Title: Metropolis
Author: AmandaG
Summary: Chloe and Lex find themselves leading parallel lives while spending the summer in Metropolis.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or places contained here in. I just like to take them out and fiddle with them when no one is looking.
E-Mail: ficklemuse02@yahoo.com
Feedback: Replies and reviews are lovely things.
**
Chapter One: The Arrivals
**
Standing in the driveway of the enormous mansion, Chloe felt her stomach churning. She hadn't set foot in her mother's childhood home since she was 12 and it seemed like a very long time ago. What she remembered most of all was the museum like quality to it- all those polished fixtures and Italian marble floors. In half of the rooms she expected to find little burgundy velvet ropes holding back a throng of tourists and school kids on a field trip.
Mentally she cursed her cousin for taking an out of town job. If it hadn't been for Penny defecting to Chicago Chloe would at this very moment be reclining in a nice squishy bean bag chair and munching on day old pizza on the other side of town. But her father had given her a choice. Either she could live with her grandparents for the summer or she could give up the Holy Grail- her internship at the Daily Planet.
So here she was, suitcase and laptop in hand trying to work up the nerve to lift the heavy brass knocker and announce her presence.
Chloe was saved from having to knock.
"Miss Sullivan? Your grandparents have been expecting you." Jackson Darcy announced gravely.
Actually- Chloe was pretty certain that Jackson did everything gravely. In her lifetime she'd never seen the butler so much as crack a smile. "Hi."
"Allow me to take your things." Jackson deftly plucked the luggage and laptop from Chloe's hands and held them easily as he waited for Chloe to enter the foyer. "You'll be staying in the gold suite."
Chloe nodded numbly. Yup. Same museum different day. Everything felt antiseptic and cold and Chloe felt the overwhelming urge to get on the nearest Greyhound and ride back to Smallville and the cozy little A-frame she shared with her Dad. Sure it wasn't Buckingham Palace but at least it was home.
"Chloe? Little Chloe! My goodness I guess I can't call you that anymore! You've grown so much!" A door leading to the kitchens shut and a bustle of white apron and white hair and a cloud of Shalimar embraced Chloe tightly. "You're all grown up now!"
"Hi Phyllis!" Chloe returned the embrace with a smile.
"Don't you 'hi' me young lady! Why didn't you call and tell me you were coming? I had to find it out like the rest of the staff!" Phyllis Davidson sniffed indignantly. "But! I've been in the kitchen all day and I've made everything you love to eat. I'm going to put some meat on those bones of yours if it kills me."
Chloe groaned. By the time the older woman was through with her she'd new a wardrobe two sizes bigger. "I'm sorry I didn't call. It just happened so fast. I was planning on staying with Penny for the summer."
"Well I for one couldn't be more thrilled you have you here. Now why don't you go to the powder room and freshen up from your trip- Jackson will take your things upstairs and you can join your grandparents in the solarium."
"They're here?"
"Well of course they're here honey. They've been waiting for you all day."
"But I thought Grandfather would have meetings and isn't today Grandmother's bridge club?" Chloe asked desperately. She'd planned her arrival so carefully. Arrive on Sunday when they were out- start work on Monday morning bright and early.
Phyllis practically pulled Chloe across the foyer to the small green powder room. "Cancelled. They cancelled everything. Now you freshen up and I'll start pouring the tea."
Alone in the small powder room- Chloe studied her expression. If ever there was a walking definition of the term 'deer in the headlights' she was it.
With a sigh she ran cool water in the sink and cupped her hands to catch some of the flow before splashing it on her face. All in all she didn't look too bad for someone who'd spent the better part of three hours getting leaned on and drooled on by the guy sitting next to her on the bus.
She quickly pulled out a comb and tamed the worst of the flyaways before turning her attention to her make-up, or lack there of. Normally Chloe liked to be very low maintenance: wash and wear- brush and go- all of the above. But she carried a small cache of Elizabeth Arden for just such emergencies. She quickly applied a light coat of mascara and a slick brush of pale pink lipstick. There. That was about as 'fresh' as she was going to get and her grandparents could take her or leave her.
**
Lex Luthor remembered once being in a toy store as a boy and seeing another child have a full blown temper tantrum in the middle of the store; complete with feet kicking, fist pounding and breath holding.
He remembered wishing he could express his own unhappiness in the same manner.
Now at 21 Lex wished even more that he could have a full blown temper tantrum.
Of all the decisions he'd made in his life that came back to haunt him at another time- the decision to save his own father's life was turning out to be the one Lex feared would haunt him the most.
"Lex. So good of you to come." Lionel grinned from his seat in the high backed slightly old fashioned wheelchair.
Lex was certain his father had picked the chair for dramatic effect rather than personal comfort. "I didn't realize I had a choice Dad." Lex crossed immediately to what he figured would be his new best friend by the time the summer was over- the bar- and poured himself a bourbon.
"Of course you did Lex. You could have let me shut down the fertilizer plant completely instead of rebuilding it." Lionel replied silkily. "Instead you chose to spend the summer here with me working on LuthorCorp business side by side. I've kept my end of the deal Lex. Plant Number 3 will be rebuilt and if you choose you may return to Smallville at the end of the summer." Lionel bared his teeth. "But you won't choose that."
"Oh? Why won't I? I've grown very fond of Smallville Dad." Lex answered with a small smirk. "After all- any town that's willing to drop a house on you, well let's just say it's rather endearing."
"Very funny Lex. Now I've prepared some reading materials for you. Situations that you need to be briefed on. I've also had an office prepared for you at headquarters. Check with your secretary for any appointments." Lionel turned and pushed himself out of the library, pausing only to toss over his shoulder. "Welcome home." Before leaving with those words hanging like a death sentence in the room.
Lex downed the bourbon and quickly poured himself another.
**
Author: AmandaG
Summary: Chloe and Lex find themselves leading parallel lives while spending the summer in Metropolis.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or places contained here in. I just like to take them out and fiddle with them when no one is looking.
E-Mail: ficklemuse02@yahoo.com
Feedback: Replies and reviews are lovely things.
**
Chapter One: The Arrivals
**
Standing in the driveway of the enormous mansion, Chloe felt her stomach churning. She hadn't set foot in her mother's childhood home since she was 12 and it seemed like a very long time ago. What she remembered most of all was the museum like quality to it- all those polished fixtures and Italian marble floors. In half of the rooms she expected to find little burgundy velvet ropes holding back a throng of tourists and school kids on a field trip.
Mentally she cursed her cousin for taking an out of town job. If it hadn't been for Penny defecting to Chicago Chloe would at this very moment be reclining in a nice squishy bean bag chair and munching on day old pizza on the other side of town. But her father had given her a choice. Either she could live with her grandparents for the summer or she could give up the Holy Grail- her internship at the Daily Planet.
So here she was, suitcase and laptop in hand trying to work up the nerve to lift the heavy brass knocker and announce her presence.
Chloe was saved from having to knock.
"Miss Sullivan? Your grandparents have been expecting you." Jackson Darcy announced gravely.
Actually- Chloe was pretty certain that Jackson did everything gravely. In her lifetime she'd never seen the butler so much as crack a smile. "Hi."
"Allow me to take your things." Jackson deftly plucked the luggage and laptop from Chloe's hands and held them easily as he waited for Chloe to enter the foyer. "You'll be staying in the gold suite."
Chloe nodded numbly. Yup. Same museum different day. Everything felt antiseptic and cold and Chloe felt the overwhelming urge to get on the nearest Greyhound and ride back to Smallville and the cozy little A-frame she shared with her Dad. Sure it wasn't Buckingham Palace but at least it was home.
"Chloe? Little Chloe! My goodness I guess I can't call you that anymore! You've grown so much!" A door leading to the kitchens shut and a bustle of white apron and white hair and a cloud of Shalimar embraced Chloe tightly. "You're all grown up now!"
"Hi Phyllis!" Chloe returned the embrace with a smile.
"Don't you 'hi' me young lady! Why didn't you call and tell me you were coming? I had to find it out like the rest of the staff!" Phyllis Davidson sniffed indignantly. "But! I've been in the kitchen all day and I've made everything you love to eat. I'm going to put some meat on those bones of yours if it kills me."
Chloe groaned. By the time the older woman was through with her she'd new a wardrobe two sizes bigger. "I'm sorry I didn't call. It just happened so fast. I was planning on staying with Penny for the summer."
"Well I for one couldn't be more thrilled you have you here. Now why don't you go to the powder room and freshen up from your trip- Jackson will take your things upstairs and you can join your grandparents in the solarium."
"They're here?"
"Well of course they're here honey. They've been waiting for you all day."
"But I thought Grandfather would have meetings and isn't today Grandmother's bridge club?" Chloe asked desperately. She'd planned her arrival so carefully. Arrive on Sunday when they were out- start work on Monday morning bright and early.
Phyllis practically pulled Chloe across the foyer to the small green powder room. "Cancelled. They cancelled everything. Now you freshen up and I'll start pouring the tea."
Alone in the small powder room- Chloe studied her expression. If ever there was a walking definition of the term 'deer in the headlights' she was it.
With a sigh she ran cool water in the sink and cupped her hands to catch some of the flow before splashing it on her face. All in all she didn't look too bad for someone who'd spent the better part of three hours getting leaned on and drooled on by the guy sitting next to her on the bus.
She quickly pulled out a comb and tamed the worst of the flyaways before turning her attention to her make-up, or lack there of. Normally Chloe liked to be very low maintenance: wash and wear- brush and go- all of the above. But she carried a small cache of Elizabeth Arden for just such emergencies. She quickly applied a light coat of mascara and a slick brush of pale pink lipstick. There. That was about as 'fresh' as she was going to get and her grandparents could take her or leave her.
**
Lex Luthor remembered once being in a toy store as a boy and seeing another child have a full blown temper tantrum in the middle of the store; complete with feet kicking, fist pounding and breath holding.
He remembered wishing he could express his own unhappiness in the same manner.
Now at 21 Lex wished even more that he could have a full blown temper tantrum.
Of all the decisions he'd made in his life that came back to haunt him at another time- the decision to save his own father's life was turning out to be the one Lex feared would haunt him the most.
"Lex. So good of you to come." Lionel grinned from his seat in the high backed slightly old fashioned wheelchair.
Lex was certain his father had picked the chair for dramatic effect rather than personal comfort. "I didn't realize I had a choice Dad." Lex crossed immediately to what he figured would be his new best friend by the time the summer was over- the bar- and poured himself a bourbon.
"Of course you did Lex. You could have let me shut down the fertilizer plant completely instead of rebuilding it." Lionel replied silkily. "Instead you chose to spend the summer here with me working on LuthorCorp business side by side. I've kept my end of the deal Lex. Plant Number 3 will be rebuilt and if you choose you may return to Smallville at the end of the summer." Lionel bared his teeth. "But you won't choose that."
"Oh? Why won't I? I've grown very fond of Smallville Dad." Lex answered with a small smirk. "After all- any town that's willing to drop a house on you, well let's just say it's rather endearing."
"Very funny Lex. Now I've prepared some reading materials for you. Situations that you need to be briefed on. I've also had an office prepared for you at headquarters. Check with your secretary for any appointments." Lionel turned and pushed himself out of the library, pausing only to toss over his shoulder. "Welcome home." Before leaving with those words hanging like a death sentence in the room.
Lex downed the bourbon and quickly poured himself another.
**