Chapter Eleven
"What is this time Luthor?" Lois demanded as she stormed into his office without knocking or waiting for admittance. Lex sighed, he was used to this but he noticed Chloe jump slightly at the sudden noise.
He ran his hand over the top of her head as she let go of his arm and he stood up, the settee back was so high that no one could see if someone was sitting there from behind. That was probably for the best right now, he did not need Lois seeing Chloe until he had prepared her at least a little.
"Thank-you for coming at such short notice", Lex said neutrally as he strode over to the doors and closed them.
Lois turned to eye him warily. "You knew that I would when I received your message saying that you were finally willing to tell me the truth".
Lex examined her closely. He didn't like Lois that much, he had always been pleased to see how much she cared about Chloe and knew that that affection had cost her dearly these past few years. She always had a slightly haunted look and a glimmer of fear every time she looked at him, - not for herself, he had realised long ago - but that he could have hurt Chloe.
"What is it? What did you do to her?" She demanded, now looking absolutely terrified. It wasn't just the thought that Chloe might be dead anymore, it was the idea that this man might have held her prisoner, might have tortured her … "I swear Luthor if you have hurt her then your name won't save you. I am more than willing to spend the rest of my life in prison if you have touched her …"
"I didn't touch her, she is fine physically at least", she attempted to reassure her.
Lois stared at him in disbelief, that was what she had been dying to hear for years but now that she did she couldn't believe it. It couldn't be true, if it were then she had let her cousin down years ago. She hadn't found her; she had let her be held captive for years. How could Chloe ever forgive her?
She launched herself at Lex, trying to hit him but her emotions made her sloppy and Lex easily out manoeuvred her, grabbing her wrists.
"You are lying".
"I'm not".
"So what, you just kept her here in your mansion to be at your beck and call while we all worried about her?" The tears streamed down her cheeks, thousands of horrifying images whirling around in her head.
"She wasn't in the mansion, she was … elsewhere. But I promise you that she was never harmed", Lex tried to explained. In truth she was taking it about as well as he had expected, hence him wanting to talk to her first. He was worried that Chloe wouldn't be able to deal with such strong emotions, evidently he had underestimated her.
"I'm fine Lois", Chloe's voice came from behind her cousin.
"Chloe", Lois gasped, wrenching herself from Lex's grip and whirling around to see where the voice came from.
"No, you're not", Lois shook her head. This was a cruel trick, to get someone who looked and sounded a bit like Chloe to torture her.
"Yes Lois, I am. Look at me really look at me. Listen to my voice", Chloe held out her hands to her cousin and was shocked to feel how cold they were. "Don't pay attention to the makeup, the clothes or the new hair. Just look at me".
Lois stared at her, comprehension dawning. It was too good to be true, she just couldn't allow herself to believe it. She had had too many dreams where she woke up - still inside her dream – thinking that Chloe's death had just been a dream. She had run down the street after too many people she thought looked a little bit like Chloe.
"Baby?" She whispered and Chloe nodded.
"It's me Lo", she promised her, squeezing her cousin's hands before bringing on to her face to show her that she was indeed real. Then she removed the strap on her dress to reveal the scar that she had had since they were children. "See, here's the proof, no one but you and I know that I have this or how I got it."
The taller girl looked so desperately like she wanted to believe it, but still she doubted. This could all be some cruel practical joke.
"I spilt soda on the carpet of your tree house and you banned me and I said that I didn't care and that I would just go and make a cooler one but as I climbed down we were still arguing, I lost my footing and fell over. You felt guilty and I never told anyone what had happened", Chloe recounted the story.
"If Chloe were alive and tortured she could have told Lex that so that he could pass the new version of you off", Lois wouldn't allow herself to be conned. She would not get her hopes up.
Unfortunately Lex couldn't deny that he would be quite capable of something like that, if it weren't Chloe.
"I would have told him a fake story, one with just enough truth to make him believe it but with something wrong in it so that you would know that I was alive and well", Chloe tried to make her cousin see sense, she could defend Lex later.
Lois appeared to be considering this for a moment before nodding.
"Besides, there is something that I would never have told Lex and he wouldn't have known to ask about", Chloe pointed out as she learnt over and whispered into Lois' ear.
"Chloe", Lois screamed finally, truly believing and threw her arms around her.
"Lois", Chloe replied returning the almost bruising embrace although Lex noticed she still looked a little uncomfortable at first.
"Are you alright? Where have you been? What happened?" Lois demanded in the fashion which showed how she had got so far in her chosen profession.
Chloe looked guilty. "Can we sit down?"
Together they made their way over to the settee and Lex gave Chloe an encouraging smile when she caught his eye before leaving, to give them some privacy.
"I am so sorry Lois", Chloe tried to keep herself together.
"What for?" Lois wondered.
"It's all my fault. I was in love with Clark but he was in love with Lana and I found out that they were together by accident, I was so angry and I wanted to hurt them both, but mostly Clark", Chloe started.
"Understandable. I have half a mind to go and wallop him on your behalf", Lois interjected, wondering how on earth he could prefer Lana to Chloe.
"Well, unfortunately I didn't decide to hit him, I wish that I had. Instead I agreed to do a research project on him for Lionel. I was so angry that I was being pushed out of his life for Lana and that nothing was going right; I wanted revenge", Chloe wondered how long it would take before Lois turned on her.
"Oh Chloe", Lois wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "Lionel is the devil himself".
"I know that now. Hell, I knew that then but I was so blinded by hate that I thought that I could handle it. I couldn't. It turns out that I don't actually like destroying my friends. At first it was easy enough, I just gave him the information that I knew he already had and he gave me so much in return. New computers for The Torch, he got my father a promotion which meant that we could buy a new house, he got me my very own column in The Daily Planet …" She trailed off.
"It all sounds too good to be true", Lois said sadly, she knew that this wasn't going to end well.
"It was", Chloe acknowledged. "Soon he …" She couldn't tell Lois all of what he had really done so she opted for just the bare minimum of details. "He became nastier. He wanted more from me and when I refused to give it to him he decided to take everything away from Dad and me".
Lois rubbed her back.
"I thought that if I could find something bad enough, I could blackmail him …" Chloe could hardly believe how stupid it all sounded now.
"Oh Chloe", Lois moaned, not sure how to comfort her.
"I got in way over my head and I had to go to Lex and beg him to get me out of it", she admitted.
"Did he?" Lois asked.
"Yes".
"And what did he ask for in return?" She couldn't turn off her suspicious mind. She knew that there was something more to this.
"Nothing."
Lois looked incredulous as Chloe continued.
"I gave him all of the information that I had and we agreed that he would protect me and I would testify. Then it would all be over."
"But it didn't happen like that?"
Chloe shook her head. "Lex decided that it was too great a risk to take, he had warned me that I should try to get out, that he could make my Dad and I disappear within an hour if we wanted before we went to the FBI but I refused. I said that I would stand by his side".
"What went wrong?"
"Lex thought that it was too dangerous, and he was right. He heard of a plan that Lionel had to kill me and knew that the FBI could not do the job they had been assigned and so worked with your father and had my father and I grabbed from our safe house just before the explosion that he set up and then pretended that we were dead", Chloe got out in one breath.
"Bloody hell", Lois exclaimed.
"Yeah, it was a bit of a shock for me as well". She couldn't help a rueful smile.
"Where did you go?"
"Oh, here there everywhere", Chloe said with a shrug. She didn't want to go into the details with her cousin.
"Sounds interesting".
"Not really, but I was well taken care of so you don't have to worry about that", Chloe assured her.
"And Lex, he didn't … he didn't hurt you?" Lois asked not quite sure how to phrase her question.
"No, he took excellent care of me from afar. He made sure that I had everything I needed and kept an eye on me", Chloe tried to console her cousin. She did not mention that she suspected that he may have been keeping a rather closer eye on her than she was quite comfortable with.
"So I guess that I owe him an apology for the last few years", Lois thought grumpily.
"Probably, but I don't think that he expects one", Chloe smiled, unable to resist giving Lois another hug.
"If your safe return means that I need to eat crow in front Lex Luthor then … well I don't like you that much actually", Lois joked.
Chloe managed a small laugh but looked uncomfortable.
"Are you back because Lionel is dead? Is that what changed?" Lois asked, not asking why she had not got in touch over the years. She knew enough about how military operations worked, no one got to know, not even the next of kin.
"Yeah, once we got the news. I came home".
"When".
"Yesterday".
"Oh".
"I'm sorry, the first thing that I wanted to do was call you but I thought that you might think that it was some sort of sick practical joke or something. And I …. I didn't know what to say", Chloe finished lamely.
"That's okay", Lois assured her although she was a little hurt, she would have loved to know 24 hours earlier that Chloe was alive and well. "Besides now I can say that there has been one situation that left Chloe Sullivan not knowing what to say".
Lois was living in Metropolis but had been planning on spending the night with the Kents – something she still planned on doing – but she demanded to be shown around Chloe's room first and to take her cousin with her for dinner.
"Alright", Chloe agreed, "but if we are going to let Lex have his office back then I had better go and tell him". It wasn't just that, she wanted to let him know where she was going. If he had demanded to know, she would probably have refused to tell him on the grounds that it was none of his business but she knew that he would worry and as he wasn't being domineering she was happy enough to tell him.
She wandered around for a while before she found him – one of the maids had informed her that he had been headed in this direction -, when she heard his voice in the orangery.
"I don't give a damn Bloom, I don't pay you to think I pay you to know. Your job was to keep her safe and happy and to keep me informed of everything".
Chloe paled.