The Upper Hand (R) 1/31/10

[Nimmie]

Cryptic, I really like that power reversal here, and you are doing it so well. I'm intrigued of course and entertained.

Thanks
N

[malugargula]

This fic is great

I can`t wait for more

[Ultra]

Great chapter! Its strange seeing Lex in such a position - bussing tables, fixing toilets, they're not exactly billionaire activites, but I think in the long run it'll do Lex good to be 'normal' for a while. I guess thats what Chloe is trying to do, make him a better man by taking away the things that turned him so bad. (Did that even make sense? )

Can't really blame Mark for not liking Lex after what he's been through, its a weird dynamic they have now. Nice to see the sweet side of Lex when he gave the five dollars to the waitress, but I equally enjoyed seeing the clever side of him when he got rid of the vixen type woman! haha

Need more Chlexiness now...

[autumngold]

This is such a fabulous story!! I love how Lex is finally learning to do things for himself!! Thank goodness Chloe was there at the beginning to save him from his alcohol induced suicide attempt!! It must have been so hard for her to admit her love for him though, knowing that he could use it against her in the future!! I like how Chloe is there for Lex, I hope he realizes how despite everything they have gone through she is still his friend!! Even if she is doing this at someone else's request, I really believe that she has his best interests at heart!! Thank you so much for this incredibly interesting story!! Please post more soon!! I can't wait to find out what you have planned for Chloe and Lex next!!

[smugirl]

Good story. I'm excited to see where this is heading. Keep up the good work.

[superag]

A/N - So very long...I apologize for not getting on top of things but have been super busy. So, no Lex here but what everyone is curious about falls into place.

Chloe and Her Band of Merry Men – Chapter 7


Chloe looked at her watch and silently cussed as she picked up her step from the parking lot to the old building on the southside of Metropolis. She could feel her heart thumping in her throat, nervous about the meeting she called. She knew the consequences of her actions and hoped the timing of her meetings wouldn’t lead to disasterous consequences.

Opening the door, she smiled seeing that Oliver had made himself comfortable. “Sorry, the editor had all of us in a meeting. Thanks for meeting with me.”

Oliver walked over and helped Chloe out of her coat and pulled the chair out at the small dining room table at the small apartment that she had acquired. The one bedroom was there in town more specifically for the meetings she had but it gave her some options when her nights ran long.

“No problem. I brought the information that you asked for but wondered if this is actually going to help you out. Oh, and that folder is the financial statements that you asked for. I’m still confused about the reasoning for the movement of all this money around. He’ll get suspicious.”

Chloe sat across the table from Oliver and flipped through different statements that Oliver had been able to acquire from the witnesses for the defense in Lex’s next case. Chloe wasn’t stupid nor interested in corrupting the case unless it seemed he was going to be pulled from his present incarceration. He hadn’t quite learned his lesson but she thought he was close.

“He knows that I’m getting funding from somewhere; I think he thinks that it’s Lana’s cut that she absconded with. It’s better if he continues to think that. Besides, right now he has no way to check on the correctness of his assumption.”

Oliver nodded and leaned back in the chair, “So what’s up with the new apartment? You and the fiancée having issues.”

“It’s somewhere for me to keep things that he doesn’t need to know. Jimmy is…” Chloe couldn’t find the exact words to describe his lack of attention to things around him.

“Sweet,” Oliver fills in.

Chloe looked up and simply smiled at the very simplistic explanation of him. Closing up the folders, she sighed and looked at Oliver. He watched expressions dart across her face. “So, is everything going ok?”

“Yeah, just really busy. There’s not much way to keep from getting tired commuting to and from Smallville and having time to have a relationship.” Another spot of silence fell upon the two of them before Chloe looked at her lap and had to know, “How’s Lana?”

“Comfortable. She lives quietly with this artist that she met in Poffabro and is selling art and coffees at this little outdoor café.”

Chloe simply shook her head wondering if all the mess that the rest of Smallville had gone through in the last few years would have been simpler if Lana had just stayed in Europe. She had never been happy since she had returned from there.

Chloe was the only one that Oliver had told about Lana. He didn’t dare open up the wound for Clark since he was finally working toward his destiny. He knew that Chloe had an abundance of secrets that she kept. He had actually been the one to get her out of the country and buried her as deep away from technology as he could. Seeing her a few weeks earlier in Tuscany, he could see face was flush with happiness in her simple skirt and long braided hair. She asked about no one back in Kansas. It was a sign she moved on. Marcello was another sign she had moved on.

“That’s good. I’m assuming that since you didn’t mention it, she didn’t ask about …”

Oliver shook his head, “No, not about anyone.” The room fell silent again as Chloe looked at the time and whispered a cuss word to herself.

Apparently her timing wasn’t that far off as the door opened and a man in a trenchcoat stood silently in the doorway and stared past Chloe at the blonde haired man across the table from her. “Oliver Queen, I have to say I’m very impressed with your maneuvering of my investments in this wild economy.”

Oliver stood up and cocked his chin up. He glanced down at Chloe and huffed. He had watched the news wire that the man had a memorial service. Nodding his head, he smirked and stared at the man as he crossed into the apartment and sat down on the couch. “So how does it feel to have watched your own memorial service?”

“Actually, it’s quite disturbing, especially when everything that I had laid out in my final wishes were completely ignored except for the cremation. That was wonderful. By the way, that suspended animation drug is well on its way to being something quite scary to release. I can imagine the complications.”

Chloe sat quietly at the table and watched as the two men decided to trade jabs or compliments. She couldn’t tell whether they were trying to be civil or were sharpening their claws quietly behind their backs.

“Thank you, but I think that will be the end of the testing. By the way, who exactly was in that urn?”

“Some of the ashes that hadn’t been hauled away from the zoo. He apparently had no idea when Chloe told me he basically attacked me when he lost everything.” Lionel got up and helped himself to the refrigerator that was already well stocked as if Chloe would need somewhere to go soon. Pulling a drink out, he handed another to his two counterparts.

Oliver glanced at the bottled water and was still trying to find words to explain how he could get himself so involved in this escapade. “Answer me a question since Chloe won’t tell me her reasoning. Why?”

Lionel sat down at the table with the other two and twisted the cap off the water and ran his fingers through his now fully grown out beard. He was still dressed well but obviously was looking to cover up his identity some. Longer beard, shorter hair and the glasses now that he wore all the time.

“Lex had become dangerously close to a tyrant. It’s understandable for him to be ruthless, possibly at time corrupt, we have all done it in times of needed business, but his reach of control was out of control. Therefore, I played my last card and sold everything out from under him after a little insider trading friend let me know what was coming from the automotive industry and the banks that financed much of what Luthorcorp held. Then he took what he had left and sold the rest for dimes. Unfortunately, when Lex gets nervous his mistakes are more apparent. He could never clean up his own messes well and sold all those other holding to people buried way down in Queen Industries. Then gave his accountant his name and signed away the rest of holdings. George has been a friend of mine since school, but Lex didn’t know that. In short, my son needed to be brought down from his pedestal.”

Oliver was sitting stunned and glanced over at Chloe. “You knew about all of this? For how long?”

“When Lana became engaged to Lex; he came to me after the incident with my mom. We just waited, hoping the market would take the tumble that economists warned about the last few years.”

“But Lana…”

Lionel looked over in Oliver’s direction. “She was a fixture in the plan from the beginning. We all knew Lex’s weakness. Clark and anything that was Clark’s. Lana came back from France and immediately Lex started in on her, barreled right through Jason and never stopped. The problem was that she wavered and I threatened her. If she didn’t marry him, the pieces would have never fallen correctly. It was what we call a necessary evil. The unfortunate incident with Lex’s controlling her was not my doing.”

Oliver turned back to Chloe and questioned her, “So when you said you were concerned that Lana wasn’t going to show for the wedding, that was real.”

“Yeah, if she hadn’t shown, the whole plan would have fallen apart. Your part was purely to handle hiding the accounts.”

It was the first time that the three had all been the room together. She knew that juggling Queen with Lionel was going to be daunting. Queen was still confused. “I thought you had difference with Lionel,” he commented as he looked at Chloe concerned.

Chloe swallowed realizing that Oliver was referring to the mess she had created for herself and Lex back years before, before Lionel’s transformation. She glanced over at Lionel and he nodded and broke a small grin before lowering his eyes. She thought back to when he first approached her about the plan; she was scared out of her mind but he had played on her emotions following her mother’s involvement with 33.1.

“The situation was complicated, still is complicated. There are areas that still I wonder if I should trust Lionel. We have an agreement to try and only play our roles and not cross into what we both know was the truth.” Chloe’s voice dropped into a whisper.

“It’s a compromise to save her friends. Lana is now safe; Clark will now follow his destiny, and Lex will start over.” Lionel was almost a different person than what Oliver had previously heard, but his sources were long ago and tainted with his parents blood.

The three sat quietly at the table wondering if there was anything else to discuss before leaving.

“Well, I have a meeting with a nice woman from the shoe store,” Lionel stood and threw his bottle away before heading for the door.

“Meeting?” Chloe questioned. “Exactly what are you doing now?” She knew he was far from Metropolis now from the phone number of his cell.

“Play golf, walk around the vineyards when I feel up to it. She’s a nice woman, reminds me of Lillian before…” Lionel stopped and dropped his head. “Anyway, nice to see you Chloe. Oliver.” Opening the door, he almost stepped onto the one person that everyone was avoiding. “Clark.”

As the door opened, Chloe’s eyes widened in worry. “Oh shit.”

Clark looked around the room at the three holed together. “I found an address on something on the fax machine at work with this on it. Said you needed to sign off on it. Thought…what the hell is going on?” He looked right at Lionel who had backed out of the doorway to let him in. He looked in Oliver’s direction and held his hand on his forehead as if he was trying not to pass out. “What the fuck are you doing alive and with him?”

The three looked at the absolute shock on Clark’s face and couldn’t help seeing that even though he was growing up finally, he was still a little behind. “It’s a long story Clark, have a seat.”

“Glad you two have this. Clark, we will speak soon.” Lionel tipped his head and left the apartment. Clark watched as Lionel Luthor, the dead Lionel Luthor walked out the door. He was at the damn service. He had seen the body wheeled away without a heartbeat.

Clark sat at the end of the table in stunned silence. Chloe sat a drink in front of him and took a deep breath. “Remember that big secret I keep of yours? It’s time to pay it back.” Clark nodded and looked in Oliver’s direction wondering how Oliver and Lionel had been in the same room together without bloodshed. He now knew that what he had learned would also stay a secret.

***********

Chloe walked into her and Jimmy’s apartment a few weeks after the meeting of the minds. She was incredibly tired after her latest drive back from Smallville. She only had seen Lex in passing mostly, but he seemed to be working on a new arrangement in the restaurant. She warned Mark to reign in his leads in order to keep the upper hand of the situation. She didn’t want to give Lex the ability to know too much.

Dropping her things, she saw the rose petals scattered in a trail into the bedroom. It was a month until her wedding and she saw no progress in the plans, but Jimmy seemed to be the romantic in the pair. She was sure he would do a fine job. She just had to practice saying the words, “I do,” without choking or falling asleep at the altar.

She followed the petals into the bedroom and saw the lights all off with candles lit in every corner with her fiancée sleeping in the middle of the bed. He stirred and looked up at her and then at the clock. “A little late again.”

“Sorry,” she whispered. She wasn’t really. She wasn’t in the mood for romance; she hadn’t been in the mood for anything for weeks. She just wanted to sleep for days.

Jimmy sat up and crawled across to the foot of the bed and kissed her neck as she removed her shoes. Chloe moved her neck away as she went to put her shoes away. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m just needing to sleep.”

“That’s all you ever do. I never see you anymore. You would think that I’m the mistress from the amount of time you spend with Luthor or in Smallville. I told you that you needed to let that place go.”

Chloe came out of the closet and huffed in his direction. It was 2 AM, and he wanted to start this with her. “Look, I have a lot on my plate. I am very tired; I appreciate that you are taking care of the wedding. Just let me rest.”

Chloe changed into her night clothes and dropped herself into the bed as Jimmy wrapped his half bare body up in a robe. “No, I want to talk about this. You told me you would be home like 6 hours ago and then you come in and totally ignore every offer I’m trying to make. When is it going to be our turn? You worry about Clark, about Luthor, your work. When am I going to be part of it?”

Chloe rolled her eyes and rolled off the bed and walked back in the closet. She silently dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. “Look, I don’t have patience to be pushed around or told what to do. You don’t understand the sacrifices I have taken for us to be left alone and enjoy our years together when we get there.”

“What sacrifices? I’m making them now Chloe. You know what it feels like when I have to share you with Lex Luthor.”

Chloe whipped her head around from looking at the duffle bag she was no packing. “You aren’t. You’re making this a problem by never letting me just come home and enjoy being with you in a few precious moments. When we first started dating you pointed fingers at Clark and I don’t think you ever got over that. Now it’s Lex. He’s a felon; I’m in charge of him. It’s pretty simple.”

“Not when you are there more than here. That’s not simple.”

Chloe picked up the bag and ran her fingers through her hair. She was tired. She was tired of lying and avoiding what stared her right in the face every time she left Smallville . “Look, I’m going to wait for you to cool off. I don’t have time to deal with this. If you can figure out if you can share me with my career, my friends, and my obligations then let me know.”

Opening the door, she dropped the cheesy engagement ring on the side table and walked out. Closing the door, she took a deep breath, realizing that being alone was better than lying until she reached the altar. The night’s earlier events in Smallville made sure of that.

TBC

[lexie]

I´m really happy you found the time to update this.

It was a given someone rich and powerful had to be backing Chloe and I had a hunch you´d be resurrecting Lionel. I wonder if he´s really trying to help Lex or if he´s got any hidden agendas.

I´m glad that Chloe´s virtually broken up the engagement. Oh, girl, you´re way too deep into Lex!

I´ll patiently await your next update, Marie.

My fics:


COMPLETE FICS
Second Chances
Payback Time
The Love of Two Men
Hope and Happiness
The Countdown
Shadows from the Past
Finding the Way Back
The Real Thing
The Christmas Gift
Addicted
The Naked Truth
Crossing Paths and its sequel
Rebuilding

[purplemoon123]

Yay, new update!!

Well, damn!! Lionel and Chloe had this planned for a very long time.

Please tell me that Chloe doesn't change her mind regarding the engagement?

[malugargula]

Great chapter

[autumngold]

I hate to say this, but I feel kinda bad for Lex, Lana, and Clark!! What right did Chloe have to play with their futures that way?!! It might all work out in the end, but in the mean time some horrible things have happened to them!! I am glad, however, that Jimmy and Chloe have broken up!! That relationship is terrible!!

Thank you so much for the update!! Can't wait to see what happened between Lex and Chloe earlier that evening!!