Disclaimer: I hate repeating myself, escpecially about not owning smallville...

Chapter 7: Long time no see...

She heard her name through layers and layers of her dream state. She opened one eye to see Pete staring at her.

Quickly she jumped up and ran to his bedside. "Dammit Pete," fresh tears shown through her eyes. "Don't you ever do that to me again."

"Chloe, you can't be here. You have to go."

Chloe shook her head violently. "I'd never leave you, Pete. Afterall, I didn't drive all the way here to turn around and go home..."

He flashed her a weak smile. "What time is it?" he asked groggilly.

She glanced at the clock on the wall. "2 am, why?"

"How long have I been out?"

Chloe shrugged, "I'm not sure. Do you want Keith?"

Pete nodded his head. He reached out and grabbed her hand as she started to turn. "Thank you for being here. I love you."

She smiled and a tear slid down her face. "I know, babe." she gave him a wink and went on her silent mission to find Keith.

She sat in the lobby, her knees pulled up to her chest and the hood on her sweatshirt covering her hair. Silently she rocked back and forth thinking of all the things she'd done. 'Is this what they went through when they thought I was gone?' she silently asked herself.

She glanced up to see a man, his long black coat flowing out behind him. "Pete Ross" the man said to the nurse.

"Mr. Luthor, Mr. Ross is straight through there." she said flustered as she pointed to the door behind him.

Lex paused and didn't look up at her. 'He didn't even see me' she thought to herself. She wasn't at all surprised, she had chosen a seat all the way in the corner and there were a few people scattered here and there in the lobby. She hugged her gray sweatshirt to her when he turned to enter Pete's room. She sighed and walked to the nurse behind the desk. "Can I leave a message for Mr. Ross?"

"Of Course, sweetie." the older woman said to her handing her a pen and paper.

'Pete or Keith, I'm going back to the apartment. I'm sure by now Marco's worried about his buddy so I have to go check on him. I promise I'll be back when normal visitor hours are here again. With all my heart, Ivy.'

She handed the peice of paper to the nurse and turned to leave when she ran into a hard body. She touched her hand to her head and rubbed it. "Jesus, Pecs of steel much?" she muttered under her breath.

She looked up when the man didn't apologize or move from in front of her. "Great" she mumbled and pushed her way past him.

"Ivy." he stammered out.

"Oh, so now you finally get the name right." she said as she continued walking to the door for the stairs. Just then she slipped on the newly buffed floor and her feet went flying out from under her.

"Gotcha." Lex said as he caught her under her arms. "You Okay?"

She nodded and stood back up only to slide again with her first step and as she grabbed onto him to steady herself he in turn slipped also. They tumbled to the ground in a heep of intertwined bodies. "Ow." she exclaimed. Lex looked down at her, he was sitting on her legs and she had broken his fall. Suddenly they both erupted into laughter.

He crawled over to the wall where the handicapped bar was in tact and pulled himself up. "Just crawl." he said to her.

"To you? Hell no. I think I'll crawl that a way." she pointed in the oppostie direction of him.

"Hey from this view, I don't mind it at all." he said as he got a full shot of her rear crawling away from him. She shot him an icy glare and reached the wall opposite him. Pulling herself up on the bar she slipped yet again and crumbled to the floor. "Damn janitors." she cursed as she sat where she landed. Lex had a twinkle in his eye and forced himself not to laugh again.

"I told you you should have crawled over here."

She motioned for him to come over to her. "Say that over here why don't ya?"

He gingerly stepped on the floor and slid to the other wall. "Here." he said offering his hand once again. "Care to dance?"

She looked at him confusion plastered on her face and slapped her hand in his. "What are you talking about. Did you hit your head?"

He took her hand and pulled her up to him and gently started gliding with her on the floor. "See, dancing."

Chloe let go of him and twirled around. "Ice skating." she said as she stopped and slammed into him.

"Sorry to disappoint you but there's no bodychecking in Ice Skating."

She let a laugh escape her lips. They heard a voice clear behind them and turned to see the 40 something year old nurse looking at them with a grin. Lex and Chloe made their way off the slippery floor to the stairs. *~*

"You really didn't have to bring me all the way back here." she said as they reached the door to Keith and Pete's apartment. "i would have been fine on my own."

Lex nodded in agreement. "Yea, I'm sure. It's just, you're not safe out here alone. This isn't New Haven, Ivy." he put emphasis on her name.

She sighed. "Thank you for bringing me home safely, now I'd like to get some rest." She opened the door with her key and Marco came charging at her jumping up to push her backwards into Lex.

"See, now you know why I came. I think I'm your personal buffer for the time being." he grinned widely at her.

"Marco, down." she said firmly and the dog obliged. "Now why don't they say dog is woman's best friend?" she patted Marco's head and walked into the living room sinking onto the couch.

Lex stood in the open doorway staring at her.

"Well, are you just going to stand there or are you going to accompany me to the couch?" she said in one breath.

He walked through the door and recieved a growl from Marco before shutting the door and plopping himself on the couch beside Chloe. Marco immediately ran to him and burried his face in his crotch. "Dammit, I knew it. Marco, stop trying to feel up on my friends." she said swatting the dog lightly in the nose. She hadn't realized that it would have been Lex's crotch if the dog had suddenly moved.

"So, I'm a friend, huh?"

She leaned back into the couch and rested her head on the back of it. "Friends is all I can handle right now. Okay? I know I acted childish yesterday but you don't understand, Lex. Yes, I loved you way back when, or maybe I was infatuated with you. But there were so many reasons for me not to claim my love, one of them being age, and then you end up with my roommate, who had previously stolen the man of my dreams and who was the same age as me."

He slapped his hand over her mouth. "Just shut up and go to sleep. We can argue about way back when in the morning." She bit his thumb and he swore.

"Tetnis shot..." is all she said before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep again. Marco curled up on the couch across her and Lex and Lex leaned his head on Chloe's. "Good night." he whispered into her hair before following suit.