4.08: Celebration

Teaser

For the first time in four months, Chloe was alone. Truly alone. There were no bodyguards following her today, or any other day from now on, because the major threat against her had disappeared and Lex had decided that she would be safe by herself again. It was what she imagined witnessing the end of a war would be like: she'd looked so forward to this point, the road behind her was long and painful, but so was the one ahead. She was realizing that gaining her independence once more didn't make her feel a whole lot better, it just made her feel...alone. The world hadn't changed, one of the key players in her little universe may be gone but there was still a harsh world going against her, and this time she didn't have people like Quinn and Jameson to back her up.

Lionel Luthor was dead, buried and rotting in an opulent grave beside the wife that he loved so dearly, and drove into insanity. For the second time since she'd moved into the mansion, Chloe found herself walking the gardens at sunrise, unable to sleep and settling on a stone bench overlooking the pond.

Footsteps approached behind her but she didn't turn to look. She knew that this time it wasn't Quinn; it was just Lex. He didn't require and invitation, he just made his way over silently, joining her on the bench.

"I've always preferred sunrise over sunset," he remarked, staring intently at the orange and pink sky. "I like the beginning."

"So you're not really a closer then?" she teased lightly. Lex smirked slightly and she knew that he was; he was multi talented. "I always took you for a night owl." She smirked now, picturing him blending in perfectly with the black sky.

"It usually seems to end up that way," he admitted. "Belonging in the dark...always."

Chloe looked over at him seriously. "I like night better anyways," she admitted. "Everything looks better...you know how they say that 'things will look better in the morning'? I think it's a stupid saying. Nothing ever looks better in harsher lighting, and any problems that you had the night before only get worse because you left them longer and waited until morning. It's a stupid saying."

He smiled now, not his usual smirk but the kind of smile that only she seemed to really be able to coax out of him. "How come you're up so early then?" he asked her. "Don't they usually have to tear you out of bed with the promise of caffeine and sugar?"

"Can't sleep," she rolled her eyes at his annoyingly accurate account and turned back to the sunrise. "Why are you?"

"I'm not," he replied vaguely. When she frowned he elaborated: "Just very late getting to bed."

She frowned again, seriously this time. "You need to sleep Lex," she told him seriously. "You can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?" he asked coolly, putting his guard up already.

"Running back and forth to Metropolis everyday, working on less than five hours of sleep," she clarified, giving him a pointed look to show him that she was aware of what was going on. "Skipping meals."

"Chloe I have to manage Luthor Corp now," he reminded her tensely. "I won't let it suffer because you think I'm getting tired. It's not my fault that the offices are there and the mansion is here."

"You're going to drive yourself—"

"Crazy?" he supplied. Chloe winced at the word and chose not to finish her sentence.

"You know if you called Lucas he would come to Metropolis and help out," she prodded. "I'm sure he'd love to throw himself into the family business."

"Chloe not only is Lucas not qualified to help run Luthor Corp, he's also not old enough," Lex told her with a frustrated sigh. They'd had this conversation once a week since Lionel had died, and she was entirely aware that he was loosing patience for it.

"He'll be twenty in January, Lex," she told him with a roll of her eyes. "That's almost the same age that you were when you came to Smallville. You were running the plant then."

"That's different," he shook his head dismissively.

"Why?"

"Because my father was preparing me to take over Luthor Corp since I was thirteen," Lex sighed in frustration. "Lucas doesn't know anything about the company or the market that we deal with."

"He could learn."

"I'd also finished college by then Chloe," he told her. "Lucas barely graduated from high school. He may be intelligent but he's a loose cannon and I won't have him responsible for my company."

"But you need help Lex," she brought up her usual argument. "You can't do it all by yourself, not like this. Lucas could—"

"Lucas is a sociopath Chloe," he cut her off with a bitter laugh. "He's not stable. I would sign over half of the company to you before I put him in charge of my dry cleaning."

"Fine," she muttered bitterly. She had a more interesting topic in mind anyways. "Lex?"

"Yes?" he almost groaned.

"What do you want for your birthday?"

TBC...