Title: Wanted (3/?)
Fandom: Smallville
Genre: Angst/Romance
Pairing: Chloe/Lex, hints of Chloe/Oliver, hints of Oliver/Dinah
Rating: R
Spoilers: to the beginning of season 10 to cover myself!
Summary: Sequel to 'Nobody's Pawn'.
Author Note: Comments and reviews are appreciated, however I would like to remind people that this has never been advertised or intended to be seen as a 'dark fic', so please no complaining that you feel cheated.
For the sake of this fic, Oliver never exposed his identity to the world
Lex silently dressed in their bedroom the following morning. The sunlight was breaking through the thick curtains,and onto the bed, shining on Chloe's pale skin.
He couldn't believe she was still sleeping. Normally she woke just before the alarm, but this morning she had slept through it. Even his morning rituals hadn't woke her from her slumbers.
Maybe there was more reason to be concerned with her health than either she or Lois had let on. The Luthorcorp shareholders dinner concluded at a reasonable hour, but here she was, obviously exhausted.
He was tempted to leave her sleeping, but he knew she would be pissed if he allowed her to oversleep.
After adjusting the knot of his tie, he sat next to her on the bed, and ran his hand gently along her naked back.
"Chloe...Chloe, it's gone seven."
She began to stir, and he continued to stroke her soft skin.
"I have to go to work."
She crinkled her nose and let out a soft moan. Her hand snaked across the bed before pulling his pillow over her head.
Smirking, Lex lifted the pillow away, and brushed the hair from her face.
"Come on," Lex pulled the sheet from her completely, and softly swatted her naked ass "If you sleep late, you'll be in a bad mood all day."
"Go 'way."
"If you stay in this bed much longer, I'm calling the doctor."
"Fine." Chloe grumbled into her pillow.
Lex leaned over her and kissed her gently on her cheek. "Don't fall back to sleep."
He smiled as he got up and left the room, ignoring the softly spoken insults directed his way.
Oliver was glad Dinah had left early that morning. If he had to hear one more question about which cake he liked the best, or if he had an opinion on the seating plans, he was going to take his chances and shoot her.
The fact of the matter was, he didn't care. He knew it was wrong. With only a week to go until the wedding, he should be looking forward to his upcoming nuptials; instead he was counting them down like a condemned man.
He knew the exact moment when things took a downward turn. His relationship with Dinah changed the day that Chloe came back into their lives. It wasn't just him who had changed, his fiancee had too.
There wasn't a day that passed without a sarcastic remark, or a jibe worded to get a rise out of him. She practically spat whenever the petite blonde's name was mentioned, and had made it her personal mission to rid their lives of any reminder of her.
She had made sure to do it when he was out of town on business. Every photo, every piece of memorabilia was gone from his apartment. She had gone through his apartment and burned everything she had found there. He knew, because she had kept the ashes to show him. Dinah had even found the robe he'd smuggled from back the McDougal Inn.
Changes had even been made at Watchtower. Dinah had helped Tess to rearrange and replace all of the furniture. She even went so far as to have Bart help repaint the walls. As much as it had upset him at the time, he felt a small victory in knowing that she had obviously forgotten the building itself was legally Chloe's.
Dinah hadn't totally eradicated the ghost of her predecessor. The one room in his apartment she didn't have access to was his arrow room. It was there he had two precious reminders of the only woman he had truly loved.
The first was the photograph he had carried with him for every day she had been missing. Chloe was lying naked in their bed, her hair beautifully tousled from sleep. This was how he remembered her - before she returned hurt and was abducted by Luthor.
The second was her favourite item of clothing - a green leather jacket. He knew that she hadn't bought it with him in mind, but when she wore it, he really felt like they were a matching pair. Sure, her leather was a little less form fitting, but to him it stamped her as the property of Green Arrow.
There were evenings where he shut himself in the room for a few moments peace, and there he could pick out the jacket and hold it close to his face. It still smelled of her, although the scent of her lingering perfume was fading fast. That fragrance alone guaranteed he would be hard for hours.
Lately, those had been the only ways of being close to her. Luthor had found a way to jam Watchtower's access to his mansion's security camera feed, and he was no longer able to keep a track of Chloe.
Thanks to Tess, he now had access again. At first the redhead had called him emotionally disturbed, but he assured her he was looking out for Chloe. Lex was going to hurt her, it was just a matter of time.
He just knew in his gut that she was there against her will. This was Davis Bloom all over again.
Lex was holding something over her head, something that forced her to stay by his side and act the loving wife. Hell, he had even toyed with the idea that she had been brainwashed. Even Emil had admitted the theory could be a possibility. It wasn't as if she was a stranger to Lex's experiments.
It wasn't entirely true, of course. He had become accustomed to watching her daily routine, and it calmed him to see her. Most of the time.
Days like today were the ones he liked the most. With Dinah away at work, he could really relax and enjoy the view.
He was sat watching her on his computer as he reclined slightly in his chair.
Sunlight was bathing her skin as she lay on top of rumpled silk sheets. It was an image so similar to his most cherished photograph, that he wanted to leave for the Luthor Mansion right then, and scoop her up to bring her home.
Very little had changed from the memories he had of them together. Since returning from captivity she had lost the thin, gaunt look, and returned to a healthy weight. He could see it in the curve of her hip and the roundness of her ass. As she turned over to lay on her back and stretched, he was able to appreciate the fullness of her breasts.
God, he missed running his hands over her body.
He missed everything.
Sitting in his office chair he undid his pants as he watched her stand from the bed to retrieve her robe from a nearby chair.
She had to be brainwashed. It was the only explanation. Everything she had said and done since running from him that day - it wasn't the Chloe Sullivan he knew. She wouldn't give up her life so completely, not without a good reason.
He'd rescue her. He just needed to come up with the best plan possible, so they all came out of it in one piece. Who knew what kind of damage had been done to that mind of hers.
Reaching towards the screen, his fingers caressed her image. Chloe would come home to him.
Chloe didn't know what irritated her the most; the fact that her morning shower did nothing to drive away the last remnants of fatigue, or that thanks to Tess, she would have to help co-ordinate a full security sweep of the mansion for bugs after another afternoon of shopping.
Maybe she should finally admit defeat to Lex and hire that stylist.
Her morning was officially off to a bad start, and it didn't help that the champagne she had drunk the previous evening was turning her stomach over. At Lex's functions, she would normally limit herself to two glasses at the most, but last night Tess' presence had her on edge.
She must have had six glasses, easily. Her body just wasn't used to much alcohol, preferring coffee instead, and now she was paying the price.
As she set off for the day, she grabbed a can of ginger ale from the kitchen for the journey, hoping that it would settle the queasy sensation. She was never going to drink on an empty stomach again, no matter how much of a rush she was in.
It didn't take long for her to drive to Miller's Bend, and Chloe picked up her bag for the short walk to the Kawatche caves' entrance.
The place hadn't changed.
The last pictures she had seen of this place had been taken by Jimmy. She had been tempted to use his images for her book, but it felt wrong. He had died because of her and her friends. In her mind, it would be disrespectful to his memory to use his work in a children's book about the people who contributed to his death.
She started to take her pictures, starting with the partially concealed entrance. It wasn't long until her memory card was almost full. She had more than enough to work from visually, but if she could, by chance, take some particularly good shots, it might be enough for the illustrator to use.
Chloe looked through a few of the shots already taken, and frowned at the results. There was a reason that she had written the stories and Jimmy held the camera. She would have to ask the publisher's artists to add a lot more colour and drama to their drawings if they used these pictures as their inspiration.
She turned back to the direction of the entrance, continuing to scan through the pictures.
"Maybe if I had a better camera...maybe more equipment." She mumbled as she tried to brighten the photos using the camera's limited options.
As she deleted the the worst, a shadow fell over the path in front of her.
Feeling a clench in her gut, she looked up slowly.
He hadn't been here in ages, knowing he preferred to travel to his fortress by other means these days.
She noticed that he was keeping his distance, and even there there was the pained grimace on his face. The faint green glow from her jewellry gave an eerie glow to the cave walls. If he came any closer, she didn't doubt he would be crippled on the floor. If he had any sense he would turn and run.
"I'm just leaving." Keeping close to the wall to maintain her distance, she headed towards the entrance.
"What are you doing here, Chloe?"
She waved the camera in the air, "Just taking a few pictures for my book."
Chloe watched his back straighten, and his face take on the defensive scowl she had seen so often over the years.
"Book?"
"It's a children's book, Clark. Not some resident alien tell-all. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised you automatically think the worst of me. It's become habit by now, I suppose."
Chloe didn't want to wait for any retort he may have. She didn't feel the urge to confront people anymore, especially not with her former best friend.
It was strange, but in the last few weeks she had tried to imagine how a conversation between the two of them would go. Despite knowing Lois would have recalled their conversations verbatim, he would ignore his fiancee's opinions and beliefs. She was sure that there would be a righteous speech on his part, channeling the ghosts of his fathers, and she would list everything she had done for him and how he had failed her.
Now, however, she just wanted to get in her car and drive. Anything she said or did had the potential to hurt Lois too, and that was one relationship that she wanted to hang onto for as long as possible.
"You just left. You didn't tell any of us what you were doing, and now you're married to Lex, after everything he's done. There's no reason to trust you, Chloe."
She sighed, and turned back to look at him. As expected, there was that self-righteous look on his face.
"I've lost and sacrificed so much for you, Clark; but there's only so much a person can give while receiving nothing back. In the end, I guess I was the better friend. You never deserved me.
"You know that's not true."
"I gave, and I gave. The one time I really needed you to have my back and you didn't show! I wasn't worthy of a rescue, despite all I've done to protect your secret. You abandoned me while I shielded you from Checkmate. Some best friend."
"I was your best friend."
"And there's your own answer, Clark. I've never been good at surrounding myself with the right people. I just hope that you treat Lois better, because you are a selfish friend. So you had better be good to her, because I swear if you hurt her..."
"You'll what? Have Lex try to kill me?"
Chloe shook her head sadly.
"You really don't know me at all, do you?" She held her hands up, halting his answer. "You know what? I really don't care anymore. Have a nice life, Clark. I hope this is the last time we have to see each other."
She walked briskly from the cave. There was frustration boiling inside of her, and if she stayed much longer it would erupt into something ugly.
It would have been too tempting to list the long line of casualties who had died or sacrificed for Clark Kent's 'destiny'. Maybe she should just email it to him instead.
It would all be pointless. Clark had always failed to see that life was made up of shades of grey, and not the black and white he was so fond of. He was officially the most naive person on the planet, and hopefully one day reality would bite him so hard on the ass he'd have to notice.
Chloe shook her head with a bitter grin.
Unlikely. Very unlikely.
She climbed into her car and dumped her bag and camera onto the passenger seat. Part of her wanted to head straight to Luthorcorp and take comfort in Lex's presence. The other part of her knew that she was being ridiculous, and that sharing her little encounter would only anger him further.
Clark's interference in Lex's marriage to Lana was still something that aggrieved her husband. It wasn't for the loss of the relationship, but for the fact Clark could get so close to someone Lex cared about and influenced them.
She knew that in a small corner of his mind he was waiting for her to leave him.
Sighing, Chloe turned the ignition to her car. She would have to tell him; not letting him know would only make for an argument when he inevitably found out.
Putting the car into reverse, she was just about to release the brake when her door was forced open. The sudden shock had her releasing the brake, but the car didn't move. Clark was keeping the car still by effortlessly holding the door frame.
"What's his plan, Chloe? Where do you fit into it all?"
This was a man she had once loved, and trusted with her life. Now all she felt was fear as her heartbeat quickened and adrenaline ran through her veins.
"Stay away from me, Clark! We have nothing to say to each other any more!" She struggled in vain to pull the door closed, but it didn't budge.
"Tell me!"
"That's just it! I don't fit into your private wars anymore, and this is me trying to have a life away from you. Now, just leave me alone!"
Chloe thrust the hand wearing her engagement ring towards him and grabbed her door with both hands. The proximity of the Kryptonite was enough to make him flinch, giving her the opportunity to grab the door as the car began to pull away.
The metal had warped from his grip and the door no longer shut. She chose to ignore it and kept the car moving, trying increase its speed.
Feeling like she was finally making her getaway, the car jerked to a stop. Clark was holding the front of the car.
"We're having this conversation, Chloe! You're going to tell me."
The look on his face caused her heart to beat even faster. She'd seen it before, shortly before she was smacked halfway across Watchtower.
He dropped the front of the car, the shock making her head spin. Grabbing her bag she sought the small lead box within as the door was finally pulled from the car.
Mentally, she was kicking herself for not strapping herself into her seat. As her fingers grabbed the box in triumph, Clark dragged her from the car by her arm. It felt as though it was being crushed, as he held her in a vice-like grip. She just hoped that he didn't fracture her bones; Lex would already freak at the bruises he would find.
A scream erupted from her throat without her permission as she was planted up against the back door of the car, and she gripped the box tighter.
"I'm not the bad guy here!"
"I've still got a scar or two from when you ran a little short on your ethics." She grit out as she tried to ignore the pain in her arm.
"I'm not the bad guy here! The guy you married is the only person this city needs to worry about!" He shouted.
He could repeat himself all he wanted; it didn't make her feel any safer.
"Then get your hands off me! I'm not going to put up with this bullying bullshit anymore!" Chloe shouted back.
It was time to get angry. She was tired of being treated like crap; like some weak little little thing who was nothing more than a pawn in the games of powerful men. How many times had Clark had the nerve to physically push people round, made his excuses but still claimed the title of 'Good guy'.
She was Chloe Sullivan-Luthor; the woman who had faced down aliens, monsters, and a suicide ready unit. She could take on a man made from steel.
Finally, she had had enough.
When Clark's hand didn't budge, she flicked open the box in her hand. The large piece of meteor rock glowed, and within seconds brought her former friend to his knees.
The arm he had gripped was now numb, but she had a feeling that the pain would soon return as blood found it's way back into the limb.
Cradling the injured arm, she spared a look behind her to see Clark lying on the ground. She would be able to make it far enough away to make an escape before he was up and around.
Jumping into the drivers seat, she buckled up and took off the hand brake, and started to reverse as quickly as she could.
She should have felt guilty as she felt the car run over Clark's legs, but the fact was she knew he would heal as soon as he was away from the green rock. A little sunshine and he would be back to normal. The sharp pains running down her own arm told her that she would be needing a little more than some UV rays to be back to normal.
Saying a silent prayer, she was thankful she drove an automatic. There was no way she would be shifting gears like this, and she just hoped she could make it to the Smallville Medical Center before Clark was back on his feet.
As much as she dreaded the poking and prodding of doctors, she dreaded the fallout with those she loved more. Lex would hit the roof, and Lois?
Lois would probably never speak to her again.