A/N: Flashbacks are in italics.
1.
Chloe leaned against the headboard of her bed, her laptop illuminating the darkness of her room. She didn't know why she did this. Knew she was only torturing herself every time she inhaled. But the shirt she was burried in, the shirt she pulled on every night after she took a shower, smelled like him. Felt like him.
It had surprised her that Lana never asked her about it. It was dark grey in color, the same tint as those tiny flecks in his eyes that surrounded that pool of stone blue. It was a light weight, most likely imported, cotton. She remembered how it looked on him the night she'd gone to see him.
Lex paced the oriental rug of his study, staring down blankly at the merger in his hand. His other hand cupped the tumbler of brandy that was already halfway gone. When he heard the soft rap of knuckles on his study door he walked over to his desk and freed his hands. Then turned around and just stared. God, she was beautiful. Every day he wanted to seek her out just to hear her voice when she got defiant, when she striked up conversation and made her point loud and clear.
She came to him more and more often, less shy each time. This time her eyes sparkled with mirth as she came towards him, where he was perched on the corner of his desk. "Miss Sullivan." He nodded her way and received a bubbling laughter.
"Last name basis again, Mr. Luthor?"
Lex smiled down at her and slipped both arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him. He lowered his head and nuzzled her ear with his nose, lips, until his tongue touched her earlobe and he felt her full body shudder move right through him. "It is a tad too formal, isn't it." He conceded.
"Mmm." Chloe purred, leaning her head back as his lips traced the outline of her jaw so slowly and so tenderly. "I think it just may be." She smiled at him and brushed her lips across his chin. "Especially for what I have in mind." The wicked grin revealed her straight white teeth and Lex smiled back at her openly. When she lifted the edge of his tight fitting grey tshirt, he lifted his arms in compliance.
She could still remember him talking to her as she got dressed, retrieving her clothes from around his study. When she couldn't find her shirt, she'd pulled his on and he'd simply raised an eyebrow and slowly let his gaze travel across the front of her figure. She'd asked him if he minded and he'd shook his head and told her to keep it. It'd given her pause at the easy way he'd let her have a peice of him. It had made her wonder how often he casually let women take articles of clothing of his. And she smiled as she rememebered his palm touching her arm, his fingers closing around her firm flesh, and squeezing gently.
He'd wanted something in return and when he told her she had laughed. And quickly obeyed, hiking her denim skirt up to her waist and slowly sliding her purple lace thong down her legs, over her shoes, and kicking the scrap of material up at him. He'd caught it one handed and had leaned over to kiss her goodbye even as he stashed the panties in his pants pocket. She'd called him a dirty old man and he'd waggled his eyebrows at her.
Chloe sighed and brushed her knuckles across the monitor of her laptop. Lex smiled back at her from the interview she and Clark had conducted her freshman year. His quirky half smile stared back at her from the frame she'd paused the video at. She wanted to touch him for real. She wanted him to remember her. Them. The way things were before Lionel found out.
"Lex." A hand grabbed his shoulder and shook him lightly. "Lex. Are you okay?"
Lex opened his eyes slowly. He still couldn't remember things clearly. He thought he could hear himself saying, "I love you." But he couldn't see the face of the person at the entrance of his bedroom. He could still smell baby oil, and a woman's hands on him. But it didn't make a lot of sense to him. He shook his head to clear it and leveled himself up until his elbows were behind him holding his frame into a leaning position.
"What did you remember, Lex?" Dr. Tina Madson spoke softly, as to not disturb whatever memories he'd uncovered.
"I remember a woman."
She scribbled something in shorthand with her notebook and looked back up at him willing him to go on.
Lex squinted his eyes and released his elbows, letting his body drop back onto the soft suede of the couch. "I can't see her face." He tried to conjure up the face of the last woman he was with. Helen? No. Maybe. No, definitely not.
"Can you see what she's wearing?"
Lex wet his dry lips and pressed the heels of his hands against his closed eyes for a moment. "Red lipstick."
"Can you tell me what color her eyes are?" Dr. Madson crossed one leg over the other and watched his face intently as his features relaxed and he laughed out loud.
"No, the lipstick, it isn't on her lips."
Tina's brow shot up until they were hidden under the straight cut of her orange bangs. "Where's the red lipstick, Lex? Is it on another part of her body?"
Lex nodded and let a small smile curve his lips up at the corners. He could practically feel the tension easing out of his limbs. "The lipstick is on her stomach, i'm drawing something on her stomach, right above her navel."
Dr. Madson watched intently as he placed his left hand over his own stomach. "What are you drawing Lex?"
Lex conjured up the patterns he swirled across the pale skin like a canvas. "A heart."
"Just a heart Lex?"
Lex opened his eyes and looked over at the doctor. "She's laughing, like it tickles her. Her body is shaking with laughter, but I can't hear her." His frown marred his once serene face.
Dr. Madson jotted down a few more notes and stood, gathering her briefcase. "Well, I'm pleased that we're finally breaking down some of those walls, Mr. Luthor."
The way she said his name made him pause as he was rising up off the couch. He slowly came to a stand in front of her and stuck his hands in his pockets. "And are we still under the confidentiality agreement we entered these sessions under?" Lex questioned sternly.
Dr. Madson pat his arm and smiled, the long orange ponytail pulled tight on her head swishing with every movement. "Of course we are."
Lex nodded and stood there staring at her back as she retreated.
TBC
