A/N : Thanx to everYours, Amanda,moonmaid, Sunny, and Starburst, for the latest reviews on this story. Here's the next chapter, and it's the morning after the night before...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

CHAPTER 3

"Good morning" Chloe chirped as she came into the Daily Planet office and sat down at her desk.

"Hey Chloe" Clark answered, "So what time did you get home last night?" he asked her, walking up to her desk and standing next to her chair.

"When exactly did you turn into my father, Clark?" she said, swivelling her chair around to face him.

"Chloe, don't be that way" Clark didn't look amused, "it's just I called you around midnight and you weren't there and Superman said he saw you leave the restaurant before that"

"So you and Superman have been spying and checking up on me?" she asked, clearly annoyed by the idea.

"Chloe" her friend sighed "we just care about you"

She felt bad for snapping at him, but it drove her crazy sometimes that she wasn't allowed her own life and to do her own thing without constant questioning and people checking up on her.

"Clark, honestly, I love it that you care, both of you, but I'm a big girl now and I can look after myself"

There was nothing he could really say to that. It was true, Chloe was old enough and tough enough to take care of herself but Clark just didn't trust Lex Luthor anymore and he cared so much about his blonde reporter friend. Sometimes he wished he could just tell her the truth, that he was Superman and that Lex was the root of all evil in Metropolis and beyond, but he never quite had the nerve to do it.

Unfortunately, he had a feeling that Lex might. Plus the question remained of where was Chloe all of last night? Clark couldn't believe she would be stupid to spend the night with Lex Luthor, but would it really be stupidity if that was what had happened? She would not be the first woman to be charmed by a Luthor and no doubt she would not be the last. Chloe didn't sleep with guys on the first date, Clark knew she had more sense that, but Lex wasn't your average man. But how could Clark blame a man for not being normal or average when he himself was far from that.

"So, how did the interview go?" he asked, finally, hoping Chloe would take it as a general work inquiry and nothing more.

"It went well" she smiled, "Very well. I learnt some very enlightening information" she told him. Clark felt sick, before reminding himself that if that information had included anything about him and what he was, Chloe would have told him immediately and probably would have made him suffer too. She would be mad, really mad, upset, hysterical, Clark didn't even like to imagine it, but one thing was for sure, she wouldn't be smiling at him right now if she knew the truth.

"Enlightening information about Lex Luthor?" Clark said thoughtfully, "Such as...?"

"Well, if you wait long enough you'll be able to read all about it in an exclusive article by me" she grinned as she continued to type furiously at her computer keyboard.

It worried Clark more than a little that Chloe couldn't stop smiling. It wasn't that she was usually miserable or anything, but he knew her well enough to have a good idea what that smile was all about. He needed to pay Lex Luthor a visit, he realised.

"There's a Clark Kent here to see you" a butler informed his billionaire boss.

"Show him in" Lex answered, guessing why Clark was visiting. He had half expected it after last night.

"Clark, what can I do for you?" he asked, with a smile as his ex-best friend walked into the office. Lex dismissed his butler, knowing that Clark probably wouldn't talk about anything of interest in front of the 'hired help'.

"I want to know what happened between you and Chloe last night" Clark said, firmly, not even bothering to sit down, so Lex stood up to accommodate.

"Why don't you ask Chloe?" he said, smoothly.

"Because I'm asking you" Clark shot back, "Now what happened?"

"Surely, Clark" Lex smirked as he perched himself on the edge of the desk in front of the reporter "you don't expect a gentleman like myself to kiss and tell"

That left no doubt in Clark's mind. Chloe had done the unimaginable last night. She had willingly spent the night with this man.

"Gentleman? You?" he scoffed "I didn't know you knew how to make jokes, Lex"

"Oh Clark, you wound me" Lex covered his heart with his hand, mocking pain.

"I will, if you don't leave Chloe alone" Clark's eyes shone with anger, but Lex just shrugged it off.

"Threats don't suit you, Clark" he said, turning his back on the man "Besides, even if I did leave Chloe alone, I can't stop her from coming to me" he explained as he looked out of his large office windows at the Metropolis sky line.

"Why would she?" Clark wondered aloud and Lex turned to look at him again as he answered with yet another sickening smirk.

"I don't think I need to answer that Clark"

Clark wanted to knock the guy into next week, right there and then, but he knew that was not the way to handle the situation.

"I won't let you use her just to get back at me" he warned.

"Who said I was using her?" Lex asked rhetorically, picturing Chloe in his mind "Miss Sullivan is a charming young woman. She's beautiful, intelligent and..." memories of the night before flooded through him then "well, I'll leave the rest of her charm to your imagination" he smiled more widely and Clark wanted so badly to wipe that look off of his face.

"You disgust me" he said through gritted teeth. Lex came out of his 'Chloe daze' then and looked back at the man in front of him.

"Now, Clark" he pretended to scold him "is that anyway to speak to your best friend" he said, walking back to the window and looking out once again at the town.

"I might have made the mistake of being your friend once" Clark said to his back "but I figured out a long time ago what you really were"

"Didn't take me too long to figure out what you really were either" said Lex, spinning round "It didn't help our friendship when we learnt the truth" he said, calmly "I wonder how your little secret would sound to your other friends" he pretended to think about that carefully "friends like Chloe"

He just smiled to himself as Clark walked away, knowing he was winning in more ways than one. Originally, he had planned to use Chloe, it was true, but now he had a more interesting plan. He wasn't sure what it was about her, but something excited him, brought out a part of him he didn't know was there. It wasn't just about physical attraction, although the night before had been more than enjoyable, there was more to it than that.

Getting his revenge on Superman and consequently Clark was going to be sweet, winning Chloe was going to be even sweeter. Did he love her? Lex wasn't sure he was capable of loving anybody anymore, but he wanted her and in a strange way he cared for her, so he was going to have her, and he was going to bring down Superman too, all in one spectacular moment.

A/N : If you read it, please review it! Chapter 4 of 4 is coming soon!