The Upper Hand (R) 1/31/10

[Ultra]

I'm not sure if I'm pleased Lex is keeping his cool about Lionel, or scared of what he'll do later... he's being to calm and thats not at all normal! Can't wait for the next update!

[superag]

A/N - Since its been awhile, I made the chapter longer than normal (actually I just never could end writing it). Hope you enjoy. I will hopefully wrap this one up in the next chapter; I've dragged it out enough.

Chapter 18 - The Invited Guest

Chloe's voice caught in her throat. She had meant to say something, but silence bit her in the mouth as soon as Lex's last statement had fallen from his lips. Frozen in place with the sheet pulled up over her bare body, she suddenly felt alone in a way she hadn't in a long time.

Pulling her clothes off the chair next to the bed, she slunk into the bathroom and slid down the shower wall after locking the door and turning on the water. She felt each individual drop run down her body, feeling the trickling beads that ran down her face, between her breasts and finally between her legs. After what had just occurred, Chloe thought she would quiver from the still intense throbbing that was going on in her center. But she couldn't feel anything. Numb as Lex's voice replayed in her mind over and over. He knew. He knew about his father and would soon figure it all out.

Swallowing, she shuddered back anymore tears and grabbed the washcloth she had used the night before and wiped her face and finished showering. As she exited the bathroom now dressed she looked around the little apartment Lex now had truly made into a passable home and Chloe shook her head.

Lex had made it work; he had taken his punishment and turned it on its head. Biting her lip, she refused cussing his success out. He never had to actually be a success; he just had to do his time and then get out of Smallville. Instead, he looked at the punishment as a challenge and turned it into a success. He had learned he could do it without his money, without his cronies, without breaking the law, and most importantly without his father watching over his shoulder. Now as far as she knew that was all but gone.

Chloe closed the door to the apartment and knew exactly where she would have to go right after leaving the Talon. Looking down below, she watched as Lex counted out the cash drawer while giving directions to a couple of the college kids that helped out in the morning. New cronies, but they seemed to work more for him than his old minions.

Still, Chloe eyed the front door and wondered how she would make it across the still closed restaurant without either Lex or Bates speaking to her. She made it down the stairs and smiled silently at one of the boys before making it to the front before feeling a hand on her arm. Turning, Lex gripped her tighter as she continued to walk out the door.

"Why are you sneaking out? I had the cook make you up a breakfast and I got a coffee on the bar for you."

Chloe turned and looked at Lex. She couldn't tell whether she should act more shocked or more appreciative. Smiling nervously, she smoothed her hand over Lex's hand as he removed his grip. "I honestly figured after your last statement that you wouldn't want to see me."

Leaning in closer to avoid letting prying eyes from the employees to not hear the whole conversation, Lex touched her cheek and made her quiver. "You're scared?" Running his thumb down her cheek, he felt a knot in his stomach when her cheek seemed to get colder. He couldn't think of anything else to say, "Chloe calm down."

"Lex, it's hard to imagine that that particular phrase would drop from your lips after what you've just learned and think you have nothing but honest intentions." Chloe wanted to smile, but was still cautious. She was conflicted knowing that only an hour earlier things were so normal, so safe it seemed.

"I just want you to have breakfast. I don't want you starting out your new career like I did, on booze and stress. Come on." Lex put his hands to his sides and then motioned her toward the booth in the corner that had her breakfast sitting on it. Watching her scoot into the booth, he was careful and sat across from her in one of the chairs as one of the college kids opened the doors.

Lex watched silently as she ate carefully and with one eye glaring at him, no doubt waiting for something to happen. He didn't blame her, at least for her sudden fear of him that built up. In hindsight, he thought he may have gone about pointing out that he knew about his dad being alive in a very wrong way.

Truthfully, he didn't know whether to have gone after her or let her just walk out of the Talon after he left the apartment. The look of sheer dread on her ultra white face as he glanced once before he left told him that he approached the topic the way he always had in the past. As a sidebar to unnerve his opponent's confidence. He hadn't meant it that way, at least to her.

He had hoped he had been seeing things in the strange shadow on the television the night before. There was no beard and no long hair; he had no reason to rub that into Lex's face anymore. His clothes were definitely dark, hoping that the camera would catch him in the shadow of one of the pillars, but Lex thought he was seeing a ghost. That was at least until the text in the morning. Still, he hoped Chloe wouldn't give away the fact he did exist, but he had made her vulnerable and she faltered.

Looking up as Chloe slowly finished off the full breakfast, he wondered if he had lost his opportunity. "Chloe? How was it?"

"Good," Chloe nodded as she finished up. "I have to get going," she rushed through her sentence and picked up her bag. Sliding out of the booth, she started off again as if she was trying to escape the place.

"Chloe."

She stopped hearing the strange quiet, almost pleading sound to her name. Turning she looked at the man she was truly in love with. She still couldn't wrap her mind around the place she happened to be in, or in between. "Lex, I have to..."

"I know. Work calls, but tonight?" Lex stopped and watched Chloe's chest heave in nervous reaction. "I really want to have dinner with you and my father."

Chloe half smiled, "Thanks for breakfast." Turning, she could feel Lex's eyes still boring into her as she walked out of the door.

********


Chloe walked into her office at the plant in Smallville and threw her bag across the room, watching some of the lighter makeup items fall to the ground. Sitting down in the high desk chair, she put her face in her hands but could decide whether crying or laughing would work better on her predicament.

"Good morning," Oliver said as he looked around and picked up an eye pencil. "Or not. Chloe, did you get in a fight with your face again?"

Chloe's head shot up and Oliver looked as a lock of her hair stuck to her eyelashes and her face was flushed. "Or not a good morning."

"Not a good morning. Can I please go home and start over from yesterday?" Chloe leaned back in the chair as Oliver sat down across the desk from her, handing her several of her purse items.

"What gives?"

Chloe took a deep breath. He had to know; he was in on most of the planning anyway. "Lex knows."

"Sure, he does," Oliver said coolly, not thinking of the same thing. "We told the whole world yesterday Chloe and you're going to do a great job. Your dad would be so proud."

Shaking her head, she huffed. She wasn't quite sure how her dad would take her seeking revenge on another person by making them miserable and living well under their former means. Still, Lex handled it as a champ in the last few months. "No, Lex knows about Lionel."

Eyes widened in shock, Oliver leaned over the desk, poised and staring at Chloe. "I told the old man to stay away from the reporters and the announcement in general last night."

Chloe got up and halfway smiled, the pressure of the whole old man and his son together again had moved from stress to hilarity. Pacing over to the file cabinet, she looked over a couple of files that she needed to work on before the evening's festivities. "He listens to you about as well as he listens to me. He was in the Talon awhile back, but so well hidden Lex missed him. Missed him, but could tell he was there. Now I have to tell the man that he is expected at dinner tonight with Lex and me."

"I'm sure that will be a thrilling conversation." Oliver got up and smiled at Chloe, who had now clamed down enough to get some work done. "Let me know if you run into a snag. I have a plane to catch to the east coast later."

Oliver was just about out the door when Chloe looked up. "Am I a good person?" Oliver stopped and turned, looking concerned. "Really, am I a good person?"

"Chloe you have wonderful heart and an incredibly sharp mind." Oliver paced over and pulled her chin up to meet his eyes. "You just happen to be tough as nails."

"But am I a good person?"

The two fell silent as Oliver just stood over and shook his head. Lex was making her double guess herself again. "Yes, you are. And don't let Lex make you feel any different. Remember as long as he stays where he is, we have the upper hand."

Oliver turned when he got to the doorway, looking back at Chloe as she did some quiet figuring. "That's what I'm afraid of."

********

Chloe smiled at the couple of gentlemen that were newly rehired from town as she passed through the hallways. She felt odd; the same men were doing slightly different jobs than before for a little less money than before for the old plant manager's daughter.

Looking into the main employee lounge, she watched as a couple of the men laughed over their lunch and expressed obvious happiness for finally being back on the job. If everything else fell apart, at least Chloe knew that some people would appreciate the little things, like a job.

"I see the employees are already taking advantage," the older man said over Chloe shoulder.

"It's the lunch hour; they are entitled and required to take it." Chloe responded with some what of a venomous response. She really had not expected to have this conversation in the hallway.

"Ahhh, working for the workers I see. Your father would approve."

Chloe whipped around and looked over the man wearing a dark overcoat and looking every bit his former self except for his slightly washed out face and sunglasses. "You leave him out of this after what you did to him."

Lionel led Chloe down the hall and back to her office without passing another person. Closing the door to her office, he watched as she filed some things before pulling up something on the computer, not uttering a word. "How is it that I train you and my son so differently and you end up being so alike in work ethic."

"Because we both have one. We would like to earn our paychecks instead of having people bumped off for them, or at least one of us still does." Chloe looked up at Lionel as he slumped into the chair across the desk from her. "Sorry, its just been that kind of day and it feels like its never going to end."

Lionel crossed his legs and waited for her to continue. "Ms. Sullivan?"

"Lex knows you're alive. That little text message and the fact he told me at breakfast that he could see his old man's shadow lurking in back of the television shot last night. He wants us all to have dinner. So, your jig is up, I'm going to get my heart broken, again, and he's going to win anyway."

Lionel scratched where his beard used to be. Chloe could tell he was already formulating the next large sidestep that would have to be added to the plan. "Not necessarily. What time is dinner?"

Chloe threw her arms down across the desk in exasperation. "Are you kidding me?" Chloe waited for the man to say something in response to her partially rhetorical question. "Seven thirty. Lionel, what are you planning on? I can tell you're planning something."

"No," Lionel simply answered as he stood up from the chair. He watched as Chloe squeezed her forehead and had no desire to make Chloe as stressed out and cold as his son had become after he was done with him. "Just please let him know that I'm looking forward to it."

Chloe watched as the older man walked out of the door before her head hit the desk with a thud. Leaning on her cheek to one side, she glanced over at her phone that was buzzing on the desk. She didn't want to handle any more crises, work problems, personal problems, hero problems. Flipping the phone up to listen to the message, the warm feeling that came over her made her either want to laugh or hurl. Simply hearing, "Can't wait to see you," from Lex.

********

Lex spent the rest of the afternoon with his thoughts as he watched the employees seem to run the place by themselves. Sitting in the back corner and observing the relaxed pace of the place after the noon rush, he wondered how Lana ever had anything to complain about. Stopping momentarily on the thought, he shook his head in remembrance of how far he'd come since that debacle.

"You missed your appointment today sir." Bates walked over and sat down at the booth with Lex.

"I'm going tomorrow. Besides, I will probably have more to talk about tomorrow." Lex nodded at Bates who sat a drink down in front of what almost seemed like his new boss.

Bates had learned not to mind the man that had once imprisoned him like an animal. He knew that he still had a handle on the situation as long as Lex was under thumb and he was armed. Still, there was a strange sense of bonding when the two men took afternoon breaks together more and more often. "So, Manuel is cleaning up a storm in the back. Are you planning on inspectors?"

"Sort of." Lex sat the drink down and leaned back in the seat, looking over at Bates. "The devil and a reporter are coming to review the restaurant tonight." Bates cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow as Lex broke a small smirk that tended toward his old personality. "No, Chloe is bringing my father back from the dead. He's still dead, just not to a small group of people, which now you are privileged to know about."

"Yes sir." Bates swallowed as he watched Lex's eyes trail a couple that just walked in the door and sat down. He had never had the pleasure to meet the older Luthor but had heard there was much more to worry about when he was around. "Sir, is your father the same?"

"The same? As in what? I am assuming he is still the same bastard as before he obviously faked his death, but I am not even to be sure of what to expect. I just put the clues together myself."

"What are you planning on doing? I heard bouts with your father led you down the path that got you here."

Lex sighed and adjusted his pant leg. Led him here was an interesting way of putting his unique predicament the last many months. "Having dinner with him and then going from there." Lex paused before turning to Bates. "It depends on him, but don't be too far away tonight."

Bates silently nodded before getting up and moving on about his business. Walking away, he thought about how his job description in that instant seemed to change from officer and inmate to bodyguard and protectee. Funny how he didn't seem to mind.

********

Chloe felt nauseated as she made her way to the front of the old Talon building, which had slowly been transformed to something more subtle. She didn't mind the changes, at least it wasn't a parking lot. Knocking on the front door glass, she swallowed as Lex smoothly walked across the floor and unlocked the glass doors.

"I was afraid you were backing out after the first hour late. Good thing I made something that would keep warm." Pulling her into him, he lifted her chin and could feel the quivering in her lips as he grazed them with his.

"Lex, this could change things. I'm stuck between you and your dad...and Oliver."

Gripping her tighter against him at those words, he kissed her on the temple and whispered, "Only if you let it." He let go and felt her pull away, setting her things on one of the side tables.

Lex shoved his hands in his pockets and took a deep breath. "He's gotten to you hasn't he? Like he used to do me? Chloe, what's he told you? That I abuse women, that I only want what I can't have and then throw them aside? That I'll never know how to really love?"

Chloe turned around after removing her jacket to reveal the teasing v-neck that she wore. Seeing the small smile from Lex's lips, she relaxed. "That's what scares me, he hasn't said anything. I told him about tonight; he left and said he'll meet us here. I don't want you to turn into that person you were before." Chloe clamped her hand over her mouth realizing that her thoughts had just made it out of her mouth.

Lex stopped his approach and bit his lip. He wanted to be past her being scared of him; he thought they were until that morning. "Come on in the kitchen. Bates will let him in when he arrives." Chloe followed him as he seemed defeated and speechless after her statement.

She hadn't meant to hurt him, but he was taking an awful chance with his father coming back into his life. "Smells wonderful. You went all out."

Chloe leaned against one of the shelves of supplies as the gleaming kitchen was spotless except for the few pans and pots that were currently holding items for the dinner. "I fixed one of mom's favorites; dad wasn't much on remembering her in any way."

"I thought you weren't going to ..."

Lex interrupted, "He can't win everything this round Chloe. Give me this one thing." Lex walked over to her and leaned in as the kitchen door swung open.

"Sir?" Bates backed up and Lex turned to his father in the doorway.

"Son."

Chloe watched as Lex said nothing but just looked in the direction as the clean shaven, short haired man that was his dead father stared at him. Lionel had come in a simple pair of slacks and pressed shirt, nothing like what he had on at the plant earlier. Elbowing Lex slightly, she knew he was waiting for the old man to continue like he had in the past.

"Dad. How is it being back in the land of the living?"

Lionel smirked, "Not really much better than dead, considering beyond this room there are only three other people that know."

Lex gripped Chloe's hand in his as if he had lost the strength over the months to withstand hearing his father's voice. "The table is set in the apartment where we won't all be disturbed by onlookers. Your ghost might scare them."

Chuckling, Lionel closed the kitchen door behind him, leaving Bates on the other side and the three of them alone. "That's a good one, considering you have been without your need for verbal animosity for awhile now." Lionel stopped and ran his finger along several of the well hung pot racks. "The place looks immaculate, almost as silver as the penthouse you used to have."

Lex felt the grip on his hand increase from Chloe and his arm loosened. She knew Lionel was trying to ease into testing him. Still without a clue as to what Lionel had planned, she hoped his point to rattling Lex wasn't to push him far enough to attack. Keeping her eyes firmly on Lionel, she glared at him to stop.

"Calm Miss Sullivan." Lionel walked past the two and stared into the oven. "I remember when your mother would set you on the counter and let you stuff the ducks yourself." Lionel turned and shook his head, almost giggling in Lex's direction. "I remember when you were about five and I came to get you to start your lessons and your white shirt and jacket sleeve were halfway up in the bird. You absolutely ruined those clothes and your mother could only giggle at my irritance." Looking at his son with Chloe's hand in his. "At least now you have learned to roll your sleeves."

Chloe felt the grip on her hand loosen and watched as Lex completely pulled away from her. Walking over to his father, Lex watched as the old man took a sip of the glaze from the spoon. "She would have approved. She liked it sweet. And I know why you made this."

"Is it working?" Lex watched as his dad moved along the line and stared at himself in the ultra shiny pots.

"Not really since Denise is fond of the recipe too. You will find son that I think both of us have made some changes. Now, all of this seems to be in order, so shall we?"

Lex watched his father remove the items from the industrial ovens and served himself a plate before heading for the door. Lex glanced back at Chloe and followed suit. "What's his angle?"

"I don't know. He wasn't exactly the tyrant you and I dealt with. He hasn't been for a couple of years." Chloe stopped in the doorway with her plate and looked back at Lex putting things back in place to stay warm. "You had taken that place."

Lex watched the door swing close and then no one there as he felt the words Chloe said wash over him. Following the two upstairs, he still couldn't quite figure who was on whose side in the strange dinner. He walked into the apartment and already saw Chloe and Lionel sitting with his father pouring from a bottle.

"I don't drink anymore dad."

"Good, neither do I, but this wonderful vineyard in Napa sent Denise this bottle of non-alcohol wine that would go great here. It won't put us too far back in rehab."

Lex glanced over at his dad. "Us? When did you ever attend rehab?"

"Oh no, I haven't. Denise is rehab. I have realized the amount of living I missed while I've been dead. How about you son?"

Lex watched as Lionel just grinned at the end of the question and quietly began eating. Glancing over at Chloe, he could see that she was simply there to make sure the two men didn't eventually kill each other and otherwise would have rather not been there at all. Taking a bite and agreeing that it was well done for remembering the recipe that many years, he spoke. "I've learned more in a year than I think all of those years at boarding school taught me."

"Ahh, I wondered when the good shrink would make you think that my sending you away was a bad thing. Somehow all parents get blamed for their kids demise."

"Dad, you have to admit the stretch wasn't that hard for you. It wasn't just my demise."

Lionel shook his head. "Son, I had nothing to do with that and you know it. I simply was not emotionally available at the time."

"Emotionally unavailable is what some people call it. You killed mom in a whole different way than my grandparents. Everything you touch turns to death, even your own apparently."

"Your mother was ill, more than physically son," Lionel put both hands on the table and stared across at Lex. "There was nothing that could be done."

Lex dropped his silverware and leaned back in the seat. "There were things that she knew, she didn't know who to share with so she tried to tell me. You sent me away and it killed her. She had no one. You kept her locked in that mansion like a tomb until she finally succumbed to it." Lex pushed away from the table and felt Chloe's hand latch onto his. Pulling out of her grip, he walked into the kitchen, feeling the counter in between the two would keep him from throwing his father out the window.

Lionel stood up and walked around, almost leaning across the island in the kitchen to make a point. "I'm sorry you feel that way Alexander, but I did bring you home to see her."

Chloe watched as Lex ran his hand along his head for the first time in she couldn't remember how long. She wondered when she should 911 to Bates. "You brought me home to watch her die! You wanted me to know exactly what would happen to me if I ever repeated anything I already knew. So, is that what all this was? Was I getting too close for comfort so you concocted this whole thing to get me out of the way? To make your comeback?"

Chloe hadn't heard Lex shout in as many months as it had been since the mansion burned. Standing up in her seat, she wondered if she should move.

"I'm not coming back. I am dead to all outside of this charade son. I like my life now. I was hoping you would find another life out of this as well."

Lex was beside himself. He didn't know whether his father was playing him or wanted a straight answer. After speaking to Dr. Schell, he had been convinced to simply say anything that would make himself feel better despite the animosity toward his secret dinner guest.

"I have, I had, one without you or your fucking company that got dropped in my lap after you went to prison and then ripped away from me by your back pocket cronies."

Lionel tipped head to one side and shook his head. "My son..."

"Fucking stop that son shit. I call you dad, most of the time not in the revered sense, but I still do. What do I have to do to have you to call me Lex, just once? Treat me like your son, not your vice president. Like I'm your goddamn family for once."

The room fell silent. Lex lowered his head as his hands went back in his pockets. The stance he normally took when he felt he was being attacked or was defeated. But he felt strangely vindicated. He cared little now how his father reacted. The man was dead anyway, even to himself.

Chloe watched as Lex continued to stay silent and Lionel ran his hand along where his beard had been for years. Lionel glanced up and opened his mouth before closing it again. Pulling the chair out, he sat back down at the table and picked up his fork. "You have become quite the chef Lex. Your mother would have been proud."

Chloe glanced over as Lex looked down at his father continuing to eat without saying anymore. There in that moment was some kind of resolve. Lex moved back around to the table and sat down and nodded at Chloe to follow suit. Looking up, he saw the door open and Bates sticking his head in. Lex nodded and the door shut again.

"Lillian wanted Lex to become a chef or maybe pianist. She said he had natural talent. It was fun to watch the two in the kitchen. The maids would throw a fit about the mess they left but the food was usually outstanding."

Chloe glanced over at Lex who still showed no sign of remorse for how he felt but she could see he appreciated the thoughts. "I didn't like the sewing though."

"No, I didn't care for her teaching to sew either. We had professional suit makers for that." Lionel looked across the table and saw his son, really saw him. "In the long run, all those things were good for you though."

Lex somewhat chuckled at the slight comment and continued eating. Chloe watched the strange exchange of random comments and glares the two continued to pass back and forth. She wondered how long it had been since the two had actually taken a meal that wasn't a business dinner together. It must have been years.

"Coffee anyone?" Lex finally offered after about a half hour of awkward silence.

"I should be going," Lionel quietly commented as he stood. Staring at his son, he couldn't tell whether it was the last time he would see him or not.

"Dad," Lex pulled the coat from his arm. "Stay for dessert. I was hoping that you and Chloe could help me piece together how I got here, the real story, no accusations."

Lionel watched as his son lowered his coat across the couch and Chloe laid out three plates. He had been sure that it would have been Lex's first question to him, not the last. Regardless, the evening was apparently just getting started.

Sitting on the chair across the couch from his son and his protégé, he smiled. "What do you not know?"

"I have figured out that the companies that supposedly went under just were taken over by Queen Industries or old Luthorcorp holdings I had sold for cash. The business end I understand, and some of it was your doing and some was the economy. But the arrangement of my incarceration."

"We were all worried about you Lex. You had changed, and you were taking everyone you know down with you. You were self distructing and the person you had been was slowly rotting away."

Lex watched as Chloe's eyes continued to seem to be pleading for him not to go off on her when she hit the punchline. "When Lana returned from Europe, the ball started rolling. She was your only weakness to take you down. The movement of money to her after she was forced to marry you was simply strategic."

"And your death?"

"The rest of the plans would have never worked if I was out in front making plays for the companies from under you. So, I found that death moved mountains faster, at least in the world of tycoons."

Lex continued to sit and listen to the plan that Lionel had finally approved there in the living room to give up. Lex knew he had no control and no way to get back any of the things that had been taken from him, not even blackmail material. He had been entirely discredited in front of the entire world business populous.

"So who is paying for all of this?"

Chloe and Lionel looked at Lex and waited, hoping that in the last year of his strange new life he hadn't lost all his abilities of the shrewd business man. Seeing the sense of a light coming on, he stared at his father and then at Chloe. "This is my money." Chloe simply nodded her head in agreement.

"Well, this has been an interesting evening." Lionel stood up and grabbed his coat before giving his son the ability to take it away again. "Son...Lex...Thank you."

Lex stood up and shook his father's hand, actually a strange gesture since his father had always seemed to be a hugger, although usually for other reasons than comfort.

Looking at his son with a still stunned look on his face, he motioned for Chloe to follow him.

Once outside the door, he stopped. "Are you ready then?"

Chloe peeked back inside as Lex sat back on the couch and was obviously trying to digest the entire elaborate plan that seemingly worked. Turning back, she partially smiled. "I think so. What about you and Lex?"

With a slight nod, Lionel turned, descending the stairs almost ghostlike in his long coat and disappeared out the front door.

TBC

[lexie]

This was a wonderful update, Mary. Fantastic tête à tête between the Luthors; I particularly enjoyed the references to Lillian throughout the chapter. Now, I'm eagerly awaiting the epilogue, wondering if Lex will take back the reins of his empire or if some other arrangements will take place.

[Kit Merlot]

This was quite an emotional chapter!

Lex is a different person now, and Chloe just has to have enough faith in Lex to know that their relationship can work.

And good for Lex for finally letting himself tell the truth to his dad--that was a lovely scene.

Continued excellent work with this fic

[hfce]

Yikes that was just emotional and painful. I wish Chloe could trust Lex more but what can you do.

[superag]

A/N - Ok, here we are at the end I have seen from the beginning. Didn't know exactly how I would get there, but it happened. Some may love it; some may hate it. Just so you know it was inspired. Thanks for those who read and commented and those that just read. Not sure if I'll start another, but have enjoyed writing.

To know the inspiration for the ending and see a wonderfully simple video, check this out.

http://www.robthomasmusic.com/videos/featured/someday-5

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cause sometimes we don't really notice
Just how good it can get
So maybe we should start all over
Start all over again

Chapter 19 - Someday

Chloe took a deep breath and walked back into the apartment and watched silently as Lex had his back to her, cleaning the kitchen. He hadn't even realized what he had proven or done in this one meeting that had sped up everything that she and Lionel had planned out. Months of planning went happily out the window. Chloe tried to control her emotions and wipe the smile from her face that seemed to keep coming back.

"What's up with the look?" Lex asked and startled Chloe back into the present. "My old man tell you a dirty joke or something?"

Crossed over the small living room and leaned against one of the chairs, continuing to smile. "No, just impressed with how this how whole night seemed to work itself out better than I had pictured." Chloe paused and saw Lex's look on his face. "Seriously, I wondered which one of you would have cracked first. I figured that I would be dodging objects or repairing something after a brawl."

Lex smiled as he leaned against the counter. He could still feel the fear that Chloe was holding close to her chest about the whole situation. He knew she still didn't quite trust him even after all the time they had spent together. He loved her for that; he knew she was still too careful to reach out and just let go as far as he was concerned and maybe that was a good thing.

"There was a moment that I was wondering if his body would fit out the window. But then again, he would have hit the trash bin below and lived like a cockroach."

Turning to Chloe her smile transformed into confusion and then a small snort to the last comment. "I thought you were serious."

"At a point in the evening I was, but then decided I liked this place and I really didn't want to actually go to jail over him. He's not the worth the effort anymore. Besides from the way you walked back in, I'm not sure if I'll ever even see him again."

Chloe shook her head and crossed her arms as she walked around the little island in the kitchen. "You got that feeling too?"

Lex pulled Chloe's arms out of the tight twist and ran his hands down them. "Yeah." She let him snake her arms around him and pull her into his chest for a quiet embrace. "It wasn't supposed to go like this. You basically hurried the process through three months of planning by figuring it was your dad."

Leaning his chin gently against the top of Chloe's head, he could smell the faint fruit scent from her shampoo and closed his eyes. He didn't care whether he had screwed up their plans or not as long as Chloe was still there at the end of the night. "I'm sure that wasn't his intention for me to find out. But he's been out of the game a little long, so he made a mistake."

Chloe gazed up in Lex's eyes, "I'm not so sure it was a mistake. Lex, your dad has this wonderful woman that he's building a new life with, albeit completely out of the public eye. I think he was ready to move on." Chloe pulled out of Lex's arms and sat quietly on the couch.

Lex glanced over at her as she moved across the room from him. He wondered what the woman was like that his father had wrangled. He knew that she wasn't apparently interested in being able to go out with the man and not concerned about his past indiscretions. Looking back up from the floor, he saw Chloe watching him. "Lex, she's a good person. And she approved of you."

Lex leaned toward her, then moved over toward the couch to sit down. "She knows me?"

Chloe rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. Turning to Lex, she placed her hands on his. "Remember the night that you called me and said someone left you a big tip and felt like you were being watched? The woman that ordered was Denise and the strange little man in the Fedora was your dad. He actually was very impressed by the job you had done with basically nothing."

"Which ironically was my money anyway, with a hard as nails caretaker of it." Lex leaned closer to Chloe on the couch. "Incredibly beautiful caretaker," he whispered as his lips grazed hers.

Chloe sank further into the cushions adorning the couch now, leaning further back as Lex's body moved toward her. Feeling his hand slide up her side and under her shirt, she closed her eyes and moaned into his mouth as the kiss deepened into something she wasn't expecting.

Pushing slightly with her free arm, Lex sat up at the hint. "Something wrong?" Lex quietly whispered as he ran his hand through her hair and down her cheek.

"We've had a lot go on today, for both of us, and I really need to get some rest." Chloe saw the look of disappointment on his face as he took a long breath and shook his head in agreement.

"I bet you are finding out that my job wasn't sitting in front of that laptop all the time."

Chloe glanced over before leaning her head against his shoulder. "No," she scoffed, "no, but I am starting to understand the reason for drinking, but I prefer wine and then sleep."

"Well, I can offer part of that." Lex halfway smirked as Chloe leaned back into the couch and sighed. He watched her as her eyes grazed the fixtures throughout the apartment and wondered what she was thinking.

Chloe took it all in now. Everything that she had set up for him he had made better than she could have expected. He still could control his destiny regardless of the situation. Looking back over in his direction, she saw him eyeing her intently. Slightly jumping, she felt his fingers on back of her neck, just grazing there. "Lex," her voice could put out nothing but a throaty plea.

Leaning into her, he kissed her neck as she barely moved to give him the opportunity. Running his lips lightly over her ear he whispered, "You're sleepy, stay here tonight."

Chloe turned her head and met his eyes as he leaned back into the couch. Taking his hand in hers, she could feel his fingers intertwine hers. The two just stared at each other in silence. Finally, Chloe had to speak. Nodding her head, she pulled fingers out of his. "No." Sitting up, yet unable to move, she repeated herself. "No."

Lex knew she had done her homework for the evening. Sitting up next to her, he pulled her quietly into him and brushed a kiss across her cheek. "I'll get your things." Chloe watched as Lex left the couch gathering her coat and her purse.

"Dinner was wonderful as always." Chloe politely commented as she slipped into her coat that Lex offered her. Taking her purse, she turned to grab the door handle, but Lex beat her to it. "Thank you."

Lex nodded and smiled. "Thank you Chloe," Lex whispered before pushing her into the door frame and covering her lips with his. Pulling her up by the waist, he held her in place as her body went limp in his arms. Closing his eyes, he took in her scent as he felt her tongue assault the inside of his mouth.

Losing her grip on air, Chloe slightly pushed against Lex and he backed away. "Goodnight," she barely whispered, starting down the stairs. Lex stood silently at the top of the stairs as she walked out and Bates locked the door behind her.

**********

Clark walked into the Talon Green and sat down at one of the tables on the outskirts of the main area. Glancing around the place, he spotted Lex and immediately wondered what the man would do in mere days when his time was finally up. Clark knew that he had only been given certain privileged information, but Lex being released dialed up the concern for the farmboy.

His mother was up for re-election that year. He worried for her, knowing that Lex very well could run his family's name through the mud in someway again. The man maybe had fooled everyone into thinking he was rehabilitated, but his freedom would give him distinct chances to put his old life back together. He hadn't been through shock therapy this time; he could easily remember everything.

Everything. Lex had been dangerously close to the end all secret for years and only knew the bits and pieces that Lionel knew Lex knew. Lex had mentioned in their earlier conversation that he knew more of Clark's secrets than he ever let on. Now he knew to forever keep an eye on the Lex Luthor that he used to know.

It had been a strange last week. He hadn't seen Chloe since their last meeting, only passing emails telling him the job in Metropolis was daunting but the challenge was very much to her liking. Smiling at the thought, he wondered how his crazy journalist friend had found herself so at home with corporate sharks. Then the phone call and dinner with Oliver had followed. He commented on Chloe's perseverance in the boardroom. Personally, Oliver mentioned the new woman in his life as being incredibly spry but never mentioned a name. Shaking his head, he continued to resist the thought that Chloe had started dating Oliver.

Lionel then appeared last night in the barn with a box that had to be buried he said. Had to buried somewhere that only he and Clark would know the contents and then started in on a fascinating story of what happened years before he arrived on earth and what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands, knowing Clark knew who the wrong hands were. Leaving quietly after mentioning the true reason for the death of Oliver's parents, he knew Lionel was leaving the decision of telling Oliver to himself, which he wouldn't. The past of a publicly dead figure wouldn't make a difference at this point.

He had opened the box and watched as the orb floated quietly in front of him, waiting for him to take it to its proper placement. The rest of the box glowed from the orb's light with manuscripts that Lionel had written about the orb and what he had written since his possession of JorEl. The entire history had been plunked at Clark's feet with an address to the hidden safe with the rest of the documents.

Placing the orb the night before at the Fortress was the last piece that lit up the fortress with a beautiful light and opened portals to other advancements in his training. Lionel had given him his last path to destiny. The ironic twist was it had been buried in the mansion all those years for someone else to find.

So after hours of talking to Lionel about the box and the paintings on the cave walls so long ago and the trip to the Fortress, he went back to the cave walls and the same Namen and Segeeth stood eye to eye with each other, almost as if they were reevaluating each other.

This had led him here. Lex had hinted years ago that he and Clark were the moderns of the ones on the cave walls. That they could rule together, but now the two were eye to eye, at a pass.

"I don't think I've seen you that deep in thought since you were in high school pondering who to take to the prom?" Clark shook his head and noticed Lex sitting across from him.

"I have a lot on my mind I guess. So you have a few days now? Any plans?" Clark leaned back in the chair, trying not to look suspicious.

"No, I guess things won't change too much from what they are right now except for the fact I could buy a car and drive to the other side of town without the law shooting at me." The two quietly paused. "You want something to eat? I can get the kitchen to whip something up, no charge."

"No, thank you. I guess its kind of a strange thing us two sitting here after all these years. I remember the last time we sat in these same chairs we were discussing a fishing trip or your football tickets."

"Well, I can't help you there anymore. Besides, you have a better chance at making the team than needing to get tickets. But I could maybe try that fishing thing. I have a great recipe for trout and it'll be better if it was fresh."

The two stared at each other before they both tried not to laugh at the suggestion that the two start over with Lex actually fishing. Both knew that the whole situation seemed completely stupid and yet a possible place to start.

Clark watched a perky auburn hair woman wearing yoga pants, a tank top and a towel around her neck stopped next to Lex's chair. "Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I'll see you tomorrow. I gotta split. Tell Josie not to move her time. Thanks." The woman waved and moved briskly around the corner.

Lex smiled and nodded then quickly refocused. "She's new in town. Apparently I have to talk to Josie since I wasn't made aware of the aerobics schedule being realigned. Can I call you later?"

Clark started to get up at the same time Lex did and stopped at the question. Startled, he shook his head silently. Lex nodded and walked away as Clark still couldn't even place how he felt about knowing that his best friend, enemy, opponent, now was his friend again. Walking out of the Talon, he was in awe, but this was Smallville. Weird things just happened; at least this one was welcome.

*********

Lex stared at hinself in the mirror. He had used the last little bit of personal money he was able to save for himself for the suit. So happy to be back in even Armani, much less any fine suit, he quietly finished straightening his tie and pulled on the coat lapels. Closing his eyes, he slowly breathed trying to calm his rattling nerves until he heard a knock on the door.

"Bates, I told you you could come in." Lex turned and saw Lionel standing in the doorway. "Dad, come to ruin my day?"

"No, Lex, I'm here with the last piece of the puzzle, the last play of the game as you could put it." He watched as his son quietly closed the door behind him and stared him down.

"Like I said," Lex chuckled nervously, wondering how far behind his father Chloe was.

"No, nothing like that." The old man pulled back his jacket pocket and saw Lex back up one step in anticipation. Slipping an envelope out of the pocket, he quietly held it out for Lex. "I promise there's no arsenic or other laced poison. Lex, take it."

Nervously, Lex pulled the envelope from his father's fingers and stared at it, flipping it over carefully before slowly ripping the top from it. Letting the end of the envelope drop to the floor, nothing spilled from it as his father had said. Blowing the envelope open, he pulled out the green form with the pressed watermark and swallowed.

"This is 100,000 dollars?"

Lionel shook his head. "I know it's not the money that you had originally, but that is well invested in the company now." Lionel watched as Lex's hand grazed the watermark again and the signature it beared. "Lex, you have ability to still do great things. The whole world will be watching, knowing your freedom was earned, not bought."

Lex still touched the check as if he had never seen that kind of money before in his life. "Dad, this isn't a joke?"

"No joke. It's yours. And if you take it to the bank on the north end of the town, they have instructions that it is arriving and the money will not be held the normal week to check for funds. You can use it immediately."

Lex couldn't find any other words. He had mentally prepared himself to simply walk out of the courtroom later that morning without the ankle bracelet and nothing to do but return to the same apartment and the same job. With the money settling in his hand, his options had opened. And yet. He didn't know.

"Well, I don't want to make you late for the judge, so I will be letting myself out." Lionel turned and started toward the door as he heard something unintelligible come from his son. Turning he noticed that Lex hadn't moved.

Lionel was confused. He couldn't tell if Lex was more happy to have the money or know that his father actually believed that he could make something out of nothing. "Dad?"

Lionel silently nodded at his son's voice.

"The money, when do I..."

"Never." Lionel walked up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders. "I am proud of you, even if I never did anything else but push you to be more. Of course I'll be watching, but you are in charge of your own destiny. Make it a more worthwhile one this time. This will the be the last time you hear from me."

Lionel wrapped his hands around his son and quietly smiled up at him before moving back toward the door and closing it behind him. Lex watched the door close and couldn't move. His father was really gone. Swallowing he shoved the now folded check nervously into his pants as the door opened again. Looking up he saw Bates staring at him funny.

"Did you see my dad outside?"

"No sir." Lex pulled the check out to make sure he hadn't been talking to his dead father like he had so many times with his mother. "Sir, we need to get going," he nonchalantly said as he patted Lex down and then pulled his hands into the handcuffs for the official trip to the courthouse.

"How long are you still interred on me?" Lex questioned as Bates followed him down the stairs toward the awaiting police car.

"Until the judge has me take the ankle bracelet off of you, probably in his chambers if he decides your release is confirmed." Bates scooted into the seat next to Lex and tapped the awaiting officer on the shoulder.

"What are your plans afterwards?"

"I've sent out some resumes."

"How about security guard at the Talon Green? Still get all the perks, if you trust me being your boss after before." Bates looked over as the man that had captured him, tortured him, been his captor, and finally his friend. Still nervous that the past could again creep up on him, he nodded.

"Same pay?"

"Same pay, although I don't know what that is and hopefully I can match it. Plus still free meals and the gym."

Bates looked at the man's hand outstretched hand as far as it could reach in handcuffs. Shaking his hand, Bates nodded in agreement. "I will turn on you as soon as you make one wrong move."

"I count on it," Lex responded as the car pulled up in front of the courthouse.

*********

Chloe sat at the desk in the middle of the now tallest building in Metropolis. She had argued with Oliver incessantly about putting her up so high in the building that she couldn't see people but just little ants on the ground. Winning, her large CEO office was only ten flights above the ground. Far enough to feel high but low enough to still people watch when she needed a break.

Looking back at the stack of papers on her desk, she sneered disgustingly. It left not time in her day to work on her writing. Still happily working in what was Lex's position at one time, now for Oliver, she missed the writing. It was a strange passion that finally led her to quietly starting a book. Historical fiction set in a science fiction tone; that was the only way she could describe her writings about Smallville.

Pressing the button on the little intercom, she flipped open the next folder and ran her hand through her hair once. "Yes, could you please send in the next person."

Watching her receptionist smile at her, she moved around to the front of the desk and approached the man with an outstretched hand. "Good morning. Thank you Jeneice." The door closed and Chloe stopped in the middle of the floor, rocking on her heels. "It's been a long time."

"Eighteen months." He paused. "Somehow I knew."

"We both knew that night." At the risk of falling into the old pattern, she stopped from perusing the past and looked him up and down. "You seem to have found suits tailored for you again."

"Believe me, I didn't pay top dollar for any tailor. Money that dad left me only goes so far. If I have learned anything, the value of the dollar is at the top. Actually Emily took up the pants; the coat was tailored."

Chloe smiled and pointed at the chair for Lex to have a seat. She pulled herself up to the desk and looked over the file in front of her. He hadn't missed a beat, listing everything from Luthorcorp, Lexcorp, to every felony he had been found guilty of. Looking up from her paperwork, she smiled and crossed her arms over the papers. "Yes, I hear congratulations are in order. Clark emailed me the post in the paper. And told me you two are actually expecting? You with a child?"

Lex uncomforably shifted in the seat at the question in Chloe's voice. "You trust me with a child?"

She shifted her head, "Of course, you'll be a great dad."

Chloe watched as he shifted again and knew that he felt nervous back in place he had been far removed for now at least two years. "I hope. I get nervous constantly, every time Emily has an appointment."

"Tell me; Clark I guess figured he would drop the big bomb all at once so it wouldn't hurt or something like that."

Lex smiled, knowing that he would silently keep it to himself that he had asked Clark not to say anything to Chloe. "She was the new Kindergarten teacher in town. She started coming to gym and then one day she was reading one of the old Art History books I used to have. We got to talking and found we had more in common than I had with anyone in a long time."

"And your past?"

Lex swallowed. "She was nervous when I approached her about something more permanent. I told her I wanted to come back to work here, and that really scared her until I told her about you being the boss." Lex leaned back more comfortable in the chair.

"How much?" Chloe knew the rest of the interview was fruitless, for both of them. The questions that he answered now and how he answered them would be more telling than any cookie cutter interview sheet.

"She knows about us, or what was us. She understands the situation." Chloe nodded and tapped the pen on the desk that she had started to chew on. Nervously, she looked up in Lex's eyes and then down at the ring on his hand. Misty-eyed, she dropped the pen and tried to gain her composure.

Lex watched as she got up and pulled one of his trademark moves for not showing his emotion. He had to de-escalate the situation. Turning the picture on her desk around, he smiled. "I think congratulations goes both ways. I hear Thomas is a great guy."

Chloe turned and smiled back at Lex now fixing the picture back in its place on her desk. "Yeah, he's got a great head on his shoulders. He just got promoted at Random House. He actually has me writing a fiction tale on Smallville if you're interested in giving me an interview finally on some of the stuff that went on at the mansion."

Lex laughed; he couldn't help it. "Chloe, I think you have probably curbed the market on stories from Smallville, but I I like the fiction twist. Outside of Smallville, most people wouldn't buy all the stuff that went on there as real."

"That's what Thomas said. But he said the editors are looking forward to the second part on it, including your little demise. I said I would have to talk to you first. It's not meant to be your expose."

Lex ran his hand along the leather chair as he looked back and forth between her face and the engagement ring on her hand. "You're writing it as fiction. My name isn't in it, so embellish as you will. Besides, I'm pretty sure I'll read it."

Chloe nodded and leaned against the edge of the desk as she crossed her arms. The two had finally found the deathly quiet out of the past and the catching up. She had been afraid of this moment when she first saw his name come across the list of applicants. Even after pleading with Oliver to rethink his constitution, she was left to interview. Oliver had put it as poetic justice that Lex crawl back. Glancing over at Lex, he wasn't doing much crawling.

"So, when I saw your name on the list of applicants that Oliver had actually pushed through, I was kind of shocked."

Lex crossed his leg and put on what Chloe remembered as his best business face. Thinking that they had finally moved onto the interview, Lex could feel his own heartbeat slow. "I'm sure. I was actually shocked myself when your receptionist called to schedule the interview."

"So why come back?"

"I saw that Gretchen had moved to another plant on the west coast and then saw the ad in the paper."

"But it's your original job; it's like your going backwards and taking my father's old job."

"But its stable and I need something after Creighton Inc came in and bought the Talon from me. I can't exactly raise a family on nothing. And between the sale of the Talon and the money left, I was at least able to buy and clear the land the mansion was on to rebuild. Not the mansion of course. Emily already has some architect hunting down plans from Clark's parent's house. God forbid."

Chloe covered her mouth to keep from trying to laugh out loud. "I cannot see you in a country kitchen."

"Neither can I. That's why that architect is going to end up magically missing." Lex waited for it. There it was, the glare he was waiting for. Chloe's eyes grew in shock as her body stiffened. "Relax, I paid for him to go on vacation until I got back to town where she wouldn't meet with him alone. Anyway, the job has daycare and medical and frankly my family's going to need it. The deal is better than her putting us all on the public school's dime, that's highway robbery they have."

Chloe nodded in agreement. She still couldn't quite swallow that Lex was talking about medical insurance and daycare. The man still had hints of himself in there, the stares, the mannerisms, the hint that he could still easily make someone disappear with the mighty dollar. Looking at him, she knew what the men upstairs were waiting on. Standing up from her chair, she was met by Lex also standing. "I will be working personally with the board to get this pushed through."

Lex watched as Chloe moved around the desk and met him in the middle of the office, halfway toward the door and halfway to opening a new life between to the two.

Putting her hand out, she felt Lex's grip in it and hitched a breath. Looking up in his eyes, she knew they could make this work and Lane Industries would someday become what Luthorcorp was with Lex and Oliver both eventually working together. For now, she was his boss. "Welcome to Lane Industries, Mr. Luthor."

"Thank you Ms. Sullivan."

THE END

[lexie]

Well, I hate you, girl, but somehow knowing this one was posted in the General section kind of made me think it could end this way. It isn't the kind of ending I hoped for and yet, I'm happy for Lex. He seems to have found the family he's always yearn for, a good woman who loves him, a baby on the way- he's made amends with his dad and has a decent job working for the money.

I hope your muse will come up with something new soon; happy Chlexy ending included. Thanks for sharing.

ETA: Now it's time to update HTC and dig it out of the graveyard.

[Kit Merlot]

First, I'd like to thank you for writing this--I liked watching Lex learn how to redefine his life and his place in the world.

But I wouldn't be telling the truth if I said that I enjoyed seeing Lex and Chloe end up with other people. I do however like that they have come to an understanding and are going to be able to work together to rebuild the old Luthorcorp into a brand new company--that's rather lovely.

Again, thanks for writing this story

[hfce]

Yeah I am not happy. I was hoping for a Chlex ending. But you did a nice job anyway.

[Ultra]

You know I love your writing and this story has been so excellent right the way through, but I have to say the end really disappointed me. I guess I'm used to everything ending up Chlex eventually, and this turned on me and didn't do that.

I know the most important thing was Lex being brought down to nothing and then rebuilding his life from there, but I wanted the Chlex too. Yeah, awesomely written, but very disappointed by the end...