Chapter 2

A/N:Here's the next chapter, a little later than I would have liked, but I wanted to make sure it was up in time for the premiere tonight...not sure why. Anyway, Part 3's almost done getting typed and I'll have it up by the end of the week (that's Friday not Sunday), most likely tomorrow. Thanks for all of the reviews, I love to get them. And just in case it was unclear to some of you, since I didn't actually mention it before, to the best of my knowledge, Fryor Pharmaceuticals isn't a real company, it's just a name I made up. If there is a company by the same name it's only coincidence and is not connected to my story in anyway. Also there's another new character in this chapter...gasp! I know I know, I just keep bringing them. He's not like Amy or Bruce Wayne though, he'll be around for a bit: honestly I'm trying to decide between two plot lines for him at this point. Since I'm keeping Lana in Paris the teen group is pretty small, just Chloe and Clark, so I felt the need to add someone else in. The new guy will have an important role, eventually, but he won't be around until the end of the "season" so no worries, he's not going to end up with our girl...or worse, one of our boys. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :0) Any ideas you have about the new guy (after you've read the chapter) I'd love to hear, as well as any suggestions for future storyline for him. Read on and happy Smallville tonight!


Chloe swayed slightly under the weight of the arm around her shoulders. "Okay step up!" she yelled out, the sound of whirring propellers drowning out much of the sound of her voice. "Lex!"

"Hmm?" Lex laughed and leaned against her heavily. She forced herself not to curse at him. His head rolled clumsily to the side and she saw his eyes blink a couple of times, trying to focus.

"Step up Lex!" she yelled again. When he blinked, this time in confusion, she groaned. "Fine then," she muttered and reached down, grabbing his pants and the knee and forcing him to bend his leg, lifting his foot onto the step. He seemed to realize what she was asking now, because he climbed into the chopper as quickly as his affected motor functions would allow and settled clumsily into one of the seats. "Jeez," she muttered in annoyance, wiping some sweat off of her forehead.

Chloe climbed in after him and took the briefcase that one of her guards, Jameson, was holding out for her. "Thanks!" she called to him. He nodded and shut the door behind her. Chloe set the case down on the floor and turned to where Lex was sitting, struggling hopelessly with his still-unbuckled seat belt. "Okay Lex," she reached over and helped him buckle the straps, then handed him a head set. He slid it on and gave her a goofy grin. Chloe rolled her eyes and buckled herself in, slipping on her own headset.

Lex lifted his left hand and made a peace sign at her. "Can you hear me now?" he asked, almost bursting into hysterics. Chloe nodded and returned his laugh with a grin of her own.

The ride back to Smallville was, luckily, not too long. The pilot set the helicopter down on the usual spot in the yard, but this time Chloe thought that it looked a lot farther away from the house than usual. Or maybe that was just because Lex was leaning half of his weight on her.

Her guards followed behind them, climbing out of the chopper after her. She let Jameson take the briefcase again and began to help Lex walk inside. It had actually occurred to her to let the guards assist Lex into the house, but she'd decided that he probably wouldn't want that. As it was he would already be embarrassed enough that they had seen him this inebriated.

Lex had taken care of her when she'd gotten drunk in London, but until now she hadn't really thought too much of it. Her new rule of life was "never get so drunk that your friends have to carry you home"...not without a good reason anyway. Frankly she was surprised that Lex considered acquiring a mid-sized pharmaceutical company a good enough reason for his employees to see him loose control like that. But hey, who was she to judge him.

They finally made it to the front door, and Chloe was glad when Walden greeted them. "Miss Chloe," he stared at Lex in shock. "Do you need any assistance?"

She considered it...seriously. "No that's okay," she shook her head. "I'll just bring him to his room. Could you maybe get his briefcase from Jameson?"

"Of course," he nodded quickly. "I'll leave it in his study."

"Thanks Walden," she smiled at him gratefully. Lex's head shot up quickly.

"Hey!" he cried. "It's Walden."

"Yeah...it's Walden," she groaned uncomfortably and hoisted his arm higher up her shoulders, trying to get a more secure hold on him. "Say goodnight."

"Goodnight Walden," he grinned at the butler drunkenly, reaching sloppily to shake his hand.

"Goodnight Mr. Luthor," Walden returned the handshake with a small, amused smile. Chloe grinned too and then led Lex down the hallway as best she could.

"Lex Luthor if you don't start helping me I'll just leave you out here for the night," she warned him when he began to let his feet drag. He didn't answer her, he just let his head loll over to rest on her shoulder. She groaned. They'd reached the stairs and she didn't like the idea of making him go up them, not in that condition. She decided that walking the extra twenty feet to the elevator would be more than worth it. "Please Lex? Just a little farther."

She felt his head snap back up, it shook her shoulder, and he seemed to hear her this time. They began to move again, reaching the elevator quicker than she'd hoped. "How come you don't call me Mr. Luthor?" he asked her while they rode up to the fourth floor. Chloe took the opportunity to lean him against the wall and catch her breath.

"Because you don't pay me to," she snarked as best as she could through her exhaustion. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. She helped him climb out and secured his arm around her shoulders again.

"You used to," he remembered. They moved down the hallway towards his bedroom. She almost cried in relief when she saw his door.

"Yeah, well...we weren't friends then."

"But we're friends now?"

"Yes," they reached the door and she pushed it open gratefully.

"That's strange," he muttered. His bedroom had a large set of regal looking double doors, which were luckily wide enough that they didn't have to walk in sideways.

"Why?" she muttered back, trying not to concentrate on the pain in her neck.

"Because I'm not friends with any other girls," he told her matter-of-factly. She led him over to his bed and sat him down on it.

"Why not?" she sat beside him for a moment, catching her breath.

He frowned for a second. "Oh! Because I just want to sleep with them," he slurred almost triumphantly, just remembering why. He let himself fall backwards onto the bed. Chloe grabbed his arm and pulled him back into a sitting position.

"Gee that's swell," she rolled her eyes and stood up again, helping him shrug his jacket off. "Keep that up and you're going to give me a complex."

Lex frowned. "What? Why?"

She shrugged and struggled with the knot in his tie. "Take that off, I don't want you to strangle yourself," she told him. He began to tug at his tie and she kneeled on the ground to pull his shoes off.

"I didn't mean it like that Chloe," he told her, finally managing to pull the tie off. She took the garment from him and he unbuttoned the top two buttons on his dress shirt.

"It's okay Lex," she shook her head in amusement.

"But I didn't," he mumbled dejectedly. She turned down the covers and knocked a couple of the decorative pillows onto the floor.

"Okay, climb in," she told him. "It's bed time."

"Why?" he stood up, wobbled, and grabbed her arm to steady himself.

"Because it's late and I have to go to school in the morning," she told him. He nodded and climbed clumsily into the bed.

"I have to go to work in the morning," he muttered. Chloe shook her head.

"I think maybe you can call in sick for one day," she assured him. He shook his head back at her, miserably.

"No I have to go," he told her seriously. "Or they'll all think that I got drunk."

"Lex, you are drunk," she chuckled and pulled the covers up over him.

"Oh," he sighed. Chloe took sympathy on him.

"But you earned it didn't you?" she reminded him. "You made Luthor Corp a lot of money today, remember?"

"I don't care about the money," he mumbled, closing his eyes. "I'm just glad that I beat him."

Chloe frowned. "What?" she asked. "Beat who?" He didn't answer this time; from the rhythmic breathing she figured that he was asleep. She sighed again. "Goodnight Lex."


There was a marching band going through his bedroom. No wait, that was just the thumping in his head. Lex opened his eyes wearily, only to have them snap shut again as soon as the blinding sunlight hit them.

He groaned and this time opened his eyes more slowly, letting them get gradually used to the light. 'What happened?' he wondered. The events of the night before came flooding back: Fryor, the executives at Alesco, Chloe helping him into bed...

"Shit," he muttered, rolling over, away from the sunlight. Someone had put a bottle of water and a bottle of Asprin on his nightstand. He reached out and unfolded the note that was resting against them.

I figured you would want to sleep in today so I called your secretary before school. If anyone asks, you had a meeting at the Smallville plant this morning. And your date for tonight's charity thing called. She's got mono. What can you expect though from a Miss Metropolis?

Chloe

Lex groaned again. Now he would have to find another date for the charity dinner. He popped back a couple of the pills and washed them down with a generous swig of the water. It did nothing to get the cottony taste out of his mouth.

Somehow he made it into his bathroom. He ran the shower as hot as her could stand it and waited for the pills to kick in. "I'm never drinking again," he told himself forcefully, tipping his face under the stream of the water.


"So Lex got drunk?" Clark asked her in disbelief. Chloe nodded. "That's...isn't that weird?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I've never seen him drunk before that, but he did do the whole club scene when he lived in Metropolis," she told him. "It's not like it's the first time."

"But it's still not like him to do that now," Clark fretted.

"Believe it or not Clark there are worse things in this would than drinking," she laughed.

"It's just not like Lex to get drunk to avoid his problems," Clark insisted.

"He was celebrating," Chloe said defensively, though she actually did agree with Clark's point.

"When has Lex ever really celebrated making money?" Clark asked her. She nodded reluctantly.

"Actually I asked him that last night," she admitted. "He got really uptight about it too...so don't you dare go over there and harass him about this!" Clark looked guilty and she figured that he had planned on doing just that. "I mean it Clark, don't even bring it up. In fact, I shouldn't have even told you; pretend that I didn't."

"You're awfully defensive about this Chloe," he remarked in amusement.

"I'm not defensive," she told him...defensively. "It's just not that big of a deal, but I know that you would turn it into one."

They stopped at his locker and he opened it quickly, exchanging his books. "You're kind of making it sound like a big deal," he pointed out. She was about to protest but he continued quickly. "It's okay to be worried about him Chloe."

"I'm not worried," she insisted. "I was just pointing out that it was strange to see Lex like that. If it were anyone else it wouldn't even be worth mentioning. He's just usually so..."

"In control?" Clark supplied. She nodded.

"Yeah," she admitted. "I know that he doesn't like to loose control, so why would he let himself get to that point? Especially in front of all of those people. It's probably killing him today."

"Maybe one of us should ask him," Clark suggested, closing his locker. They moved on to hers now.

"Uh, no," she laughed at the idea. "I tried that already...got into a fight over it."

"Maybe you just asked him in the wrong way," Clark shrugged.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Clark grinned. "I thought you were supposed to be intuitive," he teased her.

"I'm out of practice," she admitted. A lone freshman came around the corner then, looked at them, and then turned back the way he came. "Remind me to talk to Lex about those guards."


Chloe listened to the steady rhythm of two sets of shoes following her down the hallway, her guards. After the numerous attempts on her life she was actually finding their presence rather comforting. But she was glad when they agreed to wait outside of the girl's bathroom.

She was debating heading to the library, since it was her free period and she didn't have to go to the Torch office. Making her mind up, she'd get her homework done now so that she didn't have to do it over the weekend (not that it ever took her long), she took a left when the hallway forked. She passed the principal's office and stopped to read the notices on the bulletin board. Car for sale...free kittens to good home...math tutor wanted...and even a notice about a student council special election the next week. Lana had stayed in Paris for another semester; apparently there were some special classes there that she could take so she would still be able to graduate with her class. But now the student council needed a new spirit chair.

After reading a couple more notices she continued on her way. She rounded another corner and then paused. There was a redheaded guy trying to open the door to the Torch office. The Editor Wanted sign was now gone. He must have felt her eyes on him, because he paused in his efforts and looked up at her.

"Hey," he greeted warily, nervous from both her staring and the guards behind her.

"What are you doing?" she asked him suspiciously.

"I'm baking a cake," he told her flippantly. When she raised her eyebrows he grinned. "What do you think? I'm trying to get into my office. I think maybe the key is bent though."

"You're the new editor," she realized. He nodded and held his hand out, shooting a cautious glance at the guards.

"I'm Cooper Harris," he grinned again; she liked his dimples. Chloe shook his hand.

"Chloe Sullivan," she smiled tentatively. His eyebrows raised now.

"So you're Chloe," he looked her up and down quickly. "I thought you'd be...taller."

"Excuse me?" she laughed.

"Taller," he repeated. "You left some pretty big shoes to fill Chloe...metaphorically I mean. I guess I thought that you'd be scary or something, but you're pretty normal looking to me."

"I'm sorry," she teased.

"No, I like normal," he grinned again. Chloe rolled her eyes playfully.

"It's not bent," she told him matter-of-factly.

"What?"

"The key," she clarified, taking it from him. "The handle just sticks when it's locked. You have to sort of lift..." she showed him what she meant and then pushed the office door open.

"Oh," he nodded gratefully. "Thanks. I was trying to open it for almost five minutes." She laughed and peered tentatively into the office. It looked strange now that the Wall of Weird was taken down. "Do you want to come in? I had a couple of questions about some of the files."

She hesitated. "Yeah sure," Chloe nodded finally. He smiled gratefully again and pulled a chair over for her. Chloe sat. "So what's the problem?"

"It's not so much a problem as...um, fear," he pulled out some of the files from the bottom drawer of the cabinet. Wall of Weird stuff. Chloe smirked.

"You're not from around here are you Cooper?" she teased.

"No I'm from Metropolis," he told her. "What's that got to do with this stuff?"

"What do you know about the Smallville meteor shower?"


Lex met Chloe at the door when she came home from school. "Hi," she laughed at his eagerness.

"I'm bored," he admitted. "This is the first time I've missed work when I didn't have something to do."

"Poor baby," she rolled her eyes and headed to her room, Lex hot on her heels. "Well, what did you do today?"

"Played about a hundred games of pool," he confessed.

"You know most people enjoy playing hooky once in a while," she told him as they reached her bedroom.

"I'm not like most people," Lex told her seriously. She pushed open her bedroom door and stared at her bed in surprise.

"No, you really aren't," she agreed breathily. He leaned casually against the doorframe while she rushed over to her bed to pick up the gift he'd left her.

"I've been trying to think of names for her all day," he confessed, grinning when she picked up the tiny kitten with an excited giggle. "But I kept coming up blank. Maybe you should name her."

"Hello there," Chloe scratched the kitten's neck gently. It meowed at her and purred. "You're so pretty!" she cooed and then turned to Lex. "Lex, she's so pretty!"

He laughed and then walked over to join her, reaching out a petting the cat's soft white fur. "Do you like her?" he asked, seriously hoping that she did. The kitten was little more than a ball of white fur with blue eyes at the moment, but it was a pureblood Persian and would grow to be a beautiful cat eventually.

"I love her," she nodded and stood on her tiptoes, and surprisingly, kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he almost blushed. Plenty of women had kissed him before, but Chloe was one of the few to do so out of gratitude and not because she wanted something from him. It gave him a warm, fuzzy feeling that really should have made him sick, but for some reason it didn't. After the way she'd covered for him at work that morning, he felt the need to do something nice for her...in Lex language that usually meant a gift. "Not to make her sound like a bribe," he smiled guiltily. "But I was wondering if you had plans tonight?"

"Nothing important," she shrugged and set the kitten down on her bed, beside the shoelace that it had been playing with when they walked in. "Why?"

"Would you care to accompany me to tonight's charity dinner?" he asked her, feeling unusually awkward. Chloe smiled.

"Sure," she shrugged. "I'm ashamed to admit that I have no real plans on a Friday night."

"I had to bribe you," he smirked. "So don't feel too bad."

"I told you before Lex," she rolled her eyes. "You don't have to buy me things. You could have just asked me."

"So should I take back the kitten?" he joked. Chloe shot him an affronted look and gathered the cat in her arms protectively.

"Don't listen to the mean man," she mock-whispered. Lex smirked and shook his head.

"We'll leave at five," he told her and walked out of the room, pausing in the doorway. "It's a black and white party Chloe."

"So then I should wear blue?" she quipped, shaking the shoelace for the kitten to pounce at.

"Wear whatever you want."


When he got the call from Chloe that night, Clark was disappointed to hear that she'd be out of town all night. Not that they'd really made plans or anything, but now he had nothing at all to do. Chloe was his only real friend left in town, now that Pete and Lana were gone.

Clark sighed miserably and reached for the phone, dialing the familiar long distance number. Pete answered after the third ring. "Hello?"

"Hey Pete," Clark finally broke into a grin.

"Clark," Pete exclaimed back enthusiastically, probably mocking him. "What's up man?"

"Nothing," Clark shrugged, listening carefully to the steady clicking of Pete typing. "Are you busy?"

"Nope, not really. I'm just sending an e-mail to Lana," Pete told him.

"Oh," Clark frowned. "Do you e-mail her a lot?"

"Usually twice a week," Pete admitted. "She feels a little left out sometimes, being so far away. I kind of know the feeling. Plus, she likes to be kept in the know about how Chloe's doing."

"Oh yeah," Clark nodded, immediately feeling guilty for being suspicious. He hadn't been keeping in touch with Lana recently, at least not since she'd called the week before to tell them that she was staying in Paris until at least January. "It's good that you're keeping in touch, I'm sure she appreciates it."

"So what's up Clark?" the typing stopped now. "No plans tonight?"

"No," Clark sighed again. "Chloe's going to some charity thing with Lex...you know I just realized that she's my only friend left in Smallville."

"Man, you should probably meet some new people," Pete laughed. "It's just a matter of time before Chloe makes new friends too. It wouldn't hurt you to have a few more friendly types around in case some Meteor Freak goes after you guys...again."

"Yeah," Clark frowned, realizing that he was right.

"Still, if you're really bored," Pete drawled. "Why don't you come over? I've got no plans either...boy that's embarrassing."

"Pete you live in Wichita now," Clark reminded him.

"Uh yeah," Pete laughed. "But you can run like five miles a second. How long do you really think it would take to get here?"

Clark paused. "Good point," he shrugged. "See you in ten."

Twelve minutes later Clark knocked on Pete's door, grinning when his friend opened it. "You're late," Pete joked. "What took you so long?"

Clark held up a piece of paper. "I had to go back for your address."


Chloe didn't have to attend many of those fancy dinner things to figure out why she liked them. She liked the beautiful clothes that she got to wear, and she liked the diamond earrings on her ears. She liked that the event was for charity, and that is was glamorous in a way that your average girl only got to dream about. But what she really loved was how she got to watch him work the room, all of those people and cameras and handshakes.

Watching Lex Luthor mingle with Metropolis's finest was amazing, and being the one on his arm was something else entirely. She'd accompanied him to events before, clubs and operas and even the occasional dinner, but now that they were back in Metropolis, with all of the familiar faces, she wasn't just a friend who'd escorted him. He was introducing her as his date.

Chloe wasn't stupid; she knew that he was trying to impress the important people in the room. In fact, that's why she'd taken so much care in getting ready for the evening. Countless women had been in her position before, on the arm of Metropolis's favorite playboy billionaire. She wasn't naïve enough to think that Lex had selected her first out of all of the women that would scramble at the chance to accompany him; but yet there she was, arm looped through his as they shook hands with the Governor. It didn't suck.

She was his date, yes, but more importantly she was his friend, and she knew how big this night was for Luthor Corp. For some reason Lex was really excited about the Fryor Pharmaceutical deal, and she was determined to help make him and his company look good that night when they made the announcement...it's not like she had to worry about journalistic integrity. Not anymore. Plus there were some perks to being on Lex Luthor's arm...

"Another glass of champagne Miss?" a waiter appeared at her elbow just as she was polishing off the last sip in her glass.

"Yes, thank you," she smiled at the man and exchanged her empty glass for a full one. She ignored the pointed look from Lex, probably terrified that she'd get loaded off of the free drinks. Chloe forced herself not to roll her eyes and accepted the Governor's wife's request for her to tag along to the powder rooms...they called them powder rooms.

Chloe walked with the woman, a thirty-something brunette in a beautiful black dress, to the lady's room. She ignored the paranoid look that Lex shot her way.


Governor Averman was one of the duller people that Lex had spoken to all evening. But he was the man to talk to about getting approval for the production contracts between Luthor Corp, Cadmus Labs, and Fryor Pharmaceuticals.

"Luthor," the Governor clapped a hand on his shoulder jovially. "I have a eight o'clock tee time at the Metropolis Country Club on Sunday morning. Mayor Hayes will be there. You should join us; I'm sure we would be able to reach an agreement over those production contracts of yours."

Lex struggled between the duel desires to grin and scowl. He hated golf, but he did need those contracts...and this would be the easiest way to get them. "I'll be there," he nodded to the Governor with his best professional smile.

"Excellent," Averman shook his hand. "Well if you'll excuse me, I think my wife is probably done in the powder room."

"Of course Governor," he gritted his teeth and forced the title out of him mouth, nodding to the dull man. "I'll see you on Sunday."

"Nine o'clock," Averman grinned and slipped past Lex. "Hello again Miss Sullivan." Lex turned around curiously to see Chloe smiling up at the older man.

"Hello Governor," she chirped, balancing a glass in each hand. "I hope you're enjoying yourself."

The man chuckled. "Of course dear," he patted her shoulder in a way that made Lex's skin crawl. "Come see me later, I'd love to get a chance to talk with you...privately."

Chloe's face registered her shock for about half a second before she plastered a mocking grin on her face. "I'll try," she tilted her head slightly. "If you're looking for your lovely wife, I left her with that gorgeous bartender. Excuse me."

The Governor was gone towards the bar so quickly that his shoes almost slipped on the marbled floor. Chloe smirked and made her way over to Lex. She handed him one of the glasses.

"Thank you," he sipped gratefully at the scotch. "I trust you've gotten acquainted with our Governor."

"Yes," Chloe rolled her eyes and took a sip of her own drink. "I hope you didn't vote for him." Lex chuckled and held his arm out for her, leading them to the next group of hands to shake.

TBC...