I know the last one was short, so here's another!

It's snowing….a lot….yea! (But I still have to walk to class in it….)

And I overheard something about 27 trays stolen from the d.c. to be used as makeshift sleds….

^__^

There's a lot of explaining that goes on in this chapter, hopefully it makes everything more understandable. Enjoy!

~AM

            An expensive black convertible pulled up along the curb, stopping outside of the Talon. Stepping out in his Armani suit, the young man seemed rather out of place in the small farm town. However, his clothes alone were not what drew attention. Many would say he was quite handsome. Bright blue eyes, blond hair, all on a perfectly chiseled face, while standing up to a height of 6'5", made him stand out amongst the crowd.

"Why would she be here, there's nothing here but farm people. Hardly worth our time," he said to his companion. Another man, shorter with a small gotee stepped out of the car.

"I don't know boss, but we'll find her, there can't be that many places to hide."

"We'll ask in here," he said pulling out a photo, "someone's bound to have seen her. I don't know why the hospital wouldn't tell me where she is. They obviously have no idea of who I am."

The other man hurried ahead and opened the door, "How quaint, seems to be lacking something don't you think so?"

"Taste, sir?" The man laughed, he spotted a young woman at the counter and approached her. "Excuse me miss."

Lana looked up from her delivery records to see the man addressing her. His appearance rivaled that of Lex Luthors, rich, yet Lex seemed more…. pleasant.

"How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for someone, perhaps you've seen her?" he asked handing her a picture. "Well if this isn't déjà vu," she thought. She looked over the picture; it was a couple, this man and Abby. Who would be looking for her?

"There are a lot of things in my life that aren't what I wish they would be. And there are people who would use that against me," she paused, "and anyone who might get in their way."

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen her, I'm sure I would've too it's a small town," Lana lied.

The man looked her over for a minute, he took the picture back, "Thank you, sorry to have bothered you."

"It's no bother at all."


The men left; as soon as Lana was sure they were gone she reached for her phone and dialed Abby's number.

Abby grabbed her cell phone as it buzzed its way across the coffee table.

"Hello?"

"Hey Abby."

"Oh, hey Lana, what's up? If you need help I'll be there in a second if I can sneak away," she joked.

"Abby, there were two men here looking for you. I told them I didn't see you but I'm not totally sure if they believed me or not."

"Was he tall, blond hair, blue eyes, stick up his ass?"

Lana laughed slightly, "Yes. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Bad, definitely. Okay, um… look, I'll give you a call later, I'm gonna get out of here."

"Okay, be careful."
 "Thanks Lana, bye."

She pulled out the card Lex had given her and hoped that it would pull through.

"Well, she's not here, where do we go now?" the man asked.

"She was lying, Abigail's here, I know it. We'll have to look elsewhere."

Abby sat in the back of the limo, happy that the driver would take her just like Lex said. She was a good hour into the ride, hoping that they had gotten through without anyone giving her away. Yeah, she had met people; they would obviously recognize her and not know to not say anything. She hoped that she was far enough ahead.

She didn't know what she was going to do when she got to Metropolis. She didn't have anywhere to go, credit card records would be easy enough for him to get a hold of if she stayed at a hotel. Smallville would've been cheap enough to pay for in cash, but not in Metropolis. "I can't believe I'm even thinking about doing this."

"Abby, I was surprised to hear from you so soon." Lex greeted her as she walked into his office. "Well, I hadn't planned on it, but something came up."

"Why do I have the feeling that you're not here just to say hi?" he asked.

All he got was an impish smile in return.

Half an hour later she stood in the livingroom of Lex's apartment. Of course to anyone else, this wouldn't be an apartment. It was the size of a house, on the 40th floor of a building. "Thanks Lex, I appreciate this."

"If I remember correctly, just a couple days ago you were telling me how you'd probably never see any of us again."

"Things happen," she stated.

"What sort of things? Seems to me there are a lot of things that you don't seem to want to share," he commented.

"You never tell me anything, what's it matter?"

He just sent her a look and the conversation was dropped. "C'mon, I'll show you to your room."

Abby settled in and took out her phone.

"Hello?" came the voice on the other end.

"Lana, it's Abby."

"Where are you? Clark said you left his house hours ago."

"I'm in Metropolis, at Lex's."

There was a pause.

"Oh really?" Abby rolled her eyes. Lana was reading into the situation far more than necessary. "Yes really. I needed a place to stay that wouldn't give away that I'm here. Listen, I'm going to take care of some things here for a while. I should be done in a few days, I'm not certain what I'm going to do after that, but I'll call you and let you know what's up."

Lana's voice took on a more serious tone, "What about that guy, how much trouble is he? Maybe you should tell Lex, I'm sure he would have some sort of security or something."

"He's a lot of trouble, but I'm gonna have to deal with him at some point."

"Abby, the picture he showed me, it was of you and him. Is he?"

"Yea, I got to go, bye Lana."

"Bye."

Abby sighed, laying down on the large bed and pulled the picture out of her pocket.

"First things first."

She went downstairs and found a phonebook; looking up the name Chloe had gotten her. She came across it and found the phone number and address. "First thing tomorrow I'll go find him."

"There you are," came Lex's voice startling her out of her thoughts. "I went up to your room but you weren't there."

"Yea, sorry. I just needed to look something up. What did you need?"

"Actually I came to see if you wanted to go get dinner. Mr. Chu's, I never pass up a chance to go there when I'm in town."

Abby laughed, "Somehow I can't see you eating Chinese food in a tiny takeout place like that. But you're right, it's the best around."

"So then you'll go?" She wasn't sure if she was imagining things, but she could've sworn he sounded, well almost nervous. She was about to accept when she realized that going out might not be a good idea, what if she was seen?

"You don't have to you know," he commented. Abby felt horrible, she really wanted to go, but…

"Lex, can I talk to you for a minute, please?" she asked.

"Can it be done over dinner?"

"Only if you order in."

"Deal. But this better be important," he joked.

"It is, trust me."

The food came extremely fast, but then again, this was Lex Luthor; a man not accustomed to having to wait.

"So, what was so important?" he asked as he picked up a dumpling.

"I wanted to have a chance to explain things to you, my situation that is."

This caught Lex by surprise and he paused in his eating, "You don't have to. I'm aware that everyone has their secrets."

"I think that it would be better for me to tell you, I feel bad enough as it is darting around the subject all the time."

He nodded and waited for her to continue

"Well, I'm sure you're aware that I was with William for the past couple of years. There wasn't a member of the community that didn't."

"William Donaldson, his father owns the largest computer company in Metropolis. Not exactly the nicest person in the world if I remember correctly."

Abby nodded, "My parents made software, his parents made computers, it was a good match, at first anyways. Then he changed, I can't really explain it but he became so uptight and snapped at everyone too. I can't remember how many times we wound up fighting over the stupidest things, or how many times I threatened to leave. In the end he would always apologize, beg me not too and send me flowers or gifts or something. Once, he came inches away from hitting me, I remember it. We didn't speak for days, or at least I wasn't speaking to him."

"So you broke up with him," Lex said.

"I tried, he, he wouldn't let me."

"What did he do?"

"He made me so scared to go against him. I was like a child, he had complete control over me. Then, a couple months ago, I found out I was pregnant. He didn't take well to that, blamed it all on me too. I had gotten sick and medication weakens birth control, but he didn't believe me when I told him. He told me we'd just get married, and then he wouldn't be looked down upon by society. Can you believe that! He was only worried about himself."

"But you refused him."

"Of course, it took everything I had in me but I did. Then things got worse, he didn't want everyone finding out that I was pregnant with his child. He started spreading some rumor that I had slept around and that's why HE dumped ME. They bought it, but I honestly didn't care, I figured that meant he would leavee alone. But he was so paranoid; he thought I would tell someone or that I would order him to pay me child support or something or even worse, a paternity suit. So he took it upon himself to 'take care' of the situation."

"I'm not sure I follow," Lex confessed.

"He started the fire that killed my parents, only it was supposed to kill me, not them."

"Well if you know that why don't you tell the cops?"

"He owns them, that's why I didn't want to go out tonight, he has informants and ties with everyone in this city. I step out a door and he knows where I am. He never does his own dirty work, of course. He had his men do it, set everything up. So when the police showed up they determined the cause to be a lit cigar that had never been put out. My father never once smoked in his life. So, here I am. That's about it," she said. She thought she could handle it all but her emotions were starting to get the best of her. "So now, I have to spend my time running and hiding from him. He was in Smallville looking for me, that's why I came here, I'm sorry," she finished quietly as she fought back her tears.

Lex put down his food and moved over next to her, "It's alright," he said hesitantly putting an arm around her. She immediately fell into his embrace, finally relieving herself of the torrent of emotions that had been raging inside her all this time.

"I'll do what I can to help you, I promise."