++++++++
Sipping gingerly on scalding hot coffee, Chloe's eyes drifted shut as she emitted a low hum of appreciation. Grinning, Lex decided that he couldn't let this pass without comment.
"So, still a caffeine aficionado? Good. This at least tells me that you haven't been replaced by a pod person."
Opening her eyes a slit, just wide enough to let Lex feel her displeasure at having a Coffee Moment interrupted, Chloe snarked back, "Yeah, well, we poor grad students have to live on something, seeing as how there's no money for food."
Well, now that she mentioned it...
"So, chemistry, eh? Is that what you're studying now?"
The slit-eyed look returned as she assessed his tone. Gone was the serious and somber tone of minutes before. It seemed that they had decided to let Smallville rest where it belonged. In the past. On to bigger and brighter things. Or in the case of her collegiate years, bigger and smellier.
"Physical chemistry, to be exact." She watched, secretly amused, as his expression turned from a slightly condescending smirk to properly respectful. So, he really had been a science person in college... only they would truly understand the meaning of her particular course of study.
"You know, I was a chem. major in college as well. Organic." He smirked at her, and was answered by an almost adolescent roll of the eyes. Was he asking for it?
"Well, of course. What else would qualify you to run a crap factory? That *is* why your Dad assigned you to Plant Three, isn't it?" She blinked innocently at him, and he found it impossible to garner resentment at her unsubtle poke at his younger, wilder self. After all, it was well known that his 'qualifications' were the least of the reasons for his exile.
"Anyway, I was physical chemistry. My Ph.D. is in an interdisciplinary program, combining exogeology and chemistry, as well as a little bit of physics.... the degree is still chemistry, though."
Lex blinked and sat back, bemused.
"What, exactly, brought on this interest in geology and chemistry, exactly? And what on earth would a program like that be studying?"
Openly amused now, she surveyed him over the rim of her cup, waiting for the best moment to drop her revelation.
"Well, at the moment, we're studying the radiant properties of certain naturally occurring minerals, and their effects on animal and plant physiology. As to how I gained an interest..."
He sat for a minute, mulling over her words. In a flash, the answer came to him, and he watched as the realization was reflected back in her smiling -no, *smirking*-- eyes. As one, they gave voice to the recognition...
"Meteor rocks!"
Chuckling, Chloe set down the cup, her bangs falling forward into those eyes as she ruefully admitted;
"Yeah, well, I got tired of *knowing* the truth, having the patterns of behavior and their cause all clearly laid out in front of me, and not being able to get anyone to believe me! And you know why they didn't believe me, Lex? Because I didn't have the whys and wherefores, the details. They had no reason to believe me, just as I had no real reason for the theory at all."
He was surprised at her frank admission... her meteor theory had been like a child to Chloe, lavished with attention and affection, and fiercely protected against all comers.
"I thought... and I think, so did my dad, that when I moved out of Smallville, my interest in meteor rocks and the Wall of Weird would fade... be replaced by political scandals, corporate cover-ups... your usual journalism stuff. But that didn't happen."
He chuckled at the expression of remembered bewilderment on her face. Apparently, Chloe herself had not had much say in the switching of her career tracks. It was funny, the paths life led (or pushed) you down, unbeknownst to you...
"I was still so interested in the meteorites and why they did what they did... I mean, they had such a wide and disparate range of effects on people ...some people were affected permanently, some peripherally... some people had physical effects, others psychological. It was like the meteor rock was just a catch-all excuse for all the crazy weirdness that happened to us! So I took some chemistry courses, and some biology courses... and I tried to understand what exactly could be happening."
Now it was her turn to laugh at the youthful naivete she'd been subject to.
"I had *no* *idea*, at the time, of course, what a mammoth task I was undertaking... but it just sort of sucked me under... and I fell in love with the science, with the concrete knowledge that, given the right technique, was unassailable and unarguable. It felt good, to know the Truth and be able to tell people... and have them believe me."
This last in a playful tone, poking fun at Chloe's eccentric and often ignored fervency about her Meteor Theory... such as it was. And Lex was struck at once with a wave of awesome respect and ... dare he say it... a touch of fondness for the spritely woman he faced. It took guts, he thought with a slight twinge of bitterness, to rebel against preconceived notions of what you were going to be... to realize your true destiny lay in another direction entirely. And Lex realized that he and the rest of Smallville had severely underestimated the maturity and strength of Chloe Sullivan. She had been dwarfed, rendered cartoonish and cliched near the otherworldly perfection of Lana Lang and the plain old otherworldliness of Clark Kent.
"So... here you are."
"Here I am," she agreed, "and so are you. What happy coincidence allowed the very-nearly-inconceivable ...namely, little ole me sharing a meal with the one and only Lex Luthor, to occur? Had a hankering to be interviewed and you thought I'd be up for another try?"
Lex laughed outright at the reminder of Chloe's many failed attempts to get him into an interview and then actually be *able* to interview him... always interrupted as they were by natural and unnatural disasters. The sound, while motivated by real amusement, carried a hard bite to it. Chloe's gaze became assessing, and if he'd thought to look, he'd see the realization in her face when she came to the obvious (and right) conclusion... whatever had motivated Lex Luthor to wander the streets of Manhattan, he didn't want or need to talk about it. And judging by the rusty sound of Lex's laugh, what he needed (and hopefully wanted) was an easy and uncomplicated meeting of two more-like-than-she'd-ever-realized minds. One of the best advantages, Chloe mused, to having left the reporting field was that she didn't always have to be zooming in on the story. She could even, the thought bizarrely occurred, become a friend, at least for a day, to Lex Luthor. Stranger things had happened. Hell, stranger things had happened *to* *her*.
Chloe Sullivan had grown into an impressively compassionate and perceptive young woman, if she did say so herself. Too bad there weren't too many friends around to realize the fact. Damn, now *she* was becoming maudlin. Couldn't let that happen.
Shaking a playfully admonishing finger in his direction, Chloe mustered up an impressively miffed face.
"Laugh all you want, Mr. Luthor... we both know the truth. I bet half the reason I was forced to switch careers was the unending frustration of being *this* *close* to the interview of the lifetime and having it *cruelly* snatched away from me."
This last with a melodramatic sweep of the hand to her forehead, and Lex was seriously in danger of falling out of his chair. Man, it had been a long time since he'd really laughed. It was amazing, what a meeting with an old... well, old acquaintance and hopefully new friend, could do for the constitution. Maybe he should give Pete a call...
Sniffing, Chloe reached for her coffee cup and tossed her hair.
"The least you can do to make up for the trauma you caused me is to pay for a meal."
She sniffed again, and this time Lex's eyes were open to the mischievous look that creeped onto Chloe's face. He waited in somewhat breathless anticipation to see what she'd throw his way next.
"In fact..." the words were drawn out slowly as Chloe savored the idea they prefaced like fine coffee. He leaned forward, knowing that this would be good.
"In fact, Lex, I think you owe me at *least* an entire *day's* worth of meals! And entertainment! And exploring! How's today for you?"
Lex blinked once again, and sat back. Maybe he'd missed a paragraph.
"You want me to... pay for your food?"
Shaking her head impatiently, Chloe sighed. This was too much fun. Lex had an almost Kent-like glower of incomprehension on his face.
"No, Lex. I want you to pay for *our* food! And entertainment! I, Chloe Sullivan, do hereby declare that Lex Luthor shall clear his debts to me by indulging, with me, in a traditional New York City Day of Fun!"
"Day of... fun?" he repeated weakly.
"Jeez, do Luthors not watch Friends reruns? Yes, Lex, Day of Fun. Whereby you and I engage in a leisurely exploration of The Greatest City in The World. I'd planned for next Tuesday, but today's so nice, *and* I could have company...."
She trailed off, wondering if her self-congratulatory assessment had been an entire load of crock. Oh God, he's probably horrified, she thought, mortified.
A glimmer of a smile appeared at the corners of Lex's lips, though Chloe was too busy agonizing to notice it.
"You... plan these?"
"Well," she began fidgeting, clearly uncomfortable now with her impulsive invitation and even more impulsive personal revelations. "Yeah. I know, super dork-o-rama, but hey, I'd never set foot outside the lab otherwise!" she exclaimed defensively.
Lex couldn't help it, he started laughing again, despite the interesting shade of red that began to creep up Chloe's cheeks. "No, no... that's not what I meant. No dork-o-anything implied. I simply... hadn't expected you to be so... organized about it."
Huffily, this time unfeigned, Chloe reached below the table and began to gather her things.
"Yeah, well, people change, *thank* you very much Mr. Luthor. So, I gather there's to be no day of any kind. I'll just be going now, if you don't mind..."
Reaching out a hand urgently, Lex stilled her jerky movements. He turned their hands, so that his palm brushed oh-so-lightly against hers.
"Chloe, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to mock you. I wholeheartedly accept your invitation... it's actually the best invitation I've received in... quite a while."
Her things forgotten, Chloe attempted to smother a smile that could only have qualified as a 'beam', and how uncool would *that* look?
"Really?" Her pleased tone spoke volumes, and Lex's smile increased in response to the happiness in it.
"Really." He confirmed softly, his eyes mesmerizing in their simple honesty, their intensity overwhelming in the purity of it. For once, Lex Luthor let all his calculations about possible motivations, ramifications, and results of the invitation and his response slide away, and accepted something -just this once -- at face value.
The mischievous look returned to her eyes, and she directed them demurely at the table to hide it as Lex's hand continued to brush hers and the words came rushing out.
"Better than the invitation to the Playboy mansion?"
Lex sat back, once again surprised and infinitely amused by her irreverence.
"How did you know about that?"
Chloe made a moue of innocence as her eyes raised to meet his.
"I may not be a reporter anymore, but I do have my sources Mr. Luthor."
"So, should I be afraid of my name ending up in the papers after all?"
"Only if the Day of Fun isn't up to my standards, Mr. Luthor. The ball, as they say, is very much in your court." Her eyes twinkled with the relish of a good sparring match; the likes of which she hadn't seen in years. Lex's, she noticed with surprise, were doing the same thing.
Decisively, Lex sat up straight and waved over the waiter, motioning for the check to their virtually untouched brunch.
"Well, since so much is at stake, I'd better get right away, wouldn't you say?"
Laughing at his feigned earnestness, Chloe nodded her head.
"Oh, most definitely."
The waiter bustled over, richly padded leather case in hand. Without so much as glancing down, Lex threw in a bill of some impossibly high denomination and thrust it back at the waiter, waving away offers of change. Chloe snorted as the expression on the server's face turned from mildly obsequious to overtly worshipful.
"Shall we go, then, Ms. Sullivan?"
"In a moment, Mr. Luthor. I need to call my lab and let them know that *I* will *not* be in today."
He smiled at the words, announced with such relish that it made them impossible *not* to smile at, and proffered his cell phone.
"Call away, Ms. Sullivan."
Chloe waved off the impossibly small unit with a dubious look that clearly questioned the ability of something *that* tiny to function as a communication device.
"Um... I think I'll just find myself a pay phone. You do *not* want to know the kind of reaction there'd be if 'Lex Luthor's Cell Phone' showed up on the caller ID."
Smiling and nodding in understanding (dammit, he was *not* going to be sensitive to the undertones in that statement, thinking simply today, remember), Lex pocketed the phone as Chloe stood and waved the now-familiar finger in his face.
"You. Stay. I'll be back in a minute. Meanwhile, you, Crosby, Stills, and Nash back there," she said, indicating the hulking bodyguards; "can figure out exactly where we're going. When I get back, the Day of Fun will officially commence!"
With a definitive bounce, Chloe turned on her heel and walked away, her bobbing blonde head clearly visible even from a distance.
Lex's chuckle turned into quiet guffaws that earned him a few stares from his soi sophisticated neighbors. Life's strange and twisted paths indeed. Who would have predicted the path that this day had taken? And in such a short time, too.
Glancing down at his watch as he reached again for his cup of coffee, Lex Luthor smiled. Ten 'til twelve. It was the turn of the hour, and there was nowhere else he'd rather be.
Sipping gingerly on scalding hot coffee, Chloe's eyes drifted shut as she emitted a low hum of appreciation. Grinning, Lex decided that he couldn't let this pass without comment.
"So, still a caffeine aficionado? Good. This at least tells me that you haven't been replaced by a pod person."
Opening her eyes a slit, just wide enough to let Lex feel her displeasure at having a Coffee Moment interrupted, Chloe snarked back, "Yeah, well, we poor grad students have to live on something, seeing as how there's no money for food."
Well, now that she mentioned it...
"So, chemistry, eh? Is that what you're studying now?"
The slit-eyed look returned as she assessed his tone. Gone was the serious and somber tone of minutes before. It seemed that they had decided to let Smallville rest where it belonged. In the past. On to bigger and brighter things. Or in the case of her collegiate years, bigger and smellier.
"Physical chemistry, to be exact." She watched, secretly amused, as his expression turned from a slightly condescending smirk to properly respectful. So, he really had been a science person in college... only they would truly understand the meaning of her particular course of study.
"You know, I was a chem. major in college as well. Organic." He smirked at her, and was answered by an almost adolescent roll of the eyes. Was he asking for it?
"Well, of course. What else would qualify you to run a crap factory? That *is* why your Dad assigned you to Plant Three, isn't it?" She blinked innocently at him, and he found it impossible to garner resentment at her unsubtle poke at his younger, wilder self. After all, it was well known that his 'qualifications' were the least of the reasons for his exile.
"Anyway, I was physical chemistry. My Ph.D. is in an interdisciplinary program, combining exogeology and chemistry, as well as a little bit of physics.... the degree is still chemistry, though."
Lex blinked and sat back, bemused.
"What, exactly, brought on this interest in geology and chemistry, exactly? And what on earth would a program like that be studying?"
Openly amused now, she surveyed him over the rim of her cup, waiting for the best moment to drop her revelation.
"Well, at the moment, we're studying the radiant properties of certain naturally occurring minerals, and their effects on animal and plant physiology. As to how I gained an interest..."
He sat for a minute, mulling over her words. In a flash, the answer came to him, and he watched as the realization was reflected back in her smiling -no, *smirking*-- eyes. As one, they gave voice to the recognition...
"Meteor rocks!"
Chuckling, Chloe set down the cup, her bangs falling forward into those eyes as she ruefully admitted;
"Yeah, well, I got tired of *knowing* the truth, having the patterns of behavior and their cause all clearly laid out in front of me, and not being able to get anyone to believe me! And you know why they didn't believe me, Lex? Because I didn't have the whys and wherefores, the details. They had no reason to believe me, just as I had no real reason for the theory at all."
He was surprised at her frank admission... her meteor theory had been like a child to Chloe, lavished with attention and affection, and fiercely protected against all comers.
"I thought... and I think, so did my dad, that when I moved out of Smallville, my interest in meteor rocks and the Wall of Weird would fade... be replaced by political scandals, corporate cover-ups... your usual journalism stuff. But that didn't happen."
He chuckled at the expression of remembered bewilderment on her face. Apparently, Chloe herself had not had much say in the switching of her career tracks. It was funny, the paths life led (or pushed) you down, unbeknownst to you...
"I was still so interested in the meteorites and why they did what they did... I mean, they had such a wide and disparate range of effects on people ...some people were affected permanently, some peripherally... some people had physical effects, others psychological. It was like the meteor rock was just a catch-all excuse for all the crazy weirdness that happened to us! So I took some chemistry courses, and some biology courses... and I tried to understand what exactly could be happening."
Now it was her turn to laugh at the youthful naivete she'd been subject to.
"I had *no* *idea*, at the time, of course, what a mammoth task I was undertaking... but it just sort of sucked me under... and I fell in love with the science, with the concrete knowledge that, given the right technique, was unassailable and unarguable. It felt good, to know the Truth and be able to tell people... and have them believe me."
This last in a playful tone, poking fun at Chloe's eccentric and often ignored fervency about her Meteor Theory... such as it was. And Lex was struck at once with a wave of awesome respect and ... dare he say it... a touch of fondness for the spritely woman he faced. It took guts, he thought with a slight twinge of bitterness, to rebel against preconceived notions of what you were going to be... to realize your true destiny lay in another direction entirely. And Lex realized that he and the rest of Smallville had severely underestimated the maturity and strength of Chloe Sullivan. She had been dwarfed, rendered cartoonish and cliched near the otherworldly perfection of Lana Lang and the plain old otherworldliness of Clark Kent.
"So... here you are."
"Here I am," she agreed, "and so are you. What happy coincidence allowed the very-nearly-inconceivable ...namely, little ole me sharing a meal with the one and only Lex Luthor, to occur? Had a hankering to be interviewed and you thought I'd be up for another try?"
Lex laughed outright at the reminder of Chloe's many failed attempts to get him into an interview and then actually be *able* to interview him... always interrupted as they were by natural and unnatural disasters. The sound, while motivated by real amusement, carried a hard bite to it. Chloe's gaze became assessing, and if he'd thought to look, he'd see the realization in her face when she came to the obvious (and right) conclusion... whatever had motivated Lex Luthor to wander the streets of Manhattan, he didn't want or need to talk about it. And judging by the rusty sound of Lex's laugh, what he needed (and hopefully wanted) was an easy and uncomplicated meeting of two more-like-than-she'd-ever-realized minds. One of the best advantages, Chloe mused, to having left the reporting field was that she didn't always have to be zooming in on the story. She could even, the thought bizarrely occurred, become a friend, at least for a day, to Lex Luthor. Stranger things had happened. Hell, stranger things had happened *to* *her*.
Chloe Sullivan had grown into an impressively compassionate and perceptive young woman, if she did say so herself. Too bad there weren't too many friends around to realize the fact. Damn, now *she* was becoming maudlin. Couldn't let that happen.
Shaking a playfully admonishing finger in his direction, Chloe mustered up an impressively miffed face.
"Laugh all you want, Mr. Luthor... we both know the truth. I bet half the reason I was forced to switch careers was the unending frustration of being *this* *close* to the interview of the lifetime and having it *cruelly* snatched away from me."
This last with a melodramatic sweep of the hand to her forehead, and Lex was seriously in danger of falling out of his chair. Man, it had been a long time since he'd really laughed. It was amazing, what a meeting with an old... well, old acquaintance and hopefully new friend, could do for the constitution. Maybe he should give Pete a call...
Sniffing, Chloe reached for her coffee cup and tossed her hair.
"The least you can do to make up for the trauma you caused me is to pay for a meal."
She sniffed again, and this time Lex's eyes were open to the mischievous look that creeped onto Chloe's face. He waited in somewhat breathless anticipation to see what she'd throw his way next.
"In fact..." the words were drawn out slowly as Chloe savored the idea they prefaced like fine coffee. He leaned forward, knowing that this would be good.
"In fact, Lex, I think you owe me at *least* an entire *day's* worth of meals! And entertainment! And exploring! How's today for you?"
Lex blinked once again, and sat back. Maybe he'd missed a paragraph.
"You want me to... pay for your food?"
Shaking her head impatiently, Chloe sighed. This was too much fun. Lex had an almost Kent-like glower of incomprehension on his face.
"No, Lex. I want you to pay for *our* food! And entertainment! I, Chloe Sullivan, do hereby declare that Lex Luthor shall clear his debts to me by indulging, with me, in a traditional New York City Day of Fun!"
"Day of... fun?" he repeated weakly.
"Jeez, do Luthors not watch Friends reruns? Yes, Lex, Day of Fun. Whereby you and I engage in a leisurely exploration of The Greatest City in The World. I'd planned for next Tuesday, but today's so nice, *and* I could have company...."
She trailed off, wondering if her self-congratulatory assessment had been an entire load of crock. Oh God, he's probably horrified, she thought, mortified.
A glimmer of a smile appeared at the corners of Lex's lips, though Chloe was too busy agonizing to notice it.
"You... plan these?"
"Well," she began fidgeting, clearly uncomfortable now with her impulsive invitation and even more impulsive personal revelations. "Yeah. I know, super dork-o-rama, but hey, I'd never set foot outside the lab otherwise!" she exclaimed defensively.
Lex couldn't help it, he started laughing again, despite the interesting shade of red that began to creep up Chloe's cheeks. "No, no... that's not what I meant. No dork-o-anything implied. I simply... hadn't expected you to be so... organized about it."
Huffily, this time unfeigned, Chloe reached below the table and began to gather her things.
"Yeah, well, people change, *thank* you very much Mr. Luthor. So, I gather there's to be no day of any kind. I'll just be going now, if you don't mind..."
Reaching out a hand urgently, Lex stilled her jerky movements. He turned their hands, so that his palm brushed oh-so-lightly against hers.
"Chloe, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to mock you. I wholeheartedly accept your invitation... it's actually the best invitation I've received in... quite a while."
Her things forgotten, Chloe attempted to smother a smile that could only have qualified as a 'beam', and how uncool would *that* look?
"Really?" Her pleased tone spoke volumes, and Lex's smile increased in response to the happiness in it.
"Really." He confirmed softly, his eyes mesmerizing in their simple honesty, their intensity overwhelming in the purity of it. For once, Lex Luthor let all his calculations about possible motivations, ramifications, and results of the invitation and his response slide away, and accepted something -just this once -- at face value.
The mischievous look returned to her eyes, and she directed them demurely at the table to hide it as Lex's hand continued to brush hers and the words came rushing out.
"Better than the invitation to the Playboy mansion?"
Lex sat back, once again surprised and infinitely amused by her irreverence.
"How did you know about that?"
Chloe made a moue of innocence as her eyes raised to meet his.
"I may not be a reporter anymore, but I do have my sources Mr. Luthor."
"So, should I be afraid of my name ending up in the papers after all?"
"Only if the Day of Fun isn't up to my standards, Mr. Luthor. The ball, as they say, is very much in your court." Her eyes twinkled with the relish of a good sparring match; the likes of which she hadn't seen in years. Lex's, she noticed with surprise, were doing the same thing.
Decisively, Lex sat up straight and waved over the waiter, motioning for the check to their virtually untouched brunch.
"Well, since so much is at stake, I'd better get right away, wouldn't you say?"
Laughing at his feigned earnestness, Chloe nodded her head.
"Oh, most definitely."
The waiter bustled over, richly padded leather case in hand. Without so much as glancing down, Lex threw in a bill of some impossibly high denomination and thrust it back at the waiter, waving away offers of change. Chloe snorted as the expression on the server's face turned from mildly obsequious to overtly worshipful.
"Shall we go, then, Ms. Sullivan?"
"In a moment, Mr. Luthor. I need to call my lab and let them know that *I* will *not* be in today."
He smiled at the words, announced with such relish that it made them impossible *not* to smile at, and proffered his cell phone.
"Call away, Ms. Sullivan."
Chloe waved off the impossibly small unit with a dubious look that clearly questioned the ability of something *that* tiny to function as a communication device.
"Um... I think I'll just find myself a pay phone. You do *not* want to know the kind of reaction there'd be if 'Lex Luthor's Cell Phone' showed up on the caller ID."
Smiling and nodding in understanding (dammit, he was *not* going to be sensitive to the undertones in that statement, thinking simply today, remember), Lex pocketed the phone as Chloe stood and waved the now-familiar finger in his face.
"You. Stay. I'll be back in a minute. Meanwhile, you, Crosby, Stills, and Nash back there," she said, indicating the hulking bodyguards; "can figure out exactly where we're going. When I get back, the Day of Fun will officially commence!"
With a definitive bounce, Chloe turned on her heel and walked away, her bobbing blonde head clearly visible even from a distance.
Lex's chuckle turned into quiet guffaws that earned him a few stares from his soi sophisticated neighbors. Life's strange and twisted paths indeed. Who would have predicted the path that this day had taken? And in such a short time, too.
Glancing down at his watch as he reached again for his cup of coffee, Lex Luthor smiled. Ten 'til twelve. It was the turn of the hour, and there was nowhere else he'd rather be.