Chapter Four: Discovery

That afternoon found Chloe once again on the couch at the Talon with a comforting cup of hot coffee. Even her favorite drink was failing to hold her attention, however, and she sat there lost in thought, absently twirling the simple red flower between her fingers.

"Hello, Chloe." She looked up and saw Lex Luthor settling into the chair across from her, an amused smirk on his face.

"Lex. Wow, you actually managed to approach me without scaring ten years off my life."

"A temporary slip. You have my solemn oath that it won't happen again," he responded with mock gravity that she couldn't help but laugh at.

"Having a hard time giving over the reins of power?" When she only blinked at him confusedly he continued. "The Torch?" he clarified. "I assumed you were sitting here so quietly because you were trying to calculate how long it would be until Clark called begging for the benefit of your vast experience. Honestly, I was a bit surprised when I heard you'd be letting him take charge today. You always struck me as a woman who likes to be in charge." With that proclamation he smirked and slid a leisurely glance up and down her body, the one that always managed to turn even the most innocuous statement into one charged with sexual innuendo. Flustered, Chloe gave her best shot at answering his previous statement.

"Well, this is one time I'm more than willing to let Clark take control." As soon as the words were out of her mouth she started blushing, and the single amused brow he raised did nothing to ease her embarrassment.

Her eyes narrowed. So he wanted to play that way, did he? Fine. She waited until he took a sip of his own coffee before she continued.

"After all," she all but purred and let the flower slide suggestively down her chest, "sometimes the results are better when you relax and let someone else do all the work."

Chloe smiled evilly as Lex choked on the drink he had just taken. He looked at her and was met by a replica of the smug smirk and raised eyebrow he had shown her before. When he was sure he could speak again, he took a deep breath, weighed his odds, and shot her a wary glance.

"Truce?"

"Truce," she nodded graciously, her smirk turning into a smile. Lana approached their seats wearing a huge smile of her own.

"C'mon, Chloe. You promised I could see the note after school. Hand it over!"

"Oh yeah," she remembered, and dug out that day's first note, held between the pages of her notebook. "And for being our very best customer," she said, handing Lana both of the day's notes, "you get a two-for-one deal."

When Lana read the first note she smiled slightly and sighed wistfully at the sentiment. The second note she read several times, as Chloe had. As she looked up her eyes found the tulip the small blonde still held; Chloe saw where her gaze had fallen and she cocked the flower in a mock salute, a wry smile on her face.

"Declaration of love," was all she said. Lana glanced from the flower to the note and back again, then to Chloe.

"Someone new?"

"No, the handwriting on the last note is the same as it has been on all the others. But I'm betting I'll be getting an answer to this whole thing sooner rather than later," Chloe nodded. "Good thing, too, since not a single one of my leads panned out."

"Leads?" Lex spoke up. Chloe nodded again.

"Well, first I tried to find records of someone who had paid for a large order of gardenias in the last few days, but that was a complete dead end. There were several orders, but the ones that weren't complete strangers were blind orders; so, either this guy grew them himself, or he paid in cash. Either way, no luck for me. Then there was the book." She glanced back to Lana. "There was a copy of your aunt's book along with the flower and note on my desk this afternoon. It's marked as belonging to the Smallville public library, but after I peeked into the library database—"

"You mean after you broke several state and federal laws by hacking into their records," Lex broke in, grinning at the annoyed look Chloe shot him. She waved her hand in dismissal.

"Semantics. Anyway, that book isn't listed in the database, which means it was probably sold at one of their book sales. They don't exactly keep thorough records on those sales, so lord only knows who bought it or when." She slouched back into the cushions. "And that officially exhausts all possibilities of concrete leads."

Lana smiled indulgently at her. "Well, I wouldn't worry." She handed back the notes. "Like you said, it looks like your mystery man won't be a mystery for much longer. I've got to get back to work; do you want a refill, Chloe?"

Chloe glanced down at her cup. To her surprise, it was almost empty. Her sensibilities warred with temptation for a few moments.

"No, thanks," she said regretfully. "I think I'll stop at one. If I were any more wired I think I'd shoot straight through the ceiling."

"All right. I'll see you at home later. Bye Lex." She moved off to another table and Chloe fell back into thought, unconsciously drawing the petals of the tulip across her face. Lex watched for a moment, entranced, before the thoughtful and slightly worried look on her face registered.

"Chloe?" She turned at the sound of his voice. "What has you so deep in thought? We've established that you're not worrying about Clark and the sanctity of your paper."

"No, it's not that. I'm just…" She rolled her eyes at her inability to articulate. "I'm worried that the guy sending me these flowers is a mutated psychotic freak who's going to end up trying to kill me. It's not funny!" she protested, seeing him trying to hold back his laughter.

"Are you sure?" he teased.

"Ok, fine, let's look at my record then. Shawn: mutated into a deep-freeze heat junkie who tried to kill me by sucking out all my body heat. Justin: singularly obsessed, revenge-crazed guy, used telekinesis to send a chainsaw after me when I found out he killed our principle. Ian: dated Lana and me at the same time until we found out he could split into two copies of himself, one of which then proceeded to try to throw me off of a dam—"

"Ok, ok," he cut her off. "What about Clark? He's never once tried to kill you."

"Point," she muttered grudgingly. "It just seems like I have no trouble spotting a crazy, homicidal freak until one of them shows interest in me. I'm like one of those women who keep dating guys who cheat on them—all the warning signs are there, but I can never see them up close. What if this guy is major bad news, and I just can't see it because I'm blinded by the big romantic gesture?"

Lex looked at her a minute longer, then moved to sit next to her. She turned to face him, and he took her hand in his. Lord, this was going to be hard. He knew that what he was about to say might end up killing any chance he had with her, but he had to do it. For the first time in almost as long as he could remember, he wanted someone else's happiness more than his own. He looked into her eyes that were patiently waiting for him to speak.

"Chloe," he began, "you are, overall, one of the best judges of character I know, and I'm not just saying that because you're one of the few people in this town who don't think I'm Satan," he smiled when she did. "With those boys, you ignored your instincts because you were too stubborn to admit that you were wrong, and because you let yourself focus entirely on the fact that they liked you." He paused, gathering his courage for what he had to say next. "When this guy finally tells you who he is, you just have to trust your gut feeling. If you think there's something wrong with him then there probably is, and you shouldn't be with him. But if you think he's a good guy, that you could be happy with him, then you should trust yourself to be right, and you should give him a chance.

"If this guy does turn out to be someone you think you can't trust, keep in mind that Clark isn't the only one you can count on to keep you safe. But remember, just because someone likes you—"

"Doesn't make them a sociopath," she finished, then grinned at him. "Clark said the same thing. You're right, I know. I'll just have to see how I feel when he finally tells me. Right now, I think I'm gonna go home." She rolled her eyes. "I have another carload of gardenias to get into the house, and I have no idea where I'm going to put them all."

"Well, I wish you the best of luck. I have some work I still have to do myself." They both rose and walked to the door together. Before they parted towards their respective cars, Lex turned to her again. "You'll let me know if you find out anything else?"

"Of course. After all," she grinned as she walked away, "I have to keep my partner in world domination well-informed."

Lex chuckled at that and climbed into his convertible. He watched in his rearview mirror as Chloe pulled away and drove off towards her house. The choice was solidly in her hands now; he just hoped he could live with her decision.

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Chloe collapsed on the couch, tired but satisfied. Not only had she hauled all of the flowers inside by herself, but she had found a place for each and every one of them and it was only—she checked her watch—five o'clock. Her dad wouldn't be home until late and Lana was working a double shift at the Talon to cover for someone who had called in sick, so she had the house to herself for the rest of the evening. She figured she'd watch some TV, maybe take a long, hot bath and curl up with some comfy pajamas and a book completely devoid of any deep meaning whatsoever.

Her cell phone rang, interrupting her lazy planning. With a groan she hauled herself upright and dug it out of her bag, just barely reaching it before it went to message.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Chloe, it's Clark." She smirked and leaned back into the cushions.

"You know, you were the one who insisted I take the night off. I figured you'd call eventually, but I didn't expect you to break so soon."

"No, I'm not calling about the Torch." Chloe sat up at the excitement in Clark's voice. "I think I found out who your mystery admirer is."

"What?" All thoughts of leisure forgotten, Chloe shot up off the couch and began pacing back and forth. "Well, don't just sit there grinning, Clark, tell me!"

"How did you know I was…never mind. Look, I can't tell you over the phone. Don't ask why—I just can't. Can you come up here?"

"On my way. I'll see you in five minutes." Without waiting for a response Chloe hung up and grabbed her bag. Seconds later she was out the door and in her car, heading out.

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The late-afternoon sunlight slanted through the windows, showing up in patches down the hallway as Chloe walked quickly towards the office. Each patch of light she walked through lit up the flower perched forgotten behind her ear. As she was parking in the lot outside, she had noticed a gardenia blossom lying on the floor of her car. It must have fallen off when she was carrying them inside, she mused, and had absently tucked the bloom in her hair. Her mind now, however, was completely on the answers that lay behind the door she had just reached. She burst in, ready to beat the information out of Clark if he didn't talk fast.

"Ok, Kent, start talk—" In some remote region of her mind, Chloe wondered if anyone would ever again be able to utter a complete sentence while walking through that door. She took a few steps inside and gazed around. She should have known. After the boatloads of gardenias that had shown up, it honestly didn't make any sense for whoever it was to stop at just one final flower. She took another hesitant step into the forest of red tulips, glancing from left to right.

"Clark?" she called out.

When the voice came it came from behind her, and she turned in surprise.

"Clark couldn't make it. Will I do?"

TBC…

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