Chapter 2

A/N: Been a while... I know, I suck.

Lex could barely contain his relief when he strode out of the plant at five thirty. There'd been a mountain of paperwork waiting for him that morning, most of which was so trivial that he'd been surprised to see it. In the past he'd never been asked to authorize schedules or truck routes, but for some reason his plant manager had deemed it necessary to get his okay. The new manager was a decent man, but he was no Gabe Sullivan.

He resisted the urge to call home and check on Chloe, and instead climbed into his car, anxious to get home. Five minutes later he was pulling the car into the round lane in front of the mansion, realizing that he'd broken his previous record of six minutes driving time.

The new butler (who Lex had hired after he'd returned home from his latest stint in the hospital), Walden, met him at the door and took his overcoat. "Is Chloe back yet?" Lex asked him.

"Yes sir," Walden nodded. "She returned about an hour ago. She is in the den."

Lex nodded and made his way down one of the hallways, headed towards the den. The doors were closed. He briefly considered leaving her alone until dinner was ready, but realized that he was curious about how her day had been. Though the thought puzzled him, he pretended that it didn't and pushed the doors open.

Chloe turned around from her place on the couch and quickly hit a button on the remote, the TV flicking off with a quick flash, cutting off a picture of a laughing blonde girl with two braids. "Hi," she greeted once he'd made his way over and joined her on the couch.

"Hello," Lex nodded towards the TV. "What were you watching?" She stood up and made her way to the VCR, ejecting a cassette.

"Mrs. Kent found some old home movies," she explained. "I'd forgotten about them."

Her tone clearly said that she didn't want to talk about it, so he easily changed the subject. "How did the packing go?" he asked instead.

Chloe shrugged. "Okay," she sat back down on the couch. "Just the living room and Dad's office left. I brought the rest of my stuff over here, I hope that's okay."

"Of course it is," Lex was suddenly uncomfortable with the realization that there was going to be someone else living in the mansion. "You live here too now." She nodded quietly and neither of them knew what to say. Chloe began to fidget.

"Well," she finally said in a rush, to fill the silence. "The Kent's said that I could keep the rest of the stuff in their barn, in case I want it one day."

"You know that there's plenty of storage space here," he told her. "If you want to keep your father's things near by."

"It's just some old junk," Chloe told him quickly. "It's nothing important."

He didn't believe her. "Come with me," he stood up and waited for her to follow. "I have something to show you." Chloe raised her eyebrows but followed him out of the room.

"You didn't buy me a car did you?" she asked him warily. Lex stopped and looked at her in surprise.

"No, do you want a car?" he asked her; eager at the idea of buying her something...he understood concepts like gift giving. She shook her head.

"No," his eagerness earned a wry grin from her though. Lex grinned back and continued to lead her towards a lone door in one of the back halls. He opened it and led her down a flight of stairs into the basement.

There were two large rooms on either side of the single hallway. He led her into the left room and closed the door behind them. Chloe looked around at the old boxes and various pieces of furniture that filled the enormous room. "What is all this?" she asked him.

Lex opened the closest box, the one with the least amount of dust on it. "These were my mother's things," he told her. He'd never told anyone about keeping them before, not even Clark or Helen. Chloe looked surprised. "When she died my father had her things put in storage, and when I moved to Smallville I had them shipped here."

She ran her fingers over a small music box. "Why did you keep all of this?" she asked him.

Lex shrugged. "I couldn't bring myself to throw any of it away," he admitted. "Some of it is of value, but for the most part, it's just some old stuff that's not worth anything to anyone. Except me."

Chloe nodded. "Why are you showing me this?" she asked him.

Lex lifted a small teddy bear out of the box and sighed. "I want you to know that it's okay to want to keep these things," Lex looked at her seriously. "It might be too hard right now, but in a little while you might want to have all of his things to remember him by. I don't want you to regret getting rid of anything too quickly."

She nodded and swallowed a lump in her throat. "You knew my father," she peered intently at the small teddy bear. "What was your mother like?"

Lex hesitated. He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her about his mother; things she'd loved and the things she'd done. She looked up at him innocently, not able to really understand why he didn't trust anyone. Seeming to realize that he didn't want to share, she averted her gaze. "I'm sorry," she said quietly looking at her hands. "I shouldn't have asked; it's none of my business."

"She was unhappy," Lex ignored her last statement and tightened his grip on the bear. "Most of the time she was unhappy; with my father, with her life. The way it turned out."

Chloe paled and looked like she wanted to reach out to him, but was holding herself back. "Oh Lex," she tried to reassure him. "I'm sure that's not true—"

He shook his head and cut her off. "No, it's true," he told her, expression blank. "Most of the time, that I can remember, she was unhappy."

"But not all of the time?"

He smiled softly. "No, not all of the time," he answered. Chloe watched him patiently, waiting for him to elaborate. Instead, he dropped the bear back into the box and folded the flaps shut. "I'm hungry," he told her. "Let's go get some dinner." Chloe looked like she wanted to say something more, but quietly followed him back upstairs, closing the door behind her.

Tuesday morning broke through with more rain clouds. Chloe was pleased to see fresh Belgian waffles when she walked into the dining room for breakfast. She'd slept really well the night before, for a change, and was visibly more alert than the previous morning.

Lex seemed to notice. "Good morning Chloe," he greeted her, smirking slightly at the extra bounce in her step.

"Morning," she gave him a small grin, still a little unused to seeing him first thing in the morning. He was wearing an impeccably tailored black suit, complete with a silk, stark white shirt and tie. "You look nice," she remarked, chugging back an entire cup of coffee. "Big day?"

He nodded. "I have a board meeting in Metropolis," he pushed his plate away and sipped at a glass of juice.

"Sound's fun," she snarked and drizzled syrup all over her waffles.

"I'm sure it will be a blast," Lex drawled, reaching for a copy of the Daily Planet that Walden had left for him. Chloe turned back to her waffles and they ate in a companionable silence until Walden knocked on the door.

Lex and Chloe both looked at him questioningly. "Excuse me sir, miss," he held a cordless phone out to them. "There is a Miss Lang on the phone. She is asking for either you or Ms. Sullivan."

"Chloe," she corrected automatically. Lex reached for the phone.

"Thank you Walden," he nodded to the butler and answered the phone. "Lana?" Chloe busied herself with her waffles while Lex talked.

She wasn't too sure what to say to her ex-roommate when it was finally her turn to talk. Knowing Lana, their conversation would be about Chloe's feelings, and a few mentions of Lana's parents, because they couldn't seem to have a conversation about anything without her bringing them up. Chloe wasn't entirely ready to talk about it anyway, especially not with Lex there. She snapped out of her inner tirade when she heard him chuckle softly.

"Okay, you too," he nodded at something that Lana said. "Hold on," Lex placed his hand over the speaker and turned to Chloe. "She wants to talk to you. I'm going to go now; can't be late for that meeting."

"Sure," Chloe nodded and grabbed the phone; glad he'd given her an easy out. "Good luck."

"I'll see you later," Lex squeezed her shoulder quickly before making his way out of the room.

"Have a good day," she called to his retreating form. Once he was gone she pressed the phone to her ear. "Lana?"

"Chloe!" Lana's voice sounded though loud and clear and Chloe was instantly glad to hear it.

"Hey," she smiled softly. "How's Paris?"

"It's nice," Lana told her slowly. "Not home though, I miss everyone."

"We miss you too," Chloe assured her, slightly wary, knowing what was coming next.

"How have you been doing?" Lana asked her, predictably concerned.

"I'm...okay," Chloe told her lamely, pushing the plate of waffles away and sinking back into her chair.

"That's convincing," Lana joked. When Chloe didn't reply, Lana sighed. "Chloe it's okay to tell people that you're upset."

"I know that Lana," she tried not to snap at her. "But I'm just sick of everyone looking at me and treating me as if I'm going to have some kind of mental breakdown."

"I know you are Chloe," Lana replied calmly. "I know that everyone's probably walking around on eggshells right now, and it's driving you crazy. But I also know that you're probably not okay, and you just don't know how to say it."

Chloe swallowed painfully and nodded, only slightly aware of the fact that a stream of tears were slowly inching their way down her cheeks.

"Chloe?" Lana asked her, voice hitching slightly.

"I'm here," Chloe whispered.

"I'm sorry that I'm not," Lana's voice was shaky now, and Chloe knew that she was crying as well.

"I know," Chloe assured her. "I'll be okay Lana."

"I know you will be," Lana laughed shortly and Chloe could almost see her wiping frantically at the tears on her face, painting on a smile. "I have to go Chloe. I'm sorry, my phone card is about to run out."

"Okay," Chloe smiled into the phone. "Hey Lana?"

"Yeah?"

"I miss you," Chloe told her softly. She heard Lana's breath hitch again and knew that her friend had started crying again.

"I miss you too," Lana sniffled. "Bye."

"Bye," Chloe pressed the off button and set the phone down on the table, staring at it blankly for a minute. Wiping at her eyes once more, she stood up slowly and dropped her napkin onto the table. Her eyes fell on a set of keys beside Lex's forgotten napkin.

Picking up the keys, Chloe turned around and held them out in front of her, not even surprised to see Lex standing there, his expression as guilty as hers was angry. She didn't bother wiping away the remaining tears, knowing that he'd already seen her crying. When he didn't reach out to grab the offered keys she let her arm drop.

Lex still hadn't said anything, but his eyes were scanning her face in concern. "Chloe..." he finally started.

She walked quickly over to him and thrust the keys into his hand. "You're going to be late," she muttered and couldn't meet his eyes. When she tried to walk away his hand closed around her arm, forcing her to stop.

"Chloe," he said again, his voice a little desperate this time, looking for forgiveness. She took a deep breath and turned to look up at him, mentally cringing at the idea of him seeing her cry. When she met his eyes his face visibly softened.

Chloe pulled her arm away at the sight of the pity in his eyes. "Don't," she told him. "Don't look at me like that." Lex let her wrench her arm away, and didn't stop her this time when she quickly left the room, heels clicking swiftly on the stone floor.