Title: The Aftermath
Rating: PG-13 for now
A/N: set post tempest. I know everyone has one going up, but see, there was this crazy muse who would not leave me alone until I wrote it.
"Well, what do you know?" Chloe stated to no one in particular. "Clark ran off and left me just when he promised he wouldn't. The shmuck."
*that boy does not deserve Me.* she told herself as she stormed out of the gym. *there's a tornado raging outside.* she thought logically and that was about the last logical thought she had, now, of course, she was angry.
*Good. It had better be ready for me*
Her pink dress trailed behind her as she erupted into the hallway.
"I spent three hundred and fifty dollars on this dress. I spent seventy five dollars and ninety cents on the stupid pink shoes. I had to get a loan from my dad to get my hair done, and my make-up! It was a fluke I had anything that matched!" She screamed.
"What is wrong with me?" She cried now, the tears she had tried to hide behind her anger getting the better of her.
"I don't understand it." She hiccupped. "I did everything I could to get him to at least look at me like I was of the female sex, and he goes running after Lana freaking Lang!" her vision clouded as she opened the front door, partly from the wind, and partly from the tears that simply wouldn't stop.
She looked at her beater in disgust. *stupid car. Stupid dance. Stupid storm. Stupid Me.* she growled in despair and got in. she intended to drive to wherever the hell he was and beat him within an inch of his life.
"He made me cry. This is the first time anyone has truly made me cry since my mom died. And I'm talking to myself in my car now, all because of him!" She shouted at the wind shield.
"No, truth. I am talking to myself and crying because I was too stupid to realize he never wanted me. The only guys that do are mutants!"
Her car rocketed down the road with as much speed as it could muster, that being around one-fifty. Her mind drifted back to her previous mutant encounters, first Todd. *stupid Chloe. All he wanted was your body heat!* to her most recent psychopathic killer. *Never ever go for tortured artists.*
Realizing that she had given up all thoughts of beating the crap out of Clark and was actually driving home, she made up her mind never to fall in love again.
*Or lust. Or anything remotely past friendship when men are involved. I should seriously consider the virtues of becoming a feminist.*
She got out of the car, having to hold her dress down, and began to head for the storm cellar.
*************************
"Mr. Luthor!" a paramedic called, "your father is in serious condition, we need to get him to the hospital!"
Lex nodded, because it was all he could muster. He had stood there, looking at his father, debating the pros and cons of saving him. It appalled him that he hadn't just ran in and saved him like any deserving son would do. * I seriously thought about letting him die.*
He had pulled him free, not because of his love for him, but because he knew he would never be able to look himself in the mirror again if he didn't. And because he knew that his father owed him something for it.
They loaded Lionel onto the stretcher leading Lex behind him.
*he knew I could have left him there to die. He knows what I want, and he'll have to give it to me.*
What he wanted was to save the Smallville plant. The drove down the dusty gravel road, Lex stared absently out the window. They were coming up to Gabe Sullivan's house.
*good man, Gabe. Good manager.*
There was someone out there, Lex noticed. *it has to be Chloe.* her hair was a mass of curls, all around her head, blowing into her face. Her pink dress billowing around her, and a thought caught him that he didn't have time to stop. *She looks like Marilyn Monroe.*
Lex had always liked Chloe. Smart and sassy and one of the take-no-shit family, someone he could challenge.
His mind flashed back suddenly to seeing her outside his window, sprawled out like a puppet. He saw her lying hurt on the hospital bed, her eye bruised and her arm fractured and remembered the horrible mess he'd made of the flowers.
*she liked yours best, Lex. Said it made her think she'd won the Kentucky derby.*
He'd made a note never to buy flowers without consulting the florist first, and still he hadn't brought himself to talk to her again, never really knowing what to say.
*hey, sorry someone pushed you out of my five story window and I didn't call the cops. But what can you do with secret plans to get a particle accelerator?*
He watched her throw open the storm door and run inside. Lex Luthor, he told himself, if you ever want to be able to look in the mirror again, you are going to apologize, and make yourself a better man.
***********
That was my beginning. Not much going on, but next chapter, infinitely more! What will happen when Lex tries to apologize?