Disclaimer in Chapter One

Five more days until her birthday.  And her friends never failed to remind her as it drew closer.

Everyday, Clark, Pete, Lana and even her father took turns trying to cheer her up.  Especially Clark.

Clark had come back from his misadventures in Metropolis, regretful of the things he has done on his last day in Smallville.  He has apologized repeatedly to everyone, and he has reconciled with Lana, who forgave him, in Chloe's opinion, too easily. 

Out of guilt, Clark had made a point of doting on Chloe.  Platonically, but the doting had Chloe's patience wearing thin.  The last thing she wanted was for someone to be breathing down her neck.  Especially when she just wanted to be left alone.

None of them really knew the reason behind her self-imposed emotional exile from them.  Eventually, they assumed that working for Lionel Luthor just started to break her spirit.  They had pleaded for her to quit, but between her adamant refusal and their perception of his power over her, they knew that they had a snowball's chance in hell.

In reality, she was very ready to leave LuthorCorp.  Working for a despicable man like Lionel infuriated her to no end.  Knowing his connection to Lex's death fueled that anger, but she also knew that it is also the reason why she should endure her days with the man whom everyone considered as the devil.

And the fact that he trusted her more than anyone else was almost laughable.  He had her doing research after research on Clark, the cloning projects, meteor rock incidents and anything else that he wanted kept from his own people. 

It was her pretend diligence and smooth manipulation of the data reports that won him over several months into their "deal".  Chloe always knew how to balance what to tell him and what to hide from him.  After all, she couldn't just waste all of the tutelage she received from the master of outwitting Lionel Luthor.

"Oh, Lex" she whispered to herself.  "If you were only here to see how close we are to our dream.  Your dream."

"Chloe?" a voice called out to her, breaking her reverie.  "You alright?"

She silently sighed in frustration.  "Hi Clark."

"What's wrong?"  he asked, sitting himself across from her.

She shook her head.  "Nothing."

"Are you sure?" he prodded. 

"Yes, Clark," she said, fighting the urge to snap at the oblivious farmboy.  "I guess you just caught me thinking."

"About your birthday?"

'Here we go again' she thought.  "Sure."

Clark's face brightened at her reply, oblivious to the sarcasm.  "Have you thought about what you wanted?"

'Augh.'  "Um, not really," she replied half-heartedly, looking around for a way to escape this line of conversation.  When Lana came out from the back of the Talon, an idea came to her. 

"Lana asked me the same thing earlier, and I told her the same answer.  Which is why you caught me daydreaming.  Just trying to find you guys some ideas." She faked a smile.

"Oh, okay, I guess I'll let you think about it some more." Clark accepted her response without hesitation as he turned back to Lana.  "Looks like Lana needs my help.  Let me know if you thought of something, okay?"

"Sure, Clark."

After he was a good distance from her table, she let out an "augh" that she had been holding back.  Sensing that this just wasn't her scene today, she made her way outside and to her car.

But before she could drive away, a sob escaped from her body, opening the Pandora's Box of tears and pain.  Only then did she realize one important thing.

She knew what she wanted for her birthday.  She wanted nothing more in this world than to have her Lex back.