Sins
They all had sins, cast at them the moment they entered the world of that she was sure.
The only problem with that was that no one would acknowledge that, no one would ever accept that a child, an innocent soul could be tainted before it even opened it's eyes to a world ill equipped to deal with it.
She should know better then anyone that her sins had been cast in stone before she even took her first breath.
Her sin was being the daughter neither one of her parents could ever possibly care for; not their fault.
His sin was being the son that could never be loved the way he was meant to.
His stigma was the name she refused to give to him and his pain upon knowing he would never have the right to a father.
They should be all her sins and the father's sins but he would hold his share of sins not because she deemed it fit but because that was how the world work.
She ignored the hopeful look of the nurse as she handed the bundle to him rather then her; the nurse was just one of those people who choose to ignore that this child was already damaged.
He would never change and having a creature so dependant on one person alone thrust into his arms would not change that.
She should have protested the moment he told her the plan, he would never give her the rest her body demanded after hours of bringing her son into a world where she might not exist in hours to come, but she couldn't.
Her sin of pride… of determination would push her to become someone who her son could never be proud of.
"I want you out of my life and his the moment the body is cold" she imparts as he freezes at her door, they both knew her part was more then just watching from the sidelines.
She may trust him to protect her son but she would never trust him to bring peace to her life, she could never trust him to take on that last sin that would seal her fate in hell.
"Trust me Miss Sullivan I have no problem sending you on your way along with your bastard son" he admits and she can take some comfort in the fact that his place in hell will be far worse then hers.
"There's that word once more Mr. Luthor… trust… you still haven't figured it out yet have you" she spat.
His sin was his mother's silent anger at knowing he would never hold the genetics of someone she could have loved.
All he could do was smirk before disappearing and allowing her to picture the hell that awaited her.
Three hours earlier….
To appease the nurse they sat huddled together as though they were the picture that was demanded of anyone who entered this room.
That picture was shattered the moment the door closed and she was left alone to hold the child of genetics instead of love.
She wished she could promise her son a life where he could dream about his mother loving the man who helped create him. Promise him a life where he could be happy to acknowledge his father for the man he was.
But she couldn't and she would never pollute her son with lies.
"You understand what you are doing… what is to happen" he demanded detached from the scene before him just like she knew he would.
"Yes" she replied filling the small fist at her breast with her index finger, so small and yet so tainted.
"Can I ask one thing… the only thing I will ever ask of you now or ever again" she asked with enough hope in her voice to let him know that he would break her heart if he refused.
She didn't care if he did or not but she wanted to at least give him one more sin before she possibly left this world.
"What" he demanded already bored by the conversation after all he had held up his side of the deal, her son was resting in her arms for now.
"Give me two hours, just two hours to hold him and pretend that all this could be normal… we could be normal" she whispered never looking away… you didn't look away from your goal.
She gave him power only because she needed him to have the power.
Either way she would get what she wanted.
"Fine" she didn't watch his departure, didn't listen for his commands that her room be guarded because now she could pretend.
She was that dreamer who wasn't stained with sins.
In this world she was just as innocent as the babe in her arms should have been.
Three hours later…
For all the emotions she should have felt being calm and serene was not among them. Happy, scared, insane or even angry should have been there but they vanished the moment she understood what she had to do.
The gun felt cool and heavy in her hands.
His shadow lurked like any good monsters should have done.
The silence was broken only by the click of his heels, the sharp intake of his breath and the click of the safety.
"Miss Sullivan your making a mistake" even in the shadow of death he was confident just like she knew he would be.
"My grandson is special; he could be more… you could be more. With my help nothing would stop either of you" he promised and in that moment he was not a man nor a monster.
He was empty of anything human and just filled with sins.
The second before his death he would still sin.
"Lionel," she pauses unsure how to play this in a way that was deemed fit for Lionel Luthor.
In the end she figured that even after everything they had been through; after everything that had been done to her it would have to be anti-climatic.
"I know what your more could be…I know what your special means and trust me when I tell you he will never know anything of that" she promises with no emotion left.
"Trust, Miss Sullivan is a weakness, something that I thought you would have grown out of by now" he admits, disappointment lacing each word.
She smiles at this, it would never be a smile of the girl she once was but the woman she had to become for her son.
The smile of a sinner.
"Your wrong… I'm no longer weak Lionel; I stopped being that the moment I had to sin for you" she declares allowing one tear to leak from her eye.
One more sin… another one for the collection. She would shed a tear for Lionel Luthor because no else would.
"When I had to sin for him" she whispers before the words caressed her finger and forced her muscles to do what was needed.
The blood stained more then the floor, the thud dulled by the roar of his groan still deafened her. Her fingers refused to drop the gun, refused to see or hear anything that would stop her from pulling the trigger again and again.
"You think this is the end Miss Sullivan" he chokes and she wishes she could indulge him one last time, do one last thing to ease her sins but she can't.
They were her sins and they were apart of her.
"I know Lionel" she admits kneeling beside him not fearing the blood seeping to her knees.
"I moulded my son into my image… what I am, what I was lives in on in him" he promises staining her pale face with his blood.
Whatever his dimming eyes was searching for in her face was lost the moment she smirked at him and allowed her mask to slip, allowed him to see what she had become.
"you moulded me as well… you made this way. What ever you did lives on in me" she whispers one last time before she stands, a sinner in the company of sinners.
"finish it" her devil ordered and she knows that she could do this one last thing for him, she could take this one last sin for him.
What spark had once lived in him, in all of them died the moment she pulled the trigger one last time. The jerk of his head and body, the thud of his head against the floor might as well have been the sound of shattering glass.
They stood with that disorienting feeling with no tick of the clock, time passing with hours replacing seconds.
She let him take the gun from her hand, she let him touch her this once because she was done. She was damaged that even his touch wouldn't break her anymore.
"Live your life Miss Sullivan, take care of your son and never look over your shoulder" he ordered in the cold detached tone that she knew was his and his alone. Staring up at him with those wide eyes she couldn't help but feel for the first time since meeting they were really seeing each other for who they really was.
Chloe Sullivan and Lex Luthor.
They were equals.
They were both stained.
They had both sinned.
"I should say thank you but after what you've done to me I would never mean it" she admits before he smirks at her and nods.
"And I would never accept it" he admits slipping back into what they had become.
He turns back to his fate, to his sin now and pulls the cell phone from his pocket ready to clear up this one last mess his father had created.
"Am I still the last man you would ever trust Miss Sullivan" he questioned holding her gaze as she breaks her promise to never look back.
"And the last man I ever want to see again or know" she declares truthfully before he nods once more, assured that they both knew where the other stood.
Though both stained and both sinners one of them would always have more sins then the other.
"Goodbye Chloe" he declares and she looks away, looks towards the future she could have now she was stained.
"Goodbye Lex" she whispers but knows it was to the ghosts they had laid to rest because he would never care nor accept her goodbyes.
She no longer existed to him.
She was just one more sin to add to his collection.
He was just one more stain to add to her hands.