PART FIVE


Chloe was glad she'd stopped at the Talon for an after-school cappuccino.

Lex Luthor was sitting at a table, a cup of coffee at his elbow. His eyes were closed, and he was pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

Chloe looked up at the ceiling and whispered a quiet, "Thank you."

When she realized Clark couldn't tell her anything about Lex's 'condition', Chloe decided there was nothing left to do but ask the man himself. Problem was, Lex wasn't someone she talked to every day. Weeks could go by when the only time she saw him was speeding by in one of his sports cars.

She'd thought about marching up to the mansion and politely asking to see him. At which point, the butler would probably tell her, politely, to get lost.

She was just about ready to ask Clark if she could tag along the next time he went to the mansion to visit or make a delivery or just to visit. Then, like an answer to her prayers, the man himself was delivered to her on a silver platter. No fuss, no muss.

Trying not to smile like the cat that ate the canary, she approached her prey. Certain the music had masked the sound of her approach, Chloe stopped next to Lex's table. Thinking that catching him by surprise would give her an advantage, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Hello, Miss Sullivan." Casually, Lex lowered his hand and opened his ice blue eyes.

Startled, Chloe snapped her mouth shut. So much for the element of surprise. "Um, how did you know it was me? Unless you were peaking."

A slight smile curled his lips. "No peaking. It was your perfume. It's the same scent you were wearing yesterday."

Reflexively, Chloe sniffed. She'd only put on a little perfume this morning. So little, in fact, that she might as well not have bothered. But it was a birthday present from her dad, and it made her feel guilty not to use it. Anyway, she would have thought it had long faded by now. She certainly couldn't smell it anymore.

"Wait a minute." A frown puckered her brow. "You remembered what kind of perfume I was wearing?"

And Lex seemed mildly surprised by this revelation. "Apparently so."

Not knowing how weirded out to be, Chloe helped herself to a seat. "Well, I guess it's part of the 'millionaire playboy' package, huh? It must really impress the ladies when you can tell them what kind of perfume they have on."

"You'd have to ask 'the ladies' whether they'd be impressed by that or not. And, please, have a seat."

"Thanks," Chloe said, her grin unrepentant. She folded her arms on top of the table. "I'm kind of surprised to see you here today. Especially, you know, after what happened yesterday."

And, just like that, Lex's expression became guarded, cautious. "Actually, I'm here to talk to Lana before she leaves to visit Nell for the weekend. And, as for yesterday, nothing happened that's of any consequence."

"Oh, come on, Lex. I know what I saw, and you can't call that nothing. I mean, I was the one who was yelling at you for at least five minutes before you even seemed to realize I was there."

Lex didn't comment. Instead, his expression became even more closed off. If that was even possible.

Chloe let out a sigh. "Look, this is strictly off the record, okay. I just want to know what's going on. Because if you have a blackout while driving, and wrap your car around a telephone poll, I'd at least like to know I tried to do something to keep it from happening." Exasperated, Chloe shrugged and threw up her hands. She wasn't explaining this right. She wasn't even sure she knew what she meant.

Across from her, Lex leaned back in his seat. For a long, silent moment, he just stared at her, seeming to size her up. Finally, he said, "While I appreciate your concern, you don't have to worry. I've never had an…episode like the one I had yesterday before. And I very much doubt there will be another one."

"And you know that how?"

"I just do."

Chloe rolled her eyes. Typical Luthor. He probably thought all he had to do to keep from getting a cold was decide not to get sick.

"Does this have anything to do with what, um—" realizing, mid-sentence, that she was about to tread on delicate ground, Chloe hesitated "—with, you know, what happened to you on the island? Rumor had it you were pretty sick. Maybe blackouts are a symptom of your illness."

"It wasn't a blackout." Lex picked up his coffee cup. As he realized the contents were cold, he frowned and promptly put it back down. "I never lost consciousness, or awareness. As I told you yesterday, my mind was just…somewhere else."

"Uh huh." Chloe mumbled under her breath. Rolling her eyes again, she let her gaze wander towards the counter. "And I'm Principal Reynolds sex slave."

Lex smirked. "Really, Chloe. What would Gabe say if he heard you talk that way?"

Chloe flushed scarlet under Lex's amused gaze. As embarrassment rolled over her in waves, she barely suppressed the urge to groan. When was she going to learn to keep her big mouth shut?

Wait a minute, Chloe thought, sitting up straight in here seat. How did he hear me? She'd mumbled the words so low, she'd barely been able to hear them herself. And Lex was sitting on the other side of the table. Not to mention the fact that there was music playing in the background.

Frowning, she looked at the young millionaire, about to ask how he'd heard her. But, once again, his eyes were closed, and he was messaging his right temple.

"Headache?" she asked.

Absently, Lex nodded.

Chloe's mind immediately jumped back to yesterday's episode. Maybe headaches were another symptom. "Well, I have just the thing for that. As much time as I spend staring at computer screens, it pays to have a portable pharmacy on hand." Opening her purse, she started to route through the cavernous bag. "I've got aspirin. I've got Advil. And…Ah ha!" She pulled out a small, white bottle, and held it up triumphantly. "Extra strength Tylenol."

Lex glanced at the bottle and shook his head. "I don't think that will help," he said. "Besides, that bottle has expired."

"What?" Surprised, Chloe turned the bottle to face her. The expiration date (6/2003) was etched into the side. The lights in the Talon weren't the brightest. She had to hold the bottle close to her face, and squint a little, to see the small, white numbers. How on Earth had Lex been able to see them from where he was sitting? "I guess this is the bottle I got out of my dad's medicine cabinet."

"Hmmm," Lex muttered. But he didn't really seem to be listening. In fact, he suddenly seemed a million miles away.

*****

Lex hadn't lied when he told Chloe he had a headache. Over the past few days, when hadn't he? But that wasn't what had his attention now.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

It was that sound. The same soft, rhythmic pounding he'd heard yesterday, but forgotten as he tried, somehow, to deal with his runaway senses. With the fact that he'd imagined seeing a cougar in his bedroom. With the fact that maybe he hadn't quite recovered from his stint on the island.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

He realized that the sound had been there for quite a while, just too faint to be heard over the chatter, the music. Still, he'd been aware of it subconsciously. The way someone is aware when something comforting and familiar is nearby.

Just like yesterday, the sound was soothing. Calming. And, the more he focused on it, the more his headache dulled.

Lex sighed, grateful for the respite. So grateful that, for the moment, he didn't care what the sound was, or where it was coming from. As he'd told Chloe, he'd known her Tylenol wouldn't make the pain go away. He'd tried much more powerful, prescription medications, none of which had any effect. In fact, not only did they not ease the pain, some of them only made his erratic senses worse.

So far, this rhythmic pounding was the only thing that had helped.

A sudden crash startled Lex back to reality. On the other side of the room, someone had dropped a coffee cup. Only, unlike yesterday, the sound wasn't like two cars slamming together inches from his head. It just sounded like a coffee cup shattering as it hit the floor.

Across from him, Chloe had one hand pressed to her chest. "Geez!" she exclaimed, glaring at the cup-dropper. "Give a girl a heart attack, why doncha."

And Lex noticed the rhythm of the pounding had changed. It was faster, louder.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump

Lex frowned. It almost sounded like…

"I am way too young for the CCU," Chloe was saying. Turning back to Lex, she smiled.

It was a smile Lex couldn't return. Because suddenly, like a bolt of lightening out of the sky, he realized what he was hearing. What that soothing, rhythmic pounding was.

It was Chloe Sullivan's heartbeat.


(TO BE CONTINUED)