’t soon, we’ll lose the crops.”

Crops. Chloe stared at him. Lex held his head aside and blinked in slow motion into the glowing remains of the fire. “Lex, sweetie, I think you’re hallucinating.”

“Sweetie?” Amusement crinkled the outer corners of his eyes, but the eyes themselves were blank and glassy.

“Sorry,” she smiled, “it comes with the fever. Come on, beddy time.”

“Chloe, much as I appreciate your…”

“Lex, I am going to put you to bed and tuck you in, and if you keep protesting I’m going to arrange a baby-phone and keep watch while you sleep. You’re in desperate need of some TLC. Do you have any aspirins?”

Lex let her push him into the hallway. “Upstairs,” he muttered. “But I already ate half of the package, and apparently taking more would have some nasty side effects…”

“Half of the package?” Chloe asked shrilly. Trust Lex to overdose himself on aspirin.

“Well, about eight.”

“Aspirin?”

“Well, ibuprofen, actually. They really work wonders, though…” He opened the door of his bedroom, gave her a backward glance, shrugged and entered with Chloe in his wake. The room was nice and warm, but not as hot as the study downstairs, and he shivered.

Chloe lifted the corner of his duvet. Nice, silk covers. The old smirk passed briefly over Lex’s face, and then he crawled into bed and let her tuck him in.

“There,” she said, satisfied. “Now you just go to sleep and you’ll see…” she trailed off and looked at the alarm clock on the side table. “Is this set?”

“Mm.”

“What time?”

“Six.”

She turned it off. Lex didn’t bother protesting. Good.

“So what are you going to do now?” Lex asked, and she shrugged.

“I can probably get a room at the Wayside Hotel, or…”

“You can stay here, if you want,” Lex said. “The guest room’s always prepared for guests. It’s a guest room, after all. You can stay here for the night. You shouldn’t drive at night—it’s probably snowing again. It always snows when it’s dark.” He blinked. “You can stay here if you want.”

Chloe nodded. “I think I might. Thanks, Lex.”

He smiled. “Thank you for your TLC. I think I like you better without it, but thank you anyway.”

“You do know what it means, don’t you? TLC?”

“Of course I do. Helen used it all the time. I came to the conclusion that it meant something different for her, though. Total Love Control, or something. Take, Leave and Crash. Or maybe Talk, Lie and Conquer. I don’t know.” He sighed. “I’m really tired,” he said softly, and Chloe kissed his hot forehead, knowing he wasn’t just talking about his current physical state.

“Go to sleep. I promise I won’t try to pry into your business tonight, just to ease your mind.”

“Armistice,” Lex murmured.

“Exactly. You’ll feel much better tomorrow, you’ll see. Good night, Lex.”

“Good night.” He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes.

Chloe left his room and went in search of the guest room. The moment she left the room, Lex opened his eyes and reset his alarm clock.

TBC

[superag]

Oh, i loved this update. I can't say that I'm sorry that Lex was finally feeling the same things the rest of us deal with, but he is simply pathetic about it. And Chloe was a wonderful nurse and kept it lively at the same time.

[Kit Merlot]

This was an awesome update!

She was a wonderful woman, damn it, and men should be crawling at her feet, begging for attention (according to everyone she knew, in any case) so all she had to do was bend down, close her eyes and pull one up.

Woo hoo, I'm glad that Chloe's finally realized how wonderful she is

I did like that she's trying to take care of a sick Lex, but I have a feeling she is going to have to be more stern with him.

And I loved your slam on Dr. Phil--he really is a charlatan.


This story continues to rock!

[hfce]

Aww that was so sweet. I am glad Lex finally gave in and let Chloe take care of him. It is so cute seeing Lex so vunerable but still being Lex. He thinks he will hear that alarm. Man you have a lot to learn.

[somethingeasy]

There we are again! Thanks, as usual, for the lovely reviews, and sorry for the late update—which is not because of the down time (Thank you Julie for getting us back online!) but because this chapter just grew and grew…and grew. I hope the board even accepts it, since it’s huge.

LOL! I hope you’re not ‘apologising’ for the length of the chapter… We love long chapters… it’s honey and milk to us LOL!

“No,” Lex interrupted him. He clamped down on his molars. He sounded like a pair of fucking castanets if he didn’t. “I was fine yesterday. A bit tired.” And possibly suicidal. And drunk. And freaking out. And tired as hell of being normal.

ROTFL! I really enjoyed how Lex was being all whiny and unhappy from suffering through some of the normal aches and pains that all ‘other’ people have had to deal with all their lives. Poor Lex, he just can’t imagine what kind of horrible thing he did to himself to warrant this headache and everything… except for drinking too much, stressing too much and generally pushing him too far than what is good for him, ROTLF! Poor Lex has to learn to slow down his pace to a more manageable level now.

“Then you’re running a fever,” Scanlan concluded. “Congratulations, Lex. You’re the proud new host to the Metropolis influenza virus.”

“I have the flu?” Lex said blankly. He’d always thought flus an colds were mild afflictions. This morning when he dragged himself out of bed he thought he was going to fucking DIE. “But there’s no…”

Oh, you’re EVIL, Kleine_Kat!! I had the feeling you were just ‘waiting’ for the chance to hit Lex with a cold since the moment he lost his super-immunity. And now you’re taking such delight in making poor Lex suffer. It’s FUN!!! ROTFLMAO! I love how Lex is so flabbergasted and shocked that this kind of horrible aching is caused by nothing more serious than a little flu, LOL! Serves the smug bastard right!

“Two days?!” Lex cried. “I don’t have time to lie in bed for two days!”

“Do you feel up to working now?” the doctor asked calmly. Lex seethed in silence. No, he didn’t feel up to working. He hardly felt up to SITTING at the moment. “I thought so. Ibuprofen will help with the headache and generally make you feel better, but really, the one thing to cure the flu is bed rest and fluids. Make sure you keep warm, stay inside, and drink lots of tea, juice and water.” He stopped. After a few seconds he asked, “Lex, are you still there?”

“…Yes.” Even to himself he sounded like a whining child. “Thank you. I’ll do what you suggest.”

“You should feel better soon,” Scanlan comforted. “The first two days are the worst. I’m sure that by the weekend, you’re back to normal.”

LOL! I really think the doctor is taking waaaay too much pleasure in Lex’s suffering than a Healer of Human Ailments should. But, then again, I don’t blame him for taking a sadistic kind of fun in this. LOL! I loved how Lex was forced to admit that he just doesn’t have the energy to keep to his normal schedule… especially not a schedule of the hectic, stress-filled proportions that he’s probably been forced to deal with since Amy worked her ‘magic’ on everyone and disappeared.

He sat there moping for a little longer, sipping his coffee and feeling sorry for himself until his Luthor heritage reared its proud head and forced him to his feet.

“Stop whining,” it told him sharply in his father’s voice, “and DO something about it. Luthors don’t sulk! Scanlan said something about ibuprofen, so go and get it and get a move on, boy!”

I know that he’s being difficult and whiny about a silly little FLU, but there’s still something heroic about the way Lex resolved himself to deal with this unfamiliar problem head-on. Although it’s a pity that the poor man has his father’s mocking voice in his head goading him into action.

“Take pleasure in small victories when it seems you’re losing the battle,” he murmured to himself, then rang and gave his orders. It would take Margaret about half an hour to ride to town, get his supplies and return to the Mansion. He wanted to be at the plant at ten, so that gave the ibuprofen exactly 30 minutes to patch him up again. It had better succeed in that. If not, Lex Luthor would personally oversee a lemming-like mass drowning of pills in his private bathroom.

ROTFLMAO! Oh MY! Is Lex seriously giving the medication a deadline and a threat to get the job done? He’s going to look pretty silly glaring and swearing at a bottle of pills that don’t perform miracles, LOL!

Chloe stepped into her little Honda at twelve thirty exact, just as she had planned. Punctuality was of the utmost importance, to a good reporter. Unfortunately, she had to stop again not two streets away from the Daily Planet because her heels were so high and thin they kept sliding from the accelerator, and she had to take off her boots and put on her sneakers. Even though she had brought the second pair of shoes with her for exactly this reason, it still made her sigh. It always looked so easy in movies. Why could Kate Beckinsale hunt vampires in a corset and five-inch heels, and was Chloe unable to drive in only three? It just wasn’t fair.

LOL! I loved Chloe’s irritation at not being able to keep up with an movie actress in a huge Hollywood Blockbuster. I bet Kate Beckinsale has wires suspending her weight, and helping her deal with the trouble of balancing on those heels… There’s no other explanation… or perhaps, she’s really wearing sneakers, but high heels are added in through 3D computer Graphics in Post-Production?

Hmm, she thought, still singing, it’s actually a pretty sad song. It sounds so cheery, but it’s all about hating Christmas and missing people. It was the perfect song for Lex. Maybe she should buy him a Darkness cd and give it to him at Christmas. She grinned at the thought. Then again, he probably already had the song. Memorized. Possibly put the lyrics on his door instead of a wreathe with holly and pine apples.

ROTFLMAO! Chloe really DOES know Lex like no other person. I loved how she has a good idea of Lex’s loathing for happy Christmas Carols, and knows this is exactly the kind of music to bring a savage smile to his face. It’s LOVELY seeing how close the two of them are.

Poor Lex. She’d love to invite him this Christmas, but since she spent it with Clark, Lois and Lana, like usual, she doubted anyone would actually thank her for such an invitation.

heh, perhaps no-one would thank her… but it would be one heck of a fun, memorable dinner, LOL!

Why did Lex hate Christmas anyway? He’d told her that he did, but he never explained why. Some other traumatic family history? Perhaps she should try to get him drunk, one of these days, now he was less resilient, and get him to open a few mental closets for her. His were so stacked with skeletons that there was hardly any space left for healthy, red-cheeked children—or jolly Santa Clauses, this time of the year. A good early spring cleaning might just give him some space to gather some happy memories—to un-Scrooch him, as it were, and turn him into a happy Grinch.

heh, you have got to love Chloe’s optimistic nature. Lex would probably fall over in hysterical laughter at Chloe’s plan to ‘un-Scrooge’ him. But I do like her thoughts, and perhaps it would be worth a try… in small, very small steps.

But I love her plan to get Lex drunk now that his defences are down and start interrogating him for family skeletons, ROTFL! I can imagine Chloe being ruthless and evil enough to follow through with that plan too, LOL!

Does imagining half your male colleagues, your befriended billionaire, your alien never-to-be and two actors naked at your feet constitute as ‘naughty’?

ROTFLMAO! Even more than I love the plan to get Lex drunk and in a ‘spill his guts’ kind of mood… I love the idea of Chloe ‘getting some’ for Christmas even better. *sigh* It doesn’t even have to be Lex (although I’m glad to see he makes top of the list of people that Chloe imagines naked), as long as Chloe gets some ‘happy’ during this joyous season, LOL!

Then she considered. Perhaps she could combine the ‘Help Lex Through Christmas Project’ with her Christmas Resolve. After all, he was bound to be lonely. She could celebrate the evening with the Smallville gang and drive over to Lex’s afterwards and find out whether he was red everywhere…

oh yeah, Yeah, YEAH, baby!!! I think it would be good to also add in the ‘Get Lex drunk’ idea to the ‘Bedding him’ plan!

She was just driving into Smallville, two hours and two breaks later, when her Daily Planet phone mewed. It sounded just like a real cat; Chloe had acquired the sound by holding the phone over a nest with kittens and pressing record. She pulled it out of its leather holder on the desk board. The display read ‘HIM’, short for His Infernal Majesty, also known as Perry.

ROTFL! Considering the visuals and reputation I’m picking up about Perry… I REALLY like the guy. LOL! His Infernal Majesty? ROTFL! Hilarious!

“I don’t know.” Perry was pissed off; his voice sounded as if he’d gargled with gravel. “That cold-hearted bitch of his didn’t specify a reason. But I’m afraid you’ve wasted a drive to that godforsaken…”

“Hometown,” Chloe interrupted brightly. “I’ve spent most of my childhood here.” She punched the air when Perry was silent for a long moment before saying,

ROTFL! Oh it’s SO cute how Chloe is taking such enjoyment in this petty victory over Perry. LOL! I would have said ‘poor guy’, but I get the feeling he deserves every bit of haranguing he gets from all his top reporters, LOL!

“Well, friends is a bit of an exaggeration.” In Smallville it was, anyway. She briefly wondered what their relationship would be called now. Less than friends. More than lovers. Acquaintances that sometimes abandoned all pretenses and licked pasta sauce from each other’s face. It was complicated, really. “But he might see me when he refuses to receive other visitors. If I drive by the Mansion just after dinner…”

aaargh! Kleine_Kat! You’re keeping the nature of their relationship purposely ambiguous JUST to frustrate the heck out of all the Chlexers reading this, aren’t you?!? LOL! You’re a mean, cruel, sneaky person, and I love it, ROTFL!

It was strange, Chloe reflected, how little the town had changed, and how that little bit of change had made it completely, unrecognizably different from the town she’d lived in as a child.

The Talon looked mainly the same, but Mrs. Kent wasn’t in, hadn’t been in for weeks, according to the pimply young man who’d made her her double moccaccino with chocolate sprinkles and cream, and without Lois or Lana or her old class mates the place felt…distant. The chairs were the same, and she had managed to get her favorite overstuffed leather chair in the corner next to the window, and it smelled the same, but…

This was a very well written description of nostalgia and the trick of memory. How just a few little changes can suddenly make a place that was magical in your childhood seem so… ordinary when you go back to re-examine it. VERY nicely done!

No, Chloe hadn’t. She watched Caroline leave, still stunned to find someone of her own age a mother, and noticed how Caroline’s choice of clothes had hardly changed in the past six years. You really couldn’t wear those kind of skirts anymore, in Metropolis. But here in Smallville they were obviously still the height of fashion.

Chloe looked down on her beautiful sitting boots, recovered once she’d left the car, on her 60 denier tights, her stylish little brown suede/ black velour skirt, on her low-cut black sweater that so well displayed the small golden fish hanger that rested in the hollow between her collar bones, and sighed. Again. Ok, in Metropolis Caroline would be the laughing stock, but here in Smallville, it was Chloe who felt completely out of place.

I REALLY enjoyed how Chloe ended up feeling out of place and awkward in what used to be her life. It was really fun seeing her duck down to avoid talking with old classmates that seemed too dull to re-connect with. And how she mourned the ‘death’ of her precious Torch, now that it’s become a third-rate paper in her absence (oh, that must have HURT!)… and even talking with an old friend that she genuinely liked didn’t help her feel like she ‘belonged’. It is all quite sad, but I guess Chloe has finally learned that she’s really got nothing to go back to in Smallville (except Lex of course). This should be good for her.

How on earth had that happened? Clark hadn’t changed. Not much, in any case. Whoever set eyes on him still thought 100% corn-fed Kansas farm boy, and he’d never said anything about not blending in here anymore, when he went to see his mom.

LOL! That is an excellent observation from Chloe, and a good question. It’s probably one of the mysteries of the universe that will never be explained by mortal means, LOL!

Nothing was as it had been anymore. The town seemed oppressively small, the people superficial. She was ashamed for feeling this way, yet couldn’t help thinking that here, in Smallville, time had stood still and nothing had progressed. Without the endless golden cornfields and beautiful countryside in the summer, Smallville just didn’t have anything to offer. Perry was right. It was a hole in the ground, a twinkling, Christmas-lit hole in the ground.

And suddenly, no matter how ridiculous it was, she was acutely homesick for the town she was in, the way it used to be, not the way it was now. It didn’t make any sense; she was happy with her current life…and yet…if only she could be fifteen again, and be editor of the Torch, running around chasing mutants with Clark and Pete and…

I liked this part too. It was an interesting paradox of a situation where Chloe acknowledges that she was lucky and privileged to be out of Smalllville and learn about the ‘bigger world’ out there, but at the same time, she also yearned for the simplicity that small-town living afforded. But she’s only indulging her nostalgia for the moment… once she gets time to truly think about it, Chloe will know that she would have gone insane in a small-town for the rest of her life.

“Cool, professional, poise,” she whispered to herself, then snorted and picked up her kitty phone. There were no names in its phonebook, only nicknames. Lex’s was Spaghetti. She didn’t think anyone would ever connect it to him.

Spaghetti? ROTFLMAO! Where the heck did Chloe get such a nick-name from?!? What’s Lois’s nickname? How about Clark’s? Does Lex know what he’s called in Chloe’s phone diary?

“You’re in Smallville?” Was that hope softening his voice?

Lex really sounded out of it when he answered the phone… In fact, Chloe was able to pick up something was ‘off’ the moment he answered. But I was really pleased to hear that Lex actually seemed to be ‘hoping’ for a visit from Chloe during this dark and difficult time in his life. Poor boy needs some comfort.

She put in a girlish giggle for good measure. “Yeah. In fact, I’m standing right in front of your door. Your cancellation came through just as I rode into town.” Stranded woman at your door, dear sir. Gallantly ask her in, if you please.

LOL! The manipulative, little… LOL! She’s only learned how to be ruthless and manipulative from Lex, I’m sure. It serves him right to have his own methods used against him, LOL!

She drove to the gate. It opened with a haunted house screech, and as she looked at the Scottish monstrosity looming, dark and threateningly, over the winter-bare garden a cold finger trailed along her spine. What a horrible place it was! Why didn’t they put some lights in the trees or on the walls?

heh, Chloe’s walking into a dark, eerie looking castle which belongs to an old friend who is acting weird. Sounds like the plot to a hundred Scooby Doo mysteries to me, LOL!

Well duh, Chloe thought, but she upped her watts for him, and he was suitably impressed. She click-clacked down the hall, still knowing the way by heart even if she hadn’t been here for ages. Darkness all around inside, too. Why Lex even returned here was a mystery to her. He’d once told her something vague about castles being fortresses, and how he liked being holed up here far away from the city…but that was just a load of crock. If Lex came here, it was either to have dealings with the plant, or when he was running away from something. So what was he running from now? The press? No, he’d assented to the interview at first. The Amy disaster, or the other kids? It wasn’t like him to turn his back on something like that. So why then?

I’ll admit, I was also VERY surprised and intensely curious about why Lex still makes regular trips to his Smallville manor. It makes no sense considering that all his connections and businesses are in Metropolis. I would have imagined that he wouldn’t have been able to stand being away from the centre of all the action for too long… especially during a crises time like this one. I really wish Chloe WOULD ask him what’s the appeal of a town that’s given him nothing but heartbreak over destroyed relationships, ostracism and concussions.

The first thing she noticed was the fact that he was red and fluffy, and a little shock passed through her. Somehow, over the evening, she had managed to forget that he wasn’t all white and smooth anymore. It temporarily silenced her—which was fine, since Lex was still speaking into his cell phone. His laptop was…not on his desk but on the table in between the two black couches. A big, stylish tea pot hunkered down next to it, steam rising from its spout, and a decanter half-filled with golden liquid stood in the shadow of the computer’s raised screen. And empty mug sat abandoned on the carpet.

Eh?

Lex himself was not behind his desk, or walking around as he usually did while on the telephone, but sitting on one of the couches. Or rather, he was draped over the couch, the arm leaning on the arm rest supporting his head while he spoke.

Eh??

He wasn’t wearing shoes, only socks, and despite the heat of the fire he had on a thick, gray cotton sweater, no tie or even a shirt collar in sight. Without the distortion of the phone line, the roughness of his voice was even more distinct, and when he turned his head to face her his eyes seemed strange and gleaming and dilated. Combined with the high color in his cheeks and the uncharacteristic slump of his body, it made things abundantly clear.

Chloe gaped. He was sick. He had cancelled his interviews because he was sick! She didn’t know whether to laugh wildly or be severely alarmed.

This was brilliantly, beautifully, perfectly written! I loved it!!! I loved how Chloe slowly became aware of all the unusual trappings and items in the room. How she slowly became aware that these ‘things’ (like teapots and the red, fluffy hair) didn’t look right in Lex’s presence… and then how she became aware of the subtle ways that Lex himself was ‘wrong’ (he was sitting still, quiet and leaning his head on his arm as if he didn’t have the strength to keep it up)… until she finally came to the shocking, alarming, mind-blowing conclusion that Lex Luthor was actually SICK! It must have been a heavy shock for Chloe to see Lex brought down so low and pitiful by a flu cold. I loved how her reaction fluctuated between alarm and an urge to laugh. This was a beautiful, brilliant way to have Chloe discover Lex while he was laid low by the flu. I loved it!!!

“Can I get you something to drink?” She started to shake her head, No, you just sit, I’ll get it myself, but he had already hauled himself up and moved towards the liquor cabinet, silently concluding she’d want the cherry brandy she always had when she came here. Chloe studied him as he walked; everything he did was slow, as if he were moving in slow motion. Even blinking took twice the amount of time it normally would, and once she thought he would fall asleep while he was filling her glass.

I enjoyed Chloe’s sharp observations over ehre. About HOW incredibly slow and tired Lex seems to be. oh poor Lex… He has NO idea that a flu is a legitimate excuse for a person to slow down and just RELAX! He doesn’t know that he should be listening to his sluggish body, and stop continuing to push himself like this. At least Chloe can see how tired the poor man is, and she has enough sympathy for him to knock him back on his ass, if necessary, to get him to calm down.

She didn’t know squat about Chinese. But she did know that pauses like the ones was putting between words couldn’t be normal. He sat down on the arm of the loveseat near the hearth, eyes tightly closed, the hand that wasn’t holding the phone pressed hard against his forehead, face tight with concentration. He spoke for about seven minutes, getting ever more frustrated, and when he finished the conversation he all but crushed his cell in his hand and whispered, “Fuck!” with such distress it really upset Chloe.

“Are you all right?” she asked again, and his eyes opened with a start.

“What? Yes, yes, of course I am. Just…there’s very little distinction between the words ‘daughter’ and ‘pig’ in Chinese, and I’m having difficulty getting the right tone because of my voice.” He smiled blandly, then suddenly bent double and began to cough.

oh poor Lex… I remember Lex ‘was’ taking some comfort in knowing that his language skills had not suffering ‘too’ much from his sudden drop in IQ points and recall abilities, but now he doesn’t even have THAT bit of solace to hang on to. I actually felt a true pang of pity for the poor man. And I can see Chloe felt the same way.

“Shut up!” Lex yelled at it exasperatedly. He picked it up, hissed, ‘Fuck you!” when he saw the caller’s identity, and pressed the call away. Within ten seconds, it rang again. Again, he cancelled the call. After another two times the phone finally remained silent.

Lex leaned heavily against the piano, breathing fast.

Chloe simply watched. She’d seen him freaking out on hallucinogens, but even then he’d been more in control than now…but after a few seconds of breathing air, Lex pulled himself together and faced her with a wan but genuine smile.

Oh this is BAD! It was truly funny seeing Lex falling apart because of all his newly discovered weaknesses… but now I think he’s falling apart past the point of functioning… it’s gotten past the point of being humourous. Lex has Lost It! Thank heavens Chloe is here to calm him down a little bit before he ends up killing himself (accidentally or otherwise).

“No…just from about four.” He smirked. “Nice boots. Did you put those on for me? You really shouldn’t have.” The computer pinged more insistently, and Lex regarded it with comical disgust. “I’m coming! Did you have dinner yet? I have…” He stopped, both in words and motion, between the two couches, and rubbed his fingers over his face. “What was I doing?” he asked, almost plaintively. “I was doing something, and then…”

It’s over here that I saw MOST clearly the reasons why Lex was falling apart… He’s simply refusing to rest and relax. Every time he finds another ‘weakness’ within himself, he only pushes himself harder (past the point of sanity or physical endurance) to overcome it. He’s actually fighting off the flu as if it’s an opponent that needs to be knocked out of the ring, rather than a slightly debilitating illness that needs to be indulged and taken care of. Even when he’s taking care of a guest as close as CHloe, he STILL can’t allow himself to relax. The poor man is trying to prove that he can function as normal (or normal as was defined by him previous to Amy’s meddling).

He shook his head. “I’m fine. It’s just…” His brow wrinkled as he tried to think. Finally, he threw his head back and burst out, “How do you deal with this? The sluggishness. The…the stupidity! My freaking brain is on strike!”

heh, now here’s an explosion that was a LONG time coming. Poor Lex is utterly baffled about how ‘normal’ people can tolerate this kind of ‘mediocrity’ in physical and mental capability. The explosion was rather funny, but it was also very sad about how Lex seems to view himself now… as slow, weak and stupid.

“Uh, Lex…” She shouldn’t laugh, really. It really wasn’t funny. But it was so comical to see Lex deal with what was obviously the flu in a typically Lex way; that is, to fight it and rile against it while the only thing to do was sit back and endure. She didn’t like the way his eyes looked, though, all glassy and wet, and made another try to touch skin.

heh, I was VERY happy to see that Chloe had picked up on exactly what Lex’s problem was. She pin-pointed the main reason behind Lex’s distress, which means she can probably work on doing something about it.

But he was back on his feet again, heading for the liquor cabinet. “I used to be able to do five, six different things at the same time,” he spat as he splashed brandy into a glass. “Now? Two. At the most. See, I was offering you something to drink but then I was distracted by that phone call. It’s hopeless.”

heh, also sad, but it’s also quite funny to see Lex railing against his own inadequacies. I actually took sadistic enjoyment about how he condemns himself for having a non-existent attention span, LOL! Poor Lex… it’s not easy coming down to Earth, is it?

Right, if he was going to be difficult, she didn’t have to be pitiful. “Well, what can I say, Lex, men can’t multi-task. You’re not supposed to be able to do so anyway. Now women, can,” she continued smugly. “And if we follow that line of thought, we can conclude that before Amy undid what the meteorites did to you, you actually were…”

“You say ‘woman’,” Lex said threateningly, “and I show you how well I can multitask with my Kill Bill prop sword, the poker, a flaming log and this carafe of brandy.”

Oh, this was DELICIOUS! ROTFLMAO! I loved Chloe’s snarky remark, and how she managed to milk the insult for all it’s worth by not only insulting his gender, but then casting doubt at his masculinity, ROTFL! That was beautifully done, Chloe! LOL!

Lex’s answer was a pretty brutish version of the elegant irony that is more typical of him, but it was still quite funny. Hmmm, I wonder whether his elegant wit left him with the good health too? Heh, yet another thing for Lex to mourn.

Chloe grinned at him. “Lex, you’re all yak and no shack. You’re hardly able to move. I could push you over with my little finger.”

Lex huffed. “I’m suffering here, and you’re talking about shack. You’re a cruel, cruel…” He burst out coughing. Chloe grimaced as it went on and on; He’s going to rupture something, this way. Finally she got up and went over to pound him on the back.

ROTFL! I can see all traces of shocked sympathy and pity have disappeared from Chloe. She’s gone to taking sadistic, near-malicious enjoyment at Lex’s self-pitying plight. I can’t say I really blame her… it must be so SATISFYING to take pot shots at Lex when he’s got his defences down, but is still as arrogant and belligerent as ever before, LOL!

She cupped her hands and began to drum out a quick rhythm on his back, only hitting him with her fingers and heels of her hollow palms. Lex let her; he was too busy coughing his lungs out to be able to struggle. After a while, though, he subsided, and Chloe smiled when he made some inarticulate long-stretched sound that her drumming distorted into a kind of bleating. It seemed no one, not even grown men, could resist bleating when pummeled on the back.

When he hadn’t coughed for almost a minute, she stopped, and pressed her fingers against the back of his bowed neck. Oh yes, he definitely had a fever, and a pretty high one at that. But he was smiling as he turned back to her, a strange, dreamy kind of smile she didn’t think she’d ever seen before.

Awww, that was sweet! Chloe might be having fun riling him up, but she’s ALSO going to make sure he’s taken care of now. Lex is SO lucky he has her during this time of extreme need. Marry her, Lex! Or offer to sleep with her! She’s desperate enough to agree too!

He nodded. “I remember my mother doing that, when I was sick as a child. I hadn’t connected it to being a remedy against coughing.”

“You were sick as a little boy?” Chloe asked. He gave her a lopsided smile. “Um. Yes. Why not.” Lex rubbed his forehead, lost in thought. “Mine, too,” said Chloe. “I used to get bronchitis from the Metropolis smog. She said it was to loosen the slime.”

Lex stared at her. “Now that was a perfectly good memory you’ve just despoiled for life,” he said dryly.

ROTFL! Oh, this was REALLY cute interaction between them. The connection between them is so lovely, that I can’t imagine why they haven’t tried to carry it anywhere further… Perhaps they were afraid of messing up the friendship?

“I don’t see why you’re so revolted by a bit of slime, Lex. It’s all human. Slime and snot and sweat and blood…I’m sorry you’re feeling sick, but it’s something we all have to go through.”

He snorted. “I didn’t. Correction, I didn’t use to.” He sighed. “Well, at least I was spared the phlegm and other…”

Heh, Chloe is trying to give Lex some good and simple perspective on his problem… It’s a pity he’s not ready to listen just yet. I think it’s a good think Amy disappeared… At least this forces Lex to TRY to come to terms with The Human Condition instead of rushing back to Amy to ‘fix it back’ again.

Professional reporter mode, she thought. Initialize!
It was a bit hard with Lex sitting so close she could feel the heat radiate off of him. Unhealthy heat. Clark was always warm, even on cold days; benevolent alien heat, the warmth of the sun stored in his flesh like a battery. While Lex always made sure his hands were warm (“A cold hand triggers sensors in the mind that automatically conclude that the owner is either nervous, disinterested or in any other way inferior,” Lex had once told her. “Just like clammy palms and dirty fingernails, and hands that don’t squeeze when you shake them.”), he usually was as cool to the touch as he looked. Maybe it was the remnant of her infatuation with Clark, or maybe she had, against all odds, some twisted nurse’s instinct, but she could hardly keep her eager little hands off Lex’s feverish skin.

LOL! Well, you DID ask Santa to send you a man, Chloe. Now here’s one practically gift-wrapped for you… all hot and sweaty, and he’s weak and ready for the taking too! LOL! Jump him!

I loved the bit of metrosexual wisdom that Lex had imparted to Chloe. I can VERY easily imagine Lex taking pains to make sure his hands were warm and moisturized and the nails professionally manicured, whenever making presentations or meeting business colleagues.

LOL! Now the hair… he’s going to have to add on another three hours to getting ready to make sure his hair is perfect. Oh dear heavens… he’s going to have to start from scratch when it comes to finding out about hair products and what best works for him! And what about hair styles?!? Oh this is going to be FUN!!! LOL!

Lex nodded. “I need to kill her mother.”

“Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“I do, though,” Lex said. “If it weren’t for that stuck-up bitch her daughter wouldn’t be dying now.” His phone rang, and an expression that was pure pain flashed over his face.

it seems like Lex still has yet to get over his rage over that stupid, STUPID woman who made all the kids (especially her own little girl) feel like freaks after they lost their hair. I can imagine that a confrontation would be in poor taste since this woman’s daughter’s health has suddenly taken a down-turn… but it would be SO satisfying to yell at her about what she had done.

“I’ll get it,” Chloe said, and went to retrieve it from the liquor cabinet. “It’s…um… Lucifer?”

ROTFLMAO! It seems like Lex also shares a little of Chloe’s habit of using nick-names for his phone directory. I wonder whether Chloe has any special name in Lex’s directory. Lucifer for Lionel! LOL! Lovely!

Lex grinned. It was a bit strained but definitely a grin. He held out his hand. She dropped the still ringing phone into it and he opened it. “Dad,” he said silkily. “You are not up to your usual excellence today. What made you think I would have changed my mind about discussing your project in the last ten minutes? No, this is not a good time. Yes, I know that.” He was squirming, ready to get up any moment now and start pacing again. Chloe, as she sat down again, put her hand on his back. His muscles jumped at her touch, then coiled back into hard ropes while he fought one of his little verbal battles with his father.

Chloe had witnessed them a few times before; once in person, two or three times by phone. Lex usually cut them short—armistice, he’d sometimes say with a smirk—when other people were present, and Chloe had gotten the idea that he kind of liked these little fencing matches, just like he liked fencing with epees. Now, however, as she listened to what he was saying, and the way he said it, and the way his entire body tensed as if it were a physical fight, she began to believe it might not be that way after all.

Christ, she thought, I can’t even imagine talking to my dad like that! Or him saying things to me that’d make me respond like that! It’s awful! Poor Lex!

Wow! I don’t know how you keep playing with my emotions like this Kleine_Kat! I suddenly felt another pang of genuine pity cut through my mocking humour at Lex’s expense. This was REALLY sad, probably because it spoke of one of the biggest tragedies in Lex’s life rather than one of the ‘inconveniences’ he’s had to suffer recently.

I thought it was very interesting that Chloe always used to believe that, in some twisted way, Lex actually enjoyed all those cutting conversations with Lionel, perhaps because she believed it was their only means of interaction and expressing a twisted kind of affection?

I think it’s tragic that, until now, Lex has been able to hide away the extreme loathing and hatred he’s had for these horrific conversations from everyone… including Chloe… which means that he probably never got support and/or sympathy in dealing with them, because he was too good at hiding their true effect on his emotional state.

It’s only NOW, when he’s losing a grip on his control and perfect façade, that Chloe can see the truth on how he feels, and knows that there is VERY little in Lex that enjoys these confrontations with Lionel. Poor Lex… but at least now he has a knowing friend who would be willing to provide him with support next time Lionel harasses him.

She searched a cupboard for a mug and found one with a cow on it. When she whisked around and returned to her seat, holding up the mug in triumph, she caught Lex somewhat unawares, that is to say without his ‘me cool’ mask in place, and her cool, poised, professional reporter’s heart turned to something soft and gooey because, Oh, poor Lex! He looked absolutely miserable. The mask clicked in place only a second later, but she still wanted to hug him and tell him things would be all right.

Yeah, like he’d even WANT you to do that. He’d probably be horrified.

LOL! He probably would… But I think it would be worth a shot… at the right time of course. It’s great to see that Lex revealing his vulnerability to Chloe has yielded some positive results. Chloe knows that he’s not the ‘invulnerable being’ he always pretends to be… he’s simply very good at masking all his hurts.

“Whiskey?”

“Lex, is there anything you don’t put hard liquor into?”

He opened his mouth. Shut it. “I’m not sure,” he said, pondering. “I don’t think I put anything in my orange juice this morning. It’s doctor’s orders, though.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, mask slipping again.

ROTFL! Typical Lex Luthor remedy… Apply lots of booze until the pain goes away. Let’s hope he doesn’t give himself kidney and liver failure during this time away from his super-immunity… this is NOT the time to be double-time abusing his insides with too much alcohol!!

Once more that twitch of the corner of his mouth. I get it now, Chloe realized. It’s amusement at his own shortcomings. Oh my sweet boy, are you one screwed up puppy. She put her mug on the armrest. “Put your head on my lap.” Dilated eyes looked at her as if she’d just grown a second head. Chloe patted her thighs. “Come on, I won’t bite, and it’ll help. This was another thing my mother used to do for me when I was sick.”

It was good to see that Chloe has a very clear understanding on exactly what is wrong with Lex. I guess she’s seeing this might be more than Lex just being angry at his new weaknesses… he’s actually in denial about them… as if they’re a joke that he can ignore and overcome if he only commits himself to it. He might actually HATE himself for having them.

Down, boy. “I know that,” she said patiently, and patted her lap again. Lex sometimes reminded her of a panther, one of those big, white ones, and weren’t cats supposed to react to thumping sounds? Of course, he was more like a ginger tabby at the moment, but still. “Oh, come on. You didn’t mind smearing tomato sauce all over my face and licking it off, I don’t see why you’d be shy about putting your face…no, that was not a Freudian slip…your head in my lap.”

heh, I REALLY want the details on this story behind the pasta-licking that happened between Chloe and Lex. And why it didn’t lead them to realize that they would be FANTASTIC lovers.

“Do you know,” Lex drawled in a breathless whisper, “if I’m lying like this, I can see all the way…” She pressed her knees more firmly together, even though he was lying ON TOP of her skirt facing OUTWARDS and COULDN’T POSSIBLY see ANYTHING, “into your boots…”

ROTFL! He’s absolutely incorrigible! Good thing he’s sexy and charming, LOL!

Lex stiffened again, but now she put two fingers on his temple and began to rub them in circles, and after a while he relaxed, his head heavy on her thighs. His eyelashes tickled her knees through her tights when he blinked. And now she finally had the chance to investigate…his hair.

It was still very short—too short to do anything but stand up straight from his head, but already it had grown long enough to feel more like a very soft brush than like stubble. A bit like velvet, stroked against the thread. His cheeks and jaws were very smooth, though; he must have shaved late in the afternoon, or maybe twice a day. She wouldn’t put it past him. Hell, if she’d suddenly wake up with a beard, she’d shave it off twice a day, too. Most people smelled off, when they were sick. Lex smelled of shaving cream, whiskey and detergent. His face and neck were hot against her legs.

Still rubbing, she made an inquiring sound.

He made an equally non-verbose sound back, which she thought was affirmative. He didn’t move, in any case. It moved her, to some extend, that he trusted her enough to let her hold him like this now that he was vulnerable—Lex liked to be the one in control of the situation, be it a conversation, an action, or sex. He was willing to relinquish some of that control, knowing that it was him controlling the forfeit of it, but only if he could take it back whenever he wanted to—but she actually thought it might not be so much a question of trust as of sheer exhaustion.

I loved the visuals being painted by these paragraphs. It was a beautiful scene of closeness and emotional intimacy. It was a wonderful moment of quiet Chlex interaction… I think I would be happy with this kind of a friendship, even if it never progresses to anything deeper or more physical.

Heh, actually, I would have a lot more fun seeing this friendship being torn apart and destroyed once Chloe finds out the truth about the granola bars. It would be SO much fun seeing the huge spectacular breakup. Lex would be devastated.

Ah, so he was comfy. Chloe smiled. “Won’t it hurt your head?”

“You’re working on that, aren’t you?” Control. Freak. “The remote’s on the side table next to you.”

ROTFL! Even like this, with his head in someone else’s lap, he’s still an arrogant, demanding, control freak… I’d like Lex to be no other way, LOL!

Chloe did. The painting slid aside and revealed a 40 inch flat screen. “Neat,” she muttered, impressed despite herself. Doctor Phil’s untrustworthy con-man’s face appeared larger than life, and she quickly switched to another channel. “Who’s the painting by?”

squeee! Rich People decorations! Damn, I’m jealous!!!

“You sure you don’t want to go to bed?” He just mm-ed, so she shrugged and got comfortable, rubbing Lex’s temple with the fingers of one hand and holding her mug with the other. When Clint Eastwood started painting the desert town red, Lex shifted and moved one hand to her thigh—not to do anything interesting but to curl it in front of his face—and promptly fell asleep, increasing his weight with about 100 pounds, it felt like.

Chloe sat there, sipping tea, watching High Plane’s Drifter, her mind calm and content. She wasn’t sure why she was so happy with the whole situation. Sick people were boring. She always visited them, (and in once case opened her heart to him while he was unconscious, and had it kicked closed with a single muttered name) but she most certainly wasn’t some caring Florence Nightingale. Considerate, that was what she was. Or was it compassionate? Maybe she was just dumb.

Heh, I’d say it’s most definitely LOVE that’s keeping Chloe stuck to Lex despite his whiny, clingy, sick state of being. Perhaps she’s not ‘in love’ with him, but I’d say she most definitely loves Lex, cares for him, and would defend him to the death from anyone who tried to hurt him when he couldn’t protect himself… I’m quite sure Lex returns these feelings.

Squeeee! Lex fell asleep in her lap! That was GORGEOUS! Loved it!

Lex chuckled a little. “It’s a bit like…being high,” he whispered. “Only without the ecstasy and the flashy colors. Had I known that before…”

LOL! I didn’t think of it, but being sick IS a little but like being high, LOL! I guess it takes a fresh perspective (as well a huge range of experience in getting high through chemicals) to draw the comparison, LOL!

“Everybody keeps asking me that,” Lex said crabbily. “What on earth am I to do with a thermometer? Will it make me feel better?”

ROTFL! Lex is so cute! Imagine being irritated because people keep telling you to do something sensible and obvious like check your temperature. But I guess he has a point that knowing his temperature is not going to help him feel better…

How about if Chloe coats the thermometer with some Whiskey?

“Lex, I am going to put you to bed and tuck you in, and if you keep protesting I’m going to arrange a baby-phone and keep watch while you sleep. You’re in desperate need of some TLC. Do you have any aspirins?”

Lex let her push him into the hallway. “Upstairs,” he muttered. “But I already ate half of the package, and apparently taking more would have some nasty side effects…”

“Half of the package?” Chloe asked shrilly. Trust Lex to overdose himself on aspirin.

LOL! I’m really enjoying the way Chloe is able to push Lex around because he’s too sick to be difficult and bossy, LOL! Enjoy it while it lasts, Chloe. Heh, and half the bottle… I think Lex was probably seeking his ‘miracle in a bottle’ and came close to overdoing it to make himself well again. LOL! The stupid ridiculous man. Chloe should stay with him to make SURE the idiot really doesn’t kill himself by taking too many pills with too much alcohol… that is actually a scarily genuine concern considering Lex has still yet to adjust his mind-set to being ‘normal’.

“Armistice,” Lex murmured.

“Exactly. You’ll feel much better tomorrow, you’ll see. Good night, Lex.”

“Good night.” He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes.

Chloe left his room and went in search of the guest room. The moment she left the room, Lex opened his eyes and reset his alarm clock.

I LOVED how Chloe tucked Lex in for the night… she actually TUCKED him in, settled him into bed and wrapped the blankets around him and everything. What an amazing friend she is… and Lex should consider himself the luckiest man in the world for having a friend like her in his sad little life.

I was ROTFL at the sneaky way Lex re-set him alarm after Chloe left. I guess he knew that he didn’t stand a chance of arguing with her… she might have taken the alarm clock away from the room if he had argued… LOL! He might be sick, but he’s still got some of his sharp, manipulative tricks on him, ROTFL!

I’m rather hoping that this experience will also do a lot to helping Lex have a little more patience for his ‘fellow man’ after he gets his own super-immunity back. Now that he knows how ‘normal people’ have to deal with their day to day lives (especially when they have the flu) perhaps he would have a little more sympathy when dealing with them?

Heh, OR he might have yet MORE contempt for those sluggish, slow, stupid ‘normies’ who don’t have the benefit of Meteorite enhanced intelligence and endurance?

What I AM quite sure about, is that Lex will have a WHOLE new sense of appreciation for Chloe Sullivan. All this time, she has proven herself to be the one person of, not only keeping up with him in wits, passion, energy and intellect… but also out-stripping and outwitting him at times. And SHE manages to maintain this kind of stunning intelligence despite having no ‘enhancement’. I think Lex is going to be in serious awe of Chloe once he takes a moment to ponder her gifts. I look forward to that moment of shocked respect for her.

This was a fantastic new chapter. And I look forward to the next update…Please post soon.

[jedi]

Yay, I was waiting for this update!! It felt like years since I read last chapter. Hehe, I think I've manage to get myself another pretty obsession.
But you came back with a lenghty amazing update so no b!tching, of course!!

I sooo liked it. I'd say I soo love your Lex but you already knew it. In this chapter, he was excellent as well. And Chloe...Oh boy, her inner voice was amazing. It was done very well, and her nostalgia to her teenage years as a young woman was so beatiful, so in character and as a woman in her late 20s, I can truly understand her melancholy. Yeah, we're still young, but sometimes it feels like it's has passed so many years. Infact in this chapter, I found myself, nodding approvingly at Chloe more than one occasion. It was a relly good character voice.

Damn the man. Lex didn’t want to talk about his failing body. He didn’t want to list his weaknesses one point at the time. He just wanted to know what kind of pill to swallow so he could function again.

If only it could be that easy, dear. Oh, by the way I like the Doctor. you're making a terrific job with one of minor characters on the show who appeared only once, i guess if the memory serves right.

“Now my back hurts, and my legs hurt, and my head hurts, and I’m coughing my lungs out,” he snarled, getting as much unpleasantly private facts on the table in one go.

“I see,” Scanlan said with a hint of a smile in his voice.

“Well, I don’t,” Lex snapped, then clenched his teeth together before they could rattle out more than a very short salsa beat. “Please, enlighten me.”

Heh, their banter was priceless.

“Then you’re running a fever,” Scanlan concluded. “Congratulations, Lex. You’re the proud new host to the Metropolis influenza virus.”

“I have the flu?” Lex said blankly. He’d always thought flus an colds were mild afflictions. This morning when he dragged himself out of bed he thought he was going to fucking DIE. “But there’s no…"

Welcome back to Normalville!!!!
He's one of us now. I know it's very bad of me enjoying poor Lex suffering from a common flu like this but dammit, he's so funny in his misery.

“You should feel better soon,” Scanlan comforted. “The first two days are the worst. I’m sure that by the weekend, you’re back to normal.”

“Thank you,” Lex said despondently, and hung up. He didn’t want to go back to normal. He wanted to go back to sublime. This whole business was getting most dreadfully out of hand. Children missing and children dying. He himself turning hairy, stupid and sick, and no sign of anything of the above improving soon. What a drag. Of course it was almost Christmas, so it didn’t really surprise him that his days were filled with gloom and misery, but still…this was one December to remember.

Aw, poor Lex, again. I think I'm infected the same thing like Chloe. But truthfully who wouldn't?? He's so such a 'aw,poor you' deserving young soul with his common flu!!!!

“Right,” said Lex. He reached out for the handset. At least he wouldn’t have to go and buy the stuff himself. He would send Margaret to fetch his medicines and a thermometer, swapping two flies at once: he wouldn’t have to show his face at the local pharmacy, and he’d also be rid of Margaret’s horrible singing. “Take pleasure in small victories when it seems you’re losing the battle,” he murmured to himself, then rang and gave his orders.

God, that made me throwing my tea from my nose!!
Good plotting Luthor, very good!

Unfortunately, she had to stop again not two streets away from the Daily Planet because her heels were so high and thin they kept sliding from the accelerator, and she had to take off her boots and put on her sneakers. Even though she had brought the second pair of shoes with her for exactly this reason, it still made her sigh. It always looked so easy in movies. Why could Kate Beckinsale hunt vampires in a corset and five-inch heels, and was Chloe unable to drive in only three? It just wasn’t fair.

Yes, that was the exactly same question I ask myself sometimes.
I always keep a pair of slippers in my car too in case that I'm with heels. My driving is already a total mess, no need to make it worse with fraking heels. It really hard to drive with them and anyone can drive with hookers stilloes I think deserve some kind of medallion!!
I told you that I found myself in complete agreement with Chloe in this chapter so many times.

Hmm, she thought, still singing, it’s actually a pretty sad song. It sounds so cheery, but it’s all about hating Christmas and missing people. It was the perfect song for Lex. Maybe she should buy him a Darkness cd and give it to him at Christmas. She grinned at the thought. Then again, he probably already had the song. Memorized. Possibly put the lyrics on his door instead of a wreathe with holly and pine apples.

Poor Lex. She’d love to invite him this Christmas, but since she spent it with Clark, Lois and Lana, like usual, she doubted anyone would actually thank her for such an invitation.

Here we go. She's started to do *poor lex*. Watch out, lady, here lies danger, always!
But Chloe's musing about Lex was awesome. She really know him well

And this year, she resolved, as the Darkness trailed off and The Pretenders came on, she was going to have sex at Christmas. It didn’t matter with whom—well, ok, maybe it did, but…yes, definitely sex. Whether it was with old exes or with newly picked boyfriends, she wanted to wake up on Boxing Day and find herself locked in the loving arms of some wonderful Mr. Big. And whether Mr. Big then removed himself after bringing her breakfast in bed, or pledged his undying devotion to her while pampering her all day was really unimportant. She was sick and tired of waking up alone with a hangover for company. She was a wonderful woman, damn it, and men should be crawling at her feet, begging for attention (according to everyone she knew, in any case) so all she had to do was bend down, close her eyes and pull one up.

You do that, Chloe. Frak that, stupid Smallville morons that didn't know any real woman because of Lana's stupid shinny hair. I've always thought Chloe and Lex could have worked amazingly as friends with benefits. But of course, stupid show never dare to do something like that. I mean, look at Bound. They pretty said us that casual sex is Evol!

Then she considered. Perhaps she could combine the ‘Help Lex Through Christmas Project’ with her Christmas Resolve. After all, he was bound to be lonely. She could celebrate the evening with the Smallville gang and drive over to Lex’s afterwards and find out whether he was red everywhere…

Excellent, girl! I'm happy to see that Chloe isn't entirely blind to Lex and his charm and wouldn't mind having a little fun with him

The display read ‘HIM’, short for His Infernal Majesty, also known as Perry.

That might be one of the funniest thing that I've ever read. 'HIM', first I thought HIM like, 'dammit it's HIM!' Wonderful nickname for Perry:-)

“Good, good,” There was a beep on the line; another call coming through. “Do what you can. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” And gone was the ever busy Perry.

That was also amazing interaction you made. Like Lex and Doctor talks, I also like very much Chloe and ever busy Perry's interaction. they're making this fic so good.

The Talon looked mainly the same, but Mrs. Kent wasn’t in, hadn’t been in for weeks, according to the pimply young man who’d made her her double moccaccino with chocolate sprinkles and cream, and without Lois or Lana or her old class mates the place felt…distant. The chairs were the same, and she had managed to get her favorite overstuffed leather chair in the corner next to the window, and it smelled the same, but…

“I’m getting old,” she muttered to herself. One knew that one was joining the aged when one started growing nostalgic over coffee-stained chairs. The students that still seemed to be the Talon’s most fervent guests, all seemed horribly young. Much younger than she’d been at that age. God, they looked like they couldn’t be older than twelve!

Ohh, sweet nostalgia!! That's exactly the same feelings I've always had whenever I pass by my highschool, and it's only like two blocks away from my place!! Kinda lame, maybe

“Cool, professional, poise,” she whispered to herself, then snorted and picked up her kitty phone. There were no names in its phonebook, only nicknames. Lex’s was Spaghetti. She didn’t think anyone would ever connect it to him.

Himm, I'm curious about this Spaghetti thing, now. You mentioned it once, and you'll mention it again in further. Now, when did happen all of this 'sauce cleaning with tongues off from faces' thing? In hiding when she was supposedly dead, I assume??? A good mystery.

She put in a girlish giggle for good measure. “Yeah. In fact, I’m standing right in front of your door. Your cancellation came through just as I rode into town.” Stranded woman at your door, dear sir. Gallantly ask her in, if you please.

God, Chloe has the most funny inner voice!!
It's so good hearing what's in her mind.

Lex himself was not behind his desk, or walking around as he usually did while on the telephone, but sitting on one of the couches. Or rather, he was draped over the couch, the arm leaning on the arm rest supporting his head while he spoke.

Eh??

Now, it's a very interesting sight, I admit.
Seeing Lex like that might be a good shock for Chloe.

He flipped his cell closed with a practiced movement of his wrist and turned those strange eyes on her.

Now, I don't know exactly why but this image made me so hot!!
Lex's flipping his phone off with a trained wrist movement, I've always found it sexy and a kind of sick strenght show( don't ask why) with men and I can totally imagine Lex doing it. Yummy!!

“He shook his head. “I’m fine. It’s just…” His brow wrinkled as he tried to think. Finally, he threw his head back and burst out, “How do you deal with this? The sluggishness. The…the stupidity! My freaking brain is on strike!”

Ohh, every chloe/lex act by so far was wonderful, amazing, etc....
I can't quote everything for the obvious reason but Lex's vulnebarity was shown so well. And it's funny as always. I can really see Chloe*s amusement at Lex from the pages.

Right, if he was going to be difficult, she didn’t have to be pitiful. “Well, what can I say, Lex, men can’t multi-task. You’re not supposed to be able to do so anyway. Now women, can,” she continued smugly. “And if we follow that line of thought, we can conclude that before Amy undid what the meteorites did to you, you actually were…”

“You say ‘woman’,” Lex said threateningly, “and I show you how well I can multitask with my Kill Bill prop sword, the poker, a flaming log and this carafe of brandy.”

LOL!!! Awesome verbal judo, and Lex might be really sick but he's still smoking hot here!!

When he hadn’t coughed for almost a minute, she stopped, and pressed her fingers against the back of his bowed neck. Oh yes, he definitely had a fever, and a pretty high one at that. But he was smiling as he turned back to her, a strange, dreamy kind of smile she didn’t think she’d ever seen before.

“Better?” she asked.

He nodded. “I remember my mother doing that, when I was sick as a child. I hadn’t connected it to being a remedy against coughing.”

“You were sick as a little boy?” Chloe asked. He gave her a lopsided smile. “Um. Yes. Why not.” Lex rubbed his forehead, lost in thought. “Mine, too,” said Chloe. “I used to get bronchitis from the Metropolis smog. She said it was to loosen the slime.”

so sweet! my mom used to do that thing too. I guess it's something that all mothers do for their sick child.

Focus. She could always touch him later.

Oh, that line was so good!!

Christ, she thought, I can’t even imagine talking to my dad like that! Or him saying things to me that’d make me respond like that! It’s awful! Poor Lex!

Then Poor Lex said a firm goodbye to Daddy, studied his phone with half-lidded eyes, and finally turned it off and threw it onto the other couch. Chloe heaved a sigh of relief.

Oh, here we go again with Poor Lex:-)
That was really fantastic, especially Chloe realizing how much it might hard for someone having that kind of twisted relationship with the only family one has.

She caught Lex somewhat unawares, that is to say without his ‘me cool’ mask in place, and her cool, poised, professional reporter’s heart turned to something soft and gooey because, Oh, poor Lex! He looked absolutely miserable. The mask clicked in place only a second later, but she still wanted to hug him and tell him things would be all right.

Amazing, she knows aw, poor Lex's sneaky power on persons. It could turn hearts all goofey and soft

Oh my sweet boy, are you one screwed up puppy.

Loll!!!

She put her mug on the armrest. “Put your head on my lap.” Dilated eyes looked at her as if she’d just grown a second head. Chloe patted her thighs. “Come on, I won’t bite, and it’ll help. This was another thing my mother used to do for me when I was sick.”

“You’re hardly my mother, Chloe,” Lex said huskily.

Down, boy. “I know that,” she said patiently, and patted her lap again. Lex sometimes reminded her of a panther, one of those big, white ones, and weren’t cats supposed to react to thumping sounds? Of course, he was more like a ginger tabby at the moment, but still. “Oh, come on. You didn’t mind smearing tomato sauce all over my face and licking it off, I don’t see why you’d be shy about putting your face…no, that was not a Freudian slip…your head in my lap.”

Good, very good but now I'm more curious about this sauce cleaning!!
I gave a good snort though when she tought 'down,boy'. You have a very dirty mind

Still rubbing, she made an inquiring sound.

He made an equally non-verbose sound back, which she thought was affirmative. He didn’t move, in any case. It moved her, to some extend, that he trusted her enough to let her hold him like this now that he was vulnerable—Lex liked to be the one in control of the situation, be it a conversation, an action, or sex. He was willing to relinquish some of that control, knowing that it was him controlling the forfeit of it, but only if he could take it back whenever he wanted to—but she actually thought it might not be so much a question of trust as of sheer exhaustion.

The man was a total mess.

The total mess cleared his throat. “Aren’t you bored?” he asked sleepily.

Awesome, just awesome!! Hearing Chloe's thoughts and observations were great and they were very in character. I'm still in awe your writing style and the grasp you have on Chloe and Lex's characters. It's soo hard to believe that it's first Smallville fanfic because it's done very well, and so true to the characters.

when she came back, Lex was stabilizing himself with one leg still on the couch and one foot on the floor, both hands leaning on the back, balance awkward after sleeping like that. One side of his face was striped red from where it had lain on her skirt, the other side flushed with fever.

“Aww, you poor thing,” Chloe sighed. She almost didn’t recognize him.

Lex chuckled a little. “It’s a bit like…being high,” he whispered. “Only without the ecstasy and the flashy colors. Had I known that before…”

“Let’s get you into bed. Do you have a thermometer?”

“Everybody keeps asking me that,” Lex said crabbily. “What on earth am I to do with a thermometer? Will it make me feel better?”

Aww, they're so squeeee worthy!!!!
I'm repeating myself so much, but again amazing dialogs.
Kudos to being high, it was something Lex could have said in times like these.

“You do know what it means, don’t you? TLC?”

“Of course I do. Helen used it all the time. I came to the conclusion that it meant something different for her, though. Total Love Control, or something. Take, Leave and Crash. Or maybe Talk, Lie and Conquer. I don’t know.” He sighed. “I’m really tired,” he said softly, and Chloe kissed his hot forehead, knowing he wasn’t just talking about his current physical state.

“Go to sleep. I promise I won’t try to pry into your business tonight, just to ease your mind.”

“Armistice,” Lex murmured.

“Exactly. You’ll feel much better tomorrow, you’ll see. Good night, Lex.”

“Good night.” He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes.

Chloe left his room and went in search of the guest room. The moment she left the room, Lex opened his eyes and reset his alarm clock.

Now, that was plainly sad when he mentioned Helen.
I had another 'aw, poor you' moment, dammit even if I'm not very fond of them. But in this story, it's done so well and so insightful to characters pov's. It's not just wobbing, for sake of wobbie Lex. I know wobbie!Lex draws so many attention at online forums which why in the middle of the Season 7 we're having it even if it's entirely out of place now. Anyway I've never been a fan of wobbielazation[I totally made up this word and I did it entirely wrong, I guess but bear with me, english isn't my forte] but here I have a good reason, a good plot, good character interaction so it was why I enjoy seeing Lex suffering like this.

Again, that was amazing chapter and I'm glad that Chloe and Lex didn't let you make it shorter because it's really worth waiting. Thank you for this update and I hope I didn't make so many typing and/or grammer errors when I was writing and this thing is getting hideously long but, ok, now, I'm done my babbling and yammering. Just let you know that I'm waiting early what will happen next. Hope that I won't have to wait long though.

Bye!

Oh, PS: I hope this ridiciously long and poor review is a good motivator for you writing the next one earlier!!!

[dira]

Wonderfull update. Keep up with the good work!!!!!!!!