Part Two

"I thought old Lionel sent you out here to keep you out of trouble?"
Toby, an unlicenced doctor Lex was acquainted with, removed the blood
pressure cuff from Chloe's arm. She was laying, still unconscious and
fully clothed, on Lex's bed and Toby sat beside her.

"That was the plan. Is she okay?" Lex stood at the end of the bed and
watched as Toby lifted Chloe's eyelids and flashed a light in her eyes.

"I gotta hand it to you, Lex, you've surprised me." Toby packed up his
medical bag. He gave Chloe a once over that had nothing to do with a
medical examination. "She doesn't look like your type and I never took
you for a guy who resorted to chemical seduction."

Lex walked from the end of the bed to Chloe's other side. He covered
her up with the sheet and comforter. He had called him to make sure
Chloe was alright, but he didn't like how Toby leered at her. "This is
Rothman's handiwork. I interrupted and convinced him to let me take
her home. She's underage. Did he hurt her?"

"You rescued her? Now that really isn't you." Toby stood up. He
grinned knowingly at Lex. "Don't worry, there's no permanent damage.
You said she had regained consciousness briefly before, her vitals are
good and her pupils respond to light. There's nothing you can do but
let her sleep it off and she'll have a hell of a headache in the
morning. She won't remember very much either."

"She's fine then?" Lex sat down beside Chloe. She was so still, she
didn't move at all.

"You might want to keep an eye on her tonight. If her breathing
becomes ragged or pulse tachy - that's rapid to you laymen - then get
her to a hospital. My fee?"

Lex took an envelope out of his jacket's inner pocket and handed it to
Toby. "I didn't want to leave her alone to get your usual fee. Cash
will have to do."

"I'll let it slide this time, but only because you made this visit
interesting. I never saw you as a guardian of teenage girls' virtue.
Or is it just this particular girl? Hey, maybe you'll get lucky and
she'll give her hero a kiss when she wakes up." Toby guffawed and
continued to chuckle as he left the room.

What was it about this particular girl? Lex knew that if Rothman had
been hitting on any other girl - sixteen or not - he wouldn't have
interfered. It wouldn't have been his business. Chloe was his
business. Was it because she was Clark's friend and he felt he owed
Clark something for saving his life? Was it because her father
worked for him? Was it because he found her delightfully interesting?
Lex moved from the bed to a chair beside it as he analyzed these
questions. He prided himself on always knowing exactly where his
feelings came from and what his behavior meant. If you didn't know
your own mind, it was difficult to determine others' actions and
motives.

Quickly, Lex went over every encounter between him and Chloe Sullivan.
He remembered the determined, almost predatory gleam in her eye when
Clark had introduced them. Her mind must have been churning with all
the questions she wanted to ask him. She had probably started
pestering Clark to ask him for an interview as soon as he left. He
had liked the excitement that had lit up her face when he had mentioned
a job at the Intruder for the summer. That same glow had been there
while she had imparted the information she had gathered on Kyle and
Rickman.

Despite the age difference Lex was attracted to Chloe. That was the
root of this sudden heroic bent. He wanted Chloe, but wouldn't act on
it because she was too young. Obviously Rothman didn't have the same
reservations. Lex would be damned before he let Rothman take what he
wanted. These proprietary feelings were almost a relief. Lex sat back
in his chair to make himself more comfortable. He would hate to think
he was losing his edge and had rescued Chloe simply because he had felt
sorry for her. Luthor's didn't live long without edge.

*****

It was time to wake up. The only problem was that Chloe did not want
to open her eyes. She knew if she did, the dull ache in the back of
her head would become a lancing pain between her eyes. Besides, her
bed was so soft and it smelled...sharp and spicy. This wasn't her
bed. Her bed smelled lemony fresh like the detergent she used to wash
her bedding. What had happened last night? Part of the answer rushed
at her. The story. Bacchanalia. Nicholas Rothman. Love Potion #9.
Unfortunately, after that her memory stopped. Oh, God, what did she
do?

Chloe sat up in bed and immediately clutched her head in combined
mortification and pain. "Oww," she moaned. Please, God, let her be
alone. She didn't want to face Nicholas Rothman, if it was indeed
Nicholas Rothman she was with. She wanted to cry.

"Hangovers are never fun," a cool, smooth voice informed her. He
didn't sound like Nicholas Rothman. Chloe took a deep breath and
looked up. Lex Luthor stood beside the bed, holding out a glass of
water. "Here, drink this."

"M..Mr. Luthor?" Chloe croaked. Her mouth and throat were incredibly
dry so she took the offered water and gulped half the glass down. It
was pleasantly cool and even better was the two Aspirin Lex handed her.
"Thank you."

"You're welcome. And after what happened last night I think you can
call me Lex." He had to suppress an actual smile at the horror that
crossed Chloe's face. It wasn't the expression he was used to seeing
on a woman's face when she woke up in his bed, they were usually quite
satisfied with themselves for seducing the heir to LuthorCorp. Despite
his amusement with the novelty of her reaction, he would reassure her
that nothing happened, of course, but it would do her some good to
contemplate what could have happened. Maybe then she would think twice
about haring off after some story for her precious newspaper. It
wasn't an impossible outcome, just unlikely.

"What happened last night?" She did not have sex with Lex Luthor. She
did not. Chloe wracked her brain for something - anything, even the
tiniest glimpse of a memory - that would support her desperate
statement. Nothing. She didn't remember meeting up with or even
seeing Lex Luthor at Bacchanalia at all. The only thing she had to go
on was waking up in his bed. Chloe buried her head in her hands and
drew her knees up. What had she been thinking? Sure, she had been
attracted to Lex when she had met him. He was intriguing, mysterious,
and dangerous - nothing at all like Clark - but he was also older.
Chloe sighed and opened her eyes. Something was weird - she was still
fully clothed in the same clothes from the night before. She looked
up at Lex. He met her confused frown with that half smirk of his that
could be very annoying, mostly because it was so alluring.

"I rescued you." The words sounded ridiculous. Lex had only said them
to provoke a response. It wasn't what he expected. He had expected
her eyes to widen in shock and disbelief, but instead she just nodded
in relief. She trusted his word, another novelty. Of course, it
probably helped that she still had her clothes on. He had considered
having one of his female staff members dress her in something more
comfortable, but in the end he thought Chloe would be less alarmed if
she woke up in the clothes she remembered wearing. It had been a good
instinct. "I saw Rothman take you up to his office. You passed out
as I arrived, but Rothman didn't seem to mind - in fact, it was what
he wanted. I informed him of your real age and persuaded him that your
father was a draconian of the highest order who would go straight to
his father and demand restitution for his daughter's honor. He
practically begged me to take you off his hands."

"Thank you...for rescuing me." Chloe offered Lex a feeble smile. She
lay back on the bed, the Aspirin and relief that something horrible
hadn't happened because of her stupidity, hadn't done much to relieve
the dull thudding of her head. "I can't believe I got drunk on two
lousy drinks. At least I think it was only two drinks...I only
remember two...I really only intended to have one, but that guy made me
nervous."

"You should have listened to your nerves. You weren't drunk, you were
drugged. Rothman had the bartender spike your drink with GHB." Lex
waited for Chloe to realize that she had not just done something stupid
like get a little tipsy and give some moron the opportunity for date
rape. She had put herself in a dangerous situation that not only would
have gotten her raped, but it could also have gotten her killed. Every
muscle in his body tightened and quivered with indignation when she
continued to just lay there. She didn't get it. "I'll leave you alone
to think about it. There's a bathroom with a shower behind that door
to your right. I'll go downstairs and get you something to eat -
something light - and then we'll discuss this further." Lex turned and
left the room while he was still in possession of some of his famous
'cool.' He wanted to shake her. He wanted to yell at her the things
that Rothman would have done to her if he hadn't shown up. He wanted
to lock her in one of Luthor Manor's extensive guest rooms until she
promised to never do anything that stupid again. Lex had a sinking
feeling that Chloe would not give up her pursuit of a story on the
Rothman's and Sesca's death - it wasn't her style. He could understand
that, giving up wasn't Lex Luthor's style either.

*****

Who the hell did Lex Luthor think he was? Chloe rolled her eyes at her
misty reflection in the bathroom mirror as she gingerly toweled her
hair dry. Obviously he thought he was Lex Luthor, son of Lionel
Luthor, the owner of most of Smallville and Metropolis and the employer
of most of the people around, including her father. But that didn't
make him the boss of her. Chloe scowled at herself. She would just
have to make that clear to Mr. Bossy.

Chloe turned to get dressed. While she had been in the shower a maid
had knocked on the door and left some clothes, a pair of black
drawstring shorts and a red silk shirt that obviously belonged to Lex,
and had taken the clothes she had worn the night before to be
laundered. For a while, Chloe had been nothing but grateful to Lex -
he had saved her virtue after all, no matter how archaic the notion
sounded - but the warm, pounding water of the shower had cleared her
head. Without the throbbing thud obscuring her thought processes, she
could fully appreciate Lex's condescending attitude. She didn't like
it.

"Should have listened to your nerves. Leave you alone to think about
it. We'll discuss this later," Chloe muttered to herself and with each
word of Lex's she reiterated her anger grew. She was not one of his
mindless floozies who needed to be told what to do. She was a reporter
and could fend for herself from now on thank you very much. She
wouldn't make the same mistake twice with Nicholas Rothman...if she got
the chance. What had Lex told him? Did he tell him her real name?
That she was a reporter? Well, she wasn't going to get her answers
glaring at her reflection. It would be much more satisfying to direct
her anger toward the cause of it. Chloe pulled open the door and
stepped back into the bedroom.

"Feeling better?" Lex stood with his hands clasped behind his back,
looking out his window. His profile was irritatingly calm and
authoritative.

Chloe swallowed the urge to scream. It would only make her look like
the child Lex insisted on treating her as. "Did you blow my cover and
tell Nicholas Rothman who I am?"

"I take it then that you are not going to drop this ill-advised foray
into investigative journalism?" Lex turned away from the window to
look at Chloe. For a moment he forgot why he was so annoyed with her.
She was stunning. Anger electrified her eyes and heated her cheeks,
the rosy blush nicely complimented by the deep red of his shirt. If
Clark could see her now, he would scrap the letter 'L' as his favorite
initials. Of course if Clark could really see her now in his bedroom,
then he would doubtlessly have ended up with a broken nose and a few
less teeth. It was probably best that he keep his mind on the matter
at hand - keeping Chloe safe and out of trouble. "What is the Torch's
interest in the Rothman's?"

"Francesca Rothman was murdered and its my duty as a reporter to tell
the truth to the public." Some of Chloe's indignation left her as the
wonderful smell of coffee wafted over to her. She immediately crossed
over to the breakfast tray set up by the bed.

"Okay, and now that you've fed me the journalistic platitude, why don't
you tell me the real reason why this is so important to you?" Lex
walked away from the window and settled into the chair he had spent
most of the night in. He watched Chloe get comfy on his bed with her
coffee and toast. She was going to get crumbs all over his sheets.

"I'm sure Clark told you all about Principal Kwan taking the Torch
away from me because of my meteor stories, right?" Chloe waited for
Lex's nod before continuing. Now that he was treating her like a
reasonable adult and not being condescending, her anger was fading
fast. The coffee helped too. "Well, there is this award, you see -
the Ryan Award for Journalistic Achievement - I thought that if I won
it...."

"Then if Kwan felt the need to remove you as editor again he would have
to justify his reasons to the school board." Lex nodded. She was on
the right track - winning that award would give her a certain amount
of power. "You could write your meteor stories without fear of
reprisal."

"Exactly." Chloe smiled at Lex. She knew he would understand.
Acquiring power was second nature to a Luthor. She brushed some crumbs
off the maroon comforter. "So, did you tell him who I am?"

"No, I just told him your real age." Lex sighed. The wheels were
already turning in Chloe's head, spinning damage control for the
information he had given Rothman. "But that doesn't matter because
you, Miss Sullivan, are not setting foot back in Bacchanalia until you
actually are twenty-one."

"I thought that after what happened last night we were on a first name
basis?" So much for being treated like a reasonable adult. She should
have known Lex would revert to form and start handing out edicts. "I
don't have to go during business hours. I can tell him that I forgot
something and that will at least get me back into his office."

"To finish off what he started last night? Because if you go back to
Rothman, that's what he'll expect." Lex's jaw clenched. Locking
Chloe in his room was beginning to look like a great idea. If it was
the only way to keep her away from Rothman...he could always tell her
father that he had sent her on a tour of the Intruder for a few days.
"You are not going back to the club. As Gillian McKay or yourself."
"Or what? You'll tell my Daddy on me?"

"Yes." It was a bluff. Lex really couldn't see himself sitting down
with Gabe Sullivan and telling him that his headstrong daughter had
gotten herself drugged and almost raped and was insisting on putting
herself in the exact same position to have it happen again. Besides,
he doubted that the man could control Chloe anyway. Gabe was an easy-
going, nice man and Lex had no doubt that his daughter could steamroll
over him and get her way any time.

"No, you wouldn't." Chloe called his bluff. She didn't know any
details, but from some of the things Clark had said, she gathered that
Lex had been quite the hellraiser as a teenager. Hellraisers didn't
snitch. Chloe sat up straight and met Lex's calm stare.

Lex shrugged. It had been worth a try. "I have never taken you to be
a stupid person, Chloe. Rothman only sees women in one way and one
position. You won't get anywhere with him."

Damn him, he was right. The only thing that bothered Chloe more was
that she hadn't come to that very same conclusion first. Sometimes
stubbornness and the blind pursuit of a story were more of a liability
and less of an asset than she cared to admit. "So, now what am I
supposed to do? I hardly think that probing the popularity of corn
for the last fifty years at the Farmer's Market will win me the Ryan.
I need that story."

"I'm sure you'll find another one." Lex instantly regretted the words.
Chloe's incisive blue eyes trained on him. He suddenly realized what
his business associates felt like during a meeting when he just screwed
them on a deal. "No."

"Come on, Lex, it would just be one little interview." Chloe bounced
a bit on the bed. The questions she would ask him, she didn't know
where to start. An expose on LuthorCorp would be even better than
any shady dealings Nicholas Rothman was involved in that may have
gotten his sister killed. That could end up being nothing - like her
death really being an accident - but an interview with Lex Luthor
about LuthorCorp's less than above-board research would be a sure
thing.

The last thing he needed was Chloe prying into LuthorCorp business
looking for a story. She would find one. "Out of the question.
You'll have to look elsewhere." The problem was that looking elsewhere
would inevitably lead her right back to Rothman. As Chloe had pointed
out, Smallville was hardly a hotbed of corruption. "Your instincts
are good. Rothman slipped up last night and said that Sesca had been
killed."

"And you're telling me this because..." Chloe raised an eyebrow. She
knew why - Lex didn't want her nosing around his business. It made her
curious as to what he was up to, but if Francesca Rothman was murdered
then she had to get to the bottom of it and if it ended with her
sleazy brother behind bars, so much the better. Investigating Lex
would have to wait. "I thought I would never get Nicholas Rothman to
look past my female charms?"

"You wouldn't, but I could. If you went back to the club with me then
you would be off limits. He might hit on you, but he wouldn't dare try
a stunt like the one last night. In a social setting Rothman might let
his guard down and let something else slip." Lex waited while Chloe
considered his idea.

"Wow. That must be some story you're hiding, but I'll bite. Isn't
Rothman going to be suspicious if I suddenly turn up as your
girlfriend?" This was insane. Chloe couldn't believe that she was
actually plotting with Lex Luthor. She didn't want to dwell on the
'pretend girlfriend' aspect because it prompted a ticklish twisting in
her stomach.

"You won't be going back as Gillian McKay." Lex handed Chloe the fake
ID he had removed from her purse the night before. "You'll be Chloe
Sullivan. We'll get you a make-over so you'll look older and I'll
handle the ID. Other than that, it shouldn't matter, Rothman never
did focus much on the face. He won't remember you."

"I don't know if I should be insulted or relieved." Chloe bit her lip
and her forehead wrinkled as she feigned deep thought. "I'll go with
relieved. So, when do we begin our investigation?"

Lex decided that he really liked the way excitement lit up Chloe's face.
He held no illusion that she had given up on digging into LuthorCorp,
but at least she was distracted. It would give him enough time to bury
some things deeper. "Friday. I'll pick you up after school." He
stood up and held out his hand, bending forward slightly. "It'll be a
pleasure working with you, Chloe."

Chloe took Lex's hand and shook it. His flesh was delightfully warm.
For some reason, she had expected him to feel as cool as the manner he
projected. "It will definitely be interesting working with you, Lex."

Their hands lingered and then let go. Lex straightened. "Now that
we've sorted that out, I'll give you a ride home. Your things should
be ready."

"Actually, I kind of need a ride back to Metropolis. Dad is supposed
to pick me up at my cousin's tomorrow afternoon." Chloe stood up.

"Wouldn't she have called your father when you didn't come home last
night?" Lex's lips thinned in disapproval.

"She went away for the weekend with her boyfriend. I'm sort of her
cover and she was mine." Chloe played with the hem of Lex's shirt.
It was a beautiful shirt, she wished she could keep it. She had been
such a complete idiot. She had went to Bacchanalia with no one knowing
where she was or what she was doing. If it hadn't been for Lex....

"Metropolis it is then. I have to stop in with some contracts for
Rothman to sign anyway."

"Contracts?"

Shame was a relatively rare emotion for Lex. He liked being Chloe's
white knight and he didn't want anything to diminish that experience.
Now his business deal with Rothman seemed cruelly opportunistic, like
he had violated her in some way. "I, uh, I made a deal with Rothman.
In exchange for helping him with you, he would sign a contract with
LuthorCorp to supply the club with any material or provisions it might
need. At my price."

"Are you going gouge him?"

"Of course."

"Good." Chloe smiled at the shocked expression on Lex's face. She
had caused him to actually emote! She deserved a gold star and he
deserved an explanation. "What he did to me was wrong and he's
probably done it to a lot of women. Thanks to you, he didn't actually
r..rape me, so the police couldn't really do anything even if I did
report it. You gouging him in a business deal is really the only
justice I can get right now."

She had done it again. Caught him completely and totally off guard.
Lex smiled. It wasn't his trademark smirk, it was an authentic smile.
Her unpredictability was refreshing and all the more reason for him to
keep a very close eye on her. He was genuinely looking forward to
this crazy scheme. Especially since it involved spending more time
with Chloe.

To be continued....