Too Far Away - R

[Blaire]

Title: Too Far Away
Author: Blaire
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I don't own the lyrics and I don't own anything else. Lyrics are Mary Jane by Alanis Morisette
Summary: Can Chloe figure out a way to save her father and herself from Lionel without letting out Clark's secret?


PROLOGUE


Chloe closed her eyes and leaned back against the tombstone. "It's not like that, Clark."

Clark stared down at her, "Chloe, you're not going to sit here and tell me that you're doing this all for me."

"I WAS!" Chloe yelled in frustration and then let her head drop. "I was." She repeated.

"You were spying on me. Collecting information on me to help Lionel Luthor." He crouched down in front of her and clasped his hands together, waiting for him to look up at him. When her eyes finally met his he shook his head. "I can't help you. For one, you went behind my back. You deliberately investigated me and my mom and dad after I asked you not to. You promised to close that file and drop it. Instead you turn around and work for Lionel to spite me."

"Clark, no. I didn't-"

"No." Clark held up a hand effectively cutting her off. "I'm sick of your excuses. Fine. You know everything about me. What I really am. That I belong on your wall." He stood up and straightened himself out before crouching down in front of her this time grabbing her shoulders. "I swear to you Chloe, if you do anything to hurt my family I'll deal with you in my own ways. This is your last warning. DROP IT!" With one final shake he got up and walked away from her.

Chloe's body silently shook from the inside. Wiping her face with the back of her hands she pulled her cellphone out of her bag and went through the call log to find the phone number. Pressing enter and selecting the call back option she waited while it rang. And rang. And rang.

With a final sigh she hefted her cellphone and threw it across the cemetery. She pulled her knees up to her and rest her forhead on top of them, her arms cradling her legs upright. "Miss Sullivan?" The voice of reason spoke out and Chloe shook her head willing it to go away. "Chloe." The voice whispered and sunk down beside her rubbing her back up and down her spine. "Come on, I'll take you home." Chloe nodded and let him lead her to his car.

The drive was long and quiet. Neither of them willing to admit they wanted to reach out. Lex held the information inside him that she was working for his father. On what, he wasn't sure. But he knew that she was in too deep and that nothing he could say would protect her from his father. He knew that she had been hired before his wedding. More then three months ago she had joined forces with Lionel. So why didn't it surprise Lex to find her in a cemetery crying her little heart out. His dad was a ruthless son of a bitch. A ruthless son of a bitch Lex would one day become. That was afterall why he decided to go to work in Metropolis. For the sake of mending his broken family and becoming the apparent Luthor heir. Wasn't it?

Lex wasn't sure if he himself had ulterior motives, but if he did, he didn't know them yet. He just knew that going to work for his father at his side would be the right thing to do at the time to reassure his father and gain some of his trust. After all, it was he who got rid of Helen. And he knew when it happened his father would be waiting for him to turn on him as well. Had Lionel had something to do with the plane crash? Maybe. Could Lex be sure? Never. Did he want to destroy Lionel Luthor's empire anyways? Definitely.

And he was sure the answer to all his undevised plans to go against his father, was sitting right beside him. In his own car. Now if only he could figure out how to persuade her to work for him instead.

Chapter 1

What's the matter Mary Jane, you had a hard day
As you place the don't disturb sign on the door

Chloe watched as Lex came around in front of the car and opened her door. His hand held out to her. Deciding that maybe, just maybe this wasn't a good idea, she ignored the unspoken invitation and pushed past him. "Thanks for the ride." She hurried up the steps to her front door and without looking back entered her home. And then she stopped.

Gabe stood in the front hall, his arms crossed over his chest. Lana right behind him and beside her, Clark stood. All his glorious masculinity checked in one place. Chloe sighed in defeat and let her bag drop to the floor. The tears that she had willed down once Lex had started back to her house, all seemed to rise in her throat and she feared if she didn't let them out, she would choke on each and every one.

"I think we need to have a talk." Gabe turned and led the way into the kitchen. Lana let a few tears drop and she turned with a sniffle to follow in his footsteps. Clark watched noncommitally as Chloe looked past him.

"It's for your own good." Clark murmured as he bent to pick up her bag. "Working for Lionel, whether it's about me or not, is only going to hurt you in the end, Chloe."

Her bright eyes faded from despise had her biting the inside of her cheek. She turned and looked over her shoulder at the Porsche idling in the driveway, Lex leaned back against it, one ankle crossed over the other, his hands resting on the hood on either side of him. His lips seemed to curve in a knowing smile as she assessed the situation. With renewed hope and a bitter taste bubbling its way through her veins she turned and looked up at Clark. "You know what, Clark?" In his head he already heard the words 'you're right.' Instead, out of her mouth came, "Go fuck yourself." She snatched her bag from him and out the door she went. Leaving him open mouthed and gawking after her.

Watching as she jogged down the grass to the curb where Lex stood he watched as he opened the door and she slipped inside. Lex gave one appraising look toward the house, and within a few seconds he was behind the wheel and they were gone. Clark shook his head sadly as Gabe came to stand behind him. "Where is she?" Gabe followed Clark's gaze to the street.

"With Lex." Clark slumped his shoulders in defeat and Gabe merely nodded.

The whole way to the mansion Chloe thought back on how much easier everything had been around this time last year. She had kept to herself and she hadn't even given the Luthor's a second thought. Never did she ever imagine she'd be working for one. "Thanks." Her voice was soft and husky at the same time. Her words closely followed by her clearing her throat. With a wry laugh she kept her eyes glued to the window to her right. "Never in a million years did I think I'd walk into that one."

"Intervention?" Lex questioned with a dry humor laced in his voice.

"Sure felt like one." She ammended him with a glance over and a small tilt to her lips.

"So, Miss Sullivan. What's your drug of choice?" Lex glanced over at her breifly and their eyes caught, Chloe felt her whole existance swallow up and fold inside herself.

"Investigating." Chloe looked away as the small smile she had been wearing began to fall.

"I wouldn't think investigating would be a negative thing."

Chloe stared down at her fingers locked together in her lap and then darted her eyes to the floor between her feet where her bag lay. "Depends who you're doing it for." She looked back out the window.

Lex looked over at her as he pulled into the drive. "Working for my father isn't the best way to gain positive attention. I know that. I've been doing it all my life." His answer was smug and before Chloe had a chance to retort her door was being opened. This time she grabbed her bag with one hand and laid her palm against his with her other. He led her to the door and up the stairs with a casual elegance that made her want to scream.

She took shallow breaths as the crossed the threshold to his office and he walked straight to the bar to pour a glass of amber colored liquid. The silence was deafening. She could have sworn she felt her pulse thumping in her throat as she stood in the middle of the room. With a wave of his hand he motioned for her to sit, and she promptly obeyed. What was it about him that made people ask how high when he told them to jump?

When she was seated he paced for a moment then stopped at the end of the couch. He placed his tumbler on the glass table and sat on the arm of the opposite couch, looking down on her. "I am aware that you've been working for my father. I don't know what you're investigating for him, however, I'm sure he's paying for your information." He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and his chin hovering an inch or so above his clasped hands. "I'm willing to make you a proposition."

Chloe shifted uneasily as she sat back and crossed one leg over her other. Her free foot swaying back and forth slowly. Every nerve ending in her told her not to do it. She was getting into so much trouble already working for Lionel. If he found out she was working for his son as well, well let's just say she didn't want to be around when war was declared. She let her eyes wander around the room although they were blind to any of the material possessions on display. Lionel had threatened her father and her. Willing her to rethink any possible way out that she'd thought of before. In truth, she knew, deep down, that Lionel wouldn't let her go that easily. Instead of going to her father, she had gone to Clark. Spilled her guts. Laid everything on the line. And still he treated her just as badly as Lionel had. The threats had to stop. She couldn't not work for Lionel. She couldn't possibly pull it off on her own.

Aware that Lex was watching her she let her hands fall from their clasped position in her lap and she uncrossed her legs, leaning forward. In one smooth move she had a hold of the tumbler and raising it to her lips she met his eyes with hers as she took one deep long swallow. The burn spread through her slowly. Working it's way up her spine and down to her toes at the same rate. Setting the tumbler back on the table she felt a small grin tug at her lips. "What kind of proposition?"

Chapter 2

You lost your place in line again, what a pity
You never seem to want to dance anymore


It should have surprised her. The tale tell signs of how much Lex and Lionel were alike. No matter how much she wanted to argue with people and tell them that the sins of the father did not apply here, she couldn't. It was the sins of the father that had molded the son into what he was today. The dark vengence each had of one another. Lionel seeking information on Clark Kent, who happened to be his son's best friend. His best friend with no apparent strings attached. She knew many people had been sent to Lex under his father's decree to be questioned about the strange happenings involvingthe youngest Kent. Lex had turned them away one by one, with threats to career and bodily harm. He had protected his friend. Lionel, however, had never sent Chloe to Lex. Why would he when her general curiosity gathered momentum everytime Clark was caught in the middle of something.

The information she had collected on Clark was for her own personal interest. She shared none of it with Lionel himself. He had set her a deadline and expected so much from her. When the time came for her to turn in her final report, she would do so, with her head held high, and turn on Clark. For everything he kept from her. Everything his distrust stemmed from, reporters, and so on. He had underestimated her friendship. For truth and honesty and out of love for the boy she had fallen in love with and the man who constantly made her question herself. Her loyal friendship had obviously meant nothing to him, for his was anything but. She could turn away from the fact that he didn't love her as she loved him. She had gone through the same with her mother. Looking for an unconditional love that wasn't ready to be handed to her. Letting go was the hardest thing she had done when her father had brought her to Smallville. But it seemed she had been letting go for the last twelve years of her life.

Now she sat here. At the end of one long mahogany table carved intricately with little swirls of designs. Here was where she would begin the next step in the process of letting go. Only this time it wouldn't be to turn away from another, it would be to save her and her own.

*~*

Lex had led her through halls, down corridors of dark stone where rooms ran dimly lit and dank through the east end of the mansion. He told her what he wanted from her, ask what she might need from him. And while he could tell she would agree with him, he knew she would never forgive herself if she didn't take the time to sit and think about it. An hour. Hardly any pressing matters to be taken care of today. He had another session with his psychiatrist later in the afternoon, but by then he expected to have this deal sealed and for Chloe Sullivan to rely intently on him to lure his father away from her.

He had given her choices. He could change her identity, without the law, and keep her peaceful. Give her a life she wanted. Or he could bring his father down and in the meantime reward her with the exclusive story to ultimately make her the best reporter. By the time she was out of highschool, in one more year, she could have her choice of colleges and any newspaper she wanted to report for would be lined up down the street. He knew he was tempting her with something that could possibly fail after all. But there were chances to take and choices to make in life. Pacing his office now, he turned when he heard the door open slowly. She inhaled raggedly through her mouth and walked to him. Long confident strides had a sense of pride warring with the guilt that had taken over in him.

She reached him and clasped her right hand with his, giving it a firm squeeze. "You have yourself a deal, Mr. Luthor." Lex's eyes gave way to a transparent storm brewing as gray edged around the cold blue of his eyes. His lips quirked at the corners and one side of his mouth tilted upward. Chloe felt her resolve weakening as she relaxed in front of him, although the feel of his palm to hers was a bit unsettling, his smile seemed genuine enough to have her returning it with a version of her own.

*~*

School came so quickly she nearly lost track of time. Lost her head in files among files. Afternoons were spent in the confines of a room Lex had set up for her in his place. Books were on prominent display along the curved bookshelves. Lawbooks along with study references. Files dating back to the first deals of LuthorCorp and copies of memos that had been relayed through secretaries and passed down the line.

She sorted through each and every one, different piles lined up for different reasons. Each had its own significant meaning. She was home by dinner and tucked safley into her bed by a decent hour. It was only on Friday and Saturday nights that she would make up one excuse after another to go out. A long drive to clear her mind. A walk to get some fresh air. Each time she left, she'd escape to what had become a second home to her. It bypassed the Torch easily, mainly because she was the only one allowed admittance into the room. Lex agreed that he would only come in when invited. She had done that only when her eyes had become heavy and craved intellectual stimulation to make it to a point where she could close off for the day.

She bypassed the Talon easily enough. She didn't have time for such inconveniences such as Pete's rambling about popularity or Lana's lack thereof. Clark's quiet stares at her during and in between classes were enough to curb her appetite.

Slowly, almost painfully Lex watched as she threw herself into her work. Her once carefree attitude had been tainted by either he or his father. One way or the other, he needed her to take a break. Thoughtfully he watched her from his office, the wooden panel open on his bookcase to showcase a small overview from many angles of that one room. He sat back, leaning with his arms resting heavily on the arms of his chair. His feet rest upon the desk. She stood from her own resting place and stretched, her arms raising high above her head. She rolled her shoulders and then her neck. Finally she paced, both index fingers of both hands placed on her temples, rubbing in small slow circles.

A part of him sank as she looked up at the camera and she smiled with a flick of her wrist she waved at him and collapsed on the couch, her head thrown back and her feet haphazardly dangling off the edge. Her eyes closed to slits and she fell into a deep sleep.

Lex cleared his throat and turned off the monitors before closing the panel once again. Rising from him seat he shut down his computer and headed for her room.

Chapter 3

It's a long way down
On this roller coaster

Months seemed to pass in intervals which left Chloe's head spinning. It seemed to her that as the winter came in full blast, she forgot her coat and gloves as often as she forgot what her full priorities were. Working for and with Lex had challenged her in every way. As winter break rushed upon her she refused to let the slight break in tasks dull her.

Still in the afternoons she sought shelter in her room at the Luthor estate. Tucked safely away from everything but his wandering eye, she worked diligently, efficiently. She called in favors that were impeding even to her and collected as much information on the elder Luthor as she could. Still her meetings with Lionel came and went.

Lex watched as she paced in his office, seated pristinely behind his desk he waited for her to open with conversation. She stopped abruptly and sank down into the chair across from him. "He's not buying it." She said absently as she twisted a gold chain of necklace around her finger.

"Who's not buying what exactly?" His cool demeanor caught her off guard. In her mind she had kept him up to date, but she realized up until now it had all been fantasy. Lex Luthor didn't even know what she was delivering to his father during their brief encounters. With a slow awkwardness she told him everything. From beginning to end he watched with unattached amusement, making her nerves grow steadier by each moment. By the time she had relayed every bit of information of Clark she had and what she had given his father, and what she had given herself, both his eyebrows were raised with definitive interest.

"You think he's aware that you know more than you're leading him to beleive, is that it?"

His question had her staring back at him unwavering. "Well, yeah. That and each time he sees me he asks about my well being. Since when does he care what I look like?" She shot back at him.

"Chloe." Lex stood and rounded the desk only to lean back against it once he stood in front of her. His fingers tapped lightly behind him on the glass top. "You don't look yourself. Your eyes have lost any sparkle they once had, your mouth turns down in a frown more than it smiles and if I'm not mistaken, you've taken up anorexia because I hardly ever see you eat anything I have delivered to you." With a frown he pushed away from the desk and crouched down in front of her, resting his hands on her knees. "We've been in this situation for some time now, four months and two weeks to be exact. I've seen the transition from your glow to this dim shade of gray your skin has contracted. I know it's hard on you, but you need to take a break. If you don't, you're going to burn yourself out."

Chloe felt her eyes fill with tears. No one else had brought her current state to her attention. She saw herself every morning in the mirror and her eyes mirrored her inward confession. She was falling apart. For periods of time she felt the darkness creep into her and just settle. In those spurts of trances she went about her normal every day life. Grades were average, Torch business went along as usual. Everything went as planned, except for the thinking about herself. It wasn't that she wasn't hungry, it wasn't that after a shower she comb her hair and that'd be that. It was just that she didn't care anymore. Not about Clark, not about herself, not about her deal with Lionel Luthor. What she did care about was her father, his expectations of her, the niggling sense of doubt at the back of his mind that she wasn't taking care of herself. So she looked up and into cobalt eyes and asked the question that she saw reflected there. "How?"

His confused state had his eyes shifting, looking into her right eye, then her left. "How what?"

She shook her head, she was doing it again. She was acting out whole conversations with him and then getting upset more at herself than him when he didn't know what she was talking about. "How do I take a break?"

With a thoughfulness she'd come to appreciate Lex rocked back on his heels, and then stood up staring down at her, his hands slipped comfortably back into his pockets. "Get away from here. Away from your worries, everything that's locked up here." He leaned down in front of her and tapped the tip of his index hinger to her temple. "Take a vacation, Chloe." Her name was whispered as his hand rested on her shoulder and squeezed.

Dumbly, she nodded and stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder and walking to the door, not sparing him a glance.

The last chance streetcar
Went off the track
And you're on it

Lex's mouth dropped open as he watched her walk out the door to his office, 'What the fuck?' He was sure he'd said it out loud as he had in his head. "Chloe." He jogged toward the doorand down the steps, taking them two at a time. Flinging open the oak doors, a cold chill whipped past him and through the long hall behind him. He simply stared. She sat there, with her arms hugging her knees to her, her barely covered ass planted firmly on a rough stone step. He inhaled a thanks to a higher being for not letting her get any farther. Tentatively, he reached out and touched her shoulder. The look she shot him over her shoulder had him swallowing every response he'd concocted. She looked...

She looked completely lost in a world entirely too big for her. "Chloe." He felt his face harden, what he wanted to do was sink down beside her and ask her if she was lost, if she knew where her mommy was. Instinct told him she was beyond reason to any sympathetic tones. "Get up and come back inside." Deliberately he pushed down the want, the need to gather her up in his arms like a ragdoll and take her back to her room. Lay her on the couch and build a fire for her. Instead his hand tightened on her shoulder and she stood. She turned and walked past him, back into the house. So quietly, so peacefully, he had to keep his eyes trained on her to make sure she was real.

Shutting the door and locking the cold out he walked over to her, where she had simply froze at the bottom of the steps looking up them. "Let me take you somewhere." Lex said quietly, he reasoned with himself that he had gotten her inside safely and that now he could let the little part of him that needed to nurture her so bad, out of it's cage. "Do you trust me, Chloe?"

Her eyes met his breifly before she nodded and looked back down the hallway. With a half smile he ran his hands down her arms to warm them and then tipped her chin up, leveling her eyes with his. "Say it." He demanded.

Chloe felt a small whimper escape her throat before she conceded. "I trust you."

He nodded sharply and gripped her wrist with his hand, leading her down the maze of halls that veered off from eachother. Quickly he passed room by room, "All this." he said motioning with his free hand. "It all leads back to the same place." He pulled her down one hallway and then rounded the corner and with a few more turns the ended back up where the started at and she saw the front door from the end of the hall. "No matter which way you go, given time, you'll always end up back where you started. This." He stepped away from her and smiled. "Is my present to you. All these rooms are at your disposal." His eyes flickered with amusement as she gasped and turned to look back down the hallway they had come from. "All of it is your own private getaway. Should you need anything," he pushed a remote into her hand. "This doubles as a panic alarm. Food, drink, directions. All of it is at the tip of your fingertips."

A few tears rolled down her face as she traced the bright red button on the tiny remote. "Thanks." She whispered and found herself pressing her face into the muscle of his chest, cradling her head against the material, his hands were strong around her, holding her there as he swayed her side to side. The movement so little she wasn't even sure it was happening. To thank him she pulled back away from him, his grip on her loosened and she stood up to him, resting her palms on the front of his shirt, her lips brushed his. Her lips parted, her breath came in a steady flow as her lips brushed his again, "Thanks." She whispered and stepped back, and smiled. Lex watched her smile. And then she cautiously set off on her own path down the hallway, testing knobs along her way.

Carefully he turned away from her and reflexively ran his tongue over his bottom lip. That was something to think about.

[Blaire]

Chapter 4

I hear you're counting sheep again, Mary Jane
What's the point of trying to dream anymore?

Chloe wanderd the halls of the lowest level of the manor, her fingers trailed along the walls, rough edges of stone brushing her fingertips. Silently, mechanically she walked, and walked.

Lex watched from his office on the third floor as she aimlessly made her way through the maze of halls. His forearms resting on the desktop in front if him, his dressshirt unbuttoned at the cuffs and pushed up to his elbows. Hunched over he absently followed the form gliding along the walls. Camera's shifted and changed angles as she turned from one hallway down another.

Pulling her hand away from the wall she rubbed her index finger and thumb together, numb. With a heavy sigh and too much weight on her shoulders she ducked into the next room, lavishly furnished. The walls were bare, but the floor was covered with a great oriental peice. Thick and spongy beneath her feet, she slid out of her shoes and pulled off her socks one by one to let her toes sink into the plush rug. A sigh of content wrapped around her as she sank onto the couch, brushed leather, she thought as she sank into it and laid her head down to rest. Figuring he was watching her from somewhere, she raised her hand as she had many times before and waved to whatever hidden surveillance he had had installed down here.

One day, with a childish smile on her face and a gleam in her eye as she let her lashes flutter shut, one day he was going to get more than he bargained for. If he indeed was watching her, which she was most sure he was, he would get an eyeful. And if he wasn't, there wasn't anything she had to worry about. A resolute smile crept on her lips as she shut off her brain and sank into a long awaited slumber.

*~*

Christmas had been one of her favotire times of the year when she was little. A girl no higher than her father's knee and she had bounded around him, chanting a giddy, 'Merry Christmas to all.' She remembered those times. Insignificant as they were, she treasured them as much as she treasured the years after and the many that would come. This year, however, would be different.

Lana would be leaving for Metropolis to spend the season break with her Aunt. The Kent's were preparing their own meal, a quiet evening in with the family. Pete was lucky enough for his mom to have the time off and to get the hell away from Smallville. Florida, she thought absently twirling a pencil around between her fingers. She could picture him scoping the chicks on the beach, wearing a white Santa beard and red jingly hat.

The Talon was hers for a week. A whole week with splitting shifts with other waitresses, and listening to them complain behind her back that although she'd never worked there before, she had been left in charge. That didn't bother her much. But her father was leaving on Christmas Eve, and there wasn't anything either of them could do to prevent it. The promises were made that he'd be back by New Years and they'd bring in 2004 together, kept her spirits shimmering.

Getting into the Christmas spirit completely was one thing she'd never had trouble doing before. But now, she sat in her room, at her desk with Lana packing anything and everything to get ready for her trip, she couldn't conjure up enough to care. Not about anything in particular. It seemed that everyday, although she was at Lex's house, whether it be wandering the halls or up in her own room, her mind wasn't on work. It was on the last conversation she'd had with Lionel.

The one she hadn't shared with Lex yet.

The one she wasn't going to share with him.

Lana the whirlwind finally sat on her suitcase to zip it shut. "I'm so excited. I've never spent more than a few days in Metropolis, and now I have the whole break." A sullen look crossed her face as she frowned and looked over at Chloe. "I kinda feel bad though, leaving the Talon in the middle of one of the busiest times."

Chloe smiled faintly and set the pencil down on her desk. "Don't worry about it. Between me and Lex and the whole army of tray weilding waitresses you've hired for the season, we'll make it."

Lana stared at Chloe for a moment. That was the most she'd said to her in a few months. But it wasn't that that'd stopped her short. Tilting her head to the side she tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Lex? I thought he was going off to that meeting that you're dad's going to."

Chloe shook her head and got up from her chair only to fall stomach down on her bed, resting her chin on her crossed arms. "No, there's this whole share holder's convention for LuthorCorp and they pretty much picked names out of a hat once nobody volunteered. Lex wasn't even invited. Turns out Lionel didn't think it fair for him to hold any precedence over their heads to turn them in his favor."

Lana shook her head with a smile. "How do you know all this stuff? It's like you're a plant for the Luthor family. I bet you know their shoe sizes and everything." She stood and dragged the suitcase off the bed, landing with a bang on the floor. "I know, I know, you're a reporter, you know everything about everyone." She opened her mouth to tell her that she was looking more rested and better than she had in a while, just as the honking from outside drifted through the house. "They're here." She smiled and dragged her suitcase backwards through the bedroom. "I'll call you when I get there to check in, and I might call the Talon once or twice."

Chloe watched in amusement at the struggle but as soon as she heard the front door slam she rolled off her bed and layered up. She had business to take care of before her dad got home from work.

*~*

After knocking for the last few minutes Chloe rolled her eyes and decided if she were going to get busted for a B&E, it might as well be here. Turning the doorknob she nudged it open with her hip and wasn't surprised to find it unlocked, for which she was completely grateful. Shrugging out of her coat she hung it on the hook behind the door to drip dry, and unwound her scarf from around her neck before shaking off her hat. Both accompanied her coat. Clomping the snow off her boots she made her way toward the stairs just as Lex was making his way down them.

"Hi, I wasn't sure if you heard me or not." She smiled up at him where he stopped halfway.

"Actually, no, I hadn't. I sent all the help away for the rest of the week." he smiled back at her curiously as he finished his descent. "Something's different." he murmured and circled around her. "What is it?"

Chloe turned and looked at him, "What are you talking about." She patted her cheeks with her ice cold hands, once again she'd forgotten her gloves. "I'm exactly the same, Lex." The look she shot him had her smiling and shaking her head. "I'm gonna get started, I need to look at a few things before my dad gets home and I have to help him pack." Starting up the stairs she was barely on the third step when his hand grabbed her by the wrist. Slowly, she turned her head to look over her shoulder. "What?"

"Your hair." He said quietly with a smile as he sized it up. "You cut it."

Shifting nervously she played with the ends of it with her free hand. "Yeah." Her small laugh was like music to him. It had been too long since he'd heard it. "Kinda an identity crisis. Just wanted something new."

"It's perfect." He loosened his grip on her and let her hand fall back to her side.

A blush crept up her face even as it started to warm, "Thanks." She said quietly and raced up the rest of the stairs. Lex watched after her, bemused. Two days til Christmas. He had two days to find the perfect gift for her.

*~*

After seeing her father off and closing the Talon for the day, she sat at home on Christmas Eve. Alone. Coldly alone. But it was okay. It was a night, just like any night. The date shouldn't make it any more special than any other day of the year. Staring idly at the decorated tree she twisted the onyx ring on her finger. And nearly jumped out of her skin when the doorbell rang.

Lex waited patiently on the other side. The Talon had closed earlier than normal today, meaning she had to be home. It was barely 8, so he figured she wasn't in bed yet. And she wasn't. She opened the door and stood there, still completely dressed, her hair a little out of order, but other than that she looked fine. More than fine. He had to have her. He'd known since the day she'd thanked him by kissing him so innocently, such a warm chaste kiss. Yet it had his blood boiling and reminding him that he was more than a little human.

"Lex." Chloe smiled and stepped back, welcoming any warm soul into the empty house.

"Chloe." His hand cupped her cheek as he stepped through the threshold, his other on the doorknob shutting it slowly, taking all the time in the world. His head bent his lips parted, he slowly, delicately brushed his lips across hers, and on her quick intake of breath he sunk further until her lips were angled with his and her hands were on him. He felt her fingers dig into sides where she held onto him, through his coat. When he pulled away and her eyes fluttered open he smiled down at her and let his hands squeeze into the flesh at her hips. His index fingers brushing against the smooth skin in that small sliver of space in between her shirt and jeans.

She stared at him for hours, maybe minutes, probably seconds. And then she pounced. Her hands dug into his sides as she leaned into him and pressed her lips back against his, his hands rythmically mimicked what their tongues were doing.

Soft heat. She thought with an inward sigh. Clear, soft heat. His mouth, so hot, his tongue, so rough on hers. His teeth sharp when he bit down, the moan passing from his mouth to hers as she sucked on his tongue. All feelings. True passion. Nothing she'd ever felt before. Alive. She thought. She felt alive.

They had made it no father than the couch, and their clothes grew to become a piled heap across the floor, if she had focussed enough she would have seen her underwear dangling from a branch of the tree she had spent ruthless hours perfecting with age old ornaments. Instead she concentrated on the new sensation thrumming in her body.

Slippery against eachother, covered in a sheen of sweat from so much pent up tension, they matched breathing even as he leaned down and bit her shoulder. Grazing his teeth from collar bone to collar bone, lingering only a moment to dip his tongue in the indentation between. Her back arched, her hands sliding off his body, he took the peak of her breast in his mouth and watched and listened in avid fascination as she climaxed beneath him. His name gasped from her lips.

And with the single thought of her doing it again, and again, he rushed ahead and pushed inside her. Brought up short when she screamed the word no and he stilled completely.

"Oh, god." He cupped her face in his hands, resting his elbows on the couch on either side of her face. "Chloe."

Her eyes blinked out tears as she struggled to focus them. She relaxed her body to accomodate him and as she did, he felt her body go lax beneath him. "It's okay." She touched his cheek, following his cheek bone and down his jaw. "I'm okay." Cupping to back of his head she brought him down to her and sank into his lips, and then wrapping her legs around him only to have him sink all the way into her. Slowly the pace was set and she met him move for move.

And when he tumbled into a light of seering colors staring down at her, her face screwed up in complete exstacy followed his lead.


Chapter 5

I hear you're losing weight again, Mary Jane
Do you ever wonder who you're losing it for?

It had been days since she'd seen Lex. After their intimate encounter he'd held her for what felt like forever, but as the clock chimed and it struck twelve, he laid a kiss on her lips as gentle as butterfly wings, got dressed, and told her to take some time off. So she hadn't gone to the castle, instead with the house empty, she worked right from her bedroom. And forgot about time, and burry herself in research.

Her eyes burned, from tears holding back, her back hurt, from sitting in one place for too long, and when she turned to the window, it was snowing. Smiling wistfully she watched the flakes fall one by one. And wished she'd never moved to Smallville. The Talon was doing fine, and in less than a week school would start again. Restless in her own body, she had to get away. Instead she turned back to her computer.

Lex paced his office time and again, most of the times without realizing it. He'd stop himself and order his body to relax. It was no use waiting for her to come to him. And then he cursed himself for ordering her away. In those four days that followed Christmas Eve, for the first time in his life, he admitted to himself he was lonely. And he wanted her.

It was then as he stood in the middle of his office with paperwork piled on the edge of his desk that he admitted he'd never felt anything with anyone as he had with Chloe. And if she didn't come by tomorrow, he'd go to her.

Her father was coming home tomorrow, Chloe thought, as she lazily took ornaments off the tree, placing each in their respective boxes. He was coming home tomorrow, and she was going to tell him everything. The worried glances he'd send her way when he thought she wasn't looking, the half joking comment about her wasting away and to be careful in the snowstorm or she'd blow off, had sent a perfect message to her. She wanted a new life. And she could have one, maybe. She just needed to clear her conscience. Her father had always been there for her, from her first scraped knee to studying for SATs. He'd help her find a way to get out of this mess.

What she hadn't realized when Lex had come to her, was that the mess she was in, multiplied. So it was either spill everything to Lex, or Gabe. After their night on the couch, she didn't want to trust him. So Gabe it would be.

New Year's Eve came and went, and school started, and still they looked at her as if she wasn't really there. When she walked into a room, all three of them would just stare. And when Clark finally approached her, she broke down.

Chloe sat in her computer chair rubbing her tired hands over her tired eyes. The sound of the door opening pulled her out of her thoughts and she looked up. The epitomy of perfect stood there, just staring down at her, those eyes turned concerned on her. "Is everything okay, Chloe?"

With what she hoped was a beleivable smile she looked back at him. "Yeah, Clark, why wouldn't they be?"

"You just, don't seem yourself lately." He perched his hip on the edge of her desk. "You know, you can always talk to me."

Chloe nodded and damned the tears that threatened to spill. "I know, but really, there's nothing wrong."

Clark studied her for a minute. And then he let it fly, "Why have you been going to Lex's?"

She pressed the heels of her hands to her closed eyes, hoping to relieve the pressure there. "He's helping me out with an article I'm working on, so I can apply for the Daily Planet." Lie number 3, Chloe thought as she opened her eyes and started working on her english paper.

She almost forgot he was in the room. "You're lying."

With an exasperated sigh she pushed back from her desk and stood up. "Look, I'm trying to do my homework, here. I'm extremely busy, and I don't have the time for this, Clark. So please, just back off."

"Sorry, Chloe. But I can't." Clark stood up and tucked his hands into his pockets. "I've watched you for the last few months, and you're just floating away. You don't hang out with us anymore, and you're always at Lex's." Chloe looked up at him then.

"Leave me alone, Clark." her voice simmered in the quietness of the room.

"Chloe, I'm..."

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

And then he watched in absolute horror as she dropped into her chair and leaned over, burrying her face in her hands, tears running wild.

"Chloe." Clark said quietly over the wracking sound of her sobs.

And that's how Lex found her when he entered the room. Clark standing over her and her cries echoing around them. Patiently he walked in the room, gathered her stuff and slung her bag over his shoulder. "Come on, Chloe." His arms were tight around her as he pulled her up to him and her face automatically turned into his chest. With a scolding look he watched Clark, his mouth open in astonishment. "Let's get you home." His arm wound tight around her, tucking her into side as he propelled her forward toward the exit of the building.

And then he followed them, to the Luthor estate, watched Lex as he got her out of his car and carried her with her face burried at his throat, into the mansion. And through the stonewalls, up to his bedroom, laying her on the bed gently, as he put her bag down and lay in bed behind her. Wrapping her in his arms, bringing her back close to him, and stroking her hair.

And he watched as she turned into his embrace after only a few short seconds. To face him, and over the next hour he watched them strip eachother of their clothes, and the slow rythmic dance, their bodies instructed. And afterward, he watched Lex roll with her, bringing her to rest atop him, and how her hands clung to his shoulders, as his arms wrapped around her, and then sleeping.

He had never expected anything like this. And wondered what strange occurences brought his two friends together.

*~*

The first hint of Spring pushed it's way through the chill of the air, and Lex laughed as Chloe danced around in the last dredges of snow. Arms high in the air, she flung herself in a circle, creating a whirlwind of blonde and red. She was beautiful.

There was a punch in his gut as he watched her. A slow tightening of a fist lodged between his throat and stomach. And he knew, he knew he was falling in love.

*~*

Chloe yawned and sat in the Torch office, eventually Lionel would meet her. It wouldn't be like him to forget, since he never had. As if on cue Lionel knocked sharply on the door and then entered without the invitation.

"Miss Sullivan."

Chloe smiled and stood up, holding her hand out. "Mr. Luthor."

Well well, this was a different young woman standing in front of him. She looked bright and cheerful and after his last threat he was surprised to find no hints of shadows in her eyes. "You've certainly pulled yourself together, haven't you." It was a statement, and as his leering eyes raked over her body she felt not a bit tense. Could have been because of the bedroom marathon her and Lex had just ended this morning.

"I'm feeling much better lately. Thank you for noticing." Her mega watt smile came out on it's own accord.

Lionel smiled knowingly and held his hand out, with a confident raise of her eyebrows and a smile on her face she leaned over to get the file. And then his hands were on her. The simple stroke of fingers down his back testing her gag reflex to touch. His body leaned over hersas his hands landed on her hips. His beard tickled the back of her neck and she was completely frozen. "Do you have what I've been waiting for Miss Sullivan?" His lips grazed her ear and she was thankful for the curtain of blonde that hung over her eyes, because right now they were squeezed shut, as much as they would go. She wanted Lex.

*~*

Lex watched her cry. From his office to the room he had initially set up for her. She sat in the corner of the room on the carpet and pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging her shins and pressing her forehead to her knees she cried. Loud wails of cries. He watched her fingers flex on her jeans and hold on their. Then as if tired of crying all of a sudden she stood, and started across the room, grabbing whatever she could find and hurdling it at the walls. The floors. Lex folded his hands and rest his chin on top.

He needed to find out what was wrong. He should have known as soon as she came in today, since she walked past his office and when he followed her she just shrugged him off. His attempt at putting his arms around her in an embrace had her stilling completely.

And then it hit him. It was the first Monday of the month. The meeting with his father.

*~*

Even as he stared at her from the doorway he could see the tension radiating off her in waves. She was completely oblivious to anything around her, and in the few days he hadn't seen her, he could tell she wasn't eating again. It seemed that as soon as she was starting to find her groove again, she'd lose it. And this time, he wanted to know what, or who had made her drop again.

Chloe turned and looked straight at him, her arms protectively came around her. And her saw them. The bruises on her arms, the fingerprints on the side of her neck. "What's this?" he asked as he came toward her, her eyes shifted, looking everywhere but at him. Stepping over shards of vases and floating pages that had been forced out of random books he stopped in front of her, his fingers brushing over the smudged of black just under her pulse point. "Who did it?" His voice had simmered to a low growl.

Chloe looked away from him, turning her head the other way, and he saw the teethmarks still there on her skin, just where her shirt and skin met at her soulder. "Chloe." the low warning had her pressing a hand to her mouth and her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry." She spoke it so quietly he almost hadn't heard it. "I'm so sorry."

Everything went a little hazy and slowly as his vision started to focus again he ran a hand over her hair, smoothing it down. "Tell me, Chloe."

Her head shook slowly at first. "I can't."

His jaw clenched and unclenched and he cupped her face with his hand, just under her chin to turn her to look at him. Shame.

The one emotion in her eyes spoke so clear to him that he wanted to shake it out of her. "My father." His voice was so low, so dettached she looked up at him and the disbelief that he knew, the shock that he knew made him even angrier. "Why?" He said it slowly.

Chloe inhaled a shaky breath and a startled scream ripped from her throat as he grabbed her shoulders and shook her until her teeth clanked against eachother.

"Why, Chloe. How long have you been letting him do this?"

She shook her head again and another yelp came from her as he pushed her down on the floor, his body lumbered over hers. "How long has he been using you Chloe?" His hand found the snap of her jeans and he pulled at them deftly, her eyes wet with tears and silent prayers stared up at the ceiling. "Do you like it when he does it?" His voice was rough, his hands were everywhere, and she wanted to kill him. The only was she had gotten through it with Lionel was imagining Lex. "Does he fuck you rough?" As soon as he was inside her she sobbed and covered her face with her hands.

His heart broke and the grip he had on her loosened, the fast, hard tempo of his thrusts slowed down as his lips brushed over her face, tasting her tears, he nuzzled her neck and whispered against her skin. Chloe exhaled a shuddering sigh as his movement steadied and slowed down to the smooth slow strokes she was so used to. His fingers came up and tangled in her hair, brushing the out of her eyes.

And when she looked up at him, his blue eyes stared back at her, her brows drew together and with a trembling in her body she leaned up and kissed him.

"Never again, do you understand?" His words were whispered against her face as his lips brushed over hers. "You're mine, and if he ever touches you again, I'll kill him." She nodded slowly and let her lips cruise over his jawline as his hands ran up her sides, so very slowly. "I love you, Chloe."

Her voice cracked as she spoke and the words that came out of her mouth had him racing to finish as he burst inside her and came as hard and as excruciateingly slow as he ever had. Her shudder came an instant later.

She loved him.

[Blaire]

Chapter 6

Well it's full speed baby
In the wrong direction

Things changed as she never thought they would. Whatever she had thought of Lex was now replaced with warm embraces and lingering thoughts when they were together. Keeping it low key was no bother to her. She understood for a while that it wasn't that he was ashamed to be with her in public. It was his father that kept them apart. And as absurd that it sounded, she knew it was truth. Even at night as she lay awake in bed, fighting to sleep although she was only comfortable in his arms, it was a never ending battle. She wanted to be with him and couldn't. He wanted to be with her and wouldn't. That was how it appeared to her.

Tears clouded her vision as she sat huddled in the corner of the Talon. Eyes swept past her. Cheerful voices rose above her. In her corner all was quiet. Lana sat across from her working out the work schedule for the following week. Clark sat beside her, tapping his pencil as he worked out a math problem. Pete sat directly across from her carrying on about the upcoming Prom. Her name was called once, twice, and without realizing it, tears slipped from the corners of her eyes.

"Chloe." Clark's hand touched her arm gently. "What is it?"

She shrugged, and lifted a smile, not noticing as the rest did that it didn't quite reach her eyes. "It's nothing. It's just, this is our last year together." She pulled her knees up to her chest and tilted her head, resting her cheek against them. "I'm just being emotional." She let out a sigh and waved away the admission with her hand and a careless gesture. "I'll get over it, go on."

Pete smiled at her and dutifully picked up the conversation Lana was halfheartedly responding to. Her eyes cleared with a few blinks and she looked over to her right where Clark was tapping his eraser against the edge of the table. Leaning over she shifted into his side and began to help him out.

Lex watched from across the Talon. Her easy movements and the way she leaned into Clark. After that one time in the Torch when he had come to her rescue and gathered her into him to lead her away, things had been rocky between the three of them. Clark was fine with one or the other, but as soon as Lex and Chloe were both in the same vacinity he seemed to get a little paranoid. It was beyond him to comprehend Clark Kent. But then he saw him turn to face Chloe and a smile sparkled in his eyes as he nodded his head and Chloe smiled back.

It was something she'd been doing more lately. He wondered if it was because she had become more settled with her friends again, or if it had anything to do with him and the time they spent together. A quiet day in Metropolis, a few weekends at the mansion. Each time they came together and everything around them seemed to disappear until it was just them. They could breath and drown in the sheets of his bed. Her bed. Their bed. He wanted so much from her, more than he could ask.

Her eyes met his across the room and she offered him a mindblowing smile. One that not only reached her eyes but had her face warming to a glow. He lifted his hand in a mock salute of a wave before returning her smile and Clark lifted his head to follow her gaze. He watched as Clark turned from him and leaned down to say something privately to Chloe. Smiling at Clark she shook her head and let her feet fall back to the ground. Excusing herself, he watched her walk toward him and rolled her cup between her hands. Sliding into the seat across from him she smiled and broke off a peice of his tart. Swallowing, she leaned her elbows on the table and spoke to break the silence and his questioning eyes.

"Prom's coming up." She said a rest her chin in her hands. "Pete snagged up Lana before Clark could get to her. He had his sights set on this chick in Chemistry, but she turned him down cold. Just so happens, he's going stag and wanted to know if I wanted to tag along too."

Lex stared at her dumbly. Was she honestly expecting him to escort her to a dance? That was ridiculous. He'd never attended his highschool dances, he wasn't going to start now. "And what did you say?" He thought it best to relieve her mind, let it all out.

"I told him I wasn't going." the smiled she offered him didn't quite reach her eyes this time. "Or am I?"

Lex shifted and sighed. She'd become more straight forward lately. He shrugged and raised his mug to his lips. "It's entirely up to you." he answered aloofly. A breif flicker of emotion passed in her eyes and she leveled them with his. Hurt? He didn't think so.

"No," She said quietly as she set her cup down between them. She shook her head sadly and glanced back over her shoulder before turning back to him and standing up. "It's up to you." She watched him for a moment before excusing herself and walking out the doors. His eyes never left her retreating form, and even as she disapeared out of sight, his gaze never wavered from the double glass doors.

There's a few more bruises
If that's the way
You insist on heading

Prom came and went and Chloe continued to resolve everything warring inside her shrugging it away. In less than a month she'd graduate. In less than two, she'd be in Metropolis, getting settled into her cousin's apartment before starting college. Still she slept in his bed, ate in his kitchen, lounged in his study, and worked at his desk. The room that had become hers was so far away from him, she couldn't seem to walk past his office everyday and lock herself up. Instead she tortured herself by remaining as close to him as possible.

He took calls with her sitting on his lap, he worked on classified files as she massaged his shoulders. They'd made love on every available surface in every available room. And the it happened. She sat on the closed lid of the toilet, holding the small plastic wand in her hands, refusing them the urge to tremble. Before her eyes the small line turned a soft pink, then darkened and darkened until it became a heavy strip of magenta. Releasing it she let it fall to the tile as she burried her face in her hands. This couldn't be happening to her. They were so careful, all the time. Each time they had used protection. Except that first time on her couch. But couldn't be that far along. She swore silently even as a knock sounded on the bathroom door. "Almost done." Chloe brushed the tears from her lashes and pressed the heels of her hands into her closed eyes.

Always, they had always been careful. Her eyes popped open wide in sudden realization. The day he told her he loved her. When he had taken her roughly on the floor after Lionel in her office.

But Lionel had been safe. She rememebered that. But Lex hadn't. Splashing water on her face, she bent down and stuck the pregnancy test in her pants pocket. She opened the door and let Lana glide past her. Instead of heading downstairs she made the decision on the spot, and knocked twice on her father's bedroom door. After hearing a small grunt of acceptance she poked her head into his room and saw him working at his desk, in the corner. "Dad?" Her voice was quiet and she cleared it without a moment's hesitation.

Gabe looked up to see his daughter standing half in and half out of his room, her face streaked with dried tears. He was laready halfway to her when she held up a hand to stop him. "What's wrong." His arms came around her even as she struggled against him. Her breath released on a sob and she bunched her fists into the front of his shirt, holding him closer yet as she buried her face against his chest.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled and repeated it over and over again until he pulled her back and understood the words that were flowing over one another.

"Chloe." She shook her head and closed the door behind her. Walking over to his bed, she pulled her feet up under her and told him everything. She had planned to do this so long ago, but it had never seemed the right time. Now, she thought even as she locked her eyes with his, she could see his hesitation, the prospect of what his daughter had done, baffled him.

The room grew dark around them as the sun set patiently through his blinds. The last rays of sun were streaming into the darkness of the room as he let it all sink in. He wanted to deny it, his daughter could never do such a thing. But he saw it clearly in her eyes, everything she spoke of happened, was happening. And he felt the twist in his gut, so much pain for his baby girl. So much was happening, had happened, and she hadn't been able to tell him. She had stopped talking and had ran both her hands through her hair just as he sat down beside her and wrapped her up close to him.

"There's more." She sighed and turned her face into his neck, inhaling his scent. Her father. She thought and was grateful she was finally getting it off her chest. She waited until he pulled her away from him and his lips rest against her hair, unknowingly rocking her from so many years of scraped knees and early morning nightmares.

"Whatever else there is, we'll take care of it." He ran a hand down her short hair and squeezed her tightly to his side.

She shook her head slowly and risked looking up at him. "I'm pregnant."

Gabe stared at her without blinking. What? he asked silently. It had been a full twenty two seconds before her blinked and showed some sign of life. Chloe counted. "What?" His temper wasn't in his eyes, it wasn't in his voice, either. She repeated herself, her eyes still locked with his.

"I'm pregnant, and it's Lex's." He sprang up from the bed so quick she wrapped her arms around her stomach to protect herself.

"Lex Luthor did this to you?" His voice raised even as he vowed he wouldn't. He turned back to look down at her, and saw her trembling. Slowly, he lowered himself to the ground on his knees. "Chloe." His voice reassured, quietly assessing what she would say next. "Are you seeing him? Are you involved with Lex?"

She smiled for a moment, her eyes watered with unshed tears, tears she refused to let go, clung to the corners of her eyes. "Yes." She said it so quietly he almost refused to beleive it, and then she looked down at him and grabbed his hands with hers. "I love him."

Gabe inhaled a shaky breath. "Does he know that?"

Resigned Chloe smiled and blinked, letting the tears roll down. "Yes. He knows."

"Has he, did he," He looked away from her and then glanced down at their hands. "Does he love you, too?"

Without faltering her hands squeezed his and she nodded. "Yeah, he does."

"What does he have to say about this?"

His mood was changing, she thought, even as she sat here and watched, his mood had done a nosedive and came right back up. She could hear it and see it now. "I just found out, right before I came in here to tell you."

Gabe rested his forhead on her knees, covering his head with their hands. "You know I love you, Chloe. Anything you want." He sighed and looked back up at her. "I'm here for you."

Those were the words she'd been waiting for. If she had him, she didn't need anyone else. If she told Lex and he turned away from her, she'd have this to fall back on. She had her dad.

Chapter 7

Please be honest Mary Jane,
Are you happy?
Please don't censor your tears

Telling Lex was harder than telling her own father. She saw the unconditional love Gabe would provide for her and her unborn child. But Lex had enough reason to keep her at arms length. And she knew he would keep her even father away if it meant her life was in any type of danger. Still she sat in his office, waiting patiently as he wrapped up a call from a colleague. And as soon as he replaced the receiver she was out of her seat, pacing furiously.

"Chloe." Lex watched her, amused by the way she was rambling to herself. "Chloe." He stood and went to her, catching her by the shoulders. And then she completely stunned him by crumbling in his arms and hanging onto him for dear life. Confusion, among other emotions swirled inside him. His jaw tensed as he remembered the last time she was like this. Sensing her need to be held, and more than happy to be the one to provide the security, he half dragged her over to the couch and nestled her onto his lap, whispering words in her ear, telling her how much he loved her, and he felt her tears rolling down his neck, under the collar of his shirt.

"What did he do?" His voice was so quiet that she stopped on a suffering sigh and inhaled raggedly, gulping for air. She pulled back and looked up at him.

"Who?" She asked quietly and swiped tears from her face.

"My father, what did he do this time?"

Chloe shook her head in denial. "No, no, it wasn't him." She leaned forward and framed his face with her hands, her lips trembled even as they met his. "I love you, Lex."

His eyes closed and the warm relief spread throughout his body. Every time she said it, everytime she did something small and insignificant to show him just how much, he was a little more relieved. He was secretly counting down the days until she left for college so he could make a home for them in his penthouse. She told him she'd be staying with her cousin, but he had different plans for her. He wanted her to be with him, all the time, and not in secret anymore. Even as they sat, holding eachother, the ring he had bought her to propose was sitting in the top drawer of his desk. Soon, he thought. Graduation was only a few weeks away, if he could make it that long, he'd ask her to be his.

He'd been through enough relationships, enough marriages, to be able to compare what he felt for Chloe with what he'd felt in the past. Nothing came close. He had always wondered if he'd know when he fell in love. He had, and he did. And he had no doubts that she felt the same about him. Even as her lips brushed across his neck and her fingers worked nimbly at the top button of his shirt, his arms were wrapped around her, holding her close, as close as he could get. When he was here, with her, nothing else existed. Only the warming embers that spread through his body, fanning the fire that raced in his pulse. When she stopped and rest her forhead to his chest he placed a kiss across her hair. "Tell me."

With a suffering sigh she sat up and looked at him, "I'm pregnant."

Lex's mind raced in a million directions. "When?"

She looked away from him, toward the window where the sun was shining through. Less that a day before she had been having this conversation with her father. "The only time we didn't use protection."

Understanding dawned completely on him. It had been his responsibility. The had argued over putting her on the pill, neither of them wanted to chance the risk of having her father find out before they were ready. "The day my father..." he couldn't bring himself to finish what he had started to say. Instead the words were choked back as he swallowed. "Chloe." he cupped her face with his hand, the way she shifted and leaned into his touch spoke a thousand words at once without her opening her mouth. A small light inside dimmed on and grew brighter and brighter along with the curve of his lips. "We're going to have a child." His lips crushed against hers on a swift upswing of laughter. His arms held her closer, His tongue sweeping along hers, melting into eachother. He pulled back abruptly and Chloe kept her eyes shut, knowing next would come the accusations.

Instead he fluttered kisses over her face and laughed desperately. "We're going to be a family, Chloe." He looked down at her stomach, relishing in the possibility that now, they were complete. "I just can't beleive it." His eyes darted back up to hers and he nearly crippled with laughter at the surprise in his actions. "What?" He said nearly choking down the laughter with guilt. His features turned serious and Chloe let a faint smile curve her lips. "What is it?"

A giggle burst out before she could stop it and her teeth sunk into her bottom lip before letting out a cry of relief and throwing herself at him. "A family." She whispered in his ear and let the tears of joy come.

Each day that passed he became more and more restless. Chloe saw it even as he disguised it, dragging her here and there, sitting in silence, watching her while she worked. Graduation would come the day after and she walked down the curving steps from the higher floor of his study. "I was thinking, when I get to Metropolis, that we should go baby shopping."

Lex didn't have to look up at her, his eyes were already following her as she balanced a stack of books and made her way down the stairs. "Sounds like a plan." His distraction was that unsure gleam in her eye. He'd been more reserved around her lately, but only because he had been trying to figure out how he was going to take this next step without her feeling as if he'd been trapped to do so. The small stone of meteor, resembled that of an emerald. On either side sat a small cluster of diamonds. Nothing too gaudy or overbearing for her. She liked simple jewelry, and he knew even with all the money he had spent on it, just to have it placed in the setting, she would overlook the price and focus on the symbol of it.

She rounded his desk after placing the books on the small glass table facing the couch. "I have my first doctor's appointment tomorrow." She nibbled at her lower lip, and looked down at him, settling her hips against the dull edge of glass. "I was hoping you'd go with me..." Her voice trailed off and ended in a squeak as he pulled her down to his lap. His lips connected with hers in a tender kiss. Times like these, she mused, times like these made her forget everything else. Which was probably why she was still sitting in his lap when he admitted entrance to whoever was knocking on his office doors.

And then Clark was standing there, watching the two embrace. "Clark." Lex smiled over to him and let his arm hook comfortably around Chloe as she turned on his lap to face their friend. "What can I help you with?"

"Uh." He always seemed to start out speechless when he saw the two of them together. Chloe never could decide whether she should be embarrassed or thankful. "I kinda wanted to talk to you about this interview I have with the Daily Planet." Chloe's brows lifted simultaneously as she pursed her lips and extracted herself from Lex's hold.

"i'm just going to..." She trailed off at the playful expression on Lex's face. "Go get some coffee."

It was Lex's turn to raise his brows. "For you." She added with a smile. "Not for me." She waved the unspoken away as she turned and exited the room, closing the doors behind her. On a fresh release of air she turned and collided with Lionel.

"Miss Sullivan." Lionel's hand tightened around her wrist even as she feigned a shocked smile up at him.

"Mr. Luthor." Momentarily she forgot where she was, and then realized she had run into him right outside his son's office, in his son's house. That probably didn't look good, she decided and relaxed her features.

"Visiting Lex, I assume?"

Chloe nodded and began back toward the door she had just shut. "Actually, yeah. Clark and I just got here, and I was slipping out to find the restroom."

Lionel studied her for a moment. He figured on his own it was a lie. But it wasn't one he'd hold against her. So she was spending time with Lex. But what exactly was her relationship with him. "Third door on your left." Lionel managed with a good humored smile. "I'll make sure Mr. Kent doesn't leave without you."

His nails were biting into her skin, even as his tone remained placid and ventured toward friendly. "And Miss Sullivan." He added as he let go of her wrist and she stepped past him. "We'll have to talk about resuming our private meetings once you're settled in Metropolis. You are staying in Metropolis are you not? With one, ah, what was her name? Lois Lane I beleive."

Chloe turned and walked calmly to the bathroom before letting herself slide down the door, he back leaning heavily against it. He was always one step ahead of her. She ran her knuckles under her eyes to wipe away any traces of fatigue and the tears that had begun to soak into her skin. Placing a hand on her flat stomach she began to rub in slow circles. She had to find a way out. For her, for him, for their family.

[Blaire]

Chapter 8

You're the sweet crusader
And you're on your way

Lex poured himself a companionable drink and listened to Clark babble about nothing in particular. It was rather refreshing in a way. With graduation tomorrow, he was expecting some giddiness that wasn't alien to the boy. He remembered the sense of absolute freedom he himself had had endured the moment his diploma had been thrust into his hand. It had been bliss. It had been taken apart and broken down only seconds later upon looking up in the crowd and seeing his father there, that knowing look in his eye. But it had been his moment no matter what. And he knew it would mean enough to Chloe. He could wait until tomorrow to propose. Or he could give her some time, ask her to move in with him and then propose later in the summer, before she started school. If only he knew how to get into her mind.

Clark's thoughts were broken as the double doors to Lex's office opened with a full swing. Both heads turned and the smile on Lex's face, for he had been expecting Chloe, dimmed when he saw it was his father.

"Tsk, tsk, Lex. Is that the way you treat your father?" His dry comment whittled down to the fact that Lex simply sat there on the couch, not bothering to greet this unexpected arrival with anything more than a cool stare.

"Sorry, but I wasn't expecting you. And as you can see," He gesuted vaguely with his hand towards Clark. "I'm entertaining company."

"Ahh, yes, Mr. Kent and Ms. Sullivan." Lionel dared to glance back and was rewarded with a blank impression on his son's face. Perhaps, the girl was smitten with his son, and his son thought nothing of it. Afterall, she was quite young. "I beleive Miss Sullivan isn't feeling well, however. She looked quite faint when I gave her directions to the restroom." He turned and walked toward Lex, still the blank look in his eyes hinted at nothing out of the ordinary.

"She's been kinda sick, lately." Clark piped in, deciding it best to stick up for her since she wasn't here to do so and it didn't appear as though Lex was going to stick up for her in her absence, anyway. Not that he didn't know why. If Lionel had been his father, he'd probably be in a three ring circus, running circles at breakneck speed and being dubbed, man of steel with bullets bouncing off him from every angle. At that moment, the blonde in question walked through the doors with a tray of coffee and mugs.

"Refreshments have arrived." Her smile stopped just short of reaching her eyes as she set the sterling tray down and plopped onto the couch beside Clark. "I headed off your maid." She said with a breif smile and sipped at her mug of water. "So." She looked from each man to the other. "Did I interupt something?" Her brows were arched in a suspicion that threw even Lionel off her track.

"Not at all, Miss Sullivan." He smiled and was rewarded with a friendly smile from the blonde before she hooked her arm through Clark's and ran her hand up and down his forearm. "Well, what have we got here?"

Chloe nipped at her bottom lip and wasn't sure whether to be revolted or ecstatic that his attention drifted there for a split second. "Clark and I are leaving for Metropolis in a few days, and well, we're looking at getting a place of our own. We don't have any credit though and were hoping Lex could help us out."

"Place of your own?" Lionel surveyed Clark even as he leaned down and brushed his lips across her cheek. Interesting, and Lex was smiling casually as he took in the actions of the other two in the room. "Well, I wish you both the best." Tired of the bullshit and deciding to study it a little later he turned and looked down at Lex. "Son, I'll be in touch."

Lex nodded and watched his father regally strut past them. "I'm sure you will. Next time, give me a heads up, I'll make sure I'm available."...NOT!

Lionel smiled wickedly as he turned his head to look over his shoulder. "I'll be sure to do that."...Like hell, I will.

As soon as his presence was gone from the room Chloe looked over at Lex worriedly.

"Moving in together?" Lex asked amused and somewhat taken aback. Chloe leaned forward, letting go of Clark altogether.

"he knew, Lex. he knew that I was going to Metropolis. He knew I was going to be staying with Lois. He knew her last name for God's sake." She was hyperventilating, yes, that was it. That was why her lungs were constricting and she was sucking in air, and was still not able to fill them, she needed a paper bag, where the fuck was one?

"Chloe." Clark put his hand on the back of her head and pushed her head between her knees. "Breath."

She sucked in a ragged breath and nearly let loose the tears that were struggling. She bolted upright as a terrifying thought hit home and Lex watched her senses go completely ballistic. "What if...God, what if he tries to hurt us. He'll use the baby." Her balls fisted at her side, not noticing the shock and open jaw that had Clark fighting his way back to reality. "I won't let him do that to us. We can't let him, Lex."

Lex gathered her up in his arms and sat her down on his lap, rocking her once again. "Nothing's going to happen, Chloe. Trust me. If he even touches you..." He trailed off as he saw the nail marks in her arm. "What the fuck is this?" His tone had gone ice cold and he lifted her hand up and studied them closely. "He did this to you." His voice was so quiet, Clark wasn't sure he even heard them even though they sat less that a cushion's space away. "He touched you again."

Chloe nodded mutely and let her head fall back down to rest against his shoulder. "In the hallway."

Clark watched silently, in amazement, as Lex's face went completely blank and he shifted Chloe to straddle him, then his arms went around her and when he looked back at Clark, the tears that stung his eyes rolled neatly down his face. Not so much as a sniffle, not so much as a sob, or a whimper. He watched Chloe's body shake silently, even as her breathing came out in gasps. "Clark." His voice was cool, calm, unshaken. "Can you please hand me my cell phone?"

Clark nodded, dumbstricken and leaned over, grabbing the cell phone off the table and passing it to Lex. Whatever happened next, he wasn't sure he knew how quickly it happened, or if time had simply stopped, but Lex was flipping his phone back shut and he could have sworn he'd just hired someone to kill him. That couldn't be right. What the hell was going on, and since when had the twilight zone started interfering in his dreams. "Can somebody tell me what happened?" Clark threw his hands up even as Lex tossed the phone between them on the couch.

His eyes met Clark's and the tone in them had him swallowing the lump in his throat. He grabbed his coffee and chugged it and choked when Lex bluntly tossed out the facts of the pregnancy, him and Chloe's relationship, and Lionel's previous actions. When he even attempted at flickering his gaze down at Chloe, he clearly heard Lex's snarl. Raising his hands in defense he shook his head.

"All this has been going on?"

Lex stroked a hand down Chloe's head and realized she had sobbed herself to sleep as her breathing evened out against his neck. "Yes."

Clark nodded and looked down at the mug he rolled between his hands. "You love her." It was a statement so obviously answered between them, he didn't have to ask the question.

"With everything I have, Clark." His eyes were wistful and dreamy for no more than a second before the seriousness came back into them. "I love her, I'm going to marry her."

Clark nodded, grateful that they had atleast shared this with him. "And Gabe?"

"He knows she's pregnant. She just found out yesterday and told him then."

Clark heard the content sigh from Chloe as her she murmured something about a bed. Lex excused them and rearranged Chloe so when he stood up she was cradled in his arms, he led the way to the doors. "And your father?" Clark put a hand on Lex's shoulder before he could stop himself.

Lex glanced over his shoulder at the room they were leaving and then into the eyes of a mutual best friend of theirs. "He'll die."

You're the last great innocent
And that's why I love you

Maybe the warning hinted at some preconceived notion. Maybe since she knew he had planned it already and had just been waiting for that last straw to be pulled, that it would happen inevitably. And maybe, just maybe, since she felt no sense of loss as she sat on the corner of his desk and watched the live bulletin, the report of a brutal mugging in downtown Metropolis, the end of life for Lionel Luthor, she could have saved herself. The giddiness that rapidly built at the prospect of Lionel no longer being a threat to her, her father, and her and Lex's attempt at having a family together, was only waiting to confirm that lex indeed knew about it. She needed to know he ordered it, and that it was real. Because at this moment, she felt she needed that viable thread to hang onto. And in one hour she'd be walking down a red carpet lined aisle to get her diploma and get the hell out of Smallville. So she waited. And waited.

Lex ran a wide palm over his smooth scalp. He knew that there was no way to trace the hit back to him. It had been made to look exactly as what had happened. A mugger was to approach Lionel and beat the hell out of him, slice his throat if need be. And so it had been done. Entering this office, he wasn't surprised to see Chloe there, sitting behind his desk, rooting through his files. It was pretty normal and he knew she didn't have access to any classified files anyway, because those were on his laptop.

Chloe looked up and watched Lex cross the room, pour his brandy and sit back on the soft leather couch in the middle of his office. Slowly she went to him and curled beside him, placing his hand on her stomach, under her own. "Are you okay?" Her voice soothed him even as her words challenged something inside him.

"I am. Are you?" His voice penetrated something deeper in her.

"I think so." She turned her face to nuzzle against his neck.

"Chloe." His hand stroked down her side and back up again. "beautiful Chloe." Her head came up and their eyes met levelly as he brushed his lips across hers. "I'd do anything for you." His hand lingered on her stomach and rubbed in slow circles. "For us."

Chloe nodded and turned her face to his, covering his mouth with her own desperate lips to quench the hunger just below the surface. Her hands raked across his abs and up the hard muscles of his chest to his collar. "i need you, Lex." Her hands hands ripped at his clothing even as the overwhelming urge to race to the finish caught up with her. Her hands fumbled at his belt and successfully she wrapped her hand around him as she bit into his lower lip. "I love you." Her arms wrapped around him as she straddled him, his hands already working at the material covering her, pushing the skirt of her black dress up, up until it gathered around her waist. And their exhaled breaths mixed and mingled as they sought eachother in mid air as he lowered her slowly, almost painfully onto his waiting erection.

Their thoughts, their innermost feelings tumbled out on long sighs and drawn out groans of eachother's names. Her hips pistoned as her thighs trapped him inside her and muscles, innermost muscles trembled and fought for their release. His name escaped from her lips as she scraped her teeth down his jaw and she climaxed, shuddering, shaking, melting into his arms.

Less that half an hour later he watched her walk across the stage, and when she came down those steps he was there to welcome her into greedy arms, lifting her off her feet. And there, there in front of all the onlookers, all her peers, quite a few of his employees, he knelt before her and offered himself, and his ring to her.

Tears rolled down her face swiftly as she looked from him to the ring and she was belatedly aware of the woman speaking into the microphone. Her words had ceased as even she stood staring down at them. "Marry Me." His words echoed throughout every bone in her body. She saw Clark's unavoidable grin, Lana's mouth drop completely open, Pete shaking his head and the tight thin line of his lips holding back any comments he was about to make. And her father, among all of them she watched him swipe a tear from his eye with the knuckle of his forfinger, and the slight nod of his head. Her eyes returned to Lex's. In them she saw all the love, all the need, all the want. But most of all, she saw everything that told her to say yes.

Even as she sank to her knees and her arms wound around his neck, the auditorium of the Smallville High stayed completely silent, a few hushed gasps went on for hours it seemed. She cried out her answer and met his lips with her own, the endless array of applause burst forth and with a delighted grin he drew her back and nuzzled her throat with her name pouring out his mouth. "I love you, Chloe Sullivan."

Chloe pulled back and snatched the ring from his hand, slipping it on her left hand ring finger. "Make that Chloe Sullivan-Luthor." The applause went on and on, even as he picked her up in his arms and exited the building with her body twined around his and her laughter growing louder and fuller as he carried her out.

Chapter 9

So take this moment Mary Jane and be selfish
Worry not about the cars that go by

Chloe shifted her backpack to fit more comfortably and leaned back against the wall of the elevator. As the doors opened out into the lobby she heard the wail of gunfire as it exploded, a sharp pain ripped into her flesh just above her left knee and gripping onto the brass bar in the elevator she lowered herself to the floor. Reaching over she fumbled to press the button to slide the doors closed. As they began to whir and slide shut she wrapped both arms around her stomach, protecting the only thing she could, and wept with pain and confusion.

Lex's body hit the pavement of the sidewalk as he flew to the ground. The sound of bullets bouncing off the brick of the building behind him dangerously close. He wouldn't have been worried about Chloe, except for now, it was about the same time she walked through the lobby and waited for her car to be brought around. If he could only make it into the floor level of the hotel, just to make sure she was okay.

Chloe rocked herself even as she felt her leg go numb from her open wound. The sleeve of her shirt had been ripped off and tied around her thigh, already soaked with blood. Wiggling her toes, or attempting to, tears slid down her face. Her hands trembled with unease even as she ran them through her hair. She was still aware of the ricocheting glass and the explosion of bullets still escalating. She knew she was safe, and now she understood why the hotel had bullet proof elevators. She was sure Lionel Luthor himself had profited from it more than once. When the sound of pure silence radiated from beyond the steel cover of the doors, Chloe slowly pulled herself up to stand on one leg, her left foot barely touching the floor as she tried to keep her weight off of it.

In what felt like hours, all that had taken place was less than thirty seconds. Chloe rummaged through her bag until she found her phone and dialled 911. As it rang, the dial tone became fainter and fainter. She smacked her phone against the palm of her hand as she swore out loud to it. Looking back down at it she saw no lights, no words. It was dead. Disgusted with herself for not remembering to charge it, and having to go through Lex's 'I told you so...' speech later, she felt her lips curve softly. Tears backed up in her eyes again, and just as she saw the glass encased red button near the bottom of the face panel she jumped back at the sound of fists pounding on the door. Moving quickly she wobbled to the front of the elevator and sank down to her knees, removing the glass cover of her only hope. Shouting, wailing, screaming. One after the other came through the walls and echoed around her. Were there hostages? Were they the arsenists themselves? Chloe winced as her nail broke in the process of prying the glass corner away from the wall. Why wasn't it budging. With a disgruntled sigh she braced herself and rammed her elbow through the glass, tiny shards imbedding in her skin. Ignoring the pain she pressed on the red button and thanked her internal sources for remembering 'In case of emergency, break glass'.

Out on the sidewalk Lex spoke briskly with the 911 operator. It seemed that even as she relayed the message, sirens whirred and closed in on him, closer, closer. His body tensed as people ran out of the lobby and across the street, none of them Chloe. He pulled himself upright and stared at the glass glittering no more then five feet away from him. Shards of all sizes littered the walkway and dread creeped up his throat as the throngs of people filing out of the building didn't hold his Chloe. She could be in the elevator at this time, it was bulletproof, he was sure of it. Maybe she was safely tucked in bed, unaware of the chaos happening a dozen floors below their penthouse suite. Maybe, just maybe, she had overslept again, something that happpened more and more frequent with her growing belly and appetite. She was fine, he was sure of it. Starting toward the building he memorized every curve of her body in his mind. The way her smile brightened his morning when she rolled over to him in bed. Her cheerful hum when he returned home from work and the way she greeted him with a chaste kiss. His wife.

The idea of just that word alone raised his defenses and just as quickly as they had melted away with the thought of her folding laundry and teasing him about folding his own, they reappeared. If she was harmed in any way, his vision reddened as he thought of that scenario, he would kill. He'd ordered it before on his own father. But this time, he'd gladly do it with his own bare hands. Hands, he was sure, that would get the job done, and he'd enjoy every painstaking moment. Walking quickly toward the elevators banked down the short hallway he looked up at blinking number. It occured to him then that he hadn't passed anyone in the hallway and no one had been armed except the police escorting people from the lobby across the road. So where were they? And where was she?

Chloe burried her face in her hands and shuddered repeatedly. The elevator glowed with a red dimmed light and the eery music that had been playing earlier had droned down to a soft buzz. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she was soon going to pass out any minute. And the fact that Lex was most likely at work, since it was midmorning, wasn't helping any. She wanted to take the elevator back up to the top floor where there penthouse stretched out. She wanted to curl back up in bed and pretend none of this happened. Her stomach cramped even as her vision blurred in and out. Her arms wrapped tightly around herself she screamed out in pure agony. Her abdomen cramped tighter and a blinding pain shot swiftly down her legs. She scrambled to stretch out her arm, to press another button to open the doors. Even as she reached for the universal symbol etched on the flat silver button the elevator tilted and the dropped. Even as the doors squealed in protest, the light that filtered through the crack in the opening caused her to squint. And then he hovered over her just as her brain shut down.

[Blaire]

Chapter 10

All that matters Mary Jane is your freedom
Keep warm my dear, keep dry

Lex choked back a sob as he speared his fingers through the opening of the elevator doors and shoved with muscles long gone unused. He watched Chloe's eyes blink in and out of focus before she gasped something and a flash of pure agony flittered across her face. Then her head thumped back onto the carpet of the elvator car and her eyes closed. Lex yelled her name, his voice echoing off the walls surrounding them and sank down onto the carpet beside her. His hands pressed to her throat, feeling for her pulse. As soon as he located the steady pumping of her heart he put his hands against her stomach and felt the constricting, the skin of her belly stretching into tautness. Cold metal pressed into the back of his head and he turned to stare down the barrel of the gun.

"Mr. Luthor." The man smiled down at him serenly. "What a surprise." His gaze flickered over to Chloe ignoring the feral growl that parted Lex's lips. "What do we have here?" The grin across the strangers face grew until teeth were bared.

"Leave her alone." His warning went unheeded and the man smiled at Lex, clear gray eyes challenging against his own.

"Why would I want to do that?" The man laughed cheerfully and then cocked the gun. "Get up and get against the wall."

Lex narrowed his eyes at the man. He wanted to fight him, but he needed to get Chloe help. He stood and went to the wall of the elevator, standing erect as the brass bar across the middle of it dug into his lower back. The man looked over at him, brow raised and then nudged Chloe in the side with his foot. "So she's due now hmm?"

Lex growled low in his throat and fisted his hands together, slowly cracking one knuckle at a time.

The man had the nerve to laugh. "We actually planned on doing this before she went into labor, but hey, can't always predict these things right?"

Lex eyes narrowed into tiny slits, his vision blurring and reddening as the lights in the elevator dimmed more and more.

He faintly heard the police issue their warning, barely heard the man laugh as he took aim at Chloe's stomach. Lex reacted on pure instinct and dove down on top of her. He heard the air rush out of her body on a whoosh and felt his flesh burn and tear as the bullet ripped into him. Bubbling heat rose up inside him and he shifted his body more fully covering her. The man reached down and Lex grabbed the back of his arm, twisted and heard the bone snap. Felt it beneath his own two hands as it came apart under his grasp.

The scream that wrenched from the man's lips satisfied him enough and Lex rolled off of Chloe's protruding belly, knocked the gun out of the man's hand and into the far corner of the elevator, and wrapped his hands around the stranger's throat. His thumbs dug into the crevice on either side of his adam's apple and his knee pressed against the broken arm that lay twisted at the man's side. As he tried to cry out in pain and fear, Lex smiled down at the man.

He knew the last thing he'd see was Lex's clenched teeth as he strangled the man, pulling his head up and beating it back down against the carpet, repeatedly. Lex shuddered as the man's body went lax and his eyes that had bulged out of their sockets rolled into the back of his head. He got off the man's torso and bent down to scoop Chloe into his arms. Her breathing sporadic and her contractions closer together.

His leg nearly buckled under her added weight and the wound in his ass had a numbing effect of the nerve endings of his entire body. He felt the slick heat of liquid on his forarm, the one propped beneath her thighs. He looked down to see the blood rushing out of her body, not knowing the source of it. He stumbled out of the elevator and cried out as he saw a large black man rushing toward him in a black shirt with white SWAT letters on it.

"She's bleeding." He cried as he limped toward the doors. The heavyset man nodded and took Chloe's body from his arms.

"Sir, we'll get her the help she needs, but you're wounded too."

Chloe's water picked that moment to break all over the large black man. She moaned and cried out in pain, having come out of unconsciousness to the feeling of being ripped apart from the inside. Lex waved off people left and right and dodged the media that had gathered in front of the hotel. He half ran, half limped toward the waiting ambulance and scrambled up and inside the back of it as the SWAT team member settled Chloe onto the gurney. The paramedic was already taking over and had stabilized the mother to be as much as possible. He began pressing gauze bandages to the front of her leg and Lex watched as blood bubbled out of her wound.

Lex pressed his hands to his warm face and felt warm tears roll down his sweat streaked face. When he felt a hand touch his elbow he parted his hands and looked down to see Chloe staring at him. Her eyes wide and afraid. "Lex." She whispered in a hoarse voice.

Lex shook his head and took her hand, pressing it to his chest for her to feel his pulse. Chloe nodded and started crying softly, her body vibrating with each shudder and when another contraction came, her back arched and she bared her teeth and suffered it out.

*~*

Tell me, tell me
What's the matter Mary Jane
Tell me, Tell me
Please be honest Mary Jane
Tell me

*~*

Lex paced the waiting room of Metropolis General, having watched Chloe rushed off to a delivery room and being rushed off himself to have his own wound mended.

Standing there, alone, he let the tears fall down his face. He didn't know all the medical terms they had used. But he knew what touch-and-go meant. They'd said those same words about his mother's condition. He didn't hear Clark rushing down the corridor, didn't acknowledge him when he felt his arms around him. He didn't hear Lana's voice as she called out to him and tucked herself into the hug. He didn't hear Pete's words of encouragement didn't hear anything but the ringing in his ears as he fought down the sobs that had begun to threaten to break forth.

Finally the noise broke through when the doctor entered the room. He looked solemn and nodded toward Lex. His three friends let him go and he went to the doctor. "Follow me, Mr. Luthor."

Lex wiped his hands over his face, hoping to gain some composure before entering the hospital room they'd moved her to.

He saw her from behind, laying on her side and crying softly. Lex's emotions choked him and he moved toward her slowly. As he placed his hand on her arm he felt her relax and then she turned her head and looked up at him. Her skin glowed, her face flush with exertion, her eyes sparkling beautifully. She put a single finger over her mouth and nodded down to the bed beside her. He sat on the edge of the bed behind her and resting one hand on her shoulder, looked over her body.

Clear blue eyes stared back at him, blinking lazily. A tuft of orange hair on the baby's head was brushed down flat to it's smooth skull. Tiny nose, tiny little lips, tiny hand and feet. Lex let the tears continue to fall as he ran his fingers over the baby's stomach and felt it's little pulse beating rapidly in it's chest.

"Chloe." He whispered. Chloe captured his roaming hand in her own and turned his palm to her lips, brushing the lightly against his smooth skin.

Chloe's smile grew wider as she looked back down at the baby snuggled up against her side. "We never decided on a name, Lex."

Lex let out a shortened laugh and choked back his own cry of triumph. "Is it..."

Chloe cuddled the baby in the crook of her arm and lifted the bundle for Lex to take. Gingerly he cradled it to him and stared down at the tiny figure, now asleep. "Our son, Lex." Lex laughed and looked down at Chloe, he could still feel the tears rolling down his face.

"Our son." He repeated and leaned over to kiss his wife. His beautiful wife.

Chloe nodded and kissed him back, slowly, lovingly.

"You're incredible." He murmured against her lips, loving the weight of hers pressed to his and their son snuggled between them.

Chloe let out a startled laugh at his admission and blinked away the tears that had gathered there again. "Me?" She looked at him disbeleiving, cocking her head to the side. "I heard you got shot in the ass, Mr. Luthor."

Lex laughed and with one arm cradling the baby to him, pulled his wife closer to his side and tucked her close to him. "I did it for you." He said as he looked down into her eyes. "And I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

With that said he leaned closer and covered her mouth with his own.

The End!

[purpleant]

This is one of the best Chlex stories that I have ever read. The way in which Chloe and Lex's relationship developed is amazing! They are perfect for each other. I am so glad that Lionel paid the ultimate price for hurting Chloe.
Thank you

[Blaire]

awww shucks *bats lashes*