v. Heart on Hold
Present Day
She would not have guessed from all the interviews that she had read and the quick clips taken of Bruce Wayne shown in CNBC or CNN that he was a stubborn man. After that first meeting, stranded inside Wayne Enterprises, Bruce had taken her home to her apartment. Chloe had thought that that was the end of her brief acquaintance with Mr. Wayne. It was not until he had flooded her with flowers the next day that she realized she was not rid of the dark-haired billionaire.
In truth, the night with Bruce was not an unpleasant experience. She would even go so far as to stay that she enjoyed herself chatting with him, amiably speaking without purpose really. She had always been after answers when she spoke to men of his celebrity. Even with Lex, she always had a goal-to grab his attention, to get him to rest, often to make him hot enough that he'll drop whatever he's doing and ravish her. With Bruce, it was just to while away the hours until they could safely venture out of the building.
He was not an unattractive man. His thick head of hair, a midnight black, reminded her of Clark's. His eyes, when she looked into them and focused, she could pretend were Lex's. They were the same shade of blue and she needed to believe that there were things around her that made her closer to him.
But Chloe had traveled all over the country for six months, searching for places that would make her memories less bitter, moving from town to town, city to city, state to state, so that Lionel would never be able to trace her. In all that time there was one constant in her mind. It was that unwavering feeling that she was not with Lex Luthor. Even in Gotham City, a place where she thought she could possibly stay in because it was as far from Smallville as it could get, and it was large and murky enough that Lionel may not even be able to trace her there, Lex's face was the only image embedded on the backs of her eyelids.
She called him up at his office the moment the deliverymen left. The flowers were gorgeous. They were so bright and beautiful and they smelled like Kansas. And therein lay a huge problem. Chloe wanted to throw them out. Bruce just turned her refuge, a place that she relished because of the darkness and the cold, and turned it into Mrs. Kent's garden.
Mr. Wayne's time, apparently, was too precious to take personal calls. Chloe rolled her eyes at the grating sound of the woman's voice. She left a brief message. She was not a journalist if she did not know how to make use of brevity as a tool of pressure.
Chloe proceeded to her small kitchen to make herself some coffee. She counted the minutes of preparation, a senseless habit that she had begun her second week away from Metropolis. Having an empty life, she had resorted to filling her blank moments with anything at all. She had to be occupied so that she will not keep thinking about Lex.
As always, she failed in that simple task. Chloe closed her eyes and held a silent conversation with him in her brain.
'I'm running out of coffee. I'll have to run out and get some this afternoon.'
'What on earth are you trying to pull, Ms Sullivan?'
'What a surprise. How are you?'
'You're throwing away an opportunity. The man is obviously attracted to you.'
'Who wouldn't be? I got you all wrapped up my little finger, didn't I?'
'How characteristic of you to be missing my point here.'
'God, Lex, why are you on his side? Aren't you even jealous?'
'I would have been if I weren't already dead.'
Chloe's eyes shot open at the words and she saw that her coffee was ready. She poured the steaming liquid into a mug and settled down on the chair, irritated. "You always have to ruin it," she muttered to no one in particular. "I don't need to be reminded all the time, you know. I'm living the hell of it, am I not?"
She leaned her head back and breathed deeply. She wondered if she would be doing better if this had happened to Lex and she was able to stay in Metropolis or return to Smallville. What difference would it have made to her if she had her friends and her father to lean on? 'You just had to name me your common-law wife and mess it all up.'
'You never get flattered, do you? Other women would have been really happy.'
'I learned it during a very grueling moment so you'll have to forgive me. And what the hell is your voice doing in my brain. You just said you were dead so stop answering me.'
'I'd probably stop when you've stopped calling to me every time.'
'I know I'm just making you up. I'm going to make it stop.'
'Inform me when you've succeeded in forgetting about me.'
'I will.'
Chloe sipped on her coffee, satisfied that she had resolved the issue until she realized the implication of what she had decided on.
'Dammit.'
The ringing of the phone jarred her out of the reverie. She rose and took the cordless phone from the living room before returning to her coffee. "Finally settled business enough to call me back, huh?"
"I was settling a simple chemical dispute. My secretary should have informed me of your call sooner."
"Please don't go out of your way for me," she replied with a certain bite, catching herself before she unloaded the sarcasm that her imaginary Lex voice had forced on her. God, she was pathetic to be riled by a memory.
"You are as dangerous on the phone as you were in your message. You had my secretary quaking on her stilettos thinking she had displeased a personal friend."
"I was only giving her all the information that I wanted relayed, since I am not allowed to speak to you."
"'Can't even make it to the phone? Thank you for the flowers but I am not going out with you.' She was so afraid she had something to do with that decision."
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Tell her she does not rate that high on the list of people whose thoughts I frequently care about."
"Why won't you go out with me?" he asked, just as directly. The way with this woman was to be straight to the point. He gathered that early on.
She rewarded him with an answer that was just as direct, one that after which he wished that she had cushioned it more. "Suffice it to say, Mr Wayne, that after the date when you kiss me on my doorstep, and I respond passionately, it's actually not you I will be kissing."
It was a bruise to the ego, but he admired her honesty. "Who will you be kissing then?"
"I'm in Gotham for many reasons, Mr Wayne, one of which is so I will not have to talk about it."
There was a pause at his end of the line. "So talk to me about something else then."
"Are you sure the economy of Gotham City will not stagger if you spend more minutes on the phone with me?"
"It didn't occur to me last night because I was enraptured with your face." She blushed at the compliment. "But you're a bitch."
He said it so fondly that she hadn't had the heart to take offense. She softened her voice. "What do you want to talk about?"
"What did your family say about you moving away from Kansas?"
Chloe took a deep breath, hoping she could make up an answer that would keep her from lying but would reveal nothing that may be used against her. "My father was against it at first but it was the best thing to do."
"And your mom?"
"I lost her when I was five."
"I'm sorry," came his deep voice.
"So was I. But not anymore. She walked out and never even wanted custody or visitation."
It was answer that revealed so much about her, and he was secretly glad that she felt comfortable enough with him to say that. "You're not asking about my parents."
"I wouldn't want to pry," she snarked.
"Touché."
"No," she replied, smiling now. "You're a famous man. I know enough to realize that I shouldn't bring it up."
"So this is not fair. You know so much about me and I know too little about you. You'll have to let me take you to dinner."
She was impressed that he would still invite her despite the answer that she had already given him. Bruce Wayne, aside from being stubborn, was a masochist. "You know how I take my coffee, that I lived in Kansas all my life, how I feel about Gotham's interminable darkness and incessant snow. That's more than a what a lot of people know about me."
"That's true," his voice rumbled again. "I also know that you believe you will be thinking of someone else when I kiss you. But you obviously don't really know me if you think that will be the case. You'll have to kiss me and find out for yourself."
"You must have a very huge ego that it's all right for you to push it into the path of destruction."
"You haven't experienced my kiss," he answered back.
'Are you happy now, Lex?'
And he was silent.
Present Day
She would not have guessed from all the interviews that she had read and the quick clips taken of Bruce Wayne shown in CNBC or CNN that he was a stubborn man. After that first meeting, stranded inside Wayne Enterprises, Bruce had taken her home to her apartment. Chloe had thought that that was the end of her brief acquaintance with Mr. Wayne. It was not until he had flooded her with flowers the next day that she realized she was not rid of the dark-haired billionaire.
In truth, the night with Bruce was not an unpleasant experience. She would even go so far as to stay that she enjoyed herself chatting with him, amiably speaking without purpose really. She had always been after answers when she spoke to men of his celebrity. Even with Lex, she always had a goal-to grab his attention, to get him to rest, often to make him hot enough that he'll drop whatever he's doing and ravish her. With Bruce, it was just to while away the hours until they could safely venture out of the building.
He was not an unattractive man. His thick head of hair, a midnight black, reminded her of Clark's. His eyes, when she looked into them and focused, she could pretend were Lex's. They were the same shade of blue and she needed to believe that there were things around her that made her closer to him.
But Chloe had traveled all over the country for six months, searching for places that would make her memories less bitter, moving from town to town, city to city, state to state, so that Lionel would never be able to trace her. In all that time there was one constant in her mind. It was that unwavering feeling that she was not with Lex Luthor. Even in Gotham City, a place where she thought she could possibly stay in because it was as far from Smallville as it could get, and it was large and murky enough that Lionel may not even be able to trace her there, Lex's face was the only image embedded on the backs of her eyelids.
She called him up at his office the moment the deliverymen left. The flowers were gorgeous. They were so bright and beautiful and they smelled like Kansas. And therein lay a huge problem. Chloe wanted to throw them out. Bruce just turned her refuge, a place that she relished because of the darkness and the cold, and turned it into Mrs. Kent's garden.
Mr. Wayne's time, apparently, was too precious to take personal calls. Chloe rolled her eyes at the grating sound of the woman's voice. She left a brief message. She was not a journalist if she did not know how to make use of brevity as a tool of pressure.
Chloe proceeded to her small kitchen to make herself some coffee. She counted the minutes of preparation, a senseless habit that she had begun her second week away from Metropolis. Having an empty life, she had resorted to filling her blank moments with anything at all. She had to be occupied so that she will not keep thinking about Lex.
As always, she failed in that simple task. Chloe closed her eyes and held a silent conversation with him in her brain.
'I'm running out of coffee. I'll have to run out and get some this afternoon.'
'What on earth are you trying to pull, Ms Sullivan?'
'What a surprise. How are you?'
'You're throwing away an opportunity. The man is obviously attracted to you.'
'Who wouldn't be? I got you all wrapped up my little finger, didn't I?'
'How characteristic of you to be missing my point here.'
'God, Lex, why are you on his side? Aren't you even jealous?'
'I would have been if I weren't already dead.'
Chloe's eyes shot open at the words and she saw that her coffee was ready. She poured the steaming liquid into a mug and settled down on the chair, irritated. "You always have to ruin it," she muttered to no one in particular. "I don't need to be reminded all the time, you know. I'm living the hell of it, am I not?"
She leaned her head back and breathed deeply. She wondered if she would be doing better if this had happened to Lex and she was able to stay in Metropolis or return to Smallville. What difference would it have made to her if she had her friends and her father to lean on? 'You just had to name me your common-law wife and mess it all up.'
'You never get flattered, do you? Other women would have been really happy.'
'I learned it during a very grueling moment so you'll have to forgive me. And what the hell is your voice doing in my brain. You just said you were dead so stop answering me.'
'I'd probably stop when you've stopped calling to me every time.'
'I know I'm just making you up. I'm going to make it stop.'
'Inform me when you've succeeded in forgetting about me.'
'I will.'
Chloe sipped on her coffee, satisfied that she had resolved the issue until she realized the implication of what she had decided on.
'Dammit.'
The ringing of the phone jarred her out of the reverie. She rose and took the cordless phone from the living room before returning to her coffee. "Finally settled business enough to call me back, huh?"
"I was settling a simple chemical dispute. My secretary should have informed me of your call sooner."
"Please don't go out of your way for me," she replied with a certain bite, catching herself before she unloaded the sarcasm that her imaginary Lex voice had forced on her. God, she was pathetic to be riled by a memory.
"You are as dangerous on the phone as you were in your message. You had my secretary quaking on her stilettos thinking she had displeased a personal friend."
"I was only giving her all the information that I wanted relayed, since I am not allowed to speak to you."
"'Can't even make it to the phone? Thank you for the flowers but I am not going out with you.' She was so afraid she had something to do with that decision."
Chloe rolled her eyes. "Tell her she does not rate that high on the list of people whose thoughts I frequently care about."
"Why won't you go out with me?" he asked, just as directly. The way with this woman was to be straight to the point. He gathered that early on.
She rewarded him with an answer that was just as direct, one that after which he wished that she had cushioned it more. "Suffice it to say, Mr Wayne, that after the date when you kiss me on my doorstep, and I respond passionately, it's actually not you I will be kissing."
It was a bruise to the ego, but he admired her honesty. "Who will you be kissing then?"
"I'm in Gotham for many reasons, Mr Wayne, one of which is so I will not have to talk about it."
There was a pause at his end of the line. "So talk to me about something else then."
"Are you sure the economy of Gotham City will not stagger if you spend more minutes on the phone with me?"
"It didn't occur to me last night because I was enraptured with your face." She blushed at the compliment. "But you're a bitch."
He said it so fondly that she hadn't had the heart to take offense. She softened her voice. "What do you want to talk about?"
"What did your family say about you moving away from Kansas?"
Chloe took a deep breath, hoping she could make up an answer that would keep her from lying but would reveal nothing that may be used against her. "My father was against it at first but it was the best thing to do."
"And your mom?"
"I lost her when I was five."
"I'm sorry," came his deep voice.
"So was I. But not anymore. She walked out and never even wanted custody or visitation."
It was answer that revealed so much about her, and he was secretly glad that she felt comfortable enough with him to say that. "You're not asking about my parents."
"I wouldn't want to pry," she snarked.
"Touché."
"No," she replied, smiling now. "You're a famous man. I know enough to realize that I shouldn't bring it up."
"So this is not fair. You know so much about me and I know too little about you. You'll have to let me take you to dinner."
She was impressed that he would still invite her despite the answer that she had already given him. Bruce Wayne, aside from being stubborn, was a masochist. "You know how I take my coffee, that I lived in Kansas all my life, how I feel about Gotham's interminable darkness and incessant snow. That's more than a what a lot of people know about me."
"That's true," his voice rumbled again. "I also know that you believe you will be thinking of someone else when I kiss you. But you obviously don't really know me if you think that will be the case. You'll have to kiss me and find out for yourself."
"You must have a very huge ego that it's all right for you to push it into the path of destruction."
"You haven't experienced my kiss," he answered back.
'Are you happy now, Lex?'
And he was silent.