Chapter 27
Chloe's apartment…the following morning…
The telephone was ringing. Why the Hell was the telephone ringing?
What time was it anyway?
Lex tried to sit up but realized there was a weight on his chest. A warm, soft weight.
He opened his eyes, looked down and saw a pool of blond hair spread across his chest and further down - pale, silky skin.
Chloe. Well, he certainly wasn't going to complain about that.
The telephone on the other hand…
Whose brilliant idea was it to turn their telephones back on?
Oh, right. His.
Because his office might call. Or Chloe's office. Or Chloe's father. Or Bruce might take his head out of his ass and call one of them.
As much as they might want to, they couldn't cut themselves off from the world entirely. So when they had gone to bed the night before, or rather, when they had finally gone to sleep, he had suggested that they switch their phones back on.
What the devil had he been thinking? Cutting themselves off from the world seemed like a perfectly fine idea. Especially since he had no meetings scheduled today, and Chloe was, as of yesterday, officially on vacation.
Mercifully, the telephone stopped ringing.
Lex sighed in relief and went back to languidly running his fingers through Chloe's hair, a task that took far more concentration than he would have thought given that he was trying to do it without waking her up. He probably should stop at some point but…not right now.
Chloe moaned in her sleep and hitched her leg higher up against his, creating a good amount of friction. Lex began visualizing various methods of waking Chloe up, each more pleasurable than the last.
Then the telephone started up again.
Fuck!
That wasn't one of them.
This time Chloe heard it, and she was no happier about it than he was.
"Whose brilliant idea was it to turn the phones back on?" she muttered, sounding very much like someone had attacked her vocal chords with a power sander.
She shifted over him to reach for the offending device and Lex had to take a deep breath to calm down various parts of his body that reacted as she did so.
There was still a mop of hair covering her face when she placed the receiver to her ear.
"Hello?" she all but growled into the phone. Lex had to chuckle. God help the person on the other end.
"...As a matter of fact, you did…Ted, do I need to remind you that you're the one who told me to try and relax? I was following orders…Oh, shut up; I do so follow orders, most of the time…."
Ah, Ted Dandridge. At this hour? Was the man out of his mind? Lex then peered at his watch on the nightstand and realized that the workday had actually started for most people. Imagine that. He couldn't recall the last time he'd stayed in bed past seven, let alone eight.
Chloe sat up onto her knees and blew out a puff of air out to get her unruly hair out of her eyes. She held the sheet up to her chest as she spoke. "OK, I'm sort of awake now, what is it?"
Sensing the conversation might be work-related and thus not for Chloe to necessarily share with him, Lex sat up, kissed her shoulder and gestured to her that he was getting out of bed.
She nodded and mouthed the word 'coffee' to him with a pleading look on her face.
He shot her a look that reminded her that he was not an idiot and pulled on his boxers and t-shirt.
A few minutes later, having washed up and started the coffee maker, Lex was leaning against the counter skimming a newspaper article about some late-night gang activity that had been thwarted by Batman when Chloe appeared. She had pulled on a nightshirt than fell just above her knees and tamed her hair a bit but she was clearly still in Sleepy Chloe Mode, which was to say, pretty cranky.
"Everything OK?" he asked.
"Is the coffee ready?"
"Not yet."
"Then, no." she pouted.
"I was lying, it is ready," Lex laughed.
"What possible motivation would you have to lie to me about the availability of coffee?"
"To see your face turn that color." he quipped, pouring them both large cups.
When he turned, mugs in hand, she was seated up on the counter across from him, with one leg crossed over the other.
He frowned immediately. Evil woman. Hadn't they covered this?
She noted the look on his face at once. "Is this bad?" she asked, gesturing to her position.
"Depends, do you actually want to drink your coffee now or do you want to christen this counter now?"
"Christening the counter sounds like fun, but I need coffee first…and I need to talk to you about something."
"Then you should sit in a chair."
Chloe rolled her eyes and slid down onto a nearby stool. "Is it my fault you have a one track mind?"
"In this particular case, yes."
Once Chloe had what seemed like a sufficient amount of coffee in her, he asked. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"
"Oh, yeah…that was Ted on the phone."
"I thought you were on vacation."
Chloe shot him a look that indicated, as Lex had suspected, that she had a very different definition of vacation than the rest of the world.
"Whatever, here's the thing, Ted's heard about an opening in the company that he thinks I might be good for. It's not exactly a promotion; it's more like a change in duties."
"What is it exactly?"
"Training. Training new investigators about stuff that's not in the manual, so to speak. Showing them real-world investigative techniques that they might not otherwise think of. What's legal, what's not, the gray areas, that sort of thing."
"Sound right up your alley, especially the gray areas part, but it also sounds like you'd be bored out of your skull in three months."
Chloe grinned. "Funny, that's what he said."
"Smart man. I'm serious, Chloe. If you don't have an active mystery in your hands on a regular basis, you'll go insane. No one who knows you can think otherwise."
"Exactly, which is why he never suggested this to me before."
"So why suggest it now?"
Chloe took another long gulp of her coffee. "Ummmm, a couple of reasons…for one, he's come up with a way to reduce the insanity potential of the job and two…." She trailed off.
"Two—?"
"He thinks there's a greater chance that I'd accept it now given where it would be based."
"Which is?"
"Our headquarters…in Metropolis."
Oh. "Oh."
"That's it? 'Oh'?"
"What do want me to say?" He had plenty to say, he just wasn't sure she wanted to hear it.
"Some indication of an opinion one way or another would be appreciated."
"I do have an opinion. It should be very obvious what my opinion is."
"It's not."
Was she serious? How could it not be obvious? "Do you honestly think I would have no opinion on the prospect of having you in Metropolis. With me? All the time?"
"It wouldn't be all the time, it wouldn't necessarily be with you in the same place, and you could very well have a negative opinion."
That last part was true, he could. Just not in this lifetime.
"I don't. Negative is, in fact, the very last word I would use to describe my opinion on this."
"Lex, we've been doing…whatever this is…for just over a week. We haven't even defined it yet! Wouldn't my moving to Metropolis be kind of— oh, I dunno— weird? Like I was invading your space?"
"Are you referring to one of this country's largest cities as 'my space' because while I am quite flattered, there are several million other people who live there…"
"Lex…"
"…and I have been known to let them roam around the place without supervision from time to time…"
"Are we going to have a serious conversation about this or not?" she was getting a little irked by his teasing, as evidenced by the rising color in her cheeks.
Lex set down his coffee cup, placed his hands on either side of her face and kissed her very gently. "You are very sexy when you're annoyed at me, you know that?"
"Evidently, I am going to be sexy pretty damn often in this relationship!" Chloe exclaimed, with a look of serious determination on her face. She clearly hadn't thought through what she said.
It was all too much for Lex to take. He laughed at her. Hard.
Finally the absurdity of what she said seemed to dawn on Chloe, she folded her arms and scowled at him, but with no real malice in her eyes. "If you're quite finished laughing at me…"
Lex coughed twice to still his laughter and held up his hands. "OK, I'm done. I'll be serious. Let me put it this way, it doesn't matter to me if you take the job or not."
"What?" she looked hurt.
"It doesn't matter to me if you take a job in Metropolis or Madagascar. I don't care if you're an investigator for Allied Insurance or a tour guide on the Great Wall of China, I plan on figuring out a way to be wherever you are, for as long as you want me to be."
Chloe's face crumpled up briefly, as if she were trying not to cry. "That's really sweet…. But what if we get sick of each other? If it actually does get weird, and you do think I'm invading your space?"
"It's just as likely that you'll think that I'm invading yours."
"That's true."
Lex frowned. "You didn't have to agree with me so quickly."
"We're off topic here! What happens if we get sick of each other?"
"Do you plan to get sick of me?"
"Well no, but I didn't plan to fall for you in the first place. I didn't plan to get thrown off a pier. I didn't plan to spend a week in the Batcave, and I didn't plan to figure out that Batman was, in fact, your best friend in disguise. Evidently, I'm a pretty poor planner."
"All valid points. Although, to be fair, no one could have predicted this particular series of events so I don't think it reflects poorly on your planning skills."
"Gee, thanks."
"You're welcome. How about this, how about we simply promise to act like adults in the extremely unlikely event that we do get sick of each other, need more space, or things get, as you say, weird?"
Chloe made a face at him.
"Weird-er." Lex added.
"Act like adults? That's your plan?"
"Yes."
"Your plan needs work. Luckily, we have some time to correct that." Chloe pecked him on the cheek, hopped off the counter, and left the kitchen.
"Hello?!" called Lex. "Where are you going?"
"Upstairs. To get dressed," she shouted back.
"Why?"
"I need to see a man about a job."
Lex smiled. He might actually get the hang of this boyfriend thing.
Allied Insurance Bldg.…Two hours later…
They were waiting in her office at Allied for Ted to get out of a meeting when Lex brought up Danny. Chloe was surprised it had taken him this long.
"So, do you need me to take care of the Danny thing?"
Chloe arched her eyebrow at him as she packed up all of her LW Tech files for the shredder.
"Take care?"
"Relax, I meant 'take care' in the non-lethal sense. Although, in this case, I will admit to being tempted to take something from the Old Lionel Luthor Playbook but it would be overkill, no pun intended. I can't blame the kid for having a crush on you. Greater men than him have met a similar fate."
Chloe smirked at him. "A great many great men, in fact, just for your information."
The smile faded from Lex's face. "Like who?"
Chloe ignored his question. "Thanks for the offer but I've got the Danny thing covered."
Lex waved his index finger at her with mock seriousness. "I'm going to need names."
"You're going to need to get over it."
A knock on the door interrupted Lex's next inquiry.
"Come in!"
It was Ted. "Miss Sullivan, I think I might actually see you more now that you're on vacation. Why is that?"
Lex settled into a nearby chair. "Maybe because she's not, I don't know, hanging off a building or trapped in cave somewhere. Morning, Ted."
"That might have something to do with it. Good morning, Mr. Luthor," agreed Ted.
"Call me Lex."
Ted nodded, and turned to Chloe. "So, you ready to talk?"
"Yup. Shoot." She leaned back against her desk. When Ted looked questioningly at Lex, she waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry. He can stay. This affects him too."
"OK, if that's what you want. Now, here's how this position would work: training for new classes of investigators starts every six months. They spend three months in Metropolis with an instructor, and then get three months with a senior investigator in whatever office they are assigned to. Therefore, we'd only need you in Metropolis for the three months of initial instruction time."
"And the rest of the time?"
"The rest of the time, I get you back here, working our office's cases."
Chloe eye's flicked over to Lex. His face gave nothing away.
"So basically, I'd be a part-time investigator and part-time instructor. Three months at a time of each."
"Exactly. No time for you to get bored doing either, I still get to have you on my team and we get your help in making new...versions of you, basically. Hell, short of just cloning you, it's the best arrangement I could hope for."
"Yes, but there's nothing quite like the original." Lex drawled from his chair, causing Chloe to roll her eyes.
"Would I get to develop my own training materials and the format of the classes?"
"Well, within reason. Obviously, Allied would need to look everything over to make sure all the methods you were advocating were…legal."
Chloe pretended to mull this over. "Spirit of the law legal or letter of the law legal?"
"CJ——"
"Just kidding."
Ted glanced at Lex quickly again before speaking again, this time more quietly. "And there would also be a corporate apartment for you to use in Metropolis…if you need it. Salary and benefits would be the same as what you are getting now. You report to me and the Director of Training, but mostly me. That's pretty much it. It's yours if you want it."
Chloe thought about the scenario for several minutes. She'd still be an investigator part of the time, still doing what she truly loved but teaching the new recruits had a certain appeal, as well. And then there was the issue of Lex. Being with him in Metropolis so they could explore their new relationship without living on airplanes was certainly appealing. But this was all still very early… Too early?
"Would I be able to switch back to full-time investigating if I decide I don't like training…or if something else happens?"
Ted understood what she was saying. "At any time."
"I get the same level of cases to work on when I'm here?"
"Without question."
"Well, then I guess I'll do it. What do I have to lose?"
Ted pumped his fists. "Yes! I was hoping you'd go for this."
Lex smirked at Ted's reaction. "I'll bet you were. I imagine this method is a lot cheaper than actually cloning her."
Chloe shook her head. "Ignore him; he's only this sarcastic when he's happy." She leaned forward and gave her boss a quick hug. "Thanks, this means a lot to me. And to him, only he's not going to say it out loud."
When she pulled back, she asked. "So, when do I start?"
"Next training class starts in six weeks. We'll need you to get started on a draft of the course outline and training materials in a couple weeks but…in the meantime, young lady…"
"Ugh, have you been talking to my father?"
"…In the meantime, you are supposed to be on vacation." He turned to Lex. "Do you think you can manage to keep her away from this building for longer than twenty-four hours?"
"I've tried. She keeps finding her way back here. And you calling this morning didn't help matters."
"Point taken. Here's a suggestion, try taking her farther away from this place than across town."
Lex looked as if a light just flashed on in his head. "Why didn't I think of that?" He pulled out his cell phone and started dialing.
Chloe groaned at Ted. "Thanks a lot."
"Don't mention it. Send me a postcard, will you? I'll see you in a week?"
Lex waved two fingers at both of them as he spoke into his phone.
"Looks look two weeks. Well, enjoy yourself." Ted turned to leave, then he remembered something. "By the way, you wouldn't happen to know why Danny Peña's been pulled in for his mandatory annual physical twice in the last week, would you?"
Chloe felt the color rise to her cheeks immediately and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lex put his party on hold so he could listen in on this conversation as well.
"Ah…well, we're all required to take annual physicals if we want to stay in the field, right? Hence the word 'mandatory'."
"Yes, but Danny just had his in April and now, all of sudden, they call him again? And twice in a week? That's a weird definition of annual." Ted asked, with narrowed eyes. "Spill it, CJ."
"What makes you think I know anything about it?"
"Because when I looked out my window this morning, the sky was still blue! Now tell me what you did so I know if I need to fix it!"
"OK, …it's... possible that Allied's HR database keeps…losingthe records of Danny's physicals. When that happens, the system automatically generates a request for him to go again."
Ted sighed. "I see. And how long will the HR database keep 'losing' his records?"
"For the next month...at least."
"CJ!!!"
"What?!! He could have given my dad a heart attack!"
"I am aware of that but….I swear, one of these days…" Ted rubbed at his temples. "Tell you what, if the HR database could be 'fixed' by the end of next week, I wouldn't see a need to let anyone else know about this little glitch. Do we have a deal?"
"Deal."
"One last question, did you have to make them completephysicals?"
Chloe rolled her eyes. "No point in doing it otherwise."
"Very true." Ted grudgingly agreed.
Lex, however, still looked confused. "Excuse me? What's the big deal about a bunch of physicals? Does Danny have a problem with doctors?"
"He will now," Chloe snorted.
Even Ted was having a hard time not smiling. "The thing of it is, someone ordered Danny's physicals to be what we refer to ascomplete meaning everything in the standard physical exam…plus a BCS." Ted shot Chloe a glare. "And those are only supposed to be done under special circumstances, young lady."
Chloe pretended to find her fingernails very fascinating. "The system must think these are special circumstances."
"Is someone going to tell me what a BCS is?" Lex pressed.
Chloe and Ted looked at one another and answered in unison. "Body Cavity Search."
End chapter.
