A/N: Title is a Seether song. Still own nothing, but my engagment ring. Still can't sleep at night- although I think my readers might like that since it means I'm updating. I have appreciated everyone's feedback. You all seem to have similar questions as to what is going on with Lex and Chloe with where they are when I begin the story. Well, I hope this answers some- though I feel it will create more questions than it answers. All will be revealed in time, but I'd love to hear what you think Lex has up his sleeve. Feedback is always welcome and hope you all enjoy the update!
Part 2: Fake It
Eleven months prior…
Chloe Sullivan was a born investigative reporter. Since she could remember, it was in her blood to extract the truth of any situation and she was good at it. To her, finding out the truth was as vital to her existence as was consuming coffee or breathing.
So she was surprised that Lex thought that a simple explanation- such as I'll settle for second best- and handing her a stack of documents would satisfy her curiosity.
No, her name was Chloe Sullivan and she was a truth seeker.
For the past few weeks she'd done her homework: studied their marriage contract until she could recite the whole thing back word for word, sulked around the penthouse like a stealthy prowler scoping out and discovering every nook, cranny, and hidden vault inside the nine bedroom penthouse, and most importantly, she'd begun to systematically lift the passwords off Lex's computer when the opportunty arose.
Her name was Chloe Sullivan and she was not about to bow down to the likes of Lex Luthor. She'd lulled Lex into a false sense of security; Played the role of the distraught prisoner to perfection and bent to his will.
She'd let him redo her wardrobe- that hadn't been too horrible. Thankfully Lex seemed to have an aversion to pink like she did, so her wardrobe was mostly vibrant and rich colors, every hue of the rainbow, but primarily in green.
Her under garment makeover hadn't been overtly pleasant, but thankful Lex was never going to see more than a bra strap, so she didn't make a fuss about all the skimpy lingerie that he'd shoved into her dresser.
Changing her hair color she'd been pissed about. She'd always loved her blond locks- they off-set her skin and highlighted her emerald eyes. She'd dreaded having the incredibly gay Frenchman dye her hair chestnut brown, but she knew Lex was just doing it further annoy her. He'd also instructed Jean-Lucas to add length and volume to her "string hair." The three hours she'd had to sit still as the weave and extensions were added to her hair had been physically agonizing. Her scalp burn for days afterwards and at one point she'd considered grabbing a pair of scissors from the kitchen and undoing all of work.
It would have been a useless attempt at control of her life- Lex would have just had Jean-Lucas redo all the labor and she would rather silently suffer about how her hair looked then have to go through the entire process again.
So far Lex had yet to make a sexual advance on her or try to sneak into her room at night. She patted herself on the back for accomplishing that feat. She wanted to believe that what steered Lex away was the butcher knife she hid under her pillow, but she knew that if her husband truly wanted to crawl into her bed a knife wouldn't stop him.
So what was stopping Lex from having sex with her? She knew they hadn't been intimate the night he'd orchestrated this fiasco that was now her life- he would have used it to taunt her with it if they had.
What was Lex's true motivation for making her Mrs. Lex Luthor? It wasn't because he loved, or even liked, her. It was a silly whim either. Lex had moved past the spoiled brat stage of his life after his marriage to Lana had ended.
And what the fuck made Lex think she'd just take his abuse lying down?
Chloe sighed and rolled over in bed. She could hear her husband moving around outside her bedroom. Lex would be leaving for work soon. Then finally, after weeks of collecting passwords, she'd break into his classified documents and finally figure out his true end game.
She heard the bedroom door start to open and quickly shut her eyes. Even though she couldn't see him, she knew his routine. He would open the door, linger in the doorway for a couple of seconds before coming in and hovering over her bed for a couple of minutes.
She wasn't quite sure what he thought about the two or three minutes he hovered over her- his body bent over the bed and his face within breathing range- but afterwards he would briskly leave her room and seconds later the penthouse.
She sensed his presence over her form and worked on controlling her breathing. When Lex had finished indulging in whatever perverse reason he had for standing over her bed and shut the door, Chloe released a sigh.
Amelia knocked minutes later, per Lex's instructions, and ushered in another maid with a breakfast tray. Chloe sat up and allowed the other maid, Carol she believed, set up her breakfast. Buttermilk pancakes, fresh strawberries, orange juice and the daily vitamins Lex made her take.
She'd questioned him once as to what they were; he'd responded by telling her that his wife needed to be healthy.
Question was for what? If she knew Lex, which she liked to believe she did despite the latest curve ball he'd thrown at her, it had nothing to do with her health. So she'd learned to wait until Amelia left the room before hiding the pills and pretending she'd swallowed them down.
She'd finished her breakfast, called Amelia to collect everything and instructed her to leave her alone until Lex returned.
Waiting until she heard Amelia leave the hallway, Chloe hopped out of bed and pulled on the clothes she'd been wearing the night before. She pulled a scrap of paper out from under her mattress, slipped the computer codes into her pocket and tried to calm her wildly beating heart.
"Okay Chloe Sullivan," Chloe whispered to herself as she peeked her head out the door and made sure the cost was clear before venturing out. "It hasn't been that long since your breaking and entering days. Chanel your inner stealth master, break into Lex's computer and figure out how to beat him at his own game."
Moving quickly, but quietly down the hallway Chloe checked to make sure the penthouse staff was otherwise occupied before charging towards Lex's office door.
Grabbing a hold of knob, Chloe silently prayed that it was unlocked. Giving it a firm twist, she felt a weight lift off her shoulders when the door gently popped open.
"Okay Sullivan, halfway there."
She rushed towards the computer, pulled the scrap of paper out of her back pocket and plopped herself in the desk chair. Her fingers moved at breakneck speed to input all thirteen different codes to unlock the folder she was sure Lex had his master plan saved in. The man had more security on his computer than any normal person should.
Finding more than two hundred secret files, Chloe's eyes began to quickly skim the names to find anything that could be relevant to her, Clark or Lana. This obviously had something to do with them.
Reading all the file names, Chloe began the tedious task of deciphering the important ones from the trivial ones.
Over half the files were investigations into the many miraculous things Clark had done or the situations he'd found himself in. There was a chuck of documents about surveillance details on Lana- before, during and after their short-lived marriage. There were a few surveillance details about her.
Chloe sighed. "Nothing so far." She began to consider that maybe, just maybe, Lex was too smart to write down his plan for her.
She was just about to close everything when she spotted it; a document entitled Smallville Project. And even though her head reasoned there could be a million and one projects Lex had going on in Smallville, the pounding of her heart told her that wasn't it. This was about her. The date was too recent.
She double-clicked the document and with sweaty palm awaited its opening. The second it opened, she began to drink it all in.
Chloe let out a gasp. "No way."
He was going to use their marriage as blackmail to lure Clark away from Lana. And not just by bargaining with returning Chloe her freedom, but also he planned to do so by…
"Mr. Luthor, did you forget something?" She heard one of the maids says from down the hall.
"Just something in my study." She heard Lex reply as his foot falls neared.
Chloe could feel her heart beat against her ribs in sharp pangs. If Lex caught her snooping on his computer he might just kill her.
Quickly deciding that trying to shut everything down would take far too long, she pulled the plug on the laptop, whipped out of the chair and practically threw herself at the bookcase on the far wall.
Concentrating heavily on catching and slowing her breathing, she picked up the closest thing within reach and pretended to peruse the book she got her hands on. When he stepped in, Chloe silently said a pray that she looked as natural as possible.
"What are you doing in here?"
Chloe placed on her face the best shocked look she could manage. "Lex," she held up a hand to her heart. "I didn't hear you!"
Lex's face remained stoic.
Holding the book up as proof, Chloe sighed dramatically. "I get so bored. You haven't let me contact my friends in so long and I needed an escape. Figured Niche or Shakespeare or maybe Hemingway would do the trick."
Lex lifted an eyebrow. "What did you decide on then?"
Thinking on her feet, Chloe said the first author she could think of. Hopefully the Lex had a book by them in the vast literary collection in his study.
"Emily Dickinson." Chloe sighed contently and held the book tightly to her chest, trying to discreetly hide the book from Lex's view. "I love her poems."
"Okay." Chloe sighed inwardly in relief. Lex seemed to have bought her lie. "I just came back for some contracts."
Chloe watched as he strode forward and picked up a stack of papers next to the computer- documents she seemed to have slightly skewed while looking on his laptop. Chloe tensed, and then relaxed when Lex seemed not to notice this little red flag either.
Placing the contract into a folder, Chloe waited for Lex's next move. He headed for the door and stopped just as he was about to pull it open.
"I know what you're doing Chloe." He didn't bother to turn around and look at her. "Whatever you may think you'll find by snooping in my office, you won't."
He took a step further out the room before Chloe's voice stopped him.
"I'll figure it out Lex. Whatever low-down, dirty or perverse scheme you have going, I'll figure it out. After all, I did bring down the mighty Lionel luthor."
This time Lex did turn and she found herself pinned between his body and the desk's edge. Along the way he'd set down the papers he came for and she's had the book jarred from her grip.
"Listen little girl," He bit out dangerously, his gaze roaring to life in a flash of stormy grey-blue. "You don't know who you're messing with." The grip on her forearms tightened. "You're going to act like a good little girl- Please me as I see fit. And when the time comes, you'll do as I tell you and play your part."
Chloe feel the skin on her arms begin to hurt. He was holding her too tightly, she was going to bruise.
"Do I make myself clear?"
"I hate you Lex."
He pushed her back roughly, making her back poke harshly into the desk's corner, and picked up his folder from the desk where he'd set it down.
"Good thing I'm not asking for your love then." Holding the papers securely in his hands, he headed out the study and down the hall.
Chloe could feel the burning on her forearms and the tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. Rushing towards the door, she couldn't help the burst of emotion that surged forward.
"I hate you Lex Luthor." Chloe screamed at the top of her lungs. "You're a cold-hearted bastard and I hate you!"
Feeling her knees give out on her, she slipped down the wall- cradling her arms and releasing the tears she'd been trying to hold at bay.
At the last second, right before the front door slammed shut, she heard Lex's voice waft back to her.
"You flatter me Mrs. Luthor."
Present
Lex Luthor was a man of his word. So by the time Sunday came around, Chloe was on pins and needles.
She'd spent the last four days agonizing about how revealing her pregnancy would affect everyone- Lex, her and their unborn child. And Saturday morning, somewhere between picking herself off the bathroom floor and wiping the vomit off her cheek she'd realized there was no easy out.
Lex was Lex. He was cold, calculating and controlling. He'd attempt to manipulate their child with the same ruthless nature that he controlled her. She wouldn't- couldn't- allow it. Just imagining what could possibly be of her child's future made Chloe's gut clench and a knot to form in her throat.
So she'd spent the rest of Saturday morning devising, what she considered, to be the easiest solution for her and her child. She'd redevelop her backbone.
She'd start taking back control- little by little-until she had full control of her life again, and she was going to use Lex's want for a family- an heir- against him.
Sunday morning she took the first step. When Amelia came in to deliver her breakfast, Chloe had already been dressed and ready to go. She'd demanded that a car be brought around. And when Amelia had stuttered and tried to oppose her, she'd simply snarled at her and remained her that she was Mrs. Lex Luthor and no one- especially not some insignificant maid who spied on her for her husband- told her what to do.
Amelia had glared back, but followed orders nonetheless. Chloe had almost cried at accomplishing that small victory.
The second step, more significant and noticeable, was to head to a posh salon and get her hair redone to her liking. She'd had the stylist return it to her natural hair color, removed the extension, and had it cut shoulder-length with side-swept bangs in the front.
All that was left was the third step, and for that she needed to wait until Lex returned. She would wait, she decided, in a scene she could easily manipulate her way. She'd be regally displayed in front of the roaring fireplace, wearing one of the shirts she knew Lex liked seeing her in, with a steaming cup of hot chocolate. She imagined the scene- her displayed tall, proud and seemingly a force to be reckoned with.
If it was a war Lex wanted, it was a war he was going to get. There was too much at stake now for her to back down or go quietly without a fight.