Part Ten
Lex wiped a trickle of sweat from his brow as he helped getting the last of the boxes up to Chloe's new (or should that be old?) bedroom. Gabe was right behind him and after he dropped the final box on Chloe's unmade bed, he stretched his back he looked around with a satisfied smile, "Well that looks about everything. I am sure that it will be all over her floor within the hour".
"You don't think that she will be focusing on her private Wall of Weird first?" Lex asked.
"Probably", Gabe said before the implication caught up with him. "How did you know about that?" Gabe asked, his eyes narrowing. He was fairly certain that Lex knew more about them than he had let on, but sneaking around their home …
"I didn't. I just guessed, she had one at school so it seemed likely that she would have had one at home too", Lex explained. He was not used to explaining himself to people, he could normally go months, if not years without having to do so but in one day with the Sullivans he had already had to explain more than he had had to in the previous year. He should be angry.
"She did have one", Gabe nodded, seeming to accept Lex's explanation. "Speaking of Chloe, I should probably go and tell her that we are done so that I can take over dinner preparations and she can come and tell you where to put everything".
Lex grinned, the man certainly knew his daughter. A thought then occurred to him. "How did you get her to do it?"
"Do what?" Gabe wondered.
"Let us carry the boxes up here without her". There had been a bit of an argument on the subject and he really couldn't work out how anyone was supposed to really win any dispute against Chloe; it was hard enough to get her to relent … and even when you did, she didn't stay down for long.
Gabe stared at him disbelievingly for a minute or two before he burst out laughing. He found it so funny that his legs couldn't support him and he collapsed onto the bed - disturbing several boxes -, holding his sides to keep them from splitting. When he finally calmed down enough to answer Lex, he was wiping tears from his eyes.
"She isn't that bad", he declared. "Well alright, to you she probably is. But I just told her that I wasn't going to discuss it any further, she was going to go and supervise the lasagne (by which I mean snack on carrot sticks) and I was going to carry the boxes".
"I tried telling her that I was going to carry the boxes and that was that, but it didn't work", Lex groused.
"Well of course that didn't work! God, what did they spend their time teaching you in school?" Gabe looked at him in a slightly paternal way. "First of all, if you use that tone of voice with Chloe she will rebel. You could tell her to do something she wanted and had already decided to do and she would still rebel".
Lex smirked, he had already worked out that much about Chloe.
"Second of all", Gabe held up a second finger to indicate his point, "I'm her Dad".
"So she has to do what you say", Lex finished for him.
Gabe snorted. "So she doesn't want to worry me".
"Look Lex, I haven't always been the best father to Chloe, I haven't given her everything that she needed and I certainly haven't been able to replace her lost mother, but it has been just us since she was three. We love each other fiercely and Chloe has looked after me just as much through the years as I have her", he tried to explain.
Lex nodded, but could not really understand a relationship like that.
"She knows that I am over bearing and over protective, and that I always will be because to me she is the earth, the moon and the stars. But more than that, she knows that I see her for what she is, a strong, confident, intelligent young woman … who also just happens to be my little baby. She might need to prove herself to the rest of the world, prove that she is not her mother's daughter, but not to me." He looked straight at Lex, trying to see if he really understood what he was trying to tell him.
"I am not sure that carrying a box proves anything", Lex muttered.
"Probably not, but it does to her. But it is also about protection. As I am sure you know", he didn't add "through your research", "her mother left when she was very young, her aunt died only a year later, her younger cousin was sent off to boarding school and her uncle and Lois travelled all over the world. She has lost almost everyone who was ever important to her, she's desperate not to lose me too. She wants to look after me, because as we can both see", he patted his stomach, "I am a wilting flower who clearly needs his daughter's help".
The joke did not succeed in lightening the mood though.
"How is your heart condition?" Lex inquired, "You haven't been to see a doctor".
"No, I haven't. But it is completely cured and has been for a while". He left it at that and the look he gave Lex told him not pursue it.
For once Lex did as he was supposed to and let the matter drop, but could not stop himself from asking the other question that had been plaguing him. "What did you mean: has to prove that she is not her mother's daughter?"
"That she is not someone who only takes from others", Gabe explained in a monotone, as he got to his feet.
"I know about the divorce settlement", Lex said as the older man started to make his way towards the door.
He paused. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"
"I have a team of excellent lawyers, they could get you out of the payments, I'm sure. Besides, Chloe is 16, Moira would have no power", Lex pointed out.
"No", Gabe spoke with an authority that Lex had rarely heard before. Seeing Lex's questioning look he continued, "Chloe can never know about that arrangement. She can never know that her mother doesn't care".
The hurt in his eyes as he said that, pierced Lex's soul. He tried to think of something to say but Gabe just smiled tightly at him and announced, "I am going to go and fetch Chloe".
Lex just nodded and sat down on spot Gabe had just vacated on Chloe's bed. How could someone not care about Chloe? His head lolled back and he contemplated the ceiling. It was stark white like the rest of the walls in the house. It had been a new build – used as a show home – when they have brought it and they hadn't had the chance to do much to it since then, to say that they had been busy would have been a terrible understatement.
As Lex thought about it, he couldn't work out if he had seen any signs of the Sullivan touch so far.
They lived at the end of a cul-da-sac right next to the golf-club; it was a quiet, leafy area. Other than the mansion, it was definitely the most exclusive postcode in Smallville. He approved of it as an area for Chloe's father, and was happy that this meant that they would have access to the club and its leisure facilities. Chloe looked as if she could use a massage and as he doubted that she would allow him to help relieve her tension, that was the next best thing.
The front garden was neat but exactly the same as all of the other ones on the street. Whilst he did not actually know what kind of flower Chloe preferred he was willing to bet that it was not the insipid pink roses that littered the area, those seemed more fitted to Lana. He thought that Chloe would probably prefer either something simple and elegant like a daisy or something more colourful.
The house itself – like all of the ones on the new development – was mock English Victorian but with an American twist, the twist being the double garage. The redbrick double frontage was imposing but welcoming with crisp white windows and a black door. Lex was pleased to notice a spy hole and chain on the door as well as a full alarm system as he entered.
Inside the house was pretty neutral as well, from what Lex had glimpsed at least. The house felt a little cold from not having been lived in for so long – Lex had not actually have anyone living there whilst 'renting' it - but now that the heating was on it was warming up nicely. The hallway and what little he had seen of the other rooms, all had traditional honey coloured parquet hard wood floors in a zig zag pattern leading up to a central staircase which was also in the traditional style. Lex had wondered whether the Sullivan's preferred the traditional style or if this was just what they ended up with. He had looked around at the furniture for a better idea. He had not had chance to explore the rest of the house on his way to and from the U-haul. The only piece of furniture he had really noticed on his journeys had been in the hallway.
Hanging from the ceiling there had been a modest chandelier, which reflected nicely off the large mirror on the wall. The only piece that really spoke of their style there was the hall table which was an elegant walnut piece, but of course, he could not tell if that had come with house or was something that they had acquired. He had not enquired either as he had noticed that it was now covered with letters they had received but not received during their absence.
Well he was in her room now, that should give him some indication. Lex looked around, it was hard to make anything out really under all of the boxes – there were far more there than there had been in the apartment and Lex had to conclude that a large number of them have been in the loft or the basement.
She didn't have much furniture actually. Chloe's room was the second largest bedroom in the house, with a walk in wardrobe which led on to her own en suite. More to the point, it had its own office attached, so there was hardly anything in her actual bedroom except for her bed which was one almost as large as the ones at the mansion. It was clear that Chloe liked her space.
Still, a bed was not necessarily a good indication. Now, a desk, there was a far better clue as to her style. He made his way into the office and looked at her desk.
"Still sneaking around Luthor?" He heard a voice behind him.
Lex whirled around to see Chloe grinning at him from the doorway.
"Just looking at your desk", he replied honestly.
"It is great, isn't it?" She beamed as she bounced over to it and stroked it affectionately. We couldn't find a good one so Dad made me this one. It was a bit big for my last – well, last before we moved here for the first time – bedroom, but when we got here Dad said that I had enough space to have this one here", she indicated to its present position under the large window, "and another smaller one over here", she pointed to the side where there was another window. The wall behind them was completely a bookcase.
"I see", Lex nodded.
"That way I have one for work and one of general", Chloe smiled, clearly delighted to be reunited with her beloved desk.
Lex studied it carefully, it was large certainly but other than that he could not really see the appeal. It was as big as four doors put together but appeared to be made out of the plywood and had then been painted with a cartoon globe with fake postcards from Chloe to her Dad stuck all over it, saying things like "Ciao Babbo! Just brought the Berlusconi administration to its knees with a scathing editorial. Weather's hot, as are the coffee, pizza and the men. Wish you were here … but not that much because you would cramp my style. Love Chloe". Then it had been laminated so that it would not be damaged.
He looked underneath but couldn't see anything else.
"Draws are on the other side", Chloe pointed to the back wall. In the centre of her wall of bookcase, there were too columns of drawers.
"Practical".
"Extremely".
"No wall of weird?" He asked.
"No, I did have a servant all lined up to come and put it up for me but he is wasting time nosing around", she smiled to show him that she was joking.
"Good help is hard to find".
"Tell me about it".
"The trick is not to pay them by the hour".
"Ah, I will remember that when serving up the lasagne", Chloe said.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Just start unloading stuff, books mostly", Chloe suggested as she looked around at the mess. "I need to get started on my closet".
"No problem".
Chloe walked to the door where she paused and said, "Thanks Lex".
"For what?" He tried to be dismissive, he thought of something else to add but he stopped himself. He didn't want to be vulnerable in front of her, but maybe if he wanted her to trust him and be opened with him, he had better start by setting the example. He girded himself. "This is what friends do".
She gave a nod and left to battle with her clothes. She would never know how much that nod had meant to him. Determined to prove himself a good friend Lex got to work on the books, making a mental note of everything she owned and noticing that they were all categorised. He liked that obsessive tendency.
He was rather impressed that by the time that he had finished, her books filled all of the space. He then looked around for something else to do, he set her computer up on the desk – although didn't turn it on, he was learning about privacy – and realised why it was so important to Gabe that Chloe had a large desk, she was not too near to the screen. He moved her chair into place and found her knickknacks and put them on her desk before emptying the rest of the boxes marked drawers into their rightful place.
Only when there was nothing left did he make his way back into the bedroom, he had wanted to leave it perfectly for her so that the next time she wanted to write a story she could just go in there and get down to it. He knew that adversity would not stop her doing something, but he didn't want her to suffer if he could possibly help it.
When he went back into the other room he noticed that Chloe was nowhere to be seen. She did not seem to have done anything in the room, he popped his head into the closet and saw her sitting on the floor looking into her bag intently, in between rows of perfectly ordered clothes and shoes. She had more clothes than Lex had realised.
"What are you doing?" He asked as he walked into the small room casually.
Chloe jumped and he swore that he had seen a flash of panic in her eyes as she shoved whatever it was she had been looking at back into her bag.
Lex was at her side in a second, wrestling the bag out of her grasp. "What is it Chloe?"
"It's nothing", she tried to explain but Lex was already going through her bag.
"Lex, what do you think that you are going? Didn't we already have a talk about going through other people's stuff?" She huffed, trying to get her bag back.
"Yes, but you are hiding something from me. Is it about the plan tonight?" He demanded.
"What? No. I thought that you were my Dad", she said, as if that explained everything.
"What? What would you be hiding from Gabe?" Lex questioned, although of course the box from earlier would probably have been worth hiding from Gabe.
Chloe sighed, seeing that he was not going to drop this. "Fine", she pulled a different, much smaller box out of her bag, opened it, pulled a bundle of letters out of it and handed them over to him. "That is what I was hiding from him. They are letters from my Mom, I don't show them to him because I don't want him to think that I miss her or that he is not enough for me".
Lex looked at her in confusion, the letters in his hand certainly said that they were from Moira Sullivan but she had reverted to her maiden name and Lex knew well that she had never sent anything to Chloe.
"They are the most beautiful letters that I have ever received, they remind me what love truly is and of who I want to be. The kind of person, the kind of woman I would like to be seen as one day", Chloe explained.
Lex felt sick. He knew that these couldn't have come from Moira; the only explanation was that Gabe had written them, not wanting Chloe to be upset. He didn't know what to do.
"They talk about the places she has been, the things that she has seen. She even explained to me why she left, that it wasn't because she didn't love me but because she felt like she could not be a mother until she found herself and that that is what she is doing travelling around the world and travelling as much as she is, she cannot visit", Chloe explained.
Lex gulped. Gabe really had covered all of the bases. It was sweet in a twisted way – which was a way that Lex could understand. Gabe had been so desperate for his daughter not to be hurt or realise what a bitch her mother was, he had essentially created a new one for her.
"They remind you of what love is?" He checked, feeling his heart break. She would be hurt if she ever found out the truth, he couldn't do that to her, but he couldn't lie either when it was obvious that they could not, in fact, be from her mother.
"Yes", Chloe smiled, "she really is an amazing woman".
"Yeah, really fucking amazing", Lex muttered out loud, accidently. Chloe gave him a strange, unreadable look.
"What is really amazing about her is the fact that she has managed to write to me from all over the world and be so sweet and caring when you and I both know that she lives in Granville", Chloe said as if it were nothing.
Lex shook his head, "You always knew?"
"Of course. I remember my mother Lex, I know that my Dad thinks that I don't, but I do. The sad thing is that once I got over the shock, I wasn't even sad that she was gone. I was just worried that my Dad might go too and then …"
"What?" Lex questioned gently.
Chloe looked down at her hands which were wringing together in her lap, she wasn't sure how they had got onto this topic or why she was confiding in him but as she looked back up at him she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she could trust him.
"I was worried because my Dad went through much being married to her and during the divorce – he never says anything but I know that it was a living nightmare for him. He did it all for me, and I worry that I won't be good enough to make what he went through worth it. I worry that there is too much of my mother in me, that I won't be able to fight it".
Lex sighed, now it made sense: the box, the yelling, everything.
He cupped her face, "Chloe, you are the most infuriating person I have ever met. You let your curiosity get the better of you time and time again; you have no concept of where the line is. You get angry over things that have no importance at all. You have almost too much spunk. You won't accept help from anyone. You try to do everything yourself even when it means that you end up run down. You are beyond stubborn and worst of all when you see someone in trouble you go in without thinking about your own safety. Most of which proves that you are not your mother. You are incapable of turning your back on anyone, least of all your own flesh and blood".
"Chloe, Lex, dinner's ready!"
"Do you think that my Dad told Clark to call earlier?" Chloe wondered she watched Lex climb to his feet and offer his hand to her.
She regarded it for a second before accepting it and getting to her feet.
"I wouldn't put it passed him".