2.

Chloe laid her head down on her desk in the Torch office. She listened to her voicemail over the speakerphone and could barely contain her surprise when a familiar voice spoke out loud. Her head popped up and she stared down at the cradle for the phone, listening to her contact. "This is Jack McNeal for Chloe Sullivan. I've done a little digging and have come up with the name of a psychiatrist in Metropolis that may have related work to the case you specified. Her name is Tina Madson. Her office is actually located on the ground floor of Metropolis General in the Psyche Ward. If you need anymore information, you know my number."

Chloe pressed her fingertips to her lips trying to hide the grin that was spreading rapidly. So Lex was getting help to regain his memory. She knew it was only a matter of time before he took that route. Now if only she knew what he did. Her mind time traveled back to the day after he'd been admitted to Belle Reve.

Chloe was smiling as she pushed open the doors of Lex's study. It was a smile that had quickly fallen into a frown when he wasn't there to greet her.

"Ahhh, Miss Sullivan." Lionel's voice carried through the vastness of the room. Chloe took a few more steps into the room and looked up at the library where Lionel was leaning against the banister. With a smug grin he stepped back and started down the stairs. "I had a feeling you'd make an appearance after the invitation I sent you."

Chloe narrowed her eyes and straightened her posture. "You sent it from Lex."

Lionel stopped a few feet away from her and pursed his lips. "So I did." He turned his back to her and went towards his son's desk. "You see, yesterday, after my son's unfortunate relapse..."

Chloe interupted him with a rude unladylike sound. "Pfffft, you mean after you drugged him? I was there Mr. Luthor. I saw what state he was in..."

"Which I find rather interesting, don't you?" At her blank stare he pulled the top drawer of the desk open. He pulled out a framed picture and unfolded it, setting it on top of the desk, facing her. "But I have to ask myself, how much time are you spending with my son, Miss Sullivan?" Lionel smiled and leaned over to look at the picture. "And what are your motives?"

Chloe opened her mouth in disbelief. "You know, I really don't have to take anymore shit from you." When she turned around to leave the room Lionel laughed outright.

"It is such a shame that we no longer work together." Lionel smiled and watched Chloe's back as it rose and fell in controlled breathing. "I find we made a rather, interesting team."

Chloe turned around and narrowed her eyes again. "I already told him everything."

Lionel lowered himself into the leather high-backed chair behind the desk and steepled his fingers in front of him. "I hope he took it well, because when he returns, you'll have to retell him the story. Not that he'll remember anything about the time you two spent together."

Chloe frowned and took a few steps toward him. "What are you talking about?"

Lionel leaned back and smiled. The show of his canines a mere threat all on their own. "Due to my son's lacking mental health, I admitted him to Belle Reve just 12 hours ago. He'll undergo medicinal treatment, and at the end of that period, if I feel it in his best interest, he'll also be subjected to Shock Therapy."

Chloe blinked back the tears and snapped her jaw shut. "Don't you mean for your best interest, Mr. Luthor?" Chloe took two steps forward, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. "What are you afraid of Lionel?" His name rolled off her tongue as if she'd gotten a taste of something despicable. "Just how much does Lex know about your past dealing with Morgan Edge?"

Although Lionel showed no interest in the fact that she knew about such things, she knew he was surprised. "I'd say, Miss Sullivan, that in a few weeks, he'll know nothing of the sort." He stood and leaned forward, his palms connecting sharply with the glass desktop. "Or of you and your time together." Chloe backed up a step at the silent but deadly tone of his voice. "And if you go so far as to try to rekindle any such relations with my son, I'll see your name and your father's name slandered across every paper from here to Japan. Your father will never work again."

Chloe swallowed and shook her head. "He's your son." She said softly. Still in disbelief that Lex had been born of a seed so evil and unloving.

Lionel slapped his hands down again, his hair falling in his eyes. "Damn right he's my son."

He stood back up and straightened his tie before pushing the hair out of his face and grinning evilly at her. "And if you should try to take him away from me, I'll know. And I won't be held responsible for any such outcome." He placed his hands in his pockets and met her unblinking stare with his own. "You're dismissed, Miss Sullivan."

Chloe turned on her heel, and rather than giving into the urge of running away, she walked with her head held high out of the study, out of the manor, and out of Lex's life.

Quickly, Chloe jotted down the name of the psychiatrist and stuffed it into her backpack. Then she erased all her voicemails. It looked like she'd be doing a little traveling this weekend.

Dr. Tina Madson walked down the narrow corridor of the Psyche Ward located one level below ground. Most of the nurses and doctors down there called it the Basement. And sometimes, she admitted it to herself that she felt the same way.

Walls were painted a light shade of grey and the tiles of the floors, one hallway after another, was made of an aggregate walkway. Her office, located in the very last room off of one of the very last hallsin one of the deepest corners of the Ward was the least visited of all. She preferred meeting her patients on their turf. Just as she'd gone to Smallville to visit with the youngest Luthor. It was truly amazing how strong minded he was to be able to overcome such things as Shock Therapy. In most cases, it was indeed the last resort to fighting a mental breakdown. Yet it was the one thing that could fully cure someone of their past, erasing any life altering experiences.

Being stranded on an island and thought to be dead for three months and surviving only through hallucinations could have been a very tough situation to overcome. The woman in his memories could just as well had been a hallucination. A make believe partner thought up to provide the companionship and love he'd needed to survive after losing his wife and living through a near-death experience.

As Dr Madson turned the corner of the hall she saw the reflection of the light spilling out from her office. Knowing she had locked the door the night before, she grabbed her keys out of her coat pocket and made sure the edge of her car key was tight between her knuckles as she entered her office. A petite blonde turned from where she was reading her diploma and smiled graciously at her.

When she started forward with an outstretched hand and noticed the car keys still clinging tightly between the doctor's knuckles, Chloe jerked her hand back to her body. "I don't really think you'll need those." She smiled persuasively at the redhead. "I prefer to keep my eyeballs in tact, thanks."

Tina looked down at her fisted hand and laughed. "Oh, my." She released her keys and dropped them onto her desk. "You frightened me." She confessed and held out her now freed right hand. Chloe arched a brow and shook her hand. "Dr. Madson, and you are?"

Chloe smiled and moved aside for the doctor to take her seat behind the battered green metal military style issued desk. She in turn took the armchair facing hers. "Chloe Sullivan. And yes, I know who you are."

Tina smiled and looked the younger woman up and down. "You don't look ill in the head, so to speak, so what can I help you with."

Chloe sucked in a breath and released it slowly. "I know you're acting as psychiatrist to Lex Luthor..."

Dr. Madson stood up abruptly. "I knew I recognized you from somewhere. You're the highschool girl with the column at the Daily Planet. Well, I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about..." As she started forward Chloe jumped out of her seat and slammed her office door shut, locking it quickly and then grabbing the keys from the doctor's desk.

"This isn't about an article, I swear. And I don't report for the Daily Planet anymore, I was let go."

Tina's eyes shifted uneasily around the room that kept getting smaller and smaller by the minute. There was a certain level of panic in the girl's eyes and she knew how to deal with this type of situation. "Miss Sullivan, I suggest..."

"Just listen to me, please." For once she let the tears spring to life and drip down her cheeks. She'd never cried in front of anyone about this before. "I need to know what Lex is remembering. His life could be in danger..."

Tina stared at the girl in front of her. A thought came to her mind and she blurted it out without thinking about it. "You're the woman he's remembering, aren't you?"

At her suddenly spoken words Chloe froze and swallowed. Her throat too tight and constrictive. "I...I don't know what you're talking about."

Check. Tina thought and smiled, crossing her arms over her chest. "Mr. Luthor's memory is coming back in tiny increments, and he remembers a woman, he's fairly certain she was not his wife." Tina let her smile widen and leaned her hip against the edge of the metal desk. "And it wasn't his wife, the good Dr. Helen Bryce, was it Miss Sullivan? It was you."

Chloe leaned back against the door and closed her eyes. He remembered her. "What does he remember?" She asked softly.

Tina let her smile fall as she took in the girl's slumped form. "Drawing patterns on your stomach with red lipstick. Does that ring a bell?"

Chloe opened her eyes and laughed. It had been his damn idea. "Yeah, it was a heart."

Tina watched relief come over the younger woman's features and spread through her body until she moved forward and sat back down in the chair, staring up at her. "There are some things he can't remember, Dr. Madson. Things in his father's past that he knows and..."

"If you love him so much, why don't you come forward?" Chloe blinked to clear her vision and stared at the Doctor.

"I can't." Chloe shook her head as she said the words.

"Why, Chloe." Tina sank down to the floor and held both of the blonde's hands inside hers. "Why can't you help him remember."

Chloe closed her eyes and shook her head. "Because I do love him."

TBC...

A/N: Last angsty chapter people. The rest will start to get better.