LEX -

Chloe walked around the edge of the desk and leaned against the corner. The small drink that she held in her hand clinked against the larger ring on her finger. She watched as Lex's hands floated carefully over the papers on the antique desk and smiled. Drawing another sip from the vodka and tonic, she continued to watch as the room stayed silent.

Lex glanced out of the corner of his eye and tried not to break his concentration. "You know I have secretaries that could have stayed and helped tonight. Didn't you have aerobics or something?"

"Pilates," Chloe said coyly as she put the empty glass on the bar and returned to her place next to him. "But I would hope the secretaries don't dress like this to keep your mind off business." She smiled as Lex pushed the chair back from the desk and threw the pen down.

Grabbing her around the waist and sliding her over, he undid the one small knot in the silk robe and ran his hand along the see through material that barely covered the rest of her form. Five years later and he still couldn't believe his luck, even though deep down, he knew that she had chosen him on purpose.

He remembered that he had stuck her in the heart with another experimental drug. The girl's body, he thought, would only take so much before it would completely shut down. One way or the other, it would be the last time that he would put Chloe in harm's way. Choosing him, he would make her happy beyond both of their wildest dreams; not choosing him, he would fade into the background. Nightly, as he pulled her body into his, he thanked the heavens she had picked him.

It hadn't been easy the first year. From the time he asked her out in the hospital room, it seemed the world was against them. He wanted to laugh out loud every time he remembered their first date to a charity ball. One of Lex's old dates who had never quite gotten over her earrings stepped on the edge of Chloe's dress 'on accident' and sent the barely legal woman to the floor.

He seriously thought it was over as Chloe reached around, hiked her dress back over her bosom that was now pressed bare against the floor. Standing up, she smiled shrewdly in Lex's direction and then at the woman. "Good thing they put these back up straps in the dress."

Lex watched as a room of his high society friends didn't know whether to gasp or laugh as Chloe dug the straps for the hangers out and pushed her arms through them. As she approached him, she just beamed. "Now I think we still need to dance."

And that's how they had started. The society page had ripped her and she didn't care. She simply went up to the writer at the Daily Planet, had a few words, and got a retraction without his help.

That had been the fight it seemed for the first year. What society thought and what they thought. Clark didn't care much for the relationship but had cooled his heels on Chloe when Lois Lane blew into town. Jimmy had moved from bimbette to bimbette like what Chloe had remembered from high school and Oliver was still only the acquaintance from Lex's school reunions and charity functions.

"Where are you?" Chloe slid her legs through the sides of the chair and balanced her weight on Lex's lap.

"About two years ago." Chloe turned and looked at him. "Just the fact that at first you wouldn't even tell me when our moment was and every time that we were together after those visions, I wondered if this was the moment I would regret."

Chloe stopped running her hands along his neck and pouted. "Do you regret it?"

Lex looked up at his wife and wrapped both hands around her face. "Never." Feeling her dip into him, he opened his mouth, welcoming the taste of her drink on his lips as he remembered what he had gone through for her.

Gabe had been the biggest problem. The man had lost his wife and wasn't about to let his daughter go as well. Even after the two had made their relationship public, Gabe didn't want Lex to have anything to do with his daughter, seeing that her visits to the emergency room seemed to always involve him.

He had knocked on the door to the simple frame house they had acquired after the trial and after he got Gabe's position back. Lex waited until the door opened. Gabe had stood there, just staring, knowing that after a year of dating what usually came next. "I guess you're not here for the mortgage payment."

Lex waited on the step until the older gentleman motioned silently for him to come in. "Sir."

"Sit." Lex swallowed and planted himself in the first chair he could find. He wanted to look around the house, thinking that Chloe couldn't have been far away. He watched Gabe pace, only to stop and put a glass of water in front of Lex. "She's my only little girl. If you hurt her, I will spend the rest of my days in prison just to see you dead."

Lex could only nod as Gabe stopped. "She loves you. She gave up a lot for you already. Don't you dare ignore her. She is not a file on your desk, or subsidiary that only needs to be inspected a couple times a year. If I ever hear her cry and your name is attached, your father will not be considered the scary one."

Lex watched as the man sat down in the seat across from him. "She's next door. I didn't want her listening." Lex continued to stay silent. "Go get her."

"Earth to Lex? Looking for aliens in your brain again honey??" Chloe pulled his face up to look at her.

"No, I was thinking about when I was going to ask your dad if he would give his blessing. You know I never got to the asking part." Chloe leaned back in the chair and laughed as Lex caught her.

"Daddy?"

The two tried not to fall out of the chair as a small voice came from the entrance to the office. Chloe pulled her legs out of the chair as carefully as possible and kissed Lex on the cheek. The little three year old with red hair rubbed her eyes and padded across the floor. "I had a bad dream."

Lex scooped up the child and glanced at his wife. Sex would wait another day. "Come on, how about some Cinderella and rocky road in mommy and daddy's bed tonight?"

As the two walked out of the office, Chloe sat and stared at where she was now. Saying yes to Lex had been something totally unexpected and yet fit so perfectly. Reaching for the light on the desk, she noticed the RSVP for Lois and Clark's wedding. They still needed to pick up the flower girl dress, but that could wait for the weekend.