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Thread: Reboot (R/NC-17 Epilogue) Completed 25th January 2013

  1. #1
    NS Senior Member Senior Member HotCrossedBunny's Avatar
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    Reboot (R/NC-17 Epilogue) Completed 25th January 2013

    Reboot


    Rating: R
    Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing to do with Smallville.
    Potential spoilers: S3
    Summary/ramble: I was very annoyed when first watching the S3 episode Deleted that Chloe and Lex did not actually have that much to do with each other, this is my (very short) take on it. I have changed things around as best suits me.

    Chloe looked around nervously as she stood before Lex Luthor. Her palms were sweaty, her head was throbbing and the blood pounded in her ears. This was not the position that she had wanted to be in the next time that she had to confront the younger Luthor.

    She had hoped that she would have brought Lionel to justice by then and that Lex would be grovelling for forgiveness and promising her the world – and more to the point her Dad’s job back – if only she wouldn’t published her article. Well, hoped was a bit strong. That had been the fantasy that she liked to indulge in at bedtime as she tried not to think of how she had screwed everything up.

    But such was not the case, she was not strolling into his office the cool, calm, confident reporter ready to lay her cards on the table. She was a scared girl who had got in over her head – a head which incidentally now sported a plaster from where her friend had beat her up, after she had been almost run over – and now needed all of the help that she could get.

    Her eyes darted from one side of the room and then back again. There were too many doors to this room, too many entrances. She could see that neither Lex nor Clark were reading their emails, but that didn’t mean that someone else wasn’t.

    “Thank-you for letting Chloe stay here”, Chloe heard Clark say and tried not to read too much into his statement. It sounded like he cared about her, he was trying to protect her after all, but that was just the kind of person Clark was. He would do as much for someone he had only just met, perhaps more willingly.

    “Anything I can do to help”, came Lex’s smooth reply. Chloe looked over at him as they followed him over to his desk.

    Damn him, he looked so put together, like everything was just business as usual. At least Clark looked a little concerned, although she had to admit that Lex’s response was a little more calming. In the Luthor mansion everything continued as it always had, the entire world could crumble around them and the Luthor abode would still be run like clockwork. In fact, the only change that Chloe would detect was in the jug of orange juice on the desk. Since when did Lex drink orange juice?

    “Yeah, this is the last place anyone would look for me”, Chloe commented. She looked at Lex but then again around the room, not because she felt uncomfortable throwing what he had done to her father back in his face, but because she still expected someone to come charging in trying to kill her.

    She could feel Clark and Lex trading one of their meaningful looks before looking back at her. She wondered whether they gave courses on meaningful looks somewhere.

    “Chloe”, Lex said as he poured a glass of orange juice. Apparently the Luthor heir did imbibe OJ after all. “I’m sorry about what happened to your friend at the Daily Planet”, he handed her the glass. Okay, so maybe he didn’t.

    Chloe took the glass, and stared into its depths. Anything was easier than looking up at Lex and seeing that the mocking arrogance that she was sure she would see in his blue eyes. Her ‘friend’ as he put it, was dead and it was all her fault. Not just because she had written the article and given it to him to read – she had tried to warn him – but because she shouldn’t have ever been at the Daily Planet to start with. Some friend she was. Maybe it was for the best that Clark now wanted nothing to do with her.

    “You must really have had him over a barrel”, Lex continued, she could still feel his eyes on her and knew that she couldn’t avoid him any longer.

    “Yeah, well, I obviously didn’t know what I was getting myself into”, Chloe tried not to sound too sorry for herself.

    Lex regarded her with an odd expression. On anyone else she would have mistaken it for sympathy, but not on the face of a Luthor. He maintained eye contact as he made his way around the desk and sat down, seeming to realise that she desired distance.

    “Just seems to be a nasty habit that I’ve picked up lately”, Chloe continued, hating the silence. She knew rather than saw that Clark was observing her sympathetically at this statement. It didn’t make her feel one iota better.

    Lex, on the other hand, almost smiled. Despite himself, he was impressed at how well Chloe was baring up under the pressure, she had even managed to come up with a story. Trust her!

    “So your theory is that Garner has turned Molly into his own email assassin. Using hypnotic suggestion”, he checked. That one was a bit out there even for Chloe.

    “It’s not that far of a stretch. Somerholt goes from studying the brain to controlling it”, Clark explained before Chloe could, he clearly wanted to keep any Chloe/Lex interaction to a minimum, in spite of having asked Lex to look after her until this was all sorted out.

    He considered Clark’s words, “It’s a pretty amazing breakthrough, if you don’t consider the application”.

    “Well there’s no question, when it comes to brain warping, Dr. Garner is definitely the guy”, Chloe stepped forwards, her journalistic instinct taking over. Lex looked interested.

    “I’m going to go talk to Garner”, Clark suddenly announced and started to head out of the door.

    “No, no”, Chloe panicked and grabbed his arm. “No don’t Clark please, it’s too dangerous”. Lex watched the interaction, marvelling at how easily the physical contact and concern came even though Clark and Chloe were no longer friends. Not to mention how deeply entrenched Clark’s need to protect the blonde was. He doubted that they would be at odds for much longer.

    “I’m not the one he’s looking for”, Clark reminded her, somewhat callously Lex thought. “It’ll be alright, just don’t leave the mansion. I’ll call you if I find anything”.

    Lex couldn’t see Chloe’s face, so he didn’t see that she looked about ready to burst into tears. She schooled her expression before letting Lex see it.

    Now that Clark was leaving, it was time for him to do that same. “Chloe, I have my tech guys trying to tract her, I’m going to go see what they’ve got. Make yourself at home”, he said in what he thought was a kind manner, then left.

    ~*~

    Lex had barely got out of the office when he thought better of his actions.

    “You git”, Lex reproached himself as he started down the corridor away from Chloe. What kind of man, what kind of person did something like that? He was furious with Clark, the poor girl had been through hell in the last 24 hours, she needed her friend to be there with her. He sighed.

    No, she obviously needed someone, and she had needed someone since this began. He shouldn’t have blown it off yesterday. He knew what Chloe was capable of so it was not so strange to think that she could have pissed Lionel off enough to do something like this. As it happened, it wasn’t Lionel but he should still have taken it more seriously than he had.

    Damn it.

    He stopped walking.

    He knew that Chloe had pushed Clark away, she had delved too far into his past, that was something that Lex could understand. If Clark ever found out how far Lex’s obsession really went then their friendship would be over as well, but with Chloe it was different. Lex did not believe that she could do anything maliciously. He had never seen a sign of real cruelty in her, he had never seen her look really scared before either, he thought.

    He ran his hand over his head. As if unrequited love weren’t enough, she had lost her best friend, her father was out of work, two attempts had been made on her life and Lionel was apparently making things hard for her.

    He found himself turning back to the office. Upon entering his inner sanctum, he saw Chloe standing where he had left her. She was looking around nervously and hadn’t had even a sip of her orange juice. He sighed, then coughed to alert her to his presence.

    As he made his way over to her he smiled, pretending that he hadn’t witnessed her jumping out of skin at his cough.

    “It will be okay, you know that don’t you Chloe?”

    The smile she gave him was unconvincing.

    Maybe more information would help to calm her down. “The internet connection for the whole of the mansion is down, the security is on high alert and no one else knows that you are here. You are safe and will remain so until I find out who did this.”

    “Thanks”, she muttered.

    She looked distinctly uncomfortable in his presence but she needed someone and he was the only one around. He supposed that he should come up with a reason why he was there, rather than just wanting to check on her, as he had told her that he was leaving before. “I just came back to tell you that dinner will be ready in an hour and the TV remote is over there”, he pointed.

    She muttered her thanks again. Now he felt uncomfortable, he should probably hug or something – she looked as if she could do with a hug - but they didn’t have that kind of relationship; he had never really touched her except for shaking her hand and when he had put a needle into her heart and comforted her afterwards. Why did her life have to be in danger for them to be close?

    Awkwardly he placed his hand on her shoulder and looked deep into her eyes, “I will protect you Chloe, you have my word”.

    TBC
    Last edited by HotCrossedBunny; 25th January 2013 at 20:09.

  2. #2
    NS Full Member TrinityR's Avatar
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    Re: Reboot (R) 21st January 2013

    Funny, because I'm just finishing rewatching season 3, so I freshly remember.
    Needed into her heart? Wasn't that Clark?
    Never mind. I love it and can't wait for more. I'm curious of how they'll go closer.

  3. #3
    NS Senior Member Senior Member HotCrossedBunny's Avatar
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    Re: Reboot (R) 21st January 2013

    Not in the DVD extras it wasn't! Look it up on YouTube, it is AMAZING!

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    Re: Reboot (R) 21st January 2013

    Quote Originally Posted by HotCrossedBunny View Post
    Not in the DVD extras it wasn't! Look it up on YouTube, it is AMAZING!
    That one! I saw it! I have all the dvds and I saw all the deleted scenes. I just didn't think about it, because that was season 5 and in season 3 Clark stabbed Chloe with a needle when she was making people tell her the truth.
    That scene was so awesome! Such a pity it wasn't in the episode

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    NS Senior Member Senior Member HotCrossedBunny's Avatar
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    Re: Reboot (R) 21st January 2013

    Yep, well it my head that was in there ... although come to think of it I can't remember whether that was before or after this episode, oh well I have now decided that it was before. Should have been in the episode, they could have cut something else out to make room for Chlex!

  6. #6
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    Re: Reboot (R) 21st January 2013

    *Snippet Two*

    The Tech guys had indeed managed to start tracking the email but said that it would be another few hours until they had managed to finish the job as it was server bouncing at a level they had previously thought impossible. Trust Chloe to have the most intelligent enemies, Lex thought. He knew that his men were working as hard as possible, but it still annoyed him that they hadn’t been able to bring Chloe’s nightmare to an end yet.

    “Have you got everything ready?” He asked the housekeeper as he strode into the kitchen on his way back to the office and to Chloe.

    “Yes Mr Luthor”, she assured him. “The best guest room is ready for Chlo … I mean, Miss Sullivan, with everything she could need shampoo etc wise, with the clothes that you ordered as she didn’t have time to go home, a laptop is in there for a school work, and a collection of her favourite books and movies”.

    “Good job Gabe couldn’t shut up about her”, Lex thought as he listened to the maid.

    “And the food?” He asked, out loud this time.

    “It will be ready on time”, she assured him. “Potato soup, grilled vegetable pizza with fries and garlic bread and for a chocolate nutella expresso cake that your chef complained has given him diabetes just having to make it”.

    Lex managed a smile. “Has to be the first time that a classically trained French chef has been asked to prepare all of that”.

    “Yes, well he is paid enough to do it so he can get on with it and stop complaining. The poor little lamb should have what she likes.” The maid/housekeeper huffed, “never did have much of an appetite when worried, Gabe told me that she had to be tempted to eat after that bitch left”, she turned red. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry Mr Luthor”.

    “No need”, he assured her. He liked Annette. She had worked at the mansion since before he had even been there as the head housekeeper and was generally in charge of everything. She was a very kind woman who tended to think that it was her job to take care of everyone, but it was best to stay off her bad side. She had dragged a security guard she had seen taunting one of the dogs out of the door by his ear once and had a tendency to leave trays of food for Lex when she thought that he should eat, even if he had specifically told her that he wasn’t hungry.

    He had never heard her swear before though, nor had he realised before that she was quite so attached the Sullivans. It made sense he supposed, he knew that they went to the same church so they would know each other and Gabe and Annette were about the same age and being unmarried it would only be natural that she would had have paid attention to him.

    He wondered whether Annette knew about his firing Gabe, he didn’t think that it was common knowledge yet. He tried to put this out of his mind, he would miss finding boiled eggs sitting on his desk – although he found it annoying most of the time. She wouldn’t be worried about him getting enough protein after she found out.

    “Annette”, he asked, “could you do me a favour?”

    “Of course Mr Luthor”, she responded.

    As he told her, she grinned.

    ~*~

    After his talk with Ann, Lex walked up to the office; assuming that that was still where Chloe was as he had not heard from his security that she had left. He considered knocking for a minute but then shook himself out of it; this was his house after all.

    He spoke loudly to one of the guards before opening the door so that Chloe wouldn’t be startled, or if she were she would get herself under control before he entered the room, he knew that she hated people to see her unprepared and whilst normally he enjoyed putting Chloe on the back foot, today was not the day for that.

    “Hello Chloe”, he greeted her.

    “Hello”, she replied from where she was perched on the settee.

    He went over to pour himself an orange juice and sat down in front of her, he noticed that she seemed tense and as if she weren’t really paying attention to the news.

    “I spoke to my team, they say that it will take a few more hours but they will have the location the emails were sent from. Then we will then take further action”, he sat back in on the settee.

    Chloe nodded, she looked pale still.

    “Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes”, he continued, “I thought that you would rather eat in here than in the dining room.” He tried to gage her reaction to this, he had hoped to make her feel more comfortable, but now that he said it, it could be seen as a snub.

    “Wherever you prefer”, Chloe said, she wasn’t sure that she really felt like eating anyway.

    Well at least she didn’t seem offended. He had planned to leave the rest of his ideas to cheer her up as a surprise for after dinner, but he just couldn’t stand seeing her looking so apprehensive. He didn’t know what had come over him that day, he didn’t normally spend this much time thinking about Chloe Sullivan’s feelings.

    “Then afterwards I will take you on a tour of the house”, he offered.

    Her eyes light up before being overshadowed by doubt, “That’s okay, I don’t want to be an inconvenience and I should probably stop snooping”.

    He laughed, “It isn’t snooping when you are invited, besides it is no inconvenience. Don’t you know that billionaires need to show off?”

    That made her smile.

    Lex finally took a sip of his orange juice and pulled a face.

    “What’s wrong?” Chloe inquired.

    “It seems to be missing the vodka”, Lex tried to remember if there had been a time, pre-scotch and whisky, when neat fruit juice had satisfied him. Now he was dying for something alcoholic.

    She laughed, really laughed. For a few seconds her face was the picture of pure merriment, her eyes sparkled, her full lips parted in mirth and as she threw her head back the fire light caught the golden tones in her hair. Lex took another swig of orange juice, still not finding it strong enough. Had Chloe always been that pretty? How had he not noticed that before?

    “Lex Luthor cowed by orange juice”, she teased and then drank some of her own. Ah, that mouth of hers. That was what had kept him from noticing.

    “I think that it is very good vintage. Fruity with a hint of orange, and it finishes remarkably well”, she said in an obviously fake English accent.

    “Barry from accounting”, Lex almost shouted with laughter. “That was him to a tee, I thought that Gabe had been exaggerating when he told the story of when you decided to tell people that the sprite on the employees and family picnic was a particularly good year in an impression of Barry and he had come up behind you”.

    Chloe’s merriment halted at the mention of her father’s name, she tensed up but tried to push passed it. She pasted a fake smile on her face and said “Oh no, that was all true. Barry just didn’t realise that I was doing an impression of him”.

    Lex was not unaware of the change in the atmosphere, he forced a chuckle. Better to just ignore these matters, it would all be over soon and they could get back to their separate lives. “Who else can you do?” Lex asked.

    “Well”, Chloe thought for a moment, she could do several people but it would have to be someone that Lex knew and she didn’t think that he would take kindly to her impression of him or Clark. “I used to be able to do Lana, but after today I think that that impression will have to change to have something to do with carrying an axe”.

    Great, it was awkward again. Trying to steer them back on to a safer course once more, Lex prompted: “Go on”.

    “I need you to talk about something so that I have something to work with”.

    “Hello Lana”, Lex started, he looked at the television for inspiration. “Have you seen the latest stock prices?”

    “Why hello Lex”, Chloe sat differently, and opened her eyes further than normal. “I have, it was just making me think of how I opened The Talon.” She flicked her hair slightly.

    Lex snickered as Chloe continued her impression.

    “That’s very good”, he admitted. “I’ve never heard that you could do Lana”.

    “Well it’s not something that I generally go around advertising”, Chloe shrugged then realising that Lex probably thought that she was jealous of Lana she tried to explain. “I thought that it might be useful for investigating people if I had a few ways to change my voice etc and so I started trying to imitate people. Lana was one of the first ones I tried”, she didn’t add ‘because Clark liked her so much’, instead continuing “and I found that I had a knack for it.”

    “She doesn’t know?” Lex checked. It seemed like a very good idea to him, and explained how she had got around so many guards etc in the past.

    “No, of course not”, Chloe looked horrified. Seeing that Lex didn’t understand, she went on, “You see, the thing is that she is actually really nice - even if she does make everything about her and tend to draw anyone’s attention. She would never intentionally do anything to harm someone else.” She stared down at her hands; she would hate to think what an impression of her would look like. She imagined Clark laughing as Lana chopped her hair short, put on some of Chloe’s less flattering clothes and padded them out. Then started to talk a mile a minute, ferret through other people’s documents and write obsessively about them. Chloe cringed, but the thing was, she knew that Lana would never do such a mean impression of her, even if it were spot on.

    Lex nodded, he could understand that Chloe must sometimes feel pushed out. She had known Clark first and now he was pining after Lana and basically ignored Chloe. He felt a tug at his heart; no one should have to feel like that.

    There was a knock at the door.

    “It looks like dinner is ready”, Lex smiled at her. He stood up and offered her his arm, “May I have the honour of escorting you?” like they did in old movies. That should get a smile out of her, he thought.

    TBC
    Last edited by HotCrossedBunny; 21st January 2013 at 20:55.

  7. #7
    NS Senior Member Senior Member malugargula's Avatar
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    Re: Reboot (R) 21st January 2013

    YAY new fic!!!
    I love when Lex protects Chloe on fics.

    Great chapters
    Malu

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    NS Senior Member Senior Member malugargula's Avatar
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    Re: Reboot (R) 21st January 2013

    YAY new fic!!!
    I love when Lex protects Chloe on fics.

    Great chapters
    Malu

  9. #9
    NS Senior Member Senior Member HotCrossedBunny's Avatar
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    Re: Reboot (R) 21st January 2013

    *Snippet Three*


    Chloe smiled at Annette as the older woman left, “This all looks fantastic”, she said, thinking that she should say something.

    “I’m glad you approve”.

    Chloe blushed and felt uncomfortable. She had imposed herself on him (or rather Clark had), Lex was making an effort with her and she then made a comment like that, as if she were a welcomed guest.

    Lex watched Chloe’s face with great amusement, he could almost see the conversation that she was having with herself. Normally he would have just sat there and continued to enjoy it, but not this time. The poor girl was clearly in a state, besides, normally he was fairly certain that neither he nor anyone else could make her feel bad.

    “I’m glad you approve, it means that you will eat it all up”, he continued as if that was what he had always planned on saying.

    Chloe looked at him quizzically.

    “You didn’t touch your orange juice for quite a while earlier, and considering your situation I think most people wouldn’t be hungry so I told the kitchen to prepare something that would tempt you to eat”, he explained. It was true, even before he had realised that it was his job to be there for her, he had ordered that she be well cared for. He wasn’t going to return her to Clark ill, not that he was sure that Clark was really deserving anymore.

    “Oh”, she didn’t know what to say. Brilliant, that was twice in one day. She would have to see someone about this if it continued, Chloe always knew what to say. She tried, “That was very kind of you, there was no need to go to all of this trouble. I am sorry to have imposed on you so much already”.

    Lex held up a hand to stop her. “It’s my pleasure”.

    She looked doubtful.

    “Come on Chloe, I know that it goes against all your instincts to believe that a Luthor is telling the truth but ask yourself one question: Do you really think that I’m capable of being kind?” He asked.

    “Yes”, she breathed without thinking, causing them both to look surprised, “when it suits you”, was added and Lex smiled. She couldn’t cover that slip. Lex wondered how many other people in the world would have answered yes honestly, he was starting to think that she might be the only one.

    He took his spoon and started on his soup.

    “Aren’t you going to say grace?”

    He looked at her, was she joking?

    ~*~

    They chatted of this and that throughout the soup course, mostly about things that they had both read in the newspaper, it seemed the only safe topics, they might disagree on what should happen in Bosnia but for once religion and politics were the safe subjects. They skirted every difficult issue until Lex could take it no longer; conversation with Chloe was always interesting and this one was no exception but she lacked her normal spark. Clearly brushing everything under the rug and hoping that she would forget about it for a few hours wasn’t going to work.

    “It will be alright you know?” That was a little more direct than he had planned on being.

    “I know you will find out who is behind all this …”

    “No, I meant everything”, Lex cut her off. He knew that there was more to her concern than just the assassin (if one could ever use the words just and assassin in the same sentence); she looked worn out and that didn’t happen overnight.

    Chloe stared at him in confusion.

    Lex threw his napkin down. “I haven’t called your school yet because it might lead someone to realise that you are here but once this is over I will call them and explain the situation and that they will remove all evidence of your suspension”.

    “Um … thank-you”. Chloe wondered how he had known that she had been worried about that. But also where he got the idea that he had to take charge of every situation.

    “Clark will forgive you for looking into his adoption”, Lex continued, “and it has only been a few weeks, your father will find work somewhere else, he is good at his job and just because I had to let him go doesn’t mean that I won’t provide him with a brilliant reference”. There, that should solve most of her problems.

    “Yeah, like that will help him”, Chloe muttered, unable to stop herself.

    “What was that?”

    “Nothing”, Chloe stirred her soup with her spoon just to give herself something to do other than look at him.

    “No, you said something and it sounded like ‘yeah, like that will help him’”, Lex accused.

    Chloe sighed, and threw her own napkin down. “You are right, that is what I said. Now that he has been blackballed and I quote: “will be lucky if he can find a job washing dishes”.

    “Chloe, what are you talking about?” Lex interrupted her, his voice a little louder than was strictly necessary.

    She shook her head and looked away.

    “Chloe”, he repeated, his voice turning dangerous, he got up and stalked around the side of the table, “what have you got yourself into?”

    She refused to look at him.

    Shit, this must be bad. He pulled a chair up in front of her and sat down, then he leant forwards so that his face was mere inches away from hers.

    “Chloe”, he took her hands in his. “Tell me”, he voice was still stern and pulled her gaze to his face.

    Her lip quivered. His face was kind. She wanted to be strong, but it didn’t seem as if it were going to happen. “It’s all my fault”, she admitted. She begged herself to stop there but the rest of the words poured out of her mouth before she could stop them, “I knew that I shouldn’t, I knew that it was wrong but I researched Clark. Lionel found out about it and paid attention to me. I was flattered, he laid out my dream in front of me and I took it. But then the price kept going up and in the end I refused and … and …” She couldn’t get the last part out.

    “That is why he wanted your dad fired”, Lex finished for her, the realization hit him like a fist as did the tremor of her lip. He would have given anything in that moment to be able to make her smile again.

    Chloe nodded, “And black balled him”.

    “I didn’t know about that part”, Lex admitted, wanting to kick himself.

    “Why should you?” Chloe asked; she knew that she wasn’t on Lex’s radar.

    “Because I should always know what my father is up to”, he sighed. “I am sorry Chloe”, he wanted to add, ‘why didn’t you come to me?’ but figured that the answer to this was rather obvious.

    Before Chloe could answer that it wasn’t his fault, he had declared, “I will make this right. I will give Gabe his job back”.

    Chloe looked at him, she didn’t look like she believed him.

    “I knew that Lionel wanted Gabe gone, but I thought that it was because he wanted a proof that I would do as he wanted and that he had chosen Gabe just because he was the father of a friend of a friend of mine. I thought that your father would get work almost immediately and his severance pay was more than generous”, he trailed off. Nothing he could say could make this alright. “It’s my fault, I should have checked”.

    “No, it is my fault. I knew what I was getting myself into …”

    “No, Chloe you didn’t”, Lex corrected her.

    “Yes, I did”, she insisted, annoyed at his dismissal of her words. “I knew that I was making a deal with the devil, I … I just thought that I was smart enough to play the game and win”, she chuckled bitterly.

    “That is a mistake that people far older and far more worldly wise than you have made”, Lex admitted, “myself included. But however smart you are - and we both know that your geek is unsurpassed, at least in Smallville - you could never possibly have understood what you were getting into with my father, you are just too good”

    “I’m not good, I betrayed my friend”, Chloe looked down at her hands, they were still being held in his much larger ones. He had very nice fingers, it was no wonder that he was such a good pianist.

    “Chloe, trust me. If there is one thing that a Luthor can recognise it is purity … we consider it our duty to rid the world of it”, he tried to joke and to her credit she laughed. He smiled back as he followed the direction of her gaze and noticed how delicate her hands looked captured as they were in his own. He had not realised that he was still holding her hands let alone that their fingers had somehow become entwined, this could be awkward.

    Lex silently thanked God as there was a knock at the door; the main course arrived. He extricated himself from the potentially embarrassing situation and headed back to his own place at the opposite end of the table calling the staff in, trying not to notice the loss of Chloe’s touch.

    “Oh pizza”, she exclaimed as she saw what they were having. “You know, I think that the death threats are almost worth it just to see Lex Luthor eat pizza”.

    Lex laughed. They were apparently going to press the reset button once again, allowing them to get back to an easier rapport.

    “Well I hope that you know that all of this comes with a price?” He said with an unreadable expression. He saw her raise an eyebrow, and wondered whether she had got that from him. “I want a clean plate guarantee”.

    “I think that I can make that promise”, Chloe replied with a twitch of her lips.

    He was concerned about how easily her smile came back; he had been right in his assumption that the death threats hadn’t been the only problem she had been having. He didn’t know why, they weren’t friends but he felt the need to solve them, if he could.

    ~*~

    “You see, pizza is good, no?”

    “Very good”, agreed after having swallowed a particularly large bite of pizza and following it up with a handful of fries, “You think that I have never had pizza before?”

    Chloe shook her head, “No, I think that you only ever eat foie gras and really smelly cheese”, she wrinkled her nose, “and drink only alcohol oh and coffee”.

    He quirked an eyebrow at her, he couldn’t help but wonder whether she had really thought about his daily life or whether she was just teasing her. He found himself wondering about hers. He knew that she had moved to Smallville from Metropolis where she had spent quite a substantial amount of time on military bases playing with her cousins when they had been in the country. This led him on to another string of questions which had been bothering him since that morning.

    “Why did you let Lana beat you up?” He asked.

    “What do you mean? I didn’t let Lana beat me up, she just did it”, Chloe replied, the memory seemed to put her off the fry she had been contemplating a few seconds earlier … but not the garlic bread.

    “I gathered some eye witness accounts. You let yourself by thrown down a stair case - you could have been paralysed for life or even killed - before you reacted”, he could not keep the frustration from his voice.

    Chloe shrugged, trying to keep her own temper in check. She felt powerless enough generally without him rubbing it in. “She wasn’t herself”.

    “But she was hurting you”.

    “What would you have had me do?” Chloe demanded.

    “Defend yourself! Your uncle is a bloody three star General; I cannot believe that you haven’t been taught any self-defence”.

    “I have”, Chloe became angry, not bothering to wonder how Lex knew about her uncle. So far with evening she had been torn. She was scared for her life and many other things and Lex seemed to be trying to help her, she was grateful for his help. But he had still fired her father, although he was going to give him back his job. Hence her confusion over him, but implying that her father had been in some way remiss by not having taught her to look after herself … that was too much. All sentimentality ambiguity was over! Saying that they hadn’t taught her to defend herself was like saying that they hadn’t tried to protect her, which was untrue. Her family would do anything for her, in fact Chloe feared for Clark and Lana’s safety if Lois ever found out what had happened.

    “Then why didn’t you use it?”

    “I did, I hit her but I wasn’t going to do that until absolutely necessary”, Chloe pushed her plate away from her. She was too worked up now to finish it.

    “It was absolutely necessary the second that she raised a hand to you”, Lex pushed his plate away as well.

    “I couldn’t just hit someone”, Chloe said in disbelief. What kind of person did he take her for?

    “Then you haven’t been taught self-defence”, Lex shot back.

    “Yes, I have!” Chloe protested. Everyone knew that Chloe had skills, she made damned sure that they knew it.

    “You need to be able to back those words up”, the condescension was clear in his tone.

    “I can!”

    “Alright then. Come on”, Lex challendged.

    Chloe stared at him in shock. He had to be joking. He got up and headed over to the door, he wasn’t kidding.

  10. #10
    NS Senior Member Senior Member malugargula's Avatar
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    25 Feb 2003
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    Re: Reboot (R) 21st January 2013

    Cool... some self-defence classes...
    That's going to be interesting


    I'm really excited about Lex helping Gabe. I never understood what really happened with Gabe in SV, do you know?
    Malu

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