Part 5 Things She Can't Deny
"Really? That's too bad." Chloe sighed and checked her watch. "Well in that case I'm going to stay here and," groaning, she continued, "check student papers. Will you be finished around five?"
"If I'm not, I'll drop everything anyway," he promised. "I'll pick you up. Stay there."
"Where else would I be?"
She could almost hear his grin over the phone. There was a momentary pause from his end of the line. "Chloe, someone just came in and I have to take this. I will be there all right? Are you all packed, or do you need me to send movers to your place?"
"I'm fine, Lex. Everything's ready to go." She did not mention of course that Lucas had been to her place to help her out during the weekend.
"All right."
"Okay. Bye."
"Yeah. Love you."
And then she heard the dial tone. She closed her mouth, but it fell open again. She racked her brains for a response. Chloe dialed his office number. She turned off the phone. Thirty seconds after replacing it on the cradle, she picked it up and tried a different number. "Lionel Luthor please."
She was immediately patched through and Chloe closed her eyes, listening to the Schubert playing on the line while she was on hold. She had slipped into the music by the time that his voice came in that she was lost for a second or two, "I hear that you're moving in with my son."
"Are you confirming it with me, or are you just making a point, Mr Luthor? Either way serves no use."
"Don't get defensive, Ms Sullivan," he drawled. "I was going to commend you on a job well done. I couldn't have planned it better myself. It's going to put you in the proper position to look into his most private documents. Very Victoria Hardwick of you."
She shuddered at the reference, but couldn't deny the parallelism. "I'm not moving in with Lex for you, Mr Luthor. As far as I'm concerned the job is over. You have the answer. Lex is not and never has plotted to take the Pacific branch out from under you. He's transparent in all his transactions. Any threat you feel is pure paranoia."
Her nerves were frayed at the way that Lionel insisted that she was on the right track. She had no intention of snooping around Lex's house in an attempt to create a suit to file against Lex.
"Ms Sullivan, don't give me such lousy results when I've coughed out nineteen hundred dollars in your father's medical bills this past week alone. Get me real answers."
She hung up the phone in frustration. Chloe looked up at the clock and saw that it was already half past twelve. There was no sense mulling over Lionel Luthor's stubbornness. It was a trait in the blood. What she found charming in Lex and a little passable in Lucas was thoroughly detestable in their father. She opened her drawer to take a few bills. She should just get something delivered.
When the knock on the door came, she cursed the Luthor stubbornness. "Come in," she called out tiredly.
The door swung open just wide enough for a plastic bag of takeout to fit through. "Is this enough bribery to not get me yelled out of the room?"
"Fine, Lucas. Get in here. Be thankful that my stomach is growling."
The youngest Luthor sauntered in and plopped down on the seat in front of her. He dropped his feet on the seat opposite. Chloe eagerly reached for the food, peeking into the boxes to choose a curried chicken topping.
"I just got off the phone with a very pissed Lionel," she shared.
"The things we have in common." He winked at her.
"You talked to him too?"
"Right after your little conversation apparently. He called me in class. He tells me that you believe Lex is clean."
"Lex is. You know it as well as I do," she pointed out.
Lucas shook his head. "Lex is never clean, Chloe. In fact, even if he is, insist that he's not. It's the only way to please my father. In fact, if you want my help saving your ass," he continued, grinning at the image it provided, "you'll let me call my dad and tell him that you were just covering for Lex. We'll say it's because you like him so much."
Chloe shook her head, fishing for a piece of the savory white meat. "Lex has no hidden agenda now, Lucas."
"My father will get frustrated sooner or later, especially if Lex is really clean. You're only proving to him and to his board that any money lost here is his own fault, that the business is losing through his own incompetence. He will destroy you."
She narrowed her eyes. "He'll try. I don't care. Lex loves me."
"All the more reason for my dad to tell my brother the circumstances leading you to this part of the globe," Lucas drawled. "I can get you out of this mess." He took her hand and squeezed it. "We'll go abroad. Dad offered me a position in Europe. It will take us away from all this manipulations, far from bother of them."
Her eyes flickered to where their hands were linked before meeting his again. "I have faith, Lucas. Lex won't jump to wrong conclusions."
"What's the right conclusion?" he asked. "The right conclusion is that you used Lex to get money from dad."
"The reason-"
"You think if Lex finds that out he'll stop and calm himself long enough to listen to why you betrayed him?"
She tore her eyes away from him, because he was correct at every point. "I'll come clean," she assured him. "When I've found a way to pay for my dad's bills without depending on Lionel." Chloe pulled her hand out from under his slowly.
"You know that if I had my own money already I won't hesitate to help you. I guess dad knew that. I have no way of withdrawing anything without him finding out."
She looked back at him, searching his face for signs of his father. She was confused when she found nothing there.
"Chloe-"
She smiled at him and raised her hand to stop him. "Thanks, Lucas."
~~
This was supposed to be the date when she would tell him everything. Living with him, seeing everyday the wonderful man that he was, Chloe knew that there was no way she could possibly stay with him another day keeping the secret.
She packed the picnic into a basket and grabbed the checkered blanket from the table, giving him instructions over the phone. "Take Roxas Boulevard and then turn left when you get to MIA Road. It's on the left side. You got that?" She smiled in satisfaction. "All right. I have some test results to pick up and then I'll meet you at the bottom of the volcano replica. I know. It's because we're steamy hot," she teased. "All right. I love you."
On the way to the hospital, she convinced herself that there was no need to be frightened. She had never seen Lex so content. She had never been as content with her life. If she told him, and he becomes so angry that he breaks up with her, then she would accept it. It was for their peace of mind.
She was prepared for the consequences. Until she found out that she was having his baby. And then she couldn't bring herself to tell him anything that would cause him to leave her.
Everything was too perfect to ruin.
She sat cross-legged on a checkered blanket at the bottom of a small hillock. It was the replica of a famous volcano, thirty feet high but perfectly coned at the top. She had no idea how she knew that particular detail, but with the sun shining high above her and snacks spread before her, she didn't bother to find out.
"You're going to burn your skin off." And then there was shade. Chloe looked up but couldn't see the man's face, silhouetted as he was. With the sun shining behind him, all she could discern was that he was bald.
She was drawing an envelope from her purse now. Chloe noticed appreciatively that her bag was woven abaca that matched the sandals at the edge of the blanket. All around her was vast grassland and she was the flower in the floral sundress.
Chloe handed the envelope to the man. She could feel her heart racing, although she did not know why. What was so important in that envelope that made the man gasp? The paper fluttered down to the blanket and she smiled up at him.
"God, this is perfect!" he sighed. He knelt in front of her, and with the sun still behind him, she saw nothing of his features but that brief spark of the blue in his eyes. His arms wrapped around her waist and she rested her hands at his nape, allowing him to lay her down on the blanket and cover her body with his. "You're perfect," he said. "We're going to be perfect, the three of us," he promised, and her heart soared.
She turned her head and looked at the paper caught underneath a mango. Chloe's lips parted when she read the words printed there.
"Names," he said. "We'll think of names. And we'll go shopping for everything it needs."
"Lex," she said, puzzling her again. "It's too early."
"I don't care," he whispered against the crook of her neck. "We're going to look for a house, Chloe. I'm going to design the nursery."
"Will you let me help?" she teased.
"Maybe."
His kisses moved over the skin of her cheeks and when he laid his mouth on hers, searching for a response from her, Chloe gave him all her love in the kiss. Somehow, today, with the sun bearing down his back and his body pressing hers to the cool grass, it did not matter that so many things were left unsaid.
They were going to have a family. That was one bond that Lionel's revelations would never destroy.
~~
His face was blurred above her. Chloe blinked rapidly to focus her sight on the image floating in front of her. "Lex?" she asked softly.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded, the curt, silent way he asked emphasized his anger. Her heart stopped. Shock really did a lot to your senses. Suddenly, she could see that she was lying on the couch in the living room. Lex was sitting beside her with a slip of paper in his hand. Lionel would not have.
"Tell you what?" she asked carefully.
"I find you unconscious on the floor of the living room when I get home. Thank God we had the coffee table moved or you would have hit your head! Jesus, Chloe, I was so scared. I called your doctor and he said you've had low blood pressure for the past two months. Something about overexertion and stress." He ran his hand over his head in that nervous action she adored. "You've been putting on so many hours and taking on consultancy jobs. What do you need the money for?"
"It's not something I have to tell you, is it?"
"You're endangering yourself and the baby," he reasoned out. "You have to tell me these things. Chloe, you can ask me for anything. If you need the money, I'll give it you."
"God!" she pushed him off the couch and stood up, careful to stay still for a few seconds so she could get her bearings. "I don't care about the money, Lex!" Chloe yelled, frustrated with the word, angry at the idea, pissed because no matter how much she hated it, it was a necessity she could not deny. "The money is the last thing I need to hear about in this relationship."
"Chloe-" He looked down at the paper in his hand, a bank slip that stated the amount of money she had had transferred to her Metropolis account. "We still have to talk about this."
"No, we don't!" she yelled back from the guestroom. "You have no right to demand answers like that."
That night, Lex slipped into the room and saw her curled up in the bed that had not been used since he moved there. He pulled back the covers and picked her up. It did not seem right to see her asleep in any bed that was not theirs.
"Really? That's too bad." Chloe sighed and checked her watch. "Well in that case I'm going to stay here and," groaning, she continued, "check student papers. Will you be finished around five?"
"If I'm not, I'll drop everything anyway," he promised. "I'll pick you up. Stay there."
"Where else would I be?"
She could almost hear his grin over the phone. There was a momentary pause from his end of the line. "Chloe, someone just came in and I have to take this. I will be there all right? Are you all packed, or do you need me to send movers to your place?"
"I'm fine, Lex. Everything's ready to go." She did not mention of course that Lucas had been to her place to help her out during the weekend.
"All right."
"Okay. Bye."
"Yeah. Love you."
And then she heard the dial tone. She closed her mouth, but it fell open again. She racked her brains for a response. Chloe dialed his office number. She turned off the phone. Thirty seconds after replacing it on the cradle, she picked it up and tried a different number. "Lionel Luthor please."
She was immediately patched through and Chloe closed her eyes, listening to the Schubert playing on the line while she was on hold. She had slipped into the music by the time that his voice came in that she was lost for a second or two, "I hear that you're moving in with my son."
"Are you confirming it with me, or are you just making a point, Mr Luthor? Either way serves no use."
"Don't get defensive, Ms Sullivan," he drawled. "I was going to commend you on a job well done. I couldn't have planned it better myself. It's going to put you in the proper position to look into his most private documents. Very Victoria Hardwick of you."
She shuddered at the reference, but couldn't deny the parallelism. "I'm not moving in with Lex for you, Mr Luthor. As far as I'm concerned the job is over. You have the answer. Lex is not and never has plotted to take the Pacific branch out from under you. He's transparent in all his transactions. Any threat you feel is pure paranoia."
Her nerves were frayed at the way that Lionel insisted that she was on the right track. She had no intention of snooping around Lex's house in an attempt to create a suit to file against Lex.
"Ms Sullivan, don't give me such lousy results when I've coughed out nineteen hundred dollars in your father's medical bills this past week alone. Get me real answers."
She hung up the phone in frustration. Chloe looked up at the clock and saw that it was already half past twelve. There was no sense mulling over Lionel Luthor's stubbornness. It was a trait in the blood. What she found charming in Lex and a little passable in Lucas was thoroughly detestable in their father. She opened her drawer to take a few bills. She should just get something delivered.
When the knock on the door came, she cursed the Luthor stubbornness. "Come in," she called out tiredly.
The door swung open just wide enough for a plastic bag of takeout to fit through. "Is this enough bribery to not get me yelled out of the room?"
"Fine, Lucas. Get in here. Be thankful that my stomach is growling."
The youngest Luthor sauntered in and plopped down on the seat in front of her. He dropped his feet on the seat opposite. Chloe eagerly reached for the food, peeking into the boxes to choose a curried chicken topping.
"I just got off the phone with a very pissed Lionel," she shared.
"The things we have in common." He winked at her.
"You talked to him too?"
"Right after your little conversation apparently. He called me in class. He tells me that you believe Lex is clean."
"Lex is. You know it as well as I do," she pointed out.
Lucas shook his head. "Lex is never clean, Chloe. In fact, even if he is, insist that he's not. It's the only way to please my father. In fact, if you want my help saving your ass," he continued, grinning at the image it provided, "you'll let me call my dad and tell him that you were just covering for Lex. We'll say it's because you like him so much."
Chloe shook her head, fishing for a piece of the savory white meat. "Lex has no hidden agenda now, Lucas."
"My father will get frustrated sooner or later, especially if Lex is really clean. You're only proving to him and to his board that any money lost here is his own fault, that the business is losing through his own incompetence. He will destroy you."
She narrowed her eyes. "He'll try. I don't care. Lex loves me."
"All the more reason for my dad to tell my brother the circumstances leading you to this part of the globe," Lucas drawled. "I can get you out of this mess." He took her hand and squeezed it. "We'll go abroad. Dad offered me a position in Europe. It will take us away from all this manipulations, far from bother of them."
Her eyes flickered to where their hands were linked before meeting his again. "I have faith, Lucas. Lex won't jump to wrong conclusions."
"What's the right conclusion?" he asked. "The right conclusion is that you used Lex to get money from dad."
"The reason-"
"You think if Lex finds that out he'll stop and calm himself long enough to listen to why you betrayed him?"
She tore her eyes away from him, because he was correct at every point. "I'll come clean," she assured him. "When I've found a way to pay for my dad's bills without depending on Lionel." Chloe pulled her hand out from under his slowly.
"You know that if I had my own money already I won't hesitate to help you. I guess dad knew that. I have no way of withdrawing anything without him finding out."
She looked back at him, searching his face for signs of his father. She was confused when she found nothing there.
"Chloe-"
She smiled at him and raised her hand to stop him. "Thanks, Lucas."
~~
This was supposed to be the date when she would tell him everything. Living with him, seeing everyday the wonderful man that he was, Chloe knew that there was no way she could possibly stay with him another day keeping the secret.
She packed the picnic into a basket and grabbed the checkered blanket from the table, giving him instructions over the phone. "Take Roxas Boulevard and then turn left when you get to MIA Road. It's on the left side. You got that?" She smiled in satisfaction. "All right. I have some test results to pick up and then I'll meet you at the bottom of the volcano replica. I know. It's because we're steamy hot," she teased. "All right. I love you."
On the way to the hospital, she convinced herself that there was no need to be frightened. She had never seen Lex so content. She had never been as content with her life. If she told him, and he becomes so angry that he breaks up with her, then she would accept it. It was for their peace of mind.
She was prepared for the consequences. Until she found out that she was having his baby. And then she couldn't bring herself to tell him anything that would cause him to leave her.
Everything was too perfect to ruin.
She sat cross-legged on a checkered blanket at the bottom of a small hillock. It was the replica of a famous volcano, thirty feet high but perfectly coned at the top. She had no idea how she knew that particular detail, but with the sun shining high above her and snacks spread before her, she didn't bother to find out.
"You're going to burn your skin off." And then there was shade. Chloe looked up but couldn't see the man's face, silhouetted as he was. With the sun shining behind him, all she could discern was that he was bald.
She was drawing an envelope from her purse now. Chloe noticed appreciatively that her bag was woven abaca that matched the sandals at the edge of the blanket. All around her was vast grassland and she was the flower in the floral sundress.
Chloe handed the envelope to the man. She could feel her heart racing, although she did not know why. What was so important in that envelope that made the man gasp? The paper fluttered down to the blanket and she smiled up at him.
"God, this is perfect!" he sighed. He knelt in front of her, and with the sun still behind him, she saw nothing of his features but that brief spark of the blue in his eyes. His arms wrapped around her waist and she rested her hands at his nape, allowing him to lay her down on the blanket and cover her body with his. "You're perfect," he said. "We're going to be perfect, the three of us," he promised, and her heart soared.
She turned her head and looked at the paper caught underneath a mango. Chloe's lips parted when she read the words printed there.
"Names," he said. "We'll think of names. And we'll go shopping for everything it needs."
"Lex," she said, puzzling her again. "It's too early."
"I don't care," he whispered against the crook of her neck. "We're going to look for a house, Chloe. I'm going to design the nursery."
"Will you let me help?" she teased.
"Maybe."
His kisses moved over the skin of her cheeks and when he laid his mouth on hers, searching for a response from her, Chloe gave him all her love in the kiss. Somehow, today, with the sun bearing down his back and his body pressing hers to the cool grass, it did not matter that so many things were left unsaid.
They were going to have a family. That was one bond that Lionel's revelations would never destroy.
~~
His face was blurred above her. Chloe blinked rapidly to focus her sight on the image floating in front of her. "Lex?" she asked softly.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded, the curt, silent way he asked emphasized his anger. Her heart stopped. Shock really did a lot to your senses. Suddenly, she could see that she was lying on the couch in the living room. Lex was sitting beside her with a slip of paper in his hand. Lionel would not have.
"Tell you what?" she asked carefully.
"I find you unconscious on the floor of the living room when I get home. Thank God we had the coffee table moved or you would have hit your head! Jesus, Chloe, I was so scared. I called your doctor and he said you've had low blood pressure for the past two months. Something about overexertion and stress." He ran his hand over his head in that nervous action she adored. "You've been putting on so many hours and taking on consultancy jobs. What do you need the money for?"
"It's not something I have to tell you, is it?"
"You're endangering yourself and the baby," he reasoned out. "You have to tell me these things. Chloe, you can ask me for anything. If you need the money, I'll give it you."
"God!" she pushed him off the couch and stood up, careful to stay still for a few seconds so she could get her bearings. "I don't care about the money, Lex!" Chloe yelled, frustrated with the word, angry at the idea, pissed because no matter how much she hated it, it was a necessity she could not deny. "The money is the last thing I need to hear about in this relationship."
"Chloe-" He looked down at the paper in his hand, a bank slip that stated the amount of money she had had transferred to her Metropolis account. "We still have to talk about this."
"No, we don't!" she yelled back from the guestroom. "You have no right to demand answers like that."
That night, Lex slipped into the room and saw her curled up in the bed that had not been used since he moved there. He pulled back the covers and picked her up. It did not seem right to see her asleep in any bed that was not theirs.