Back to the Present (PG-13) 4/5/09

[Tanschana]

Ohhhhh yeah! Very nice start!
Can't wait to read more!
Ohhhhh yeah!

[westwingwolf]

AN: Thank you for the reviews. For those of you who don't know the major details that came with "Descent" there will be some surprises for you in this chapter. In answer to the question I'm sure superag is going to ask after reading this chapter: "No" unless of course you completely rephrase the question in which case the answer is "Yes." Also, I'm predicting another question that several of you might have which will be answered in a following update.



Chapter 2

“Mr. Luthor…Mr. Luthor?”

When Lex looked up to see he was no longer in the caves but in his LuthorCorp office. Before him stood one of his employees, someone who worked in marketing…or researches…he wasn’t quite sure. His mind was still reeling from the idea that not five seconds ago he was standing in the arctic.

Taking notice of the fact that he was behind his desk and had a proposal sitting in his lap, he knew the man was looking for some kind of direction but he had no idea what the document before was about and he honestly couldn’t care. Choosing to take the easy way, not like the man would think about arguing, he said “I’ll look this over and we’ll discuss it at a later date.”

“Yes sir.” The man left without another word. Lex could figure out later if that made him a good employee or not.

Throwing down the paper, he rubbed his eyes to try and ease the dizziness he felt. How in the world had he ended up back here and what had that device done to him? He needed to stop and think everything through, then decide what he was going to do with the repercussions, but first he needed a drink.

Walking to his wet bar, he found the bottle of scotch and poured himself what could easily be considered more than a double, then proceeded to down the glass. Closing his eyes, he took a few commanding breaths and re-open his eyes to stare around the office. He wasn’t exactly sure but something felt different. It was still decorated in his cool black and purple colors, still showed that above all else, he was a tough businessman, but some of the accents seemed different.

Searching over every square inch of his office, that’s when he noticed the picture frames on his desk that he’d been too preoccupied to catch at first. He put his glass back down on the bar, and started to walk towards his desk, but then heard the sound of his door opening.

Looking back, he was surprised to come face to face with his father. He certainly looked better than the last time he saw him. “What are you doing here?” What exactly was one supposed to say when confronted with his deceased father, especially when being responsible for that fact?

“Came back from Italy early and I wanted to congratulate you on the Emerson takeover. You did an astounding job with them. Made me proud as always.” Lionel’s smile appeared to be genuine, and when he slapped him on the back, Lex nearly fell over from surprise more than the applied weight.

Lex narrowed his eyes. This was some kind of trick. Something Clark had done to make him feel guilty and admit what he had done. Well not surprisingly, the idiot had screwed up because there was no way Lionel would praise Lex without an agenda, so there was no way he was going to let any guilt get to him.

He backed off and looked at his supposed father with guarded attention. Wondered if there was a way to get rid of the man without alerting Clark to his failed plan? He’d have to be careful or he would lose the chance to turn the scheme around in his favor.

“Son, are you feeling well?” Lionel approached him caution and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. Lex almost jerked away but looking into his father’s eyes, he could swear the man wasn’t trying to screw with him. “Maybe it’s time you took a vacation. I don’t think you’ve had any real time off since I retired, and I’m sure you and Chloe could use some alone time to get away from the media attention.”

“Chloe?” Why would he and Chloe be spending any alone time together, on vacation or otherwise? As far as he knew she still rightfully hated him. He couldn’t blame her after all he had crushed her dream. He was amazed how well she had handled it and moved on to Lana’s foundation. Probably figured she would take him down and then go back to her dream. He wouldn’t expect anything less. Their whole friendship…and he liked to think at one time, they did have one…had been destroyed when they took opposing sides. Still, the loyalty she had shown him all those years ago was the reason he couldn’t let her face prison.

Now Lionel appeared to be laughing at him. “Well I doubt you have another fiancé waiting in the wings. Chloe would kill you after she ruined your reputation, and I’d be more than happy to let her handle the reigns of LuthorCorp.”

Chloe was his fiancé. Well that ruled out Clark being behind this whole charade. He’d never allow his best friend to be that kind of position. Perhaps this wasn’t a trick at all. Perhaps the device he found had changed the world without either of them knowing it. He’d have to speak with Clark to be sure, but he wasn’t going to risk tipping him off if he wasn’t aware of anything. He knew Clark would do his best to ‘fix’ everything.

He found himself smiling at his father, “No, no one but Chloe. I just wasn’t sure if she’d be busy or not.”

Thankfully, his father seemed to accept this answer. “I’m sure she’ll be able to take some time off from the Planet. I’ll call White myself if necessary.”

He wasn’t sure how much new information he could handle for the moment. “No!” He rubbed his eyes, trying to calm down and control any further outbursts. “No, she’d hate that.”

Lionel made a gesture to show that the thought of Chloe on his bad side would be a bad idea. “You’re probably right, all the same, I think you should take the rest of the day off and discuss with Chloe at home.”

For once, Lex agreed with his father and he didn’t care to think about what problems he may later encounter with such a thought. He just wanted to rest before he thought out a plan about how to handle his new situations. “Fine, I’ll go back to the mansion.”

“Mansion?!” Lionel chuckled at the thought. “You and Chloe moved out of the penthouse without telling anyone?”

Lex thought quickly. “No, Chloe just likes to call it a mansion because she thinks it’s too large for us.” That made sense. If he was living in the same penthouse that he lived in before moving to Smallville, Chloe would believe it was too much for just two people. When she visited the mansion during her junior year, she suggested that he move his bed into his office since that was all he seemed to use anyway. On more than one occasion, he had nearly done it just to make her laugh. And if they had gotten a chance to use it, then so be it.
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Lex had told the limo driver to take him home and sure enough when the doors opened, he stood in front of the building that he had once lived in while partying his way through Metropolis.

When he opened the door to his home, he noticed that like his office, there was a difference. Only this time, the changes were more noticeable. Blended in with some of the sleek furniture that he had used were also several comfortable sofas and chairs. The light seemed to pervade the living room more than he remembered. Probably because he always insisted the curtains were closed when returned in the mornings from clubs. Sunlight and hangovers did not mix.

A picture frame on one of the end tables caught his eye. Picking it up, he noticed the background showed a rolling green landscape with an old stone cottage in the background. Most likely some place foreign, probably Ireland or Scotland if he was to venture a guess, but that wasn’t important. In the foreground, he saw Chloe standing beside him; her body was turned to face his side with her arms around his waist. He had his left arm around her back, keeping her as close as possible. If they were supposed to be smiling for the camera, then neither seemed to notice or care because they were too busy keeping their eyes and smiles on one another.

Carefully placing the frame back where he found it, he looked around the room and let out a low breath. Familiarizing himself with the place again could wait; right now he really wanted that nap. Walking back to where he remembered the main bedroom once being, he opened the door and looked for signs of himself. Sure enough when he opened a closet, he found his business suits, dress shirts, and casual attire.

After he hung up his jacket and tie and put up his shoes, he crawled into bed not giving a damn if the rest of his suit would wrinkle. Odds were they still had dry cleaning in this world.
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Lex wasn’t sure if he’d been asleep for only a few minutes or a few hours, but he awoke to the sounds of someone trying very hard to be quiet as he or she moved around the bedroom. Slowly opening his eyes and adjusting them, he finally saw Chloe was changing from work skirt into comfortable lounge pants. She had obviously already removed the blouse as she was wearing a Met U t-shirt.

He knew what Lionel had told him, but it was different when the proof was right there in the bed room. He looked her over, surprised with how comfortable she was to undress just mere feet away form him. He noticed the ring on her left hand; the sparkling diamond set in the middle of two emeralds on a platinum band seemed to fit her perfectly.

As soon as she was finished she looked up and caught him staring. “Did I wake you? Sorry.” She walked over to the other side of the bed and crawled in next to him.

“Don’t worry about it.” He looked at the clock and noticed it was only a little after one in the afternoon. “Why are you home so early?”

“Lionel called me. Said you didn’t feel so well so I finished what was necessary and took the rest of the day off.” She placed her hand on his chest and drew soothing circles.

He noticed the worry in her eyes. For once it wasn’t directed at him in fear for herself or her family and friends, but rather for him. He hadn’t seen that kind of concern from anyone in years. Even with Lionel, he could never tell if it was genuine or not, he just made the assumption that it wasn’t. In fact, she was the last person to ever express concern for him, wanting to know his feelings about sending Lionel away to prison.

He reached for her hand and held it steady where it had stopped above his heart. “I’m fine. I promise. You didn’t need to come home, but thanks for doing so anyway.”

She gave him her best smile. “No problem. Just means we can play hooky. Also, means I’ll have plenty of time to prepare dinner.”

“We don’t have to do anything special for dinner. We can just order in something.” He didn’t mind if they never left this bed again.

“No can do. Lois is in town and we are having a family dinner. Dad, your parents, Julian, and Lucas have all agreed to come.”

The plural of ‘parent’ had brought him pause but it was his deceased brother’s name that caused him to shout “What?!”

However, Chloe did not miss a beat before rolling her eyes. “I know you guys have sibling rivalry issues, but you both really need to get over that. It’s shameful that the sixteen-year-old is the most mature of the three of you.”

He couldn’t believe that in the span of seconds he’d gone from having nothing to having an entire family, fiancé included. He tried to piece together what could have happened into this world that made everything different. However, his continuing silence must have alarmed Chloe. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. I don’t get sick,” he said assuredly as possible.

That caused Chloe to laugh. “Then why did I have to nurse you back to health from your cold last month?”

He knew he hadn’t had an illness since the meteor shower, but if Chloe was telling the truth, and he couldn’t see any reason she wouldn’t be, then perhaps he had never been in the meteor shower. “I just meant that I didn’t let any illness get to me.”

She tilted her head and smiled at him knowingly. “Yes, you were very manly and strong when suffering from your sniffles.” She kissed him on his cheek and patted his head.

Her humorous mood affected him, and Lex found himself uncharacteristically wanting to revel in it. He grabbed her and flipped her so that he was now above her. Once she was over the surprise, she started laughing, and all he wanted to do was watch her. Eventually, she calmed down and caught his eyes, returning his stare as she smiled at him. While he watched her, he realized how much he wanted to kiss her and it suddenly occurred to him that now he could. Leaning down to gently press his lips to hers, it wasn’t long before Chloe returned the kiss.

The kiss had left him wanting more. He could feel all of Chloe’s spirit and passion in that one kiss, and it was more than he had known with any woman before her. As eager as he was to learn the hows and whys of this world, he wanted nothing more to enjoy it without question for the next few hours.
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Later, Chloe insisted on washing up and starting dinner, and none of his protests in order to remain in bed could stop her. He offered to help, but she said that she knew he would just pretend to be helpful while he schemed about how to get them back into the bedroom. So instead, he went into his office to research as much as he could on his new life.

He discovered that much of his father’s life had been the same, except for when it came to starting his family. Apparently, Lionel Luthor had tried to be the devoted family man. He had brought in the best doctors to help with his wife’s heart condition and she had survived. Still, some time during her illness, he had strayed and Lucas was the product. But he had owned up to his indiscretion, and with Lucas’ birth mother still being unfit, Lionel had taken him into the family and Lillian had adopted him as her own. Over the years, Lionel and Lillian’s marriage had been repaired enough to allow for Julian’s birth and life.

Several years ago, Lionel had been diagnosed with liver cancer but it had been detected early enough to allow him to recover. Only three years ago, he had handed over control of LuthorCorp to Lex and mostly remained behind the scenes as a special advisor.

Lillian focused her attention on LuthorCorp’s charities. Lucas was in college, but his wild affairs were well documented and it seemed unlikely he would settle down soon. Julian was a sophomore in high school with a high GPA and involvement in several school sports.

He had also found some photos of Chloe and him at a few functions along with articles about their relationship. Apparently, they attended a minimal amount which was fine by him. He had never really cared about the dinners and ceremonies beyond helping with his connections. He suspected Chloe hadn’t cared for them either which accounted for the low number. They had made their debut at a LuthorCorp function a few months after she began college. He couldn’t be certain, but something told him they had been dating long before then. Four months after their relationship hit the papers, Chloe had moved in with him, and their engagement had only been announced a month prior.

However, research through papers and files were not going to be enough to help him get by in this world. He would have to gain as many memories as possible without raising alarm. With resolve at hand, he walked into the kitchen hoping his plan would work. As he approached Chloe, he tried to think of something that wouldn’t sound contrived or phony. In the end, he just went with the truth, “You know you amazed me the first day we met.”

Chloe turned to face him, “Well you annoyed me the first day we met.”

Lex was put off by her assessment but he would work through it. “How exactly did I manage to do that?”

Working on the salad, she answered “You couldn’t just come right out with the real reason as to why you were in a high school newspaper office. Your initial reason was beyond ridiculous.”

So perhaps things between them weren’t that different. Still if he wanted to know, he’d have to provoke the answers. “It was not ridiculous.”

Chloe took a mocking tone. “I’m sorry, but I was looking for my brother and I thought I might find him here. In what universe would Lucas participate in a school activity?” She stared at him with a knowing smirk.

No universe apparently. “Fine, I admit it wasn’t the cleverest of opening lines, but I was trying…”

“To not admit that you were impressed by a high school girl?” She knew she had him. “I didn’t believe that you had only heard about me through my father either.”

“That was true. Gabe did do a lot of bragging.” He wouldn’t admit that some times after Gabe’s initial bragging, he would personally seek him out hoping for a Chloe story.

“I don’t doubt that, but we both know that you liked my article on Templeton Industries and wanted to know where I had gotten my information.” Having just finished her work, she walked up to him and with her eyes dared him to deny her claim.

He smirked before wrapping his arms around her and pulling closer. “You’re right. And I’m grateful with the results of seeking you out.” He leaned down and kissed her. Unfortunately, she had to pull away when the phone rang.

He felt an incredible sense of relief in knowing that in whatever world he lived in, he would find Chloe. Just more proof that Chloe belonged with him.

Chloe said her goodbyes and turned back to face him. “That was your mom. She said they’ll be here in a few minutes.”

Suddenly he was overwhelmed with nervousness. Soon he’d be faced to face with a mother who had been dead for years, a brother he lost touched with, and another who he only knew thanks to a cloning experiment. And he barely knew this version of any of them. He wondered how much he could get away with if he just nodded along.

TBC

[MelBee1985]

Lex obviously is good at dealing with unexpected events. But, well, we've seen it in Lexmas too hehe.. Nice chapter. I wonder though if there is anything going wrong. It looks too good to be true. Or is it Clark who will destroy everything *again*?

I got one question though... If the meteor shower never occured (as Lex supposed it didn't sense he gets ill and well, there wouldn't have any reason for Lionel and Lex to get to Smallville that day, how come Lex is bald? Gonna need an explanation girl

[Tanschana]

Everything is perfect for Lex... I wonder if he will fight to keep everything as it is, destroy it himself (doesn't have to be a conscious effort) by trying to keep ahead of Clark. Or will Clark try to find a way to change everything back.
Good chapter, can't wait for the next one.

[karila]

Excellent chapter!
I love the relationship between Lex and Chloe.
Is it me or is Lex already in love with her?
I can't wait to see the dinner. It should be full of surprises.

[hfce]

I love this version of Chlex world can we keep it please.... I don't want Clark to ruin this world. It seemed like Lex and Lionel got the better deal. I would like to know why he is bald as well. Can you have hair in this world? I can't wait for that explanation. I can't wait to see the family dinner that should be very interesting.

[planetcal]

I love this version of Lex's life. I can't wait to read more. Please update again soon! The family dinner should be fun to read about.

[Impress]

See...proof that Clark screwed up the Chlex. I'm thinking I don't want him to "fix" this. But knowing Clark, he will.

[tatie87]

Great chapter, keep it up. I can't wait to see how Lex makes it through dinner.

[somethingeasy]

Squeee!!! I was delighted to see that Lex was also ‘thrown anew’ into this new dimension, and that HE was also carefully feeling his way through the differences.

Woah! And WHAT a difference there is. I though his life would be vastly improved solely by the presence of Chloe in his life… instead we see that ALL of Lex’s deepest dreams and desires have come true. His father loves him and is proud of him, his mother and Julian are ALIVE and well… and even Lucas is a part of the family. Lex has love, respect, family… everything he’s ever envied Clark for. WOW!!!

I loved seeing how, even in these idyllic settings, Lex was still so jumpy, paranoid and nervous. He was second-guessing everything, and kept on waiting for some kind of ‘cosmic force of vengeance and retribution’ to turn his life back to hell again.

But he hid these feelings of paranoia very well, LOL! And it seemed like he finally allowed himself to completely relax in Chloe’s presence… and in her arms. AND he also got a chance to get ‘re-acquainted’ with all the basics of his life in this world. I really appreciated the quick run down of everything, www.

Although I DO wonder ONE thing… If Lex never got caught in the meteor shower (and therefore never benefited from his ‘super-metabolism system’ with it’s miraculously high white blood cell count’), then HOW did he lose his hair in this world?

Oooh, and it was also awesome to get some of the details of Chloe’s life. Not only does Lex have everything he ever wanted… but even CHLOE is living the ‘reporter’s dream’ of a life that she’s always wished for. It seems like the Clex wish has benefited a lot of people. Although I still wonder about what happened to Martha and Jonathan Kent…?

Heh… Clark is going to come across as a selfish ass if he demands that Lex ‘un-do’ the wish that both of them made. I get the feeling that Clark’s life is going to be a nightmare, and it’s going to be interesting to see how the two enemies clash when Clarks wants to change this world back to ‘normal’, while Lex tried everything in his power to keep things ‘as is’. It’s going to be a desperate, vicious battle where NEITHER of them are willing to surrender. I can’t WAIT to see how it turns out.

Good luck with your future writing, www. This was a very interesting chapter, and I look forward to seeing more.