As always and forever, thank you so much for the reviews, I enjoy reading them, probably even more than you guys say you like to read this story. And now that I've been thoroughly spoiled, please tell what you think of the latest addition!
(Oh, and a strange note of sorts: I absolutely love Train's Drops of Jupiter CD, as well as John Mayer's Room For Squares. During the constant writing and rewriting of this chapter, these two CDs have been running in circles to help inspire me. Two songs in particular are Train's Mississippi and Mayer's St. Patrick's Day tracks. Oddly enough, they're both the last tracks on their respective CDs. Anyway, I think they have a lot of note in this chapter, even though some people may not catch it. If you happen to have them, I highly suggest that you take a listen as you read, might help you get in the mood, particularly the last scene.)
********************************************* Month # 4"Well, this is just fantastic!" Gabe Sullivan exclaimed as he walked into his living room with a tray filled to the brim with cookies, three glasses with ice and lemonade sitting beside the plate.
"So you said, several times, daddy," Chloe remarked as she moved to take the tray from his hands. Lex stopped her, though, taking it and putting it down on the coffee table so they could all sit once more. When he sat next to her, he loosely draped his right arm across her back. "I'm glad that you're happy."
"I'm happy?" Gabe shook his head. "Honey, I'm just glad the two of you finally worked out those differences you had over this. Imagine! My little girl's getting married. Lex, you do realize-"
"I'm an incredibly lucky man, I know." Lex reached out for a cookie and bit into one after giving Gabe a warm smile. "You will be at the ceremony, right?"
"Wild animals couldn't stop me!" Gabe urged a lemonade filled glass into his daughter's hands. Chloe looked at it appreciatively, but right as she put it under her nose, a look of revulsion came over her face. "What? Not enough sugar?"
Chloe hastily put it back down. "I need to go to the bathroom."
Lex and Gabe watched as she sped off in the general direction of the hallway. Gabe laughed a little when she was out of sight and turned to the other man, "I forgot about those finicky hormones. You two been having trouble with that?"
"Well, she went through her chocolate milk stage for a while, but she's moved on to always wanting grapes. The fruit, the juice, the scented hand soap, everything." Lex shrugged, "There's been a few others, but I can't seem to keep up."
"Heh, pregnancy."
"Tell me about it."
Gabe sat forward eagerly. "No, no, tell me about the wedding. So where's it going to be? Who's invited?"
"It's very small and will be held at the castle, so far with a couple of Chloe's friends from the staff and you. We want to keep it small, intimate. We haven't discussed the date, yet; I just need to get some affairs in order so I can take a couple of weeks off afterwards." It was useless to remind Gabe that he was one of the few that actually knew Lex and Chloe had nuptials on the mind. "Maybe we'll add some more to the list, it's really all up to Chloe."
For a moment, Gabe looked uncomfortable until he finally leaned forward even more and spoke conspiratorially, "Say, is Clark Kent invited?"
Lex moved back into his seat and forced himself to relax before answering. "That's up to Chloe, as well. I'd like to, we're still friends, but they've been out of touch for a while."
"Yes, yes, I know that. It's just he called a couple weeks ago, said something about how she wasn't returning his messages, wherever she was. Of course, I couldn't tell him that all he had to do was call your number, Chloe was dead set against me telling anyone you two were living together until you both announced it yourselves."
"Makes sense," Lex nodded. "All I can say is that it's Chloe's decision. They had a bit of a falling out-"
"Oh, yes, I remember that. She walked around in a daze all during spring break when she visited afterwards."
Lex looked pained for a split second, it passed so quickly that Gabe thought he'd imagined it, before continuing, "I can't force them to be friendly again. And with Chloe being so up and down, with these weepy bouts of not having her favorite pillow or not able to find a good cd to listen to, well."
"It's best not to mention the bigger things, right," Gabe winked. "Gotcha. It's helpful that's he's staying in Metropolis this summer, eh?"
"Without a doubt."
The flush of a toilet could be heard in the distant parts of the house, so by the time Chloe got back to them, Lex and Gabe were genially discussing matters of the factory. Gabe looked over hopefully when she sat down next to Lex, "Hey, sweetie, want some grapes?"
"Oh, God." Pleasant appearances vanishing, Chloe slapped her hand over her mouth and ran right back to where she'd just come from.
Alarmed, Gabe looked over at his future son-in-law, but Lex only shrugged. "I told you I couldn't keep up."
**************************************
"Feeling better?" Lex stared down at Chloe as they stood closely on the porch in front of her father. He ran a gentle finger down her jaw line. "We don't have to leave just yet if you want to rest some before getting in the car."
"No, I'm fine," Chloe smiled up adoringly at him and Gabe beamed from next to them. She placed her hand in Lex's. "Let's get going. I'll see you later daddy."
Gabe kissed her cheek right before they started down the porch and waved at them. "I'll be visiting you two later this week, all right?"
"Good, you owe me, dad!" Chloe called out from her passenger of the car as Lex opened the door. Lex waved, too, just as he slid in behind the wheel. Both had bright smiles on their faces and Gabe couldn't help but be delighted with the two of them.
It was with a happy heart that Gabe walked back into the house to clear a space on his mantle. He had to make room for some wedding pictures, not to mention a few photos of his coming grandbaby.
**************************************
It was when the house was finally out of their sight that Chloe let the smile drop from her face. If she'd had to keep that up for five more minutes, she would have needed to use the bathroom again and wouldn't have been able to blame the food. Sparing a glance at Lex out of the corner of her eyes, he seemed more intent on the road rather than paying any attention to her. She let the silence settle for a few minutes before finally speaking up. "I hate lying to him."
"It was your choice, Chloe," he quietly replied as he jerked the stick shift into the next gear. "You asked me to play the happy in-love fiancée and that's what you got."
"He won't take it well if we put it any other way," Chloe mused as she turned to stare out the window. "He wouldn't understand."
"Right, Chloe." Another jerk to the next gear. "Are we still talking about your father?"
Chloe ignored the hint in his words. "Could you please slow down? You've got a pregnant fiancée in the car."
"Fine," Lex muttered, slowly letting the speedometer drop into a normal range. He tried his best not to notice that Chloe was slowly stroking the small swell of her belly. It was distracting, even though it wasn't apparent to everyone else. Lex knew, and that was what mattered. That was his child in there, getting nurtured and growing so it could finally join them in a roughly half a year. The emotion of it hit so quickly that he was just as shocked Chloe was when he reached out his right hand and put it next to hers.
"What are you doing?" She finally choked it out, but didn't move his hand.
"Shh." Lex let his hand roam over the swell, a sense of pride coming over him that was unlike he'd ever felt before. "I've never gotten to do this. Please, just let me."
Chloe couldn't do much more than stare at him, open-mouthed, as he his eyes focused on the road, but his hand rested against her abdomen. After the initial movements, his fingers lay still now, simply resting against her, or more so, resting on their child.
Their child. As if they were a family, or even nearly so. It was still hard to swallow.
Caught up in the moment, Chloe barely saw them pass something out of the corner of her eyes, but her mouth was quick to catch up with her brain. "Stop the car."
"What?"
"Stop the car, I'm getting out."
"What? Are you going to walk back home?" Lex gave her an odd look. "If you're expecting me to apologize, you have a long wait ahead of you."
"No, it's just," Chloe wanted so much to swipe the defensive look from his face. "Lana's car. It's parked in front of the Talon. I want to see her."
Lex stared at her for just a moment longer before nodding slightly and quickly went around the block and made his way back to the coffee shop. He set the car in park next to what he guessed was Lana's own (it was hard to miss the fuzzy pink dice hanging from the rearview mirror) and gave Chloe a questioning glance. "Are you sure?"
Now both her hands were on her stomach. Chloe noisily blew out a lungful of air. "Yeah. I mean, it's going to get out anyway, right?" She looked over at him. "She should at least find out from me."
He could tell that she was a hell of a lot more nervous than she sounded but if there was something he was sure about Chloe, it was she was nothing if not determined. Lex could only imagine the battle going on inside of her that went back and forth between the safety of anonymity and telling the truth. Even so, he knew that the time would come sooner or later, just as she said, so Lex nodded in agreement. "Do you want me to go in?"
"No," Chloe answered quickly. "Just send a car to pick me up in about half an hour. You know what? Better yet, I'll call, I've got my phone, it shouldn't take much longer than that. I hope."
"All right," Lex knew better than to fight with Chloe Sullivan when she had her mind set on something, at least when it came to something that didn't concern him directly. "I'll see you later at home."
"Okay," Chloe seemed to ooze determination just getting the door open and stepping out of the car. She stood on the curb in front of the car and waved Lex on; he slowly picked up one hand in a single wave before backing up and leaving. "All right Sullivan," she murmured as she played with the strap of her purse. "Now or never."
It seemed like the old days, but so many things were significantly different that Chloe didn't bother to try and get caught up in the memories. Plucking a flower from one of the pails outside, she walked into the Talon and looked around.
A few things hit her at once. First, the smell. Once a heavenly scent, now the stink of coffee clung to her lungs like a thick, muddy blanket. It took a few shallow breathes to get a hold of herself. Second, Chloe barely recognized anyone inside the shop. There were some familiar faces, but the last time she'd seen them was when she'd been tutoring eighth grade English. Instead, the people who used to be annoying little kids were running around in Smallville High t-shirts and carrying cool mugs of iced coffee. Lastly, Lana Lang was nowhere in sight.
Chloe caught a waitress she thought she identified as the kid sister of one of the former sports writers at the Torch. "Excuse me, could you tell me where Lana is?"
"Miss Lang?" The kid looked over her shoulder. "I think she's back in the office working on some reports. Know how to get there?"
"Yeah," Chloe muttered, quickly leaving the girl behind. A twinge rang out inside of her when she saw a sign on the counter: "Kent's Organic Apple Pies! Fresh!" Shaking her head to ignore any connotations she could make with the sign, Chloe made her way to the back rooms, ignoring a couple of questioning waiters and counter jockeys. The back of the Talon was the same as ever and it wasn't hard to find the office, but Chloe couldn't bring herself to do much except look in the window to where Lana was.
There her friend sat, head bowed over a pile of paperwork. A pair of reading glasses was perched on the top of her forehead and a calculator appeared to be glued to her right hand. Lana's pupils darted back and forth between the calculator and a paper in front of her, all the while running her free hand down the page as if intent on getting ever figure she could. Despite her focus those things, though, it was like she felt someone watching her. When Lana finally picked her head up, Chloe could see the changes in her friend's face. First it was confusion, then surprise, then a final look of joy. "Chloe!" She heard her cry out, though it was muffled by the door.
Too late to back out now. Chloe pushed the door open. "Hey there."
"Oh, my gosh! Chloe!" Lana bounced up from her chair and was around the table in a flash. She caught up Chloe in a huge hug that lasted several seconds before she finally let go. "When did you get into town?"
"Oh, um," Chloe licked her lips and tried to smile brilliantly. "You know, it's a funny thing you would ask that."
Still grinning, Lana led her to sit down in one of the chairs and proceeded to sit in the next one. "Yeah, Clark told me you were planning on doing a bit of traveling, move around a bit. Did you get my emails?"
"Yeah, yeah," Chloe began to feel incredibly guilty. Of course she'd gotten them, every one since she'd arrived at the mansion. Of course reading was a whole lot different than answering. "Actually, I'm sorry I never got to write back to you. Things have been pretty odd lately."
"Don't worry about it, it's just so great to see you! Pete and Clark are going to be ecstatic when they hear about this." Lana began to reach for a small intercom system on the desk. "Hey, do you want anything to drink? Completely on the house."
"No, that's okay." Chloe began to grow more alarmed as Lana began to go on about how wonderful it was to see her, how excited Pete would be when she told him, how Clark would rush from Metropolis at the first chance he got. "Lana, please, I-"
"I was just talking to him the other day on the phone. He's been pretty upset. I know these were pretty bad between you guys for a while, but he misses you, Chloe. He really does." Lana stared at her with her big child-like eyes.
"Could we please not discuss Clark?" Chloe smiled faintly. "I came here to tell you some news."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Lana switched gears in an instant. "Here I am not letting you talk one bit. So what's going on?"
"I, well, I," Chloe hemmed and hawed for a moment before finally blurting out, "I'm getting married."
Lana's face went completely blank for a moment before it seemed to explode in a whir of excitement. "CHLOE! You're getting MARRIED?" Raven hair seemed to fly everywhere as Lana jumped up from her seat and she clapped her hands together. "To who? When? Did you meet him when you were traveling? Is he foreign? Oh, my goodness, I'm speaking like a complete twit, aren't I?"
"Just a little," Chloe admitted. At least a small portion of the battle was over. "Could you sit? Actually that's what I wanted to tell you about. You know that whole traveling thing I told you guys I would be doing? It's actually, well, it never really started."
"What?" The wide eyes were back, but now there was puzzlement there. Lana sat down and looked closely at her friend. "Where have you been then?"
Chloe shifted a little in her seat, unconsciously laying her hand on her belly. "I've been with my-ahem-fiancée."
The confusion was turning into an intense scrutiny. "Chloe, where have you been?"
"At the mansion," Chloe said quietly. "With Lex."
Quiet. That's all that was between them as Lana leaned back and brought a hand to her mouth in contemplation. She gave Chloe a hard stare for several seconds before saying, "Lex. As in Luthor, I presume? My business partner?"
"One and the same," Chloe replied tightly. "Surprised?"
"Well, it certainly explains why he insisted that all of our business talks were to be over the phone or here in person." Lana dropped her hand and crossed her arms. "Chloe, what is going on?"
Many a man had collapsed under these eyes and Chloe was a little ashamed that she was doing the exact same. "I, I'm getting married."
"I got that part, but why?" Lana reached out her hands and clasped Chloe's within her own. It was then when she noticed the ring on her left hand and the crushed flower in Chloe's right. Glancing at it only once, she looked back up. "Chloe, why?"
She wanted to pull away, she really did, but Chloe couldn't bring herself to do it, not even her hands began to tremble. And she couldn't stop herself from telling Lana absolutely everything.
**************************************
A half hour had passed three hours before.
Lex had busied himself with some papers that his secretary had given him to glance at over the weekend. Then he played a couple games of pool. Then he actually went to the pool and swam tens of hurried, heavy-stroked laps before nearly collapsing out of exhaustion in the shallow end.
Chloe had said she was going to call. She had to call.
He repeated that to himself as he dried himself off with a towel, took a proper shower and returned to his office to look over those blasted papers again. Lex made it his mantra when he looked at his cell phone and found that he'd missed not one call. It became something he couldn't quite distinguish when Louis told him, with a worried look, that Chloe had yet to phone anyone in the house.
His 'damn Luthor pride', as Chloe had so eloquently put it, was the only thing holding him back from dialing the number himself, or even letting Ann-Marie make it for him. It was hard enough putting his cell back down on his desk before sitting on the couch, half in fatigue from his work out and the other half from frustration resulting from her lack of contact.
Staring at the ceiling, Lex bit the inside of his cheek to avoid sighing out his aggravation and fought the urge to do what he felt was only right. There was no way that he could chase her down; though his intended, Chloe wasn't his property, she was still free to do as she pleased. He had to trust her and trust in the decision that she had made; but for once, Lex Luthor had to admit that he was scared. If she could hide from the man she loved, Chloe could no doubt hide from a man that she didn't.
***********************************************
"Are you doing this just to get back at Clark?" Lana regarded her with a searching look.
"No," Chloe firmly replied. She crossed her arms and stared at the mansion in front of her. She and Lana had been sitting on the hood of her car for at least an hour by that point, most of which was filled by uncomfortable silences. When Lana finally asked the question they both knew was on her mind, Chloe was ready. "Believe me, I didn't plan on this happening, Lana. And I certainly wouldn't have done it this way if I was hoping to be vengeful."
"Then.." Lana stopped and sighed, her shoulders sagging. "Then why are you doing it, Chloe?"
"Having the baby or marrying Lex?"
"Both, I guess."
"The easiest answer would be because," Chloe looked over at her and lifted her palms upwards in resignation, "I don't want to be her, Lana."
Her eyes were so intense at the thought, Lana had to turn away from her friend. Gone were the shaking hands when Chloe had confessed everything that she'd hidden for months, as well as the slight flash of self-pity she'd shown in the Talon. Back in front of her was the straight-minded, don't-give-a-damn-what-anyone-thinks Chloe that she'd known for so long. But now, Lana couldn't help wonder that it was a front, as well. No one as self-assured as Chloe could have possibly gotten herself into this, could she? "Your mom?"
"Yeah." Chloe hopped down from her seat and brushed off the back of her skirt before rubbing a slight ache on the side of her stomach. "What kind of hypocrite would I be if I turned into the one person that I've tried to avoid becoming my entire life? God, I was so consumed in what I thought was meant to be that I never even thought about the fact that there was so many more things that were so much more important."
Chloe sighed, "And Lex is a good guy. For the most part. This means a lot to him, having this child in his life. I just happen to come with the package."
"But he's so.."
"Cold? Distant? Aloof?" Chloe cracked a vague smile.
It was contagious, so Lana was smiling when she replied. "I guess that fits pretty well."
"He's not always." Just the thought of his hand on the place where hers was now was a reminder of that. The look on his face had been one of pure pleasure, one of pride that lacked his shark-like tendencies behind it. Chloe now wished she'd had a camera to capture it.
"But how can you be sure about this, Chloe?" Lana's bright eyes dimmed considerably, the thought of her young friend being trapped into someplace she didn't want to be becoming all the more real.
"That's the thing.." Chloe trailed off. "I'm not."
Stunned for a moment, Lana took her time to respond, "Okay, then I think I'm missing the whole point of all of this."
Chloe stared up into the sky, mindlessly stroking the child hidden beneath her skin. Her voice was soft when she asked, "You've had sleepovers as a kid, right Lana?"
"Um, yeah," Lana answered after another short amount of time to comprehend the change of their conversation. "Did you?"
"Just one," Chloe looked down, caught up in the memory. "I was eight. My dad finally let me have one for my birthday because I'd been begging and begging. It surprised him, I was never into those girlie things."
"No," Lana said slowly. "I guess not."
"The thing is," Chloe went on, "was that I was so desperate to make friends in grade school, particularly one girl. Geez, I don't even remember her name. All that mattered back then was that she was everyone's favorite. Her parents bought her whatever she wanted, so she always had the coolest backpacks or glittery little barrettes that she only lent to her friends. I wanted one of them so bad."
Chloe laughed to herself at the juvenile materialism, shaking her head. Glancing over at Lana, she added, "My dad finally caved in and I invited everyone in my class, making sure to give her the invitation, promising it would be so much fun. The night came and a lot of the girls actually showed up. But she didn't."
Her face pained, Lana's sincerity was clear, "I'm sorry, Chloe."
"Believe me, I got over that a while ago," Chloe waved her hand at the apology. "It's just that I waited outside my house for at least an hour, waiting and waiting for her to show up. Every single car that passed by, I was convinced it was her, sparkly barrettes in hand. When it kept going, I told myself 'It has to be the next one. Or the next one.'"
"She never came," Lana whispered, sadly picturing a young Chloe sitting on her porch step, waiting expectantly for the guest of honor who had no idea she was that.
"I don't remember anything else from that night, Lana. Nothing," a sad smile came to Chloe's face. "There were lots of people there to see me, to celebrate with me and I can't even remember any of it because I was so disappointed that one person didn't arrive."
Chloe shook her head, "I'm not going to spend the rest of my life waiting for someone who isn't going to show up. Especially when there's more waiting for me, even if it's not what I always thought it would be. Who knows, maybe I'll be surprised. Lex has a tendency to do that."
Not sure how to answer her, Lana simply nodded as Chloe began walking towards the front door. Moving off the hood, she opened the door to her car, but paused right before stepping in. "Chloe?"
She turned slowly. "Yes?"
"Why.. why didn't she go? Did you ever find out?"
Turning in place, Chloe shrugged and smiled, "Turns out she lost the invitation. See you later, Lana."
"Ah," hair falling in her face, Lana started to get into the car. Though she turned the key in the ignition, Lana waited until the door had opened for Chloe; an older woman welcomed her warmly into the house and gave a confused look to the Lana from over Chloe's shoulder. Lana waved, but dropped her hand on a small cell phone instead of the steering wheel. As the door closed, she picked it up and pressed the top number on her speed dial, waiting patiently for the other line to connect. When it did, Lana replied a soft hello to the other side, but then got down to business.
"Pete? Can you get over to my house really soon? We have to talk about something."
*********************************************
"Lex." There was a nudge on his shoulder, barely making him stir from the deep sleep that had overtaken him.
"Lex." It came again, louder now, as if it were closer to his ear. As if to prove its own point, a warm waft of air companied it. If his sleep-muddled mind didn't know any better, his guest was speaking right against the side of his head.
"Mmm?" His murmur couldn't come out any clearer than that. The pain that shot through his neck when he moved, though, had more of an effect. "Oh, hell."
"Well, I'm glad to see you too."
When he at last opened his eyes, it was hard to decipher anything, as his sight was grimy from the unplanned nap he'd taken. Lex blinked several times, the light slowly giving way to the outline of a decidedly feminine shape in front of him, blond hair reflecting off the overhead lights. He tried to speak once, but his mouth proved to dry, so Lex had to wait a moment before asking, "Chloe?"
Chloe cocked her head at him as he lifted his head from the back of the couch she'd found him sleeping on. He openly winced as he rolled his head around, trying to bang out the crick she was quite sure was there. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, yeah," Lex arched his back, pleased when his back popped loudly and the pain at the top of his spine was somewhat relieved. He blinked stupidly for a second before really taking in the sight in front of him. "You're back."
"Of course I'm back," she replied, quite unconvincingly. Chloe bit her lip and kept her eyes on Lex as he sat up straight and put a safe distance between them. "How long have you been here?"
"How long have you been gone?" His voice was sharper than he'd intended and it was proven so by the lack of color in Chloe's face in response. Lex lifted his wrist to look into the face of his watch, quickly calculating that he'd most likely been asleep for two hours, minimum.
"I'm sorry if I worried you," Chloe rose from her seat and crossed her arms, turning away from his accusatory stare. "Things with Lana took a little longer than I expected."
Forcing himself to relax, Lex draped his arms across the back of the couch, assessing her tense stance. His voice was detached when he replied, "I don't get worried, Chloe."
He couldn't see her raised eyebrows, but Chloe was undeniably skeptical. Had she really expected him to admit it? "That's because Luthor's don't have weaknesses, isn't that right, Lex?"
"If that's the way you want to look at it," he shrugged dismissively. "What happened with Lana?"
"She freaked." Turning finally, Chloe settled on the arm of the couch, letting her elbows drop onto her knees as she hunched forward. "To paraphrase her very first reaction: I'm making a mistake, I'm only doing this because I'm scared of being alone and you are taking advantage of me while I'm in a vulnerable state."
"Ah, Lana always was such a nice, perceptive young woman," Lex said dryly.
Barely concealing a laugh, Chloe nodded. Clasping her hands together, she gave Lex a weak smile, "I told her everything."
"Everything?"
"Yeah."
"Which would explain her vehement stance against this," Lex lent out a hand, palm open in order to invite more details. "But you're here."
"I'm here." She ducked her head a little when she said that, placing one of her own hands at the side of her head, entwined in hair. Massaging her scalp slowly, Chloe went on, "She asked me to go to her house, spend the night. Think it through. Can't say that I didn't consider it."
"I can't say that I would have blamed you. This hasn't exactly been the most normal of relationships."
"You're telling me." Still playing with her hair, Chloe took a little while to consider her next words. When she finally spoke up, Lex was waiting expectantly, as if he knew she had something important to say. "I don't know what's going on anymore, Lex. One minute everything is fine, we're fine the way we're going. Then it just hits me, I'm marrying you, I'm having a child. It can be hard to swallow, especially when there's so few people that I can really talk to about this."
"Chloe, I'm not forcing you-"
"Of course you aren't, but what else am I supposed to do? Call up Clark and expect him to fix up this mess we've made? We both know he'll do what he can to 'save me'" She quoted the words with her fingers in the air.
Lex sat up straight. "I don't want you to look at me as someone you need to be saved from."
"Do I look like I need rescuing anyway, Lex?" Chloe shook her head. "This is not what I meant to say to you, believe me, I've been practicing for most of the afternoon. I'm not accusing you of holding me captive, Lex. What I'm trying to say is that this is hard, this new life that I'm trying to live. Lana could see that in me, that's why she didn't want me to come back."
"Chloe, we're both trying to get used to this new life, as you call it. Do you think I enjoy lying to your father, pretending we're just some other half-way normal couple? Everything changing between myself and my best friend, while he has no idea?" Lex sighed harshly. "And he is still my friend, Chloe. Sooner or later, we're going to have to tell him."
"Not yet, Lex," Chloe moved agitatedly in her seat, coming precariously close to the edge of the arm. Not knowing that he was doing it while he did, Lex moved over and gently pulled her down by laying his hands on her waist. When she landed softly on the cushion, they noses were nearly touching. Chloe blinked rapidly in surprise, pulling back a little. His hands were warm, even through the fabric of her shirt. "Thanks."
Lex coughed slightly, drawing away from her quickly. "Please don't sit there, you fidget too much."
"Okay," Chloe said softly. For the first time that she could ever think of, Lex Luthor looked skittish and more than a bit out of place. It was too good of a sight to pass up, so the tension was broken when she let out a small laugh. "I worried you. I guess you do have a weakness, huh?"
"You said it, not me," Lex waved his hand, as if trying to make the truth in her words escape the air around him. "I'd say we're facing a conundrum here, Chloe. You may not be ready, but this is going to get out. Marriage licenses aren't exactly well-hidden once you file them."
"Don't you think it's strange that we're discussing this in such a," Chloe struggled to find the word. "Blasé fashion? It's more like a contract than an actual marriage."
"Perhaps I'd be able to consider it a real marriage if you'd finally decide on a date," Lex rose from his seat, stuffing his hands into his pockets. There was no way that he'd let her see that they were shaking from their brief contact. Even he didn't know how to explain it to himself. "What do you think it's about, Chloe? That we'll just live in separate areas of the house, have meetings every once in a while to discuss how our child is raised? That's not why I asked you to marry me."
"Then why did you?" Chloe asked curiously, staring up at him from her perch. "We both know why I said yes, but Lex.. why did you ask?"
A question for the ages, but then again, Lex had always considered himself a bit larger than life. He could have waved away the question, changed the subject with a few well placed comments, but there was something in Chloe's gaze that was demanding an answer. Lex tried looking off to the side, but his eyes were drawn back to hers, waiting, questioning, knowing he would eventually answer if she kept staring at him in that way.
"It's fairly obvious, don't you think?" He said it with a casual shrug. Chloe was a smart girl, she would have figured it out by now.
"You want me." It was stated so simply but meant so much more.
"Like I said, quite obvious."
Chloe started biting at her bottom lip, turning her face away from Lex's as she fought to comprehend his affirmation. Of course she'd always known, right in the back of her mind, ever since he'd trapped her against her car. Maybe it was even before that, because if there was one truth here it was that though Chloe had kissed Lex first that night..
Lex had kissed back.
"It's funny to think how I knew it, but never really considered that," she finally mused aloud. "All this time, I've been wondering how to tell my dad, how I'll handle it when I told my friends, even what we'd name the baby, Luthor or Sullivan-dash-Luthor. I guess I just didn't want to think about that fact that I'd actually be your wife. In every sense of the word."
"Oh, I think you did, Chloe." Lex leaned back on his desk, crossing his ankles. "Otherwise, we would have been married weeks ago."
"I have been avoiding it, haven't I?"
"Like a madwoman."
Her palms were sweaty, Chloe realized now. Being Lex's wife meant being Chloe Luthor. It meant raising his child, maybe even more than one. And that meant sleeping in his bed. Sleeping with Lex. She began rubbing her hands against the cotton of her skirt at the thought. It wasn't like she'd never been there before, but those were completely different circumstances. The thoughts kept churning up as she sat there. Lex had been her first, in almost every fashion of the word and now he was offering her marriage in the same way. Was she ready to accept that? "Lex-"
"You can back out any time, Chloe." Lex interrupted. It cost him to say those words, but there was no way that he wanted her to feeling forced into being with him. He just didn't work that way. Chloe didn't work that way.
Chloe stood, cracking her knuckles and then placing a palm on her belly. A small flutter went through her, though it was hard to tell if it was from the child inside of her or just her nerves. Looking up at Lex, she could see the way his jaw was set, but in a flash, the thought of him of that night was there as well. All this time, she'd made it one brutal, regretful experience, but now.. .now she had to admit to herself that so often that night, he'd been so very careful with her. She'd fallen asleep with his arm wrapped around her waist, as if a tongue-in-cheek expectation of what was to come. And maybe, just maybe, there was a lot more yet in store for the two of them, just like she'd told Lana.
Setting her shoulders, Chloe finally said, "Say it, Lex."
He'd been watching her move from emotion to emotion, all in the span of a few seconds, all of it coursing over her face. It took a moment for Lex to respond. "Say what?"
She approached him, a little hesitant at first, but with resolve growing. "Tell me."
Now so close that she barely had to lift a hand to lay it on his cheek, Lex looked down at her with puzzlement etched on his features. Her green eyes were searching, capturing him in some sort of hold that he wasn't able to define, but was entrancing all the same. It was in that hold that he couldn't stop himself from asking, "What do you want me to say?"
"I want you to say it yourself," Chloe whispered. "I want to hear you say the words."
Realization dawned and Lex's breathe caught just a little bit. What she was asking for was a given, they both knew it to be true, but to say it? That was asking a lot indeed.
But then again, wasn't she worth it?
After a few tense moments, Lex finally raised a hand and tucked a stray hair behind Chloe's ear, running his fingers down until they reached her shoulders. He smiled just a little, but was unmistakably serious when he said, "I want you."
Chloe's eyes shut just as he said the words. In an instant, it was as if she'd stored them inside, along with every aspect around her, from the hum of the overhead lights to the way they lit up only part of Lex's face. Even the way his skin felt under her fingers was filed away and Chloe just knew that it was a moment she'd remember forever. Absolutely forever.
"It's nice," she murmured thoughtfully, eyes still shut, "to hear someone say that."
He wanted to kiss her right then and it would have been so easy, Lex knew that without a doubt. But before he could lean in to close those few precious inches, Chloe opened her eyes and caught him once more. Softly, she added, "Give me two weeks."
"Excuse me?"
She rubbed a light thumb over his cheekbone and then raised her face to barely brush her lips over the same spot. "A girl needs time to find the perfect dress, especially when she's four months pregnant. We'll deal with the other aspects later."
"Such as," he asked hoarsely, the scent of her skin filling his nostrils far after she'd drawn away. Heaven knew Lex had never known she could have this much control over him.
"Figuring out how our life is going to go from now on," Chloe's smile was small, but there was a set determination there now. "It looks to be interesting, don't you think?"
Lex said nothing in reply as Chloe stepped away and picked up her purse from where she'd left it on the coffee table. Slinging it over her shoulder, she picked up her hand in a small wave and began to walk out of the room, leaving Lex to fill his lungs in exasperation. Running his hand over the unblemished skin of his head, Lex muttered to himself, "You don't know the half of it, Chloe."
