Title: Surprise, Surprise.

Author: Lucy Mars

Disclaimer: Bah! They're not mine!

Chapter #4: Chills.

Chloe was sure that after Lex left for Smallville, she'd never hear for him again. Oh, how wrong she was. Getting home from work every night, Chloe could look forward to the messages that Lex left her, and the call he would almost always make right at 9 o'clock. It was a routine that Chloe fell into willingly, and soon found herself addicted too. Before, her life revolved around surviving. Now, her life revolved around smiling. It was disgusting how happy Lex's random messages throughout the day made her. It was sad how she looked forward to work each day so that she would have amusing anecdotes to relay to him. It was revolting how proud she felt every time his deep laughter drifted over the phone and touched her smiling lips.

Lex never pushed and Chloe never offered. Their conversations never touched her father's death or her mother's apparent problem with drugs. They never talked about the inhabitants of Smallville, or their past connection with Chloe. They never talked about the revolving door of guards that seemed to discreetly trail Chloe's ever move. They never talked about how Lex wore the role of worrywart like a second skin, or how Chloe smiled more since she'd bumped into Lex. There was a lot that they didn't talk about.

That didn't mean that they didn't have anything to talk about though. Quite the contrary. What started out as an excuse for Lex to check up on Chloe turned into a nightly routine that both of them looked forward too. It turned into a chance for the two of them to talk, listen and unwind. For Lex, the nightly phone calls gave him a chance to unwind from whatever hectic day the plant offered, and for Chloe, the calls were a reminder that she wasn't alone anymore.

"You should have seen it," Chloe laughed pulling her blanket tighter around herself, "It was like a domino effect. One person bumped into another and trays went flying."

"Was your boss mad?"

"He was more embarrassed than anything else," Chloe said smiling at the memory of her overweight boss turning red with a mixture of anger and horror, "What was he going to do? Yell at his ancient mother for blindly walking into a waiter? I wish I had a camera. His face was so red."

"You could become a photographer!" Lex exclaimed. Somewhere along the way, Lex had appointed himself Chloe's own personal guidance counselor. Offering different career suggestions as they came to him.

"Lex," Chloe laughed, "stop it."

"What? I'm helping you find another dream."

"It's not really a dream if you're offering suggestions, is it?"

"It's a start." Lex said defending himself.

"Fine," Chloe sighed, too cold to argue with Lex. It was freezing in her apartment. It wasn't too hard to gather from the slowly dropping temperature in her apartment that her landlord had neglected to fix the heating in her building for the third day in a row.

"Fine?" Lex echoed. That was all? No witty reply? No banter? "Chloe, are you all right?"

"Of course I am," Chloe lied, burrowing deeper into her covers, "So tell me about your day. Anything funny happen today?"

"No." Lex answered quickly, "Now tell me what's wrong."

"Why do you think anything's wrong?"

"You're not bantering with me."

"Maybe I'm just tired."

Looking at his grandfather clock, Lex felt a frown mar his face. "It's half past ten. You're not tired."

"I'm not?" Chloe laughed, trying to lighten the mood, "You're really hankering for a job as Miss. Cleo, aren't you?"

"Stop trying to bring the funny, Chloe. Now tell me what's wrong."

Sighing, Chloe snaked her free hand out of the warmth of her blankets and tried to rub some warmth back into the frozen tip of her nose.

Listening to the deafening silence that greeted him, Lex felt his mind run away with the thousand different reasons Chloe wasn't Chloe tonight. "Chloe?"

Lex was a persistent jackass when he wanted to be.

"Chloe?"

"Lex."

"So you're still there." Lex breathed out, relief flooding him.

Biting down on her lip to her keep her teeth from chattering, Chloe grunted in confirmation.

"You do know I'm just going to pester you until you hang up on me, and I get in my car and drive all the way into Metropolis to make sure you're all right."

It's scary and comforting at the same time that Chloe just knew he was going to say that. "Is that so?"

Like she didn't know it. "Yes."

"It is entirely possible that the heating in my building isn't up and running just yet." Chloe confessed, burrowing deeper into her blanket.

Clenching his jaw angrily, Lex tried to keep his tone even. "It's cold this time of year."

"Don't I know it," Chloe snorted in the most unladylike fashion. Lex thought that it was cute.

"Are you sure…"

"Yes," Chloe sighed with exasperation, "I'm sure, Lex. I'm just fine here."

"But my place is empty." Lex pointed out needlessly, "You could stay there for the night and…"

"I'm fine," Chloe smiled. It was nice to have someone fuss over her again. Annoying at times, but nice nonetheless, "A little cold, yes, but I'm a tough cookie."

Didn't he know it. "Chloe, this is ridiculous. What's the point of you staying in your freezing apartment, while mine is empty…and most importantly, 'warm.'"

"I'm fine," Chloe persisted.

"I know you are," Lex sighed, "I know that you could tough it out, but I would feel better if you just stayed there for the night. At least until the heating in your building is working."

"I've got lots of blankets," Chloe argued, even though she knew that it was useless.

"And my place has a working heating system."

"I've got thick socks," Chloe reasoned.

"I've got three different fireplaces that could be blazing my the time you got there." Lex smirked, already picturing Chloe padding around his apartment. It was ridiculous how the thought of her wearing his too-big-pajamas made him smile.

Chloe had to bite her lip to keep from whimpering. Just picturing the golden flames were making her feel warm…or maybe it was because she was picturing sitting by the fire with Lex. Sitting by the fire and watching the flames dance against his intense eyes as he reached over and ran his hand lovingly over her face and leaned closer to…

"Chloe?"

Almost falling out of her bed with shock, Chloe scrambled to pull herself together. Snap.Out.Of.It! Chloe ordered herself. "Yuh huh?"

"You could roast marshmallows and drink coffee."

Pushing her blankets off, Chloe shivered when the cold air slammed into her lukewarm body. "Sneaky bastard. You know you can get anything from me if you offer coffee."

Laughing, Lex looked down at his calendar and wondered if he could take tomorrow off. Or maybe he could just schedule a meeting in Metropolis for some reason. And if he happened to drop by the diner while Chloe was working…than it'd be a coincidence, that's all. "So should I tell my staff to be expecting you?"

"How weird is this going to be?" Chloe asked, randomly throwing a couple of necessities into her overnight bag, "Me, spending the night at your place, I mean. With your help loitering around, to boot."

"They're invisible," Lex assured Chloe, "You won't even see them."

"Yeah," Chloe frowned, "but they'll see me."

"Don't worry," Lex laughed, "You'll be fine. They don't bite, I promise."

Sighing dramatically, Chloe quickly donned her jacket. "How will your doorman know that I'm not just some nut job who wants to get into the building?"

"You'll be fine," Lex grinned, "Chloe, I promise, it'll be okay."

"I don't know, Lex…"

"Warm apartment, warm sheets, blazing fire," Lex reminded Chloe, "Coffee, marshmallows, coffee, and some more coffee."

"Okay, okay," Chloe laughed, "you've convinced me. I'm going. I'm going."

"Call me when you get there?"

"Promise. Bye." Tossing her phone aside, Chloe wrapped her scarf securely around her neck and braced herself of the cold Metropolis night. She either had to be insane or incredibly cold to resort to spending the night at Lex's apartment. Getting down to the lobby, Chloe smiled at the hefty man stationed inside the building. "Hey Gus."

Smiling despite himself, Gus nodded quickly at Chloe. "Miss. Sullivan."

Shivering, Chloe pushed the heavy door open and didn't look back. She knew that Gus was trailing behind her. Waving for a cab, Chloe threw the burly man a reassuring smile when he gave her a baffled look. "Don't worry, he'll call you and tell you where I'm going."

Before Gus could protest, Chloe hopped into her cab and sped off into the dark and cold Metropolis night.

***

TBC.