A/N: Okay, this is going to be the first Chlex conversation in this story. Can you believe it? So, try and enjoy it, and tell me what you think.
Ch 9
Lex had been so immersed in his own thoughts that he hadn't even noticed when Chloe walked into the waiting room.
He had overheard an inmate telling her brother that another prisoner had died of an apparent drug overdose. Lex had waited for the other man to start asking questions about the death, but it didn't happen.
Lex darted a quick glance at the brother and sister sitting at the table next to him and when he saw the brother's reaction to the news, he could feel a knot begin to form in the pit of his stomach
The brother was nodding, and he had a sympathetic look on his face, but he clearly thought that his sister was delusional.
And after listening to the sister tell her story, and then catching a look at her himself, Lex couldn't really blame him.
She had been telling her brother that a tea bag had slipped more pills then were necessary into the woman's medicine cup, and she had been forced to take all of them. She then went on to say that tea bag had done this before, and that the warden was in on it.
Lex shook his head, his heart full of pity for the brother and his sister, but he never doubted her story that someone had been killed. There were just way too high of a ratio of "death by drug overdose" for any sane person to be comfortable with.
But he was currently sitting in a hospital for the insane, and he realized that the only thing he doubted was that the perpetrator was a tea bag.
And despite himself, he found his eyes drawn to prisoner's face, and when he saw what she looked like, he couldn't make himself turn his eyes away.
Her skin was an unnatural shade of white, and her hair was sticking up all over in unruly knots, but it was the expression in her eyes, a kind of unseeing of the reality around her, which marked her as mentally ill.
It was depressing to admit that if Lex hadn't known better, he would have sworn that the woman had stepped out of a picture of a history book. Unfortunately, it would have had to have been a chapter devoted to Bedlam, because she looked like every stereotype of the insane that the media had ever drawn.
And while he felt sorry for her that her brother didn't believe her, Lex knew that it was the truth, and any misgivings that he had about why he was helping Chloe went out the window.
No matter what differences he and Chloe had, he was not about to let her stay in such a dangerous environment, plan or no plan.
People could be bribed, and Lex was sure that it wouldn't take much to get the prison's warden to agree to a transfer of Chloe and her mom. Of course, Chloe would probably have something to say about it, but they would argue about that later.
He had turned his back to the door, and had walked over to the window, so that he could make his phone call undisturbed, when a familiar voice stopped him.
"I hope you're ordering a pizza, because I'm starved."
He froze in the middle of dialing, and tried to get control of his facial expression before turning around.
An equally snarky reply had been on his lips, but when he was finally able to look fully at Chloe, he found that he couldn't speak over the lump in his throat.
The first thing he noticed was how pale she looked, and there were dark circles under her eyes as if she hadn't slept in days. She looked thinner to him, and much more delicate then he could ever recall seeing her before.
In Smallville, she had been a force to be reckoned with, and he seriously doubted that had changed when she moved back to her hometown of Metropolis.
But in here, behind the prison walls of Fox River, she looked small and fragile, and easily broken, and for some unknown reason, that scared him.
But his being scared wouldn't help Chloe any, and it certainly wouldn't help get her out of this place. So instead, he shoved the uncomfortable feeling away, and took a deep breath to try to speak over the lump in his throat.
But she surprised him by talking again, "Damn, Lex, I didn't know you would get that choked up about Italian food. We can get Mexican if you prefer."
He shot her an incredulous glance, and had already opened his mouth to tell her that she shouldn't be joking at a time like this, when he saw her face.
She was grinning at him. An honest, full fledged smile, and just the knowledge that Chloe hadn't lost any of her feistiness lifted his spirits.
And even though they were in the bleakest of surroundings, he found himself smiling back at her, and giving her an equally sarcastic response.
"Chloe, you know that the only fast food I approve of is Chick-Fil-a."
Chloe rolled her eyes at him, and they shared another grin before they sat down at the table the furthest away from any of the other prisoners or their visitors.
Lex had a bag for Chloe filled with various items that she had asked her dad to bring to her. When Gabe had heard that Lex was making a trip out to the asylum, he had asked him to make the delivery, already knowing that the man wanted to question Chloe.
Lex took the shirt that Clark gave him out of the bag and placed it in front of Chloe. She glanced at the orderly standing guard, and Lex followed her gaze.
"It's alright. Any items to be given to an inmate were already thoroughly searched and cleared, so you're good."
Chloe surreptitiously felt the lining and she could feel the outline of the cell phone. She smiled gratefully at Lex, and then quickly folded the shirt up, and placed it back in the bag.
Lex watched carefully as Chloe's eyes swept around the room, and waited until she was looking at him again. When he was sure he had her attention, he leaned forward and asked, "Chloe, what's going on?"
She glanced once more at the orderly, and lowered her voice for good measure. "I take it you've talked to Lois and Clark."
He nodded his head, and spoke just as low. "Yes, they've played their parts that you asked them too, but I still have questions. Are you prepared to answer them?"
On any normal day, Chloe would have taken offense at his tone, but this was hardly any day. "I'll answer what I can, but first tell me. How is my dad?"
Lex knew that he would never get a straight answer out of Chloe, so he decided to play things her way. "He's okay. Deeply worried about you, but I think that's because he's fully been apprised of your plan. But he's holding it together."
He paused before continuing. "He seems to think I'm going to ride to the rescue. Now why is that exactly?"
Chloe smiled slightly at Lex's wording, but she quickly sobered up. "Let's cut the crap. You know that I'm planning on escaping with my mom, and that we are going to get out through the underground sewer pipes. You also know that I now have my cell phone, and some other handy gadgets in my care package."
This time it was Chloe who paused for emphasis. "Who do you think I'm going to ask to have a car waiting and ready to whisk us out of the country? And whose influence do you think I'm going to need to get my mom into a better equipped and less dangerous facility?"
Once Chloe started, she couldn't seem to make herself stop. "I know this is asking a lot, Lex, because I'm not just asking for financial help, but I'm also asking for you to place your personal freedom and reputation on the line."
She had to stop talking again, but this time it was to wipe the tears out her eyes. "But I swear to God, you will be saving my mother's life, and if everything goes right, many other lives as well."
There was dead silence after Chloe finished speaking, and she found that she couldn't look Lex in the eye. She was embarrassed about her emotional speech, and the only thing she wanted to do was take it all back. It wasn't that she didn't believe what she had just talked about, but she knew that Lex wouldn't be swayed by sentimentality. He preferred to deal in hard facts, and Chloe was afraid that she had just made the case against his helping her anymore just that much stronger.
Lex knew that before Chloe had even started talking that he was going to help her. He would never admit this to anyone, but he sometimes still had nightmares about his time in Belle Reve. His dreams were vague half remembrances that weren't fully formed, but the one thought that always stood out was the fear.
He had been deeply, profoundly afraid in that mental hospital. The only other time he remembered feeling that level terror was finding his mother standing by Julian's crib, with a pillow in her hand.
Lex knew that no one should have to experience what he had, and that the places that housed the mentally ill should be havens of peace and tranquility, and not rundown buildings, filled with dimly light rooms, where shadowy experiments went on.
When he was finally released, he had sworn that he would never let another living soul, even his worst enemy, go though that kind of pain, and torment.
But, he couldn't exactly tell Chloe all of this, so, he decided to try and concentrate on her plan, and to find out what she was going to require of him.
Providing a getaway vehicle was the easy part. Bribing prison officials was an entirely different matter. Lex wasn't adverse to it, but he would need to do more research on the warden and other officials in the Kansas Department of Corrections in order to be able to blackmail them effectively.
He knew that Chloe would want to know what he was planning, but he was going to hold off telling her as long as he could.
So he decided to catch her by surprise with his answer.
He let one minute tick by before he responded to Chloe's request. "Okay," he said.
"Okay?" Chloe repeated. "What the hell do you mean, okay?"
"Okay, as in I help you and your mom escape, and I'll help get her into a better, and safer hospital," Lex explained patiently.
For a moment, Chloe was too dumbfounded to speak. Then before he could react, Chloe was up out of her chair, she had flung herself into his arms, and she was hugging the very breath out of him.
And before Lex could hug her back, Chloe had she let go, and she sat back down in her chair.
She looked at him very seriously, and said, "I know that you have your reasons for helping, and one day, when this is all over, I'll ask you about them, but right now, a 'thank you' is going to have to suffice."
He looked back just as seriously and answered. "Chloe, I don't think I'm ever going to be able to tell you why I'm helping you, so you're just going to have to accept a 'you're welcome' as an answer. Good enough?"
Chloe regarded him, and answered just as coolly. "Good enough. For now."
Lex tried not to smile, because they both knew that there was more going on during their conversation then met the eye, but they had a lot to discuss today, so he was grateful that she was going to let it go.
For now.
