Shit you guys, i love you so much for reviewing. You rock my world. I'm touched. So thanks to Incubabe, Shay2, Kit Merlot, autumngold, and lanae. Especially Kit Merlot and autumngold, who have read both and done nothing but support me! Thanks you guys!!!! All of you!!!

Oh, and by the way, in the first chap I accidentally forgot to put the flashback in italics, so yeah, after he starts remembering it's supposed to be.

Okay, hope you like how it's going so far.

This was going to be bad. Why hadn't he been there to stop whatever had happened?

She avoided his eyes when he tried to look into them after she calmed down again. "What do you mean Chloe? What did he do to you?" he asked, sitting down on the couch next to her and taking her hand. She seemed uncomfortable with the minimal contact, but he pushed for more, slowly pulling her into his arms when she was crying. She at first resisted, but then she had given in and melted into his arms. She took another deep breath as she pulled herself even closer to him and he idly stroked her hair, for the first time realizing how soft it was. But when she yelped as his fingers intertwined with a tiny section of her hair, he stopped and looked her in the eyes, realization dawning on him as her eyes filled with tears and she moved away. He was shocked for a moment, then he reached out and touched her, pulling back when he realized why she didn't like the contact.

"Chloe-" All he wanted to do was hold her and she didn't want that right now. "Chloe did he-"

"-raped me," she choked out.

"Holy fuck," he muttered. She looked at him and burst into tears. "I'm sorry Chloe. I'm sorry..." he went to touch her then stopped himself.

"Don't- be. I- I killed- him," she sobbed. Lex was in even more shock.

"Chloe, okay I know it's hard but you need to tell me everything," he whispered, leaning down onto the floor on his knees to look at her as she sat on the couch. Lex thanked God he had just had the house debugged two days ago.

"Fuck Lex- I c-c-can't."

"Chloe, come here," he opened his arms. She shook her head. "Look, you won't be able to do this alone. I know the last thing you want is a man touching you, but it's physical comfort for the moment since I can't do anything to help you mentally until you calm down. Come here." Her lip trembled as she slid into his arms, her body molding into his and warming him. He only then realized how fragile and perfect her body was.

Her breathing slowly steadied. They didn't speak until he thought she might have fallen asleep in his arms.

"Chloe? Are you going to be able to talk now?" He felt horrible forcing this on her, but he couldn't help her until he knew what was going on. Having his father's body lying somewhere was not a good thing, either. She nodded. "Okay, where were you?"

"Home. Alone."

"And what time was it?"

"About three."

"What did he say to you when he first came in?" Chloe gulped and he gave her a gentle squeeze, still uncertain of where there were bruises and cuts.

"He said...okay... he was really angry and just came storming in. I- it was- I was working for him researching Clark-" she seemed to wait for his negative reaction.

"I know. Keep going. You can do it."

"And- and he said he would not let me go- not let me quit-" she shuddered. "Then when I started to argue with him he hit me. But that was nothing new..." she slammed her eyes shut at the slip of words.

"Chloe, how long had he been abusing you?" He asked, tightening his grip on her, then pulling back to look her in the eyes. They were bloodshot and had bags under them. Why hadn't he noticed something was wrong before?

"A- Awhile now." Chloe was choking. He didn't know how long she would be able to go.

"Okay, then what happened?"

"Then he got- oh god," she fought back the tears. "He was more violent than usual. And then... I don't know what happened. I don't want to know what happened." She was crying again, but this time against Lex's chest. "When he went to leave- I- I shot him with my gun in my desk." Chloe was sobbing by now.

"What did you do with the body?" He didn't care if his father was dead. He just didn't want Chloe to be put in jail for something that should have been done awhile ago.

"It's in my room. Oh my God- I left it in my room."

They were sitting on the floor, holding onto each other for dear life. He slowly pulled her into his lap so they would be more comfortable and she flinched. She frowned at him through her tears.

"I'm sorry..." he looked in her eyes and saw that she was worried.

"Why?" she adjusted and he looked down at his pants to find blood. He stared at the stain for awhile. There were so many emotions he was experiencing and he didn't know what to do. "Chloe, did you take care of yourself? Where are you hurt?"

"I tried to wash him away. I couldn't go to the hospital or anything. I scrubbed myself down as much as I could. But he's still here. He won't go away."

He looked at the tiny cuts that graced her body and he realized they were from her trying to scrub her skin. "Chloe-" his voice was forced, "did you use a scouring pad?"

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!

love you all-

alana