Guardian of the Future
Part 3
The scent of coffee beans was unattractive to both Spike and Illyria. The god-king Illyria, in Fred's body, slithered into the Talon, and Spike marveled once again at how the figure of shy and brainy Fred Burkle now moved confidently. It was almost as if Illyria was certain of her place in the world, when Spike knew that was far from the truth.
"The answer shall be here. Are you sue of this?" came Illyria's low inquiry. "Can you truly follow through with your promise? You will not allow me to fall into some great evil in the future?"
"It is also my life I am protecting, Blue. Thus," he related, "you can trust my intentions."
Illyria stared at the half-breed, but did not react. She never smiled, Illyria, not even when she was pleased.
Spike shrugged, because her smiling or not truly did not make a difference to him. He focused on his mission, which was primarily to save himself. He looked around, intent on finding this guardian that would likely have the answer. There was a boy watching them, very large, and Spike thought he would know something. He ambled to the dark-haired boy in flannel and asked, "Where is the guardian?"
In response, the boy blinked and remained staring at Illyria. Spike shook his head. Unacceptable.
"Well you seem to know a lot," Spike said.
Illyria studied the boy and mentioned, "His body warms. His mind slows." Spike grinned. That much he could tell. "His fluid shall spill." That made his smile fade.
Spike was about to pull Illyria away. However, Spike noticed Clark drool. Spike sighed in relief. Saliva was somewhat acceptable. He did not need to beat the boy bloody.
"Come on, Blue."
Spike jerked his head towards the counter.
"I fail to honor such invitation." Humans have always had graceless movements. What else did she expect from a half-breed? She did however, still follow her companion.
They stopped at the counter. Like Spike, Illyria sat on one of the stools.
"Hey bird. You have a guardian around here?" Spike called out to the blonde attendant, the cafe manager.
"Are you buying anything?" she asked. On her name tag it said 'MARIA.' "This is not the information counter."
"You are hostile," Illyria concluded.
Spike turned and hushed his god-king companion. He assured her, "I know what the bird wants." Spike drew out a bill from his pocket and slipped it over the counter.
Maria took the money and Spike grinned, satisfied. His grin vanished when she presented him a cup of coffee. "This is not the information counter," she repeated. "Thanks for the tip." She dropped his change in the tip jar.
"I don't want a bloody coffee!" he exclaimed.
"Coffee is all we have," Maria pronounced.
"Bugger this!" Spike burst.
The patrons turned to the counter. Spike turned to Illyria, involuntarily asking for help. He saw flannel boy take a step towards him.
"This is not true," Illyria commented. "You also seem to offer some pies and muffins."
O O O
Chris jerked away on the hospital bed. The image of ghost Chloe staring down at him and watching Maria and the girl still was clear in his mind. The steady sound of typing penetrated his fogged brain.
"Hey!" Chloe greeted with a blinding smile. "Welcome to the land of the living."
"Hello to you too," he returned. "Why are you still here? Why aren't you with your boyfriend?"
She looked at him quizzically. "I don't have a boyfriend."
"The guy you were fighting with?"
"Lex Luthor?" she asked. "Not my boyfriend."
Chris recognized the name. Now he was certain that the man was his mission. Chris relaxed because he would have been sad since the guy was marrying Maria. Was it fair for him to want to change the future not just because of the balance of good and evil but because he did not want his friend turning into a sad, trapped ghost?
She should as much as possible stay away from the man, to remove any motive for Alexander Luthor to become the great criminal mastermind he was bound to be.
Outside the hospital room, Lex sat in the waiting area. Chloe was going to step out of there sooner or later. She had complained about how stifling he was becoming. He was not going to commit the mistake of barging in there. Let her have this space for once.
Lex's phone rang. It was his housekeeper. The nurses at the station shushed him. He waved in dismissal and answered the call.
"Mr Luthor," he heard. "I just wanted to make sure before I did anything. Your bed is all covered in honey." Lex's eyebrows furrowed. "Did you want it like that or shall we clean it up?"
Lex narrowed his eyes. "Who was in the house?"
"Nobody, Mr Luthor. Only you and after you left, Ms Chloe came to pick up some of her things."
"That vandal," he muttered. "Please clean it up. I'll be having a talk with Ms Chloe in a few minutes."
"Oh but it will be no problem removing this, Mr Luthor!" the housekeeper quickly revised. Honey on silk? Lex doubted that. "Ms Chloe pulled a prank. Very delightful!" She even chuckled on the phone.
Lex shook his head. It was not fair that she had already won every heart in the house. He hung up the phone.
She had already lashed out. It was even endearing, the way she showed her anger with honey. He hoped it was a sign of what he could expect in the coming years. He picked himself up and glanced at his watch. Then, Lex proceeded to the coffee dispenser. He would not miss Chloe this way.
True to Chloe fashion, she walked towards the coffee dispenser at the exact time he expected her to. When she glanced up and saw him waiting there, she hesitated. The need for caffeine won over her decision not to speak with him. Stiffly, Chloe worked her way to the machine and took a cup.
"I was hoping we could talk," he began. Chloe paid him no mind and sipped her coffee. "I admit that I was out of line, but I truly wanted to keep you safe."
"Do you remember when we met?" she asked, her voice cold.
Lex's lips curved into a smile. "I went to the Torch office and saw your Wall..."
"No. When we really met," she clarified. "I was in such deep shit with your dad. You were the valiant guy who offered protection."
"And you turned me down. You're stubborn."
Chloe nodded. She was still looking away from him. "But when I couldn't handle it anymore--"
"You came to me."
And it became clear to him. She needed her space, her independence. That was the type of young woman she was. She would most likely not be able to control her actions and her decisions would never always be the smartest ones. After all, her emotions often got the better of her. Lex knew that was something he would never ever be able to change. However, what she was telling him right now was that no matter what kind of trouble she got herself in, she would always be able to recognize when it became too much to handle.
Then she looked him directly in the eye. "I'm not a stupid girl, Lex."
"Definitely not," he agreed.
"And I was kind of hoping that if I do something really stupid, you still won't have given up on me. And you'd still be willing to save me."
He nodded and took the cup of coffee from her hand. He placed it down. "It will always be me."
Chloe smiled. "So why did you suddenly take me home, Lex? That still confuses me."
"I guess I didn't know how to deal with something like this." Lex was aware that some people had turned and were watching them. They were also blocking the coffee dispenser. "You're seventeen."
"That's not a big deal," she dismissed. "You're just six years older."
"Very true," he admitted. Lex took her hand and raised it to his heart. He leaned down to take her lips. "Watch a movie with me."
Chloe grinned. "In your house?"
Lex nodded. "Speaking of my house... I understand you dropped by earlier."
"Sorry?" she said uncertainly.
Lex shook his head. "You should apologize to the housekeeper, although the way she defended you, it's unnecessary." Chloe chuckled. "I do want to tell that there are far more interesting ways to use honey in bed."
She pushed away gently. "Easy there. I still have to go back to check on my patient."
Lex dropped a kiss on her cheek. "If I didn't know better, I'd be very very jealous."
"Well that's what's really good about you. You do know better," Chloe answered.
"You shouldn't have said that," Lex complained. "Now if I get jealous, I'd be the biggest jerk on the planet."
"It's called preemptive strike."
"Have you been going through my investment profile?" Lex asked.
Chloe arched an eyebrow. "Are you investing in an arms company?"
Lex shrugged. "My financial adviser has been showing me some numbers. Looks pretty good."
"Well," Chloe said thoughtfully, "I suppose with your insane obsessive-compulsiveness, you'd be useful in making sure the weapons those boys are gonna use in war will be the best quality ever."
Lex smirked and pulled her close. "You know me too well."
"Clark is going to freak out."
"And we care about this?"
"Oh go back home!" Chloe advised. "I'll be by later. And you have to talk to my dad."
Lex shook his head. "You're not going to abandon me there."
"But remember," she grinned at him, "when I know I can't handle something, I can come to you?"
He tapped on her nose and propelled her towards Chris' room. "I'm going to have to be careful with you, huh," he whispered into her ear. "You will most likely be able to play me, just because I'll be head over heels and not be minding anything else but you."
"Not possible," she responded. Then she turned around in his arms and waved. "See you later."
O O O
The manager of the Talon wiped the sweat from her brow and threw the towel into her bag. Who knew that running a coffeehouse was even harder than waitressing the Crashdown Café? She had a newfound respect for Mr Parker. It probably had to do with the responsibility she had now. Maria had to make sure everything ran perfectly. It suited her. At least her roles matured with her age. Gone were the days when she could stay with the clock and leave all the details to the owner. Now, she really had to mind the entire café.
Maria slung her bag on her shoulder and pushed the backdoor open. She locked up and looked back to ascertain that she had turned off all the lights. Energy was expensive. Her new project was to bring down the overhead costs to show Lex Luthor that she could raise profit by cutting costs.
"Maria."
She whirled around and saw Michael leaning against the alley wall. Maria sucked in her breath at the sight of her big, alien boyfriend. He was beautiful, even when her eyes were swollen from lack of sleep, and his hair was uncombed and windblown.
"Let's go home," he requested. "Enough of this running away."
"You're telling me that? Aren't we just running away from the Feds? Haven't we been doing that for the past two years?"
He shook his head and unfolded himself to his full height. He walked towards her. "I'm talking about what you're doing. You're running away from your friends, from me."
"I can't go home," she answered. "I killed Max."
He reached for her hand and squeezed it. Maria closed her eyes. "Isabel isn't mad. Liz isn't mad. I'm not mad, and who cares what Kyle thinks but he's not mad at you either. It was an accident."
She waited a beat before admitting, "But I'm mad at you. And I'm mad at Isabel." She pulled her hand away, then pressed it against her temple. "Everything Max doesn't remember from your past life in Antar is right here. She betrayed me. And you did too by allowing those people to worship you. You two would've overthrown Zan if you had the chance, if Khivar hadn't moved first. I hate Vilandra and Rath, and they're you!" When she pressed an unconscious Max to heal her wounds, and he had died, all the memories went to her. Without Max's trauma to tamp down and block the memories, all the images were stark and clear in her mind. "I can't come back to you," she decided, looking straight into Michael's eyes. "Don't even try to make me."
