It had been a week, and Chloe was more angry than hurt now. She had come to realize something in the tumult of emotions that had been whirling around her this past week. Every time she had ever tried to open up to anyone, and ever attempt to love someone, she always ended up getting hurt.
"Maybe I should just give up on guys completely," she said to herself. She cliked away on her computer, not really noting anything. She was in a slight daze, stuck in a mud-puddle of emotion. She found her picture files, and she remembered. Prom. She had been so close that day to getting what she had always wanted, and it got snatched away by nasty twisters. Sure, Clark had left to save a friend, but getting duped at prom was a complete downshoot on her esteem. She went through the pictures, tempted to delete them all, once again, but she couldn't.
She just couldn't.
Lex walked out the door of the mansion, and entered his car. Although he still wasn't welcome at the Luthor mansion, he had a feeling that it wouldn't be much longer before he would be back in his own home. As much as he appreciated Martha and Jonathan's kindness to him, he still felt he was intruding into their life.
He had just talked with Lucas, and told him about the side of Lionel that he didn't see, or hadn't seen yet. Hoping that Lucas would see his way was probably a long shot, but he needed to set things straight with his father, and show him that he wasn't going to just back into submission.
In the meantime, he had something important to attend to.
"Chloe," Clark said. He flashed his million-dollar smile. "Study group at the Talon. Would you like to go?"
Chloe smiled weakly. "Sorry, Clark," she said, "but I have to turn you down. I think I'm just going to go home."
Clark looked at her questioningly."Chloe, is there something wrong?"
Chloe decided it best to avoid an awkward subject. "No, Clark, I'm fine." She plastered on a fake smile. "Why do you ask?"
Clark apparently didn't catch the fakeness. "Well, you've acted pretty down the past few days, and I was just wondering-"
"Delivery for Chloe Sullivan," a crisp voice chimed in. It was a deliveryman, and he was holding a beautiful white rose.
"That's me." She looked at the rose, confused. "Who's this from?"
"I was asked not to say," the deliveryman said. He held out the tablet for her to sign.
She signed, and watched the man exit. She turned her attention to the rose. It was really pretty, obvioulsy freshly picked.
"Wow," Clark said. "Who sent it?"
"No idea," Chloe said. That's when her eyes caught the small card attatched to the rose. She flipped it over, and read the two solitary words: 'I'm sorry.'
Her anger flared. Clark apparently noticed it. "Chloe... who sent this?"
Chloe knew good and well who had sent the flower. And sorry wouldn't cut it. She looked up at Clark. "Who sent it?" She grimaced, and threw the rose in the garbage can. "An ass."
With Clark at the Talon, she could stop by the Kent farm without him getting suspicious of anything. She figured she would give Lex a good tounge lashing. She entered the barn, but found nobody there, and she wasn't about to go up to the Kent's house and ask for Lex. She was about to turn to leave when a hand fell on her shoulder.
"Looking for me?"
Chloe started, then whirled around. It was Lex.
Chloe's anger peaked. "Who do you think you are?" she yelled at him. "You play with my feelings, make me feel less than a human, and now you send me a rose and expect an apology, just like that? What kind of person are you? You're more narcisstic than I thought."
She brushed past him, heading for the barn door when he grabbed her wrist, pulling her back to him.
"Chloe... I know what I did was wrong. I want an apology, and our friendship."
"Oh, please, Lex," she said. "Why, so you can manipulate me again, and have fun watching me writhe in torment?" She attempted to pull her wrist from his hand, but his grip was tight around it. He pulled her closer to him and put his arms around her.
"I'm sorry, Chloe," he repeated.
Chloe forced down the tears. "Why?" was all she could say.
"I'm trying to protect you," he said. "From my father, frmo the paparazzi, from the judgements of your friends." He pushed her away from his chest to look in her eyes. "I don't want your life to be hell because of me."
Chloe moved away from him. "Answer this for me, Lex. How do you feel about me?" She looked at him, wanting to know the truth. Longing for it. "Tell me what your feelings are for me."
There was a long pause, and then Lex finally spoke.
"I don't know."
"Are you really not sure, or are you just saying that so you can 'protect me?'" She backed away from him more. "if you're trying to protect me, Lex, you can do all you can, but you can't protect me from my own feelings." She turned and left.
Lucas watched from the shadows of the loft. So there was something between them. He had been right in his accusation to Lionel. He watched as Chloe left the barn, and heard her car start and leave the property. He pulled a gun from his pocket, and prepared to confront Lex. He started to move when another figure entered the barn. He melted himself back into the shadows.
It was Jonathan Kent. He watched as Mr. Kent and Lex talked, then disappeared, heading toward the back of the barn. He silently slipped down the steps, following them. He hid behind a barn column, and a moment later had clubbed Jonathan in the back of the head.
Lex looked at him with shock. "Lucas... what are you doing here?"
Lucas smiled. "Finishing what you started."
Chloe sat in her room, hugging her pillow, letting all the thoughts from today and the week run through her mind. Everything - Clark, the Torch, Prom, kisses, and... Lex.
"He was trying to protect me..." She rolled over on her side, and stared into her closet.
"That has to mean that he at least cares... right?"
Most of all that she had know about Luthors was that everything they did - business deals, truces, and even friendships - never went without an alterior motive. But did that apply to Lex? She had found a Lex that she was pretty sure no one else had ever found before, and she begged to differ that Lex wasn't like his father.
"I certainly hope not," she told herself. "For his own sake."
Lionel sat in awe. Both of his sons had just played dirty to him. Frankly he was impressed at the show of wit they had both shown today. On the other hand, he was disappointed in himself for showing his other side. He knew that a relationship with Lucas was probably far beyond repair by now. He took off his glasses. After tomorrow, he wouldn't need these. The truth was out... to his sons anyway. And he knew that Lex wouldn't be too happy with it.
Lucas looked at Lex. "I apologize for everything that has happened recently. I'd like to keep in touch."
They were standing next door to Lucas' new apartment building in Edge City. Lex had bought and fully paid for the apartment. Lex and Lucas made an agreement the night that they conned Lionel to take a stab at being brothers.
Lex nodded. "Are you sure you don't want to stay in Smallville? The mansion is always open to you."
Lucas shook his head. "I'd rather stay as far away from Lionel Luthor as possible, at least for now." He smiled. "I'll remember your offer though."
"I see," Lex said. "I guess it's goodbye for now?" he extended his hand to Lucas.
Lucas grabbed Lex's hand, and pulled him into a hug. He let go, flashed one last smile, and walked toward the apartment building. He paused before he reached the door.
"Hey Lex?"
"Lucas?"
"Don't be too protective." he turned then, and walked through the doorway.
Lex watched him go until he disapppeared.
"Thanks Lucas."
Chloe entered the Torch office the next afternoon to pick up her disk that had her school project on it. As she opened the desk drawer, she noticed a note lying on her keyboard. She didn't recognize the handwriting. It simply said 'Chloe.' She opened the note. To her suprise, there were only two solitary words: 'meet me.'
She knew automatically who had sent it, and where she was supposed to meet him. She was still slightly upset at the way he had toyed with her emotions so easily, sort-of like manipulating Barbie dolls into relationships when you're three. He should have just come out and told her that he was trying to protect her, rather than skipping around the subject and hurting her. A part of her was telling her not to go, to just let him wait there, expecting her, then realize that she stood him up, and the other half of her wanted to go, wanted to see Lex. Despite the part that told her not to, she decided to meet him.
'Once again, at the cornfield,' she thought. She realized that since the kiss, she hadn't been out here. A part of her still didn't want to be here. She walked up to Lex's exotic car, the silver shining in the moonlight.
Lex rolled down the window before she got to it. "Get in," he said.
Deja vu began to swim in Chloe's mind, but she walked to the passenger side of the car and got in anyway. She settled into the seat, and did her best to withdraw herself.
Lex watched her, and noted her discomfort. "Chloe, I'm sorry," he said. "I'm going to ask once more if you could forgive me. What I did was stupid, wrong, and-" he paused awkwardly. "Please?"
Chloe was shocked. Not once in all the time she had known him, she had never heard Lex say 'please.' Now he was asking her to forgive him, saying please to her - how could she resist? However, that part of her still held on to the anger.
"The last time I got close to you, you pushed me away." She glared at him, hoping he felt guilty and undeserving. "You kissed me, Lex. KISSED me." She turned from him, not wanting to see his face at the moment. "Did that even mean anything to you, or was it just a cheap thrill?" A tear ran from her eye, and then she exploded. "I'm not one of your mistresses - I'm not one of your Metropolis whores that you can just treat like a toy and take to your bed when you feel the need. Unlike them, I have feelings."
Lex reached out, and gently turned her face back to him. "I'm not asking you to be like them," Lex said. "I definitely don't want you to be anything like them. You're so much more than that. I just want a chance to start over, and to make a friendship with you that will work. But I want to protect you at the same time, so if we decide to start over, nobody can know."
Chloe knew far too well how true that last part wouldbe, but she knew what she wanted. She wanted to know the true Lex, the Lex Luthor that not even Clark Kent knew. She longed for that connection, whether it be as friends, or something more. She completely doubted the latter would ever come true. She made her decision.
"I forgive you, Lex," she said. She smiled. "Just don't pull something like this again."
Lex smiled, and hugged her. "To a new beginning then."
Lionel looked up student files in Smallville High's database. One of his employees volunteered - after a series of blackmail threats - to hack into the database. He stopped at Chloe Sullivan. He studied the picture. It was her, all right. He smirked. She wasn't eighteen. Something he could use against Lex if he ever pulled anything funny again. He read over her file. So she was a reporter... that could prove useful later for his new project and obsession. He maximized the window that was in the taskbar. A student file came up, and it read: 'Clark Kent.'
