The Undoing of Lex Luthor (R) Completed 7/11/08

[dagney]

Wonderful, Evil Lionel needs to rot in hell. I like how we see a Lex who is a mix of his other two persona's . I'm so glad he remembered Chloe. I'm looking foward to the reunion. Dagney

[superag]

A/N - We are officially at the end of this fic. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed stressing over it. I'm still working on the vid to go with it. Thanks for all the encouragement - love all of you!!!

Chapter 17 - Blood and Tears


He stopped the half a mile up the road and couldn’t see through the trees the supposed address that Clark had given him. He got out and shut the door to the car, leaning against it as if he was glued to it. What would he say to her? How long before she pulled a gun on him? He closed his eyes and prayed to a God that probably could care less of him.

He stopped at the edge of the path and looked at the small cabin in the woods. Clark really hid her when he said he would. He made his way up the path and peered through the screen door. His breathing increased and he leaned against the outside of the house trying to contain himself. He looked back in the house and watched as she disappeared onto a back porch. He carefully opened the front door and closed it behind him. He walked through the small kitchen and living room and watched her. She was radiant, like he had remembered her from waking up beside her.

She wrapped up in a blanket on the small swing and read. Wifey. Lex bit his lip to stave off a laugh as he watched her wriggle in her seat. Then it caught his eyes; the ring was still there. Maybe there was hope for him after all. Only one way to be sure. He pulled the door to the back porch open as Chloe fidgeted under her blanket.

“Stop.” Lex heard the click from under the blanket and watched as the small barrel of the gun poked out of the blanket. He backed up to the other side of the porch and shoved his hands in his pants. Chloe eyed him from the side and her fears were partly put to rest. He wasn’t dressed in black, not even purple. Her head slightly turned where she could eye him closer. Khaki pants and a blue pullover.

Her lip wanted to quiver, her arms wanted to reach for him, but she had to be sure. “Take your hands out of your pants.” Lex slowly removed his hands and placed them at his sides. His ring. She tried to breathe and the gun faltered in her hand. Lex watched and bolted to catch it before it hit the ground. Uncocking the gun, he laid it on the table and knelt next to her chair, tracing his hand over the ring on her finger.

“So, is this your prison or the picnic?” he tried to make a joke. Chloe sat still not able to move her head from watching his every move. His cold fingers wrapped around her hand as she gulped silently at the statement that brought fear back into the equation. She was confused. This is what she had wanted since she walked out of the hospital, but knew it came with a price. He was the old Lex who had destroyed so many people around her.

“How did you find me?” She expected to hear of surveillance tracking her down or checking her bank account routing, but none of that. He simply placed a well worn notecard in her lap with her address hand printed on it in Clark’s handwriting. Clark sold her soul…or knew more than she did about Lex.

Lex bit his lip and placed his hands back between his own legs, continuing to kneel in front of her silently. She had to have time to process his presence as much as he needed to convince her he was done. Clark’s secret revealed, his father had come to and started speaking about mergers at work with no recall of anything remotely related to he and Chloe, there was no reason for anything else. He had to show her. He had to give her time. “I miss you,” he whispered. She heard the wavering in his voice. He was as scared as she was, of what she didn’t know.

“We’re not the same as before.” She stopped and looked the other way, scooting her body away from his presence. He watched her lip shake as she pulled the blanket up around her. “You’re…you. You faked her pregnancy, you took my parents away from me, you…”

“I get it.” He had held off on his father’s decision to finalize the divorce. He wanted to see how things would actually pan out. “I’m sorry,” he could only choke out before twisting his head away from looking at her. “I didn’t have the best role models and all the wrong motives. Things got out of hand.”

“You let them,” she snapped coldly. Lex stood up and watched as Chloe flinched closer to the edge of the swing away from him. Chloe closed her eyes and could still feel his stare at her. “I read about your dad. I’m sorry it had to come to that. Interesting that the knife at the scene wasn’t the same thickness as the puncture wound.” Chloe turned and looked at Lex, who continued to gaze at the woods through the slats in the porch.

He shoved his hand back in his pocket and started into the cottage. She was back to her reporter self. It was clearly over; after what they had, verbal judo was no longer all he wanted. He started for the front door as he heard her speak. “You know I feel a little left out knowing that you and Clark were in on your father’s attack together.” Lex turned and looked at her through the screen.

“What?” Chloe slowly got up and eased past Lex, trying desperately not to touch him, to grab him and kiss him. He still hurt her but she hoped the memories of the past two months or the past two years in his mind still remained firm enough to fall back on. She lifted the light mattress up and unfolded the dark cloth and turned around.

The item glowed in her hand except for the darker end covered in blood. Chloe walked over and put it in Lex’s hand. “Your father’s strange last year was caused by the material you see floating in this.” Lex stared at her and then at the object in his hand. “It’s hard to explain, even for me.”

Lex held the crystal up to the light and stared at the violet hues of material that swimmed inside the slick piece. He couldn’t ever wear violet again he thought. He thought about saying something but had sworn to Clark he would keep his secret. Chloe watched as his eyes glared at the object, careful not to touch its surface. He had no desire to have anymore trouble from his father or Clark’s heritage for that matter. “Clark told me that you know.”

“Chloe, I couldn’t hurt Clark. I mean I could have, at a time I wanted to, but it’s just complicated now.” He wrapped the crystal back up and handed it to her. He leaned on her counter as she hid the object away in the same location. It was a test he could tell. If he went after the crystal to have it tested, she would know he was the same. “Do you trust me?”

Chloe turned and nodded. “I don’t know who you are. Clark said things were awkward but you were moving away from your projects. Your father destroyed everything anything except for the clone of you that Clark took care of once we pulled all the information off your server.” Lex gripped the counter and threw his head back in frustration.

“You need to come with me.” Chloe eyed Lex suspiciously and glanced around for the gun. Lex walked back out on the patio and retrieved the object. She backed up against the wall when his purposeful walk led right to her. He pulled out her hand and laid the gun in it. “You shoot me the minute you don’t trust me. Let’s go.”

Chloe sat on edge the entire trip in the car and then on the plane, her fingers now becoming weak and white from gripping the gun so tightly. She followed him out, looking strangely at the khaki pants protruding out under the same black coat he always wore. She caught up to him, gun still in hand and looked out over an empty building next to a river.

The two marched down the hill and stopped as Lex typed in several codes and Chloe cocked the gun. Lex’s body stiffened as he heard the click and closed his eyes briefly, waiting for the shot. He turned on the lights and backed away from her. “This lab wasn’t listed anywhere.” Chloe looked at the glass case and saw a full lab. She had been here before. The stark white room made her skin crawl as she approached the metal table. This was where he had violated her. What had caused her so much pain. Had caused her to shoot up the mansion; he had watched the video in the hospital.

Now she held the gun. She could shoot him, leave him the middle of no where. She turned and pointed the gun at him. “You really hurt me. I didn’t remember and when I saw it … I hate you.” Lex stood straight up and listened, waiting for the hammer to pop. If his honesty wasn’t enough, he didn’t deserve her. Her finger rubbed the trigger as she watched Lex stand perfectly still. His face wasn’t sad or frightened, as if he expected it. Pulling the trigger, she closed her eyes and heard the shot go off before turning the gun on the glass of the room she had been in before. “I HATE LEX LUTHOR!” she repeated over the sound of the weapon.

She dropped the gun and beat on the broken glass until Lex saw her hands were bleeding. Turning around, she noticed she had missed him and beat on his chest still screaming at him, blood trickling down his shirt. He had now hurt her twice. Never again, he thought. “I know. I hate him too.” They slipped to the floor together as he ripped the lining out of his jacket and wrapped it around her cuts.

She looked at him in silence while he carefully touched her arms. She was confused. Why would he bring me here, she thought. The most hateful memory he could conjure up to expose her to. Then she saw it; his face, the look of concern from her Lex. His fingers careful to wrap her cuts without grazing them. He hated himself, he admitted it. She swallowed and knew it was a chance. “I love you just like this,” she whispered.

Lex looked up and saw her green eyes focusing on his reaction. “I told you I would never forget you.” Chloe’s smiled beamed through her tears as Lex pulled her into him. “I love you, even if you think I’m a monster.”

Chloe leaned back and looked at him. “No more secrets, no more projects, just keep your dad in line, ok?” She fell into his chest and felt him kiss her head. “And you have to tell me why I was abducted. I’m one of them aren’t I? I’m a freak.”

“You’re not a freak; you’re my wife.” He laughed, “Maybe that makes you a freak.”

Chloe wasn’t laughing, “You’ll tell me?”

“Absolutely. Every detail.” Lex shook his head as he picked the two of them off the ground and carefully brushed the glass flakes off the two of them. He wrapped his arm around her and walked her out of the plant, stopping at the top of the hill. “Here,” he handed her a small box and she glanced up at him. “Open it.”

Chloe pulled on the small bow and popped the top off. An explosion came from at the bottom of the hill. The lab went up in flames and Chloe’s face lit up in a smile. Looking back at Lex, she saw him on one knee. “I’ve never done this right.” He stopped – the words caught in his throat as another explosion came from down the hill. Chloe stood steadfast not sure what to think as Lex closed his eyes, remembering her hating him for her pain. “Will you to marry me for real Mrs. Luthor?” His voice quivered.

Chloe looked down at what was the trigger mechanism and a diamond ring was still in the box. She handed Lex the box and tugged at the ring she still wore. Shoving it in her pocket, she watched the usually smooth as silk Lex Luthor shake putting the new ring on her hand. “Yes,” she smiled as he kissed her for the first time it seemed. “Now, let’s get out of here. I really want to forget this place.”

“One thing,” Lex reached into his coat pocket and pulled out two silver straps. Chloe grabbed them out of his hand and threw them to the ground before starting with her ring.

“You sick twisted son a …”

“Chloe, it’s a joke.” He smiled and giggled sarcastically like her Lex used to. “Although, you were damn sexy in it. I was hoping we could put a couple of hook and eyes…” She slapped him across the face, hard. “Ok…joke over.”

THE END

[westwingwolf]

I think that ending was absolutely perfect! Great blend of old Lex and new Lex. I think that the two of them, with all that they been through, can only be understood by each other. This fic went a long way from where it started based on a weird link and a flippant remark. I love that there is humor in their relationship, or at least Lex trying for humor, because the past is always going to be there and they can't ignore it, but they got to learn to live with it and continue their lives. And their lives will be so much better now that Lionel is out of the picture.

[Impress]

Good work. I'm glad Chloe is willing to give new-old Lex a chance.

[lj715]

Love the way this ended. Really great job superag.

[hfce]

Great story with a perfect ending.

[Kit Merlot]

This was a wonderful ending

I love the imagery of Lex asking Chloe to marry him for real as the lab where he had her horribly experimented on is on fire behind them.

Great work on this fic!

[Esther25jm]

Noo!! I refuse to believe this is over. Nope. Uh uh.... *cries*

Oh, sweetie, it was fantastic!! You had me shaking with nerves like Lex and crying like Chloe.

“I love you just like this,” she whispered.

Lex looked up and saw her green eyes focusing on his reaction. “I told you I would never forget you.” Chloe’s smiled beamed through her tears as Lex pulled her into him. “I love you, even if you think I’m a monster.”

Ahh, sweet perfection.

And that ending....BWAH!! Loved it so much, and you can bet that I'm really looking forward to the video. *winks* Great story, hon!!

[Maha]

Wonderful story!

[Tanschana]

Great story!!