Ok, I've written it. And I am so sorry that I left you with yet another cliffhanger. You must hate me. So, sorry, sorry, sorry...This didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would, so i'm glad. hope you guys think the same.
Again don't own show. don't own lex. don't own lionel. blah blah blah blah blah. man disclaimers are boring.
all right, done with that. enjoy. oh, and i didn't have time to proofread or anything, so i hope there aren't too many mistakes. but then again, even when i *do* proofread, there are still mistakes. maybe i should think about that beta thing...oh, well, again enjoy and everything.

why me?

Lex was temporarily stunned, which was something that rarely happened to him, seeing as to how he was always on top of things. Always one step ahead of everyone. Well, usually one step ahead of everyone.

After a moment of complete and utter silence, lex decided his Father must be bluffing, so he continued on with that in mind.

"Is that what one of your *informants* told you? Because if that is the case, then I'd have them fired."

"It makes no difference where I obtained my information from, I asked you a simple enough question. How. Long."

"Ah, yes. How long have I been in love with Chloe Sullivan?" Since forever, Lex thought.

"Must you repeat my question?"

"I just want to make sure I did not misunderstand. And, if I did not, then it is impossible to answer your question."

"Is that so? And why not?"

"Because, I am not, nor have I ever been in love with Chloe."

"You address her by her first name? Interesting...Do you mind if *I* call her by that, as well. I'm rather fond of the name," his Father baited.

"Don't you dare," Lex growled. He knew what his father was doing. He was trying to make him react. And it was working. Lex was already on overdrive due to the comment about his Mother, and all of this was not helping to ease that anger. That rage that was now burning wildly within him, begging to be let out. To consume everything in its path, including his Father.

His father smirked,"Very well, then. Mrs. Sullivan it is. For now."

Lex, trying to control himself, said as calmly as he could,"If there's nothing else, Father," Lex spat,"then, I believe it would be a good idea for you to go now."

"I will leave as soon as I get the answers I want."

"I've already answered the absurd questions that you have presented, so, unless you've left anything out," Lex motioned towards the door.

"I know you like her. It may not be love. At least, I hope it's not. But...yes, you are fond of this girl. That much I know, despite your desperate and pitiful attempts to make me think otherwise."

"And, dare I ask, what made you come to this conclusion?"

"Well, for starters, I know you read the article. And, after reading said article, you drove straight to the high school. Now, I know you met up with Mrs. Sullivan sometime after you arrived there, and then in engaged in conversation with her."

Lex said nothing.

His father continued on,"Now, at first I thought that you were perhaps there to reprimand her, as you should have. But that was only until I was informed that you did nothing of the sort. That you were, from the looks of it, *kind* to her," again, kindness was one of those types of emotions that Luthors were not supposed to use.

"She was upset," was all Lex said. Lex did not want to divulge the fact that it was his Father that had caused her to react like that.

"Poor thing. Was she upset that her worthless little newspaper was shut down?"

"Actually, no, that was not the reason," Lex lied.

His father looked at him for a moment, as if he were expecting him to explain why she was upset. But, Lex simply stared back, showing no signs of relinquishing any information concerning Chloe to him.

"Well, aside from that, you were then seen about to leave," his father said, obviously giving up on his attempt to extract further information regarding Chloe out of him. "But then she caught up to you, and you continued to have another discussion. After that, you got in your car, and here we are."

"And here we are," Lex repeated, just to annoy his father.

"You really should drop that habit of repeating other's words, or else you might seem as though not capable of thinking up a remark yourself."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Yes, well, one thing I left out of my little summary, was the fact that you were seen...embracing one another."

"Embracing one another?" Lex couldn't help but laugh at his father's over-definition of the word hug. "Barely. She hugged me. Simple enough."

"Simple enough. I heard you reacted in a most peculiar manner..." his Father started. "Seems you "hugged" her back."

"So?"

"I just thought it strange that you would do such a thing."

"She was upset. She needed someone. I was there. We talked. She hugged me. I didn't feel it would be befitting of me to just push her away, so I...indulged her alittle."

"Alittle?"

Now look who's repeating? thought Lex. He was on the verge of saying this when his father resumed his ranting.

"Then, when I decide to shut down this newspaper, you come to her defense," he said disbelieving.

"I'm not 'coming to her defense.' If you shut down the Torch, then Chloe Sullivan will go to every tabloid, newspaper, radio station...wherever she can, and she'll tell them how the billionaire Lionel Luthor shut down her meaningful newspaper, all because she wrote an innocent little piece on him."

His father glared at him. Lex continued.

"It will be bad publicity. To say the least. You go to no expense to make sure that this kind of thing doesn't happen. Do you want to waste all of that on this?"

His father was silent for a moment, apparently trying to decide between the lesser of his two choices. 1- Shut down the newspaper, and never hear the end of it. 2- *Don't" shut the newspaper down, and give into Lex. In the process, making both the girl *and* his son happy. So, between his choices-make his son happy, or make the press happy with the news that they finally have something worth writing about him-neither were appealing.

With a determined look on his face, his Father said,"Fine, she can keep her paper. But, I want her to retract the article, and write an apology in her next issue regarding that article."

"Okay, I can call the school, and tell them your decision," Lex said, relief flooding his body.

"Alright. You do that," his father said somewhat defeatedly. He moved to the door. As he prepared to leave, he stopped, and glanced back at his son.

"Stay away from that girl. Or you'll have to answer to me."

"Answer to you?"

His father made a sound which sounded remarkably like a growl, and left. Lex reached for the phone to call the school. He wanted to tell them about his Father's new demands before the high school was completely closed. All he had to tell them was to reopen the paper, retract the article from this week's issure, and have Chloe write an apology to his father in the next one, which was definitely not going to go over well with Chloe. As Lex dialed the number, a series of emotions went through him. Joy, relief, and that, now ever frequent, feeling of doom about the day to come.
***
There you go. Hope you liked. Their first "date" will be up soon. There might be another chapter before that though. So beware. Again, thanks for all the reviews. I love them.