CHAPTER NINE
Disclaimers in Chapter One
Derek was frantic. The information he just acquired had been unbelievable. Pacing again and again from one side of the room to the other, he was trying to calm himself down and process the information, so he could use it against Lionel Luthor and perhaps prove whether or not Lex was dead.
Unfortunately, being awake for forty hours and consuming a year's supply of caffeine in one sitting did little for his nerves.
"You trying to build a trench in the middle of your apartment?" said a voice behind him. Derek nearly had a heart attack from the surprise. "Dammit, Chloe," he muttered. "That was just ten years of my life that I'll never get back."
"Eh, you're a genius; you can invent the fountain of youth," she joked.
"Ha-ha, very funny," he mumbled.
Chloe looked at him closely. "You look like crap."
"Thank you, mother," he replied sarcastically. "No sleep and lots of coffee can do that to my complexion."
She laughed. "Then maybe you should get some beauty sleep," she suggested.
"Yeah, yeah," he shrugged off. "What are you doing here?"
Chloe sighed as she landed herself into his couch. "You would not believe what just happened to me today."
"Oh, trust me, with Smallville, I'll believe anything."
"Then how about a Lex Luthor cloned from an Ian Randall clone?" Chloe dared.
"Normally, I'd be freaked out," he retorted as he sat himself on his workstation and started opening files. "But I got the warning on this one." Having opened what he needed, he turned and motioned Chloe to come closer.
She walked up to the workstation and read through the files. "Son of a bitch!" she lashed out. "This could mean one thing."
Derek nodded. "Lex might be alive," he confirmed.
"I'll need you to get someone in that area as soon as possible," she commanded. "If I'm not wrong, those henchmen are most likely still out there. My hunch is that Lionel won't quit until he finds proof that Lex is either dead or alive."
"Aye, aye, captain," he answered as he began to type away for arrangements per Chloe's orders. Meanwhile, she moved on to recap what had happened at the office.
"So what are you going to do about Clark?" he asked once she finished.
"I don't know," Chloe exasperatingly replied. "But I know that if Lex were here, he'd agree that we should protect Clark at all costs."
"You're right," he agreed. Then an idea hit him. "Maybe it's about time that we bring Clark into the fold."
She cast him a glare. "That's not even funny. He..uh.." she stammered, realizing that it could be their only hope.
She intensified her glare. "Alright," she reluctantly conceded. "Go get your beauty sleep. It'll take both of us on top of our game to be able to explain this whole operation to him."
"What will you do in the meantime?"
"Do my assignments for LuthorCorp," she rolled her eyes as she took over one of Derek's workstations.
Hours later, she finally finished the briefing packet and emailed it through her secure LuthorCorp account to Lionel's assistant, so she could put it together. Finding herself exhausted too, she crashed on Derek's couch for a small nap.
"You're engaged!" she yelled in disbelief after Lex told her the news. "How? What?" She cast him a desperate look, demanding him to explain.
"It was the only way I could get her to suspect that nothing is wrong," he explained in frustration. "Derek has been tapping into transcripts that she has reported my cold demeanor to my father. She thinks that I may not be in this for love!"
"The thought!" she mocked in anger. "Maybe it's because you don't love her in the first place."
"Don't you think I know that?" he countered. "This is why I must take it to the next level."
"A level that almost claimed your life earlier," she retaliated, referring to his marriage to Desiree Atkins. Desiree was another LuthorCorp spy that was sent to kill Lex with her powers, but unfortunately, Lionel didn't take the possibility of her going rogue into account when she decided to take the mission into her own control. Which eventually led to her capture.
Lex finally realized that it wasn't about the engagement that had Chloe in a fit. She was concerned about his safety. Drawing himself closer to her, he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Helen is not going to hurt me," he assured her. "Or you or anyone we care about."
She let out a sigh. "Okay," she finally yielded. "But you be careful."
He nodded. Releasing her, he dug into his pocket for a small velvet box. "She may have the advantage of being publicly acknowledged as my fiancée, but you will always have my heart," he told her.
With much hesitation, she took the box and slowly opened it. A huge diamond set in a platinum band stared back at her. "Lex," she whispered. "I can't take this. People will ask."
"Yes, you can," he protested gently. "And no, they won't." He pulled the ring from the box, revealing its attachment to a platinum chain. He gestured questioningly to her as if to ask her permission to put it on, and she gave her consent when she turned around.
"Chloe, will you be mine?" he asked as he put on the necklace.
She turned back to face him, grasping the ring in one hand and cupping his face with the other. "Forever," she breathed right before she locked her lips with his.
Drifting back to reality, Chloe woke up in Derek's apartment with her hand on her chest, assured that the main symbol of her eternal love for Lex was secure underneath.