iv. Glimmer and Stain
2010
"Pete and Lana can't make it," Clark apologized the moment Lex opened the door. "Lana's appointment with her doctor was moved."
"How are they?" Lex inquired as he moved to let Clark enter the house.
"She and the baby are fine. It's just a routine exam that got rescheduled because the doctor had a real emergency elsewhere." The reporter adjusted his glasses and looked around the expansive living room. "I'm surprised that Chloe agreed to get a place so far from the heart of the city. She's always been loved to be where the action was."
"Oh believe me, Clark. We get plenty of action here," Chloe informed Clark with a grin, having come into the living room to hear the last of Clark's words.
Her statement made Clark's cheeks burn. "I really did not need to hear that."
"So how do you like it?" she asked, motioning to the room. After two years living in Lex's penthouse, they both decided that it was time to live in a real house. "You're our first visitor so you'll have to be polite."
"How can I say anything negative, Chloe? You know it's gorgeous. Everything looks the way you wanted it to."
Clark glanced over at Lex, who moved to look out the window. The tense set of his shoulders indicated the secret that he had been hiding from Chloe. With only Clark as confidant, Lex had successfully wrested majority shares of LuthorCorp from his father, displacing from the head of the company and earning him the wrath and eventual threats of Lionel. After about half a dozen foiled attempts to get to Lex and one package addressed to Chloe that contained a single bullet-a delivery he had thankfully opened before she even saw it-Lex had tightened the security around them. It was the main reason that he had pushed the construction of their dream house at the periphery of Metropolis, which would be safer for them both.
"I'd love a drink," Clark said out loud.
"Oh of course. I'll be right back."
The swinging doors leading to the kitchen closed behind her. Lex looked at Clark and waited for him to speak, knowing that he would not send Chloe out of earshot just because he was thirsty. When he spoke, Clark did on the topic that they both never wanted her to know about. "This isn't that far from your father, Lex."
"Can't take her across the country. I wouldn't displace her again just because my father's off in the head," Lex argued.
"He can get to you here," the younger man stressed.
Lex walked away from the window and gazed at the closed door leading to the kitchen. He was aware of that very fact. There was no amount of security that can hold Lionel back if he were really adamant about what he needed done. Still, a part of Lex wanted to believe that his father would not push through with his threats. Was Lionel Luthor really capable of harming his own son or the woman he loved? "If he does," he said quietly, looking at Clark Kent, "you know what you have to do."
Clark stared back at Lex. Of course he knew the drill. Lex had given him the instructions from the time he planned the takeover, which was a year ago. Since then, Lex had reminded him frequently of the order that he must follow. "I trust you, Clark."
For the younger man, it was a responsibility and a burden to know that he would have to sacrifice one for another. To have Lex Luthor trust him with his life was daunting enough. It was even more intimidating to him because it showed just how much faith Lex had in him that Lex trusted him with Chloe's life. "You do know that Chloe won't come easily."
There was a flicker of something remotely like pride flickered in his eyes at that. "Of course she'll put up a fight. She's my girl." They stood in silence, contemplating the possibilities waiting in the future for them. Lex turned towards the kitchen. "I'll see what's keeping Chloe."
When he entered the kitchen, he saw her standing right in front of the window, looking outside with an intent look on her face. She looked at him when he came in. Concerned, he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "What are you looking at?"
"There's a man across the street watching our house," she said quietly. She felt Lex stiffen behind her and move her away from the window. His jaw locked tight, he looked out the window himself. He visibly relaxed then. "What's going, Lex?"
"Don't worry about him. He's head of security."
Chloe suddenly smiled at him, asking softly, "Why would we need security around here?"
"It's a new village, Chloe. I wanted to make sure everything's safe."
She shook her head, not believing his words. "You picked this place specifically because it's the safest neighborhood we can find, Lex." He turned away from the window, and in one action it appeared to her that he had thrown caution to the wind. Lex stepped away from the window and stood in front of her, looking down at her. She held his gaze, waiting for him to say what he had in mind.
Chloe followed his movements with her eyes, silent. He had something very important to say. He always had that look in his eye when he was holding a silent conversation with himself. She smiled, a small little one of encouragement. And then her lips parted when a moment later, when she blinked, she found him kneeling at her feet, reaching for her hand. "Lex," she started.
He held up his hand for silence. "Let me do this?"
She bit her lip to keep herself from talking. She would not have anything to say, even if he allowed her. Chloe gasped when he drew a black velvet box from his jacket pocket and opened it, holding up a subtly cut diamond resting in light gold.
"You have no idea how long I've been holding on to this." A faint curve of his lips. A deep breath.
She couldn't help it really. "How long?" she asked softly.
"Two years."
"When I moved in to your penthouse?" He nodded. "Why so long?"
"You had a life to live," he told her. And she did. She finished college with honors and landed her dream job in the Planet in the mean time. "The past few months," he said, and Chloe listened quietly, aware that for a while he had been preoccupied, "made me realize that the future is uncertain. You're young, and if I'm springing this on you so early, I apologize. But I was hoping that even though you still have do so much, and have to live your life, you'll live that life with me."
Chloe pulled her hand out of his. She saw the crestfallen look on his face just before she covered her face with her hands. He started to rise, and Chloe peeked at him with a frown. "Where's the question?" she demanded.
"Wh-I thought you-"
"You have to ask the question, Lex! I can't believe you don't know the drill after all those cheesy flicks I've made you watch with me."
He couldn't tell her that he never paid attention to the movies on those nights. All he watched was Chloe, smiling, crying, leaning on him, laying her head on his chest. All he saw was Chloe. "Will you marry me?"
And that was when her face broke into a thousand watt smile, debunking the belief that the diamond's shine was the brightest in the room. "Oh!" She threw her arms around him and sat on his leg, her face now buried in the crook of his neck.
"You're supposed to give me an answer," he whispered into her ear.
Now we're they both just so dense that day. "Yes," she said into his skin, the movement causing him to shiver. "Yes, yes, yes, yes. I can't think of living the rest of my life without you, Lex. So of course I will!"
Chloe watched in fascination as he slipped the ring on her finger. His arms wrapped around her, and they stayed like that for a long time. "Clark is waiting in the living room," he said, not really concerned about his friend. The other man had most likely known what Lex was planning to do. He had seen the ring, and he knew how fatalistic Lex had been feeling for a while now.
He saw the tears that had spilled from her eyes. Lex took a handkerchief from his pocket and gently wiped them away, kissing under her eyes every time he ran the linen over her skin to soothe her. Chloe smiled at him and took the cloth from his hand, now drying his neck where she had earlier cried on.
He pulled them both up to retreat back to the living room. Lex glanced outside the window as they passed, looking at the clear lawn. He stiffened at the unbroken horizon and glanced at Chloe. "Go to the living room," he commanded. She sucked in her breath. It was not everyday that she saw fear on his face. She looked out the window over his shoulder and saw that the suited man outside was now gone.
"Lex-"
"Go!"
"Lex," she repeated.
Lex pushed her away from the window. She glanced back at him. Her gaze widened and her world seemed to be thrust into a slow-moving atmosphere. She screamed a silent scream when his body jerked. He fell through the air, but through that point when she knew something had hit him from behind, his gaze never left hers. The glass behind him shattered, and she had no sense of chronology now. She fell to her knees more because it was an automatic reaction to the sound. Chloe crawled over to him, her palms and knees getting cut from the broken pieces of glass and her blood smeared over the tiles of their new home.
She pulled up his upper body so that she cradled him to her. Chloe's heart constricted in terror when she felt the hot liquid pulsing on her legs. Vaguely, she remembered the handkerchief clutched in one hand. She held it to his back, knowing it would not help.
The doors flew open and it could have been Clark or the shooter but she did not care. Her face was a mere few inches over his. Chloe laid her lips on his mouth and sobbed.
Lex's eyes flickered open. "I won't be able to protect you from my father. You have to run. Clark knows what to do."
"No," she protested. "We have to take you to the hospital."
"Chloe, this place," he gasped, "will be crawling with my father's men in minutes. Let Clark take you. Clark."
The one word sent the young man to their side. Clark did not look at Lex. He had his instructions and he took Chloe by her upper arms, pulling her away from Lex.
"What the hell are you doing?" she cried at Clark. "We have to take Lex!"
"Chloe, I'll come back for him." Clark's heart tore. He would not be able to use his speed to take them both away now, with all the attention and surveillance on the place. He held her firm despite her struggles.
"Take him. Whatever's going on, they won't hurt me."
Lex quietly watched his lover hiss at their best friend. "Chloe, please. My dad won't hesitate to come after you. Clark, go."
It was that Clark now held her like a vise as he pulled her to his car and drove away. Her clothes and skin soaked through with blood, the wet handkerchief clutched in her hand, Chloe said dully, "He's not going to make it."
Clark glanced at her apologetically. "He won't," came his silent agreement.
"Why did you do it, Clark?"
"It was what he wanted."
She had no tears left. They would not come until days later. "Why would Lionel want to kill Lex?"
It was a senseless question now. Clark looked at his friend, who showed no anger or fear or even grief. He saw the red cloth in her hand and a glimmer of something else. "You'll have to get away from Metropolis," he told her, repeating Lex's instructions. "Lionel will go after you next."
"Why? I don't have any connection to him. Not anymore."
"Chloe, from the moment you moved in together, Lex had fixed all his legal documents. You've been named his common-law wife for two years. Everything that Lex had, including properties that he wrested from his father, all fall to you. I know that Lex had taken all the precaution so that his lawyers will liquidate everything and make the money transfers untraceable. Run, Chloe. Start a life somewhere. Forget you ever had one in Kansas."
2010
"Pete and Lana can't make it," Clark apologized the moment Lex opened the door. "Lana's appointment with her doctor was moved."
"How are they?" Lex inquired as he moved to let Clark enter the house.
"She and the baby are fine. It's just a routine exam that got rescheduled because the doctor had a real emergency elsewhere." The reporter adjusted his glasses and looked around the expansive living room. "I'm surprised that Chloe agreed to get a place so far from the heart of the city. She's always been loved to be where the action was."
"Oh believe me, Clark. We get plenty of action here," Chloe informed Clark with a grin, having come into the living room to hear the last of Clark's words.
Her statement made Clark's cheeks burn. "I really did not need to hear that."
"So how do you like it?" she asked, motioning to the room. After two years living in Lex's penthouse, they both decided that it was time to live in a real house. "You're our first visitor so you'll have to be polite."
"How can I say anything negative, Chloe? You know it's gorgeous. Everything looks the way you wanted it to."
Clark glanced over at Lex, who moved to look out the window. The tense set of his shoulders indicated the secret that he had been hiding from Chloe. With only Clark as confidant, Lex had successfully wrested majority shares of LuthorCorp from his father, displacing from the head of the company and earning him the wrath and eventual threats of Lionel. After about half a dozen foiled attempts to get to Lex and one package addressed to Chloe that contained a single bullet-a delivery he had thankfully opened before she even saw it-Lex had tightened the security around them. It was the main reason that he had pushed the construction of their dream house at the periphery of Metropolis, which would be safer for them both.
"I'd love a drink," Clark said out loud.
"Oh of course. I'll be right back."
The swinging doors leading to the kitchen closed behind her. Lex looked at Clark and waited for him to speak, knowing that he would not send Chloe out of earshot just because he was thirsty. When he spoke, Clark did on the topic that they both never wanted her to know about. "This isn't that far from your father, Lex."
"Can't take her across the country. I wouldn't displace her again just because my father's off in the head," Lex argued.
"He can get to you here," the younger man stressed.
Lex walked away from the window and gazed at the closed door leading to the kitchen. He was aware of that very fact. There was no amount of security that can hold Lionel back if he were really adamant about what he needed done. Still, a part of Lex wanted to believe that his father would not push through with his threats. Was Lionel Luthor really capable of harming his own son or the woman he loved? "If he does," he said quietly, looking at Clark Kent, "you know what you have to do."
Clark stared back at Lex. Of course he knew the drill. Lex had given him the instructions from the time he planned the takeover, which was a year ago. Since then, Lex had reminded him frequently of the order that he must follow. "I trust you, Clark."
For the younger man, it was a responsibility and a burden to know that he would have to sacrifice one for another. To have Lex Luthor trust him with his life was daunting enough. It was even more intimidating to him because it showed just how much faith Lex had in him that Lex trusted him with Chloe's life. "You do know that Chloe won't come easily."
There was a flicker of something remotely like pride flickered in his eyes at that. "Of course she'll put up a fight. She's my girl." They stood in silence, contemplating the possibilities waiting in the future for them. Lex turned towards the kitchen. "I'll see what's keeping Chloe."
When he entered the kitchen, he saw her standing right in front of the window, looking outside with an intent look on her face. She looked at him when he came in. Concerned, he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "What are you looking at?"
"There's a man across the street watching our house," she said quietly. She felt Lex stiffen behind her and move her away from the window. His jaw locked tight, he looked out the window himself. He visibly relaxed then. "What's going, Lex?"
"Don't worry about him. He's head of security."
Chloe suddenly smiled at him, asking softly, "Why would we need security around here?"
"It's a new village, Chloe. I wanted to make sure everything's safe."
She shook her head, not believing his words. "You picked this place specifically because it's the safest neighborhood we can find, Lex." He turned away from the window, and in one action it appeared to her that he had thrown caution to the wind. Lex stepped away from the window and stood in front of her, looking down at her. She held his gaze, waiting for him to say what he had in mind.
Chloe followed his movements with her eyes, silent. He had something very important to say. He always had that look in his eye when he was holding a silent conversation with himself. She smiled, a small little one of encouragement. And then her lips parted when a moment later, when she blinked, she found him kneeling at her feet, reaching for her hand. "Lex," she started.
He held up his hand for silence. "Let me do this?"
She bit her lip to keep herself from talking. She would not have anything to say, even if he allowed her. Chloe gasped when he drew a black velvet box from his jacket pocket and opened it, holding up a subtly cut diamond resting in light gold.
"You have no idea how long I've been holding on to this." A faint curve of his lips. A deep breath.
She couldn't help it really. "How long?" she asked softly.
"Two years."
"When I moved in to your penthouse?" He nodded. "Why so long?"
"You had a life to live," he told her. And she did. She finished college with honors and landed her dream job in the Planet in the mean time. "The past few months," he said, and Chloe listened quietly, aware that for a while he had been preoccupied, "made me realize that the future is uncertain. You're young, and if I'm springing this on you so early, I apologize. But I was hoping that even though you still have do so much, and have to live your life, you'll live that life with me."
Chloe pulled her hand out of his. She saw the crestfallen look on his face just before she covered her face with her hands. He started to rise, and Chloe peeked at him with a frown. "Where's the question?" she demanded.
"Wh-I thought you-"
"You have to ask the question, Lex! I can't believe you don't know the drill after all those cheesy flicks I've made you watch with me."
He couldn't tell her that he never paid attention to the movies on those nights. All he watched was Chloe, smiling, crying, leaning on him, laying her head on his chest. All he saw was Chloe. "Will you marry me?"
And that was when her face broke into a thousand watt smile, debunking the belief that the diamond's shine was the brightest in the room. "Oh!" She threw her arms around him and sat on his leg, her face now buried in the crook of his neck.
"You're supposed to give me an answer," he whispered into her ear.
Now we're they both just so dense that day. "Yes," she said into his skin, the movement causing him to shiver. "Yes, yes, yes, yes. I can't think of living the rest of my life without you, Lex. So of course I will!"
Chloe watched in fascination as he slipped the ring on her finger. His arms wrapped around her, and they stayed like that for a long time. "Clark is waiting in the living room," he said, not really concerned about his friend. The other man had most likely known what Lex was planning to do. He had seen the ring, and he knew how fatalistic Lex had been feeling for a while now.
He saw the tears that had spilled from her eyes. Lex took a handkerchief from his pocket and gently wiped them away, kissing under her eyes every time he ran the linen over her skin to soothe her. Chloe smiled at him and took the cloth from his hand, now drying his neck where she had earlier cried on.
He pulled them both up to retreat back to the living room. Lex glanced outside the window as they passed, looking at the clear lawn. He stiffened at the unbroken horizon and glanced at Chloe. "Go to the living room," he commanded. She sucked in her breath. It was not everyday that she saw fear on his face. She looked out the window over his shoulder and saw that the suited man outside was now gone.
"Lex-"
"Go!"
"Lex," she repeated.
Lex pushed her away from the window. She glanced back at him. Her gaze widened and her world seemed to be thrust into a slow-moving atmosphere. She screamed a silent scream when his body jerked. He fell through the air, but through that point when she knew something had hit him from behind, his gaze never left hers. The glass behind him shattered, and she had no sense of chronology now. She fell to her knees more because it was an automatic reaction to the sound. Chloe crawled over to him, her palms and knees getting cut from the broken pieces of glass and her blood smeared over the tiles of their new home.
She pulled up his upper body so that she cradled him to her. Chloe's heart constricted in terror when she felt the hot liquid pulsing on her legs. Vaguely, she remembered the handkerchief clutched in one hand. She held it to his back, knowing it would not help.
The doors flew open and it could have been Clark or the shooter but she did not care. Her face was a mere few inches over his. Chloe laid her lips on his mouth and sobbed.
Lex's eyes flickered open. "I won't be able to protect you from my father. You have to run. Clark knows what to do."
"No," she protested. "We have to take you to the hospital."
"Chloe, this place," he gasped, "will be crawling with my father's men in minutes. Let Clark take you. Clark."
The one word sent the young man to their side. Clark did not look at Lex. He had his instructions and he took Chloe by her upper arms, pulling her away from Lex.
"What the hell are you doing?" she cried at Clark. "We have to take Lex!"
"Chloe, I'll come back for him." Clark's heart tore. He would not be able to use his speed to take them both away now, with all the attention and surveillance on the place. He held her firm despite her struggles.
"Take him. Whatever's going on, they won't hurt me."
Lex quietly watched his lover hiss at their best friend. "Chloe, please. My dad won't hesitate to come after you. Clark, go."
It was that Clark now held her like a vise as he pulled her to his car and drove away. Her clothes and skin soaked through with blood, the wet handkerchief clutched in her hand, Chloe said dully, "He's not going to make it."
Clark glanced at her apologetically. "He won't," came his silent agreement.
"Why did you do it, Clark?"
"It was what he wanted."
She had no tears left. They would not come until days later. "Why would Lionel want to kill Lex?"
It was a senseless question now. Clark looked at his friend, who showed no anger or fear or even grief. He saw the red cloth in her hand and a glimmer of something else. "You'll have to get away from Metropolis," he told her, repeating Lex's instructions. "Lionel will go after you next."
"Why? I don't have any connection to him. Not anymore."
"Chloe, from the moment you moved in together, Lex had fixed all his legal documents. You've been named his common-law wife for two years. Everything that Lex had, including properties that he wrested from his father, all fall to you. I know that Lex had taken all the precaution so that his lawyers will liquidate everything and make the money transfers untraceable. Run, Chloe. Start a life somewhere. Forget you ever had one in Kansas."