Chapter 23-Just Breathe

Chloe climbed out of her jeep. She grabbed the bag of Chinese food and glanced at the box of meteor rocks. She decided to leave it in the car. She set the box with some other boxes that were still in her car. They had her belongings in them from when she was moving in with Lex. She had yet to bring them inside.

It was 5:00, she was only 15 minutes late, but she knew Lex wouldn't be mad. She jogged to the door and unlocked it. Opening the door she yelled, "Lex! I'm home."

Silence.

"Lex?" She yelled as she went inside the kitchen and set the food down. She jumped when she saw Gerard come up behind her.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Sullivan. I did not mean to scare you," he apologizes.

Chloe smiles, "It's OK. Where's Lex?"

Gerard takes the Chinese food out to prepare it on the plates.

"I've got it, Gerard." Chloe says as she helps him.

"It's all right, Ms. Sullivan. Mr. Luthor is in his office," he tells her.

Chloe debates whether she should help Gerard or go see Lex.

Gerard decides for her. "Go, Ms. Sullivan."

She spins around and jogs upstairs. She slowly opens the door to the office and spots Lex sitting at the desk. She runs up to him and puts her arms around him. "Lex!"

He gently grabs her wrists to take her arms off of him. "Hi, Chloe," he says, though its barely a greeting.

Chloe notices what he does. "What's wrong?"

He doesn't look at her. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"Well, I brought Chinese food like you wanted," she tells him, hoping it will make him feel better.

"I'm not really hungry," he still doesn't look at her.

She lifts his chin so he is face to face with her. "What's wrong Lex?"

"I'm just busy right now," he states. He turns his head from her and starts looking over some files.

"It's only 15 minutes," Chloe told him.

Lex didn't respond.

"Lex?" He continues to look at his files. "You want to watch a movie or something later?" He's mad at me. I know it.

"I told you, I'm busy," he says.

"It's Friday," she mumbles.

"I want to get this done," Lex informed her.

Chloe stares at him. She knows something is wrong. For some reason, she knows it had to do with her. The best way to get him to tell the truth is to tell him the truth. She sighs and slumps into the chair across from him. "I've been researching the meteor rocks." She sighs with relief. It felt good to get it off her chest. She hated keeping it from him.

Lex stops looking over files and looks at her. "Excuse me?"

"I know I told you I wouldn't research the meteor rocks, but I did it anyway," she says sadly.

Lex stays silent.

Chloe huffs with frustration. "I just…I was just so curious about them. I still am."

"I see."

"And I wasn't at work today. I went to Smallville to get some of the meteor rocks," Chloe admitted.

"What?" Lex hissed. He knew Chloe hadn't been a work but he didn't know she was actually getting the rocks.

"I needed a sample for a scientist," Chloe explains.

"Chloe, they're dangerous! You know the affect they can have on people. How could you be so careless?" Lex asked.

"I'm sorry! I don't think sometimes," Chloe cried.

"Obviously. After all those stories you investigated in high school, knowing those rocks caused it all!" Lex huffed and rubbed his head in frustration.

"Excuse me," she got up and quickly walked out of the room.

"Chloe!" Lex called after her.

Chloe ran to the indoor pool and sat next to it, staring into the water. She was wrong in all this. She knew it. But, she wanted to know so badly. She knew she shouldn't have lied. She should have just told Lex what she was doing whether he wanted her to do it or not. Moments later she heard the door open and knew it was Lex. "You have every right to be angry," she tells him, her back still turned from him.

He comes over and sits next to her. "I was furious earlier today, but I'm better now."

"Earlier today?" Chloe looked over at him confused. Her eyes widen, "You knew."

Lex nods.

"I'm sorry, Lex," she says quietly

He rubs the back of her neck. "We all make mistakes."

"How did you know?" Chloe asked, curious.

"I saw the look in your eyes that night when we talked about the meteor rocks. When I called and you weren't at work I knew you wouldn't be out with some other guy. So, the other obvious reason were the meteor rocks," he explained.

"Were you going to wait till I told you?" She asked.

He nods. "I talked to Clark. I asked him to watch your back if you were going to do this. I was upset for a while then you told the truth. It's kind of hard to stay mad after that."

"So, you talked to Clark?"

"Yes. You know I think you were right to have faith in him. It seems as if he has decided to stay back," Lex said.

"See, I told you," she said with a smile. "Lex…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm still curious about the rocks," she admitted.

"I know," he hands her a folder.

"What's this?" She asks.

"A few years ago I had the lab do research on the meteor rocks. This is all the information. I'm sure all your questions will be answered in there," Lex tells her. "I should have given this to you in the first place."

"You just wanted to protect me," she tells him.

He kisses her forehead. "I always do. I guess you know then that this information is for your eyes only."

She nods. "Thanks, Lex."

Lex kissed her cheek.

Chloe closed the folder and looked at Lex. "Are you really busy tonight?"

Lex waited a few seconds to answer. "Nah. I was just trying to make you sweat a little."

"Well, I broke," she said with a smirk.

"No, you didn't break. You just did the right thing," Lex told her.

They began kissing when the doorbell rang. Chloe sighed, "hold that thought." She stood up and jogged to the door. She smiled upon opening it. "Hey, Clark."

"Chloe," he said with a smile.

Lex joined Chloe's side at the door. "Clark."

"Hey," Clark greeted him as well.

"To what do we owe this visit?" Lex asked.

"I needed to talk to Chloe. If that's OK," Clark said.

Lex gestured for Chloe to go ahead. She kissed his cheek then stepped outside with Clark. "What's up, Clark?"

"I heard you were researching the meteor rocks," Clark started.

"Lex told you."

"Yeah…wait, you know that he knows?" Clark asked.

Chloe nodded. "I told him."

"That's good. Listen Chloe, if you're going to do this then you shouldn't do this alone," he told her.

Chloe shook her head, "Clark, it's OK. I'm not researching them anymore."

"Really? How come?"

"Because…let's just say they're better left a mystery," Chloe told him.

"I think that's smart," Clark said honestly. He put a comforting arm around her as they walked down the steps to the parking lot. "So are you excited about the wedding?"

Chloe smiled happily, "Yes! You know if you were a girl you'd be my maid of honor."

Clark laughed, "If I were a girl I'd feel honored. So…I am invited right?"

Chloe looked at him shocked, "Clark! Of course you are!"

"OK, just checking."

"Well, as long as you promise not to try and stop the wedding," she joked.

"I'll try not too."

"OK good!"

"Hey, what are all those boxes in your jeep?" Clark asked, as they passed it up walking to his car.

"Oh, those are some stuff I keep meaning to bring inside," Chloe said, forgetting about the meteor rocks.

"I'll help you bring them inside now if you want," Clark told her.

"Sure, that'd be great," Chloe said and pulled out her keys to open the jeep.

Clark reached in to grab a box and immediately started to feel weak.

Chloe noticed. "Clark? You OK?"

Clark took in a deep breath. He felt slightly weak, but tried to overcome it. He picked up the box and backed away from the jeep immediately feeling better.

"Clark?"

Clark looked at her and smiled to assure her. "Just felt a little dizzy for a moment. I'm OK."

"Are you sure?" She asked as she reached in to grab a box.

"Yeah, I'm OK. Come on. Let's bring these in. We'll come back for the others," Clark told her.

**

"Wednesday at 3?" Lex asked, he was talking on the phone. "Yeah, just a second. Let me check." Lex grabbed his appointment book. He could hear Chloe and Clark laughing and joking as they walked inside the house then left outside again. He smiled. He was happy that things were better now. He didn't even mind Clark being Chloe's friend just as long as he kept it that way.

Lex picked the phone back up. "Wednesday is not good for me. How about moving the meeting to Thursday morning?"

Lex waited for any answer.

"Yes, in the morning. Well, listen you requested the meeting. You either want to have the meeting or-" Lex froze when he heard a horrified scream.

"CLARK!"

"CHLOE!"

There was a gunshot.

Lex dropped the phone and bolted to the window. He saw Clark doubled over in pain surrounded by a spilled box of meteor rocks. He quickly scanned the area for Chloe. He didn't see her.

"Chloe," he breathed and ran outside.

Lex ran as fast as he could. He was desperate to get to where ever Chloe was. He tripped and fell down the last few steps outside but it didn't slow him down. It was only a few seconds since he had been in his office but to him it seemed like forever. He finally made it to Clark.

"Clark, where's Chloe?" Lex asked.

Clark was in so much pain he could barely talk.

Lex looked him over quickly. He didn't see anything that could indicate Clark was hurt except for the fact he looked like he was having a heart attack. "Clark," he said firmly. "Where's Chloe?"

Clark pointed to the other side of the jeep.

That's when Lex heard her small desperate plea. "Lex?"

Lex could feel his world come to a halt. It was like he could hear that last breath before his heart stopped from fright. When everything started again he jumped to run to the other side of the jeep.

The world came to a stop all over again when he saw Chloe sprawled out on the ground, covered in blood. He fell to his knees next to her. He inspected her wounds. She had been shot in the stomach. Lex's eyes were wide. He usually knew what to do in every situation, but this had him stumped. "Chloe," his voice was trembling. He grabbed his cell phone and dialed 911. "I need some help. My fiancee's been shot! I'm in the Metropolis Heights parking lot. Please hurry!"

"Lex…"

He looked down at Chloe. She was grabbing at his jacket to get his attention. He took it off and lay it on her to keep her warm.

Tears were falling from her eyes, "Th-they wanted…mon-money."

Her breathing was rapid. "Chloe, I…" he didn't know what to say.

"Some…something's…wrong with…Cl-Clark," she said. "Help…help him," she added.

"Sh…don't talk," he instructed.

"Please," her voice got high pitched with desperation. "Help…him."

Lex nodded. "OK. Just…hold on. OK? Hold on."

He ran over to Clark. He lay there looking dead. Lex grabbed Clark under the arms and dragged him to where Chloe was laying. Clark immediately started to wake up. Lex turned to Chloe. Her eyes were closed. "Chloe?"

She didn't respond.

He shook her gently. "Chloe, please!"

Still no response.

"CHLOE!"

To be continued…