I'll join everyone else and say "UPDATE!!" And, what the hey, I'll add an "UPDATE SOON!!!!!" in for free.
I loved Lex's "thanks" after he punched Queen, it was cute. However, I must also agree with the masses on this one; Queen needs more pain than that.
And if Chloe finds out Lex was behind all those crappy assignments, I have a feeling he'll be the next one to receive a tap on the jaw.
So post more soon, I absolutely love this! :yay:
Queen rubbed at his sore jaw and looked at Lex with bemused surprise.
“Gotta say, I was expecting worse than that.”
“You still should,” Lex retorted, a smirk crawling across his lips. “I promised Chloe she could have a go at you later.”
Queen frowned, but seemed relatively unfazed.
“She’s not that big. How much damage could she possibly inflict?”
“Given her choice of profession, I’d say a great deal,” Lex replied smugly. Queen raised his eyebrows questioningly and Lex smirked again. “Investigative reporter.”
The color drained from Queen’s face and Lex smiled to himself as he left Queen to sit across from Bruce at the conference table.
“Should I even ask?”
“You have ears like a bat, I’m sure you caught everything,” Lex commented, earning a curt nod from Bruce.
“I did,” he confirmed. “But as I recall, you were rather possessive when *I* read an article of hers a year or so ago and inquired about her. What was it you said? Oh, yes. I quote, ‘Stay the hell away from her Wayne, she’s mine.’”
Lex leaned back in his chair and grinned.
“That still goes by the way.”
“I gathered,” Bruce said dryly. “But my question is this: why do you expect me to believe that you’re going to let Queen in the same room with her when you wouldn’t even let me call her?”
“I don’t. I expect *him* to believe it.”
A small grin curled up the corners of Bruce’s mouth.
“Ah. Quite the rouse you have going. I don’t suppose Chloe knows anything about it though, does she?”
“You think I’d keep something from my wife?” Lex asked with feigned hurt lining his voice.
“You kept the wedding from her,” Bruce pointed out. Lex’s face fell into a serious expression.
“May I ask how you found out about that?”
“I sat next to her father at the nuptials,” Bruce answered with an egotistic and teasing smirk.
‘Damn. If he tells Chloe about Queen, she really *will* want the interview,’ Lex thought. ‘I can’t let that happen.’
Bruce snickered. He could tell that he was right about Lex not telling Chloe about the scam he was playing to scare the living hell out of Queen just by the expression on Lex’s face. It would certainly make their merger discussion more interesting.
“What do you want?” Lex finally asked, his tone hushed, but harsh.
“Your subsidiary, Plymouth Labs,” Bruce answered. “From the information I’ve gotten, it sounds like they’re working on something similar to what one of my research companies is working on. If you allow it to merge with them, we can get results faster and ---”
“Profits faster,” Lex finished for him. He pretended to look thoughtful, but the truth was that he had been thinking the same thing going into the meeting, and if that was all Bruce wanted in return for his silence, then it was a definitely a deal in his favor. “Is that it?” Bruce nodded. “Even division of stocks and no cutbacks.”
“Deal.”
Lex nodded once in agreement.
“Done.”
~*~*~*~
“Sullivan,” Chloe said into her cell phone, half surprised that her phone was even getting service there. A loud chuckle boomed through the receiver.
“Not used to the new last name yet, huh kid?”
Chloe grit her teeth. The only person who ever had the nerve to call her ‘kid’ was her boss, Perry White, and that was only because he called everyone ‘kid’.
“Why am I not surprised that you knew about that?”
“Are you kidding? It’s the only reason I let you go,” Perry said.
Chloe clenched her jaw and pumped her free hand in and out of a fist.
“Yeah. While we’re on that topic, I was wondering – my *loving* husband wouldn’t have had anything to do with the fact that I’ve been assigned to a bunch of shlup stories since I started working there, would he?”
“Not unless he’s got ties to Superman,” Perry answered offhandedly. “Ooh – does he? Cuz’ that would make for a great headline – especially since Superman has been hassling a lot of his companies and ---”
“What about Superman?” Chloe asked, cutting Perry off and avoiding his question about a connection between Lex and Superman. She was already seething at what she suspected the answer would be to what she just asked.
“It’s nothin’ really,” Perry said dismissively. “Just asked me to make sure you didn’t go getting in dangerous situations or anything.”
‘Clark!’ she inwardly fumed. ‘Ugh! I’ll kill him!’
“He gave that interview to Lane in exchange,” Perry continued. “You remember that? I still wonder if she skipped over the really tough questions cuz’ she has a crush on the guy though. Oh, well. Guess it doesn’t matter. Still sold every copy of a *triple release* and the story got picked up by ---”
“Was there a reason you called?” Chloe interrupted angrily, silently promising herself that she would deal with Clark Kent in the worst way she could think of once she got back to Metropolis.
“Oh, yeah. Hey, listen. I was thinking about you covering the convention and snooping around the merger talks.”
“Uh-huh,” Chloe said, already not liking where this was going.
“And well, I was thinking that once people saw your wedding picture in the paper – well, we don’t want them to think there’s a conflict of interest or anything.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“You’re off the case. I assigned someone else to the story.”
“What?! But I’m already here!” Chloe protested.
“So are Lane and Kent,” Perry said. “Not surprised you haven’t run into them though, seeing as how you’ve been *occupied*.”
“Damn it,” Chloe uttered under her breath. “Perry – Mr. White – I’ve already taken notes, I’ve ---”
“Well, track down Lane and Kent and give them to them then,” he said. “From this moment on, you’re only there on your honeymoon – got it?”
Chloe was about to speak again when she heard the phone click off from Perry’s side of the line.
“Unbelievable,” she growled, shoving her cell phone into her oversized purse, and whipping around when she felt a tap on her shoulder. “What?!” she snapped, only to let her face relax somewhat apologetically at the bodyguard Lex had hired to follow her around. “Sorry. Did you need something?”
“I’ve been told to inform you that your husband’s meetings are going faster than he expected and he wondered if there was a possibility that you might be able to leave work early and meet him at the conference room in about an hour,” he said, rambling with a surprisingly nervous voice.
Chloe arched an eyebrow, surmising that apparently the walls weren’t as thick as the hotel would have people believe and he had gotten an earful when she and Lex fought earlier. Though, why a large man like him would be scared of anything but a verbal lashing from her was beyond her comprehension.
“Draw the short end of the straw?” she asked. ‘He’s actually blushing,’ she thought, a smile spreading across her lips. “Don’t worry; I don’t lose my temper like that all the time. This last week has just been ---” she trailed off and shook her head. The man didn’t seem entirely convinced, but he did seem to relax, which Chloe took as a good sign.
“So --- Mr. Luthor?”
Chloe nodded.
“An hour should be fine. I just have to tie up some loose ends,” she said. ‘Like hunting down Clark and making him suffer.’
TBC…
Not very smart are you Queenie?Originally posted by scifichick774@Aug 25 2003, 06:59 PM
Queen frowned, but seemed relatively unfazed.
“She’s not that big. How much damage could she possibly inflict?”
And why am I not surprised that Clark is the idiot behind her stupid assignments.“It’s nothin’ really,” Perry said dismissively. “Just asked me to make sure you didn’t go getting in dangerous situations or anything.”
‘Clark!’ she inwardly fumed. ‘Ugh! I’ll kill him!’
I just loved the update. I can't wait to see Chloe kick some ass.
Throw Clark and Loser whoops i mean Lois into the mix, and what do we get? A HUGE BLOWOUT!! I can't wait! :yay: :yay:
CAn't wait to see her yell at ClarkUpdate soon!
“Clark!”
Clark looked over from where he was asking a company representative some questions, flinching ever so slightly when he saw the angry blonde headed in his direction. He didn’t know why she was in Las Vegas or why she was so angry with him, but he had a bad feeling he was about to find out.
“Hey Chloe. What are you doing here?”
“I was assigned to cover the convention.”
Clark blinked and a constipated, befuddled look spread over his face.
“But Lois and I were ---”
“Yeah - *after* Perry thought twice about assigning me because he thought it would be a conflict of interest if I did the story,” Chloe cut in.
“Oh. I didn’t know --- wait. Why would it be a conflict of interest?”
Chloe arched an eyebrow at him. Was it really possible that he hadn’t heard?
‘Of course it’s possible, it’s *Clark*,’ she thought to herself. ‘Well, this should be interesting.’
Instead of saying a word, she held up her left hand, palm-side in so he could see the large diamond matching wedding band set that now graced her ring finger. Clark’s eyes grew comically large and he opened and closed his mouth several times, gaping like a fish.
“You – you ---”
“Got married.”
“Yeah.”
“Yes, I did.”
“But,” Clark started, stirring uncomfortably where he stood. “You weren’t seeing anybody – well, not serious – well, nobody I knew of anyway. I mean, who --- who’s the lucky guy?” he asked with a clearly fake half-smile.
“Lex.”
Clark paled and fought to keep from acting on the sudden wave of nausea that encompassed him. If there was anything he had learned since developing his alter-ego, it was that Lex Luthor wasn’t a man he wanted Chloe to be anywhere around, let alone married to.
“Lex? Chloe ---”
“And you’re right. I wasn’t seeing him.”
“But you married him?” Clark asked for clarification. Chloe let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair.
“It’s a long story, Clark. And stop trying to steer me away from why I’m mad at you.”
“Why *are* you mad at me?”
“Hello?! Did you or did you not hear me mention Perry’s name in conjunction with you being here? To most people that would imply that I had a conversation with him. God, Clark, you’re supposed to be a reporter. You need to start paying attention.”
“O-kay. So, why ---”
“Because I found out that *you’re* the reason I’ve been put on human interest stories for the last year,” Chloe said.
Clark shook his head.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Of course not,” Chloe said sarcastically. “Because it’s not like you’re ‘friends’ with Superman,” she said, using her fingers to make air quotes when she said ‘friends’ and giving him a knowing, pointed look.
“Ooh, yeah. Speaking of that, do you think you could hook up another interview for me?” Lois asked with her mouth full, seemingly appearing out of nowhere with a half-eaten hot dog. Clark frowned at her.
“We’re in Las Vegas. Where did you find a hot dog vendor?” he asked, clearly displeased with his partner’s eating habits. Lois rolled her eyes at him.
“Grow up, Smallville,” she said, taking another bite and then grinning at Chloe. “Hey! I heard you and Lex Luthor finally got married. Congrats.”
“Thanks.”
Clark’s frown deepened.
“What do you mean *finally*? They weren’t even ---”
“Geez, Clark. Get with the program. They’ve been going out off and on for over a year now.”
Clark’s eyes shot to Chloe, but she ignored him. There was no point in trying to explain the truth to him, especially when she knew he would end up taking Lois’s misinformed words over hers in the end anyway.
“So, I guess you’re probably gonna give up the whole reporting thing, huh? No real reason to keep working on the bad stories the chief has been giving you if you don’t have to, right?” Lois asked.
“You know, Clark and I were just talking about that,” Chloe said with an evil smile.
Clark ran his hand around the back of his neck nervously.
“I’m sure Lois doesn’t want ---”
“You were?” Lois interrupted. “I thought you were talking about Superman.”
“We were,” Chloe said, keeping the now fake smile on her lips. “Apparently your *boyfriend* told Perry to not give me any assignments that would entail me getting into trouble or getting hurt in any way.”
Lois’s eyes grew wide in shocked disbelief.
“You’re joking!” she exclaimed excitedly.
Chloe shook her head.
“It sounds like he was just trying to look out for you,” Clark said, earning glares from both of the women.
“It *sounds* like he was trying to steal her away from Lex Luthor,” Lois said, looking at Clark like he was an idiot and then shaking her head somewhat absently. “Bummer. I can’t believe he goes for blondes – not that I should be surprised.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t like that,” Clark said. “Maybe he ---”
“*Of course* it was like that, Clark,” Lois said. “If he was just concerned about the safety and well-being of the female reporters, then I would have gotten yanked off all the good stories too.”
“Yes, well, we couldn’t have *that*,” Chloe said, her voice tweaked with a sour anger as she glared at Clark. Lois missed her tone and shook her head.
“Well, I’m not gonna lie and say I’m sorry you chose Luthor over Superman,” she said, flashing a smile at Chloe. “Gives the rest of us girls some hope because Superman’s still single. You know?”
Chloe faked another smile at the brunette woman and then drew a breath.
“I should get going. I’m supposed to meet Lex in a few minutes.”
“Ooh! Can you give me the inside scoop on the meeting?” Lois asked.
“No,” Chloe replied chipperly. An evil grin once again slid across her mouth. “But I do know someone who can.”
~*~*~*~
The second Chloe saw Lex; she walked toward him and flopped her head against his chest.
Lex arched an eyebrow and almost hesitantly moved his arms around her back to embrace her.
“Does this mean I’m forgiven?” he asked, unable to keep the small teasing quality out of his voice.
“This means that Clark is an asshole and I’m sorry I accused you of something he did,” she replied.
Lex’s body stiffened against her when he heard her mention Clark’s name, but after he heard the rest of the sentence, he started stroking her back soothingly with one of his hands.
“What did he do?”
Chloe sighed and pulled back a little, raising her head to look at him.
“He’s the one who told Perry to give me all those bad assignments,” she said. “To ‘protect’ me from being in danger.”
“I’m surprised that White would listen to him. He doesn’t have any more seniority than you do.”
Chloe gave him a pointed look and Lex’s mouth opened and closed with a tight grin in understanding.
“I take it he asked for the favor donned in that spandex suit he seems so fond of?”
“Yes --- jerk,” Chloe said.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Already did it,” she answered. Lex raised a questioning eyebrow at her and she shrugged. “Perry assigned him and Lois to the convention after he re-thought my being here.”
“I see. And you ran into them?”
“I told him off and inadvertently threatened to expose him to Lois,” she said, causing Lex to snicker. “By the way, I sort of sicked her on Queen – told her which room he was staying in.”
Both of Lex’s eyebrows rose.
“Should I even ask how you knew that?”
Chloe sighed.
“I was going to confront him, but after the ‘run-in’ with Clark and Lois, I figured it would just be easier to let her hassle him for an interview.”
“I’m surprised that you didn’t want to save the interview for yourself,” Lex said.
“I’m surprised you even considered that as an option after that little discussion we had this morning,” Chloe countered.
Lex let out a breath and looked at her apologetically.
“About that ---”
Chloe held up a hand.
“It’s okay.”
“What?”
“From the way Clark reacted when he found out I married you, I’m guessing that you just didn’t want me to be in the same office with him every day. Right?”
“Something like that,” Lex said, not stupid enough to admit that he actually agreed with Clark about not sending Chloe out on dangerous assignments. Besides, they were married now, and if she got a job with a different paper then he could just send along a bodyguard to make sure she didn’t get in any trouble.
Chloe grinned at him and let her hands slide up around the back of his neck.
“I’m sorry I overreacted and yelled at you. I think some of your bodyguards are scared of me now.”
Lex didn’t reply. He started to close his eyes and lean his head down, gently brushing his lips against Chloe’s before applying more pressure and darting his tongue out to taste her. Chloe moaned low in her throat, her fingers dancing on the back of his bare skull as she pressed her body flush against his.
They pulled apart for a second to breathe, and though Lex was quick to try and kiss her again, Chloe simply smiled at him.
“So, does this mean I’m forgiven?”
TBC…
:lol: I simply love that line!“You have ears like a bat, I’m sure you caught everything,” Lex commented, earning a curt nod from Bruce.
I can not tell you enough about how much I am in love with this story. All of your stories!
cute *sighs* And I still think some serious ass kicking is in order. Or they could just ignore the plague and have a happy smut filled honeymoon...Ok forget the asskicking, bring the smut *G*
hugs,
Sabby
holy smacks! two updates! Whoo ha! Girl, you are something else! This story amazes me... I :love: it
I love love love this story. :clap: more please..
Hope:
"Everyone seems normal until you get to know them. "
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